Agenda item

Agenda item

Watford Community Housing Task Group - recommendation update

The scrutiny committee to review the latest updates from Watford Community Housing

Minutes:

Overview and Scrutiny Committee received an update on the outstanding recommendations of the Watford Community Housing Task Group which had published its report in February 2019.  Watford Community Housing (WCH) was represented by its Chief Executive, Tina Barnard, and Ben Johnson, Group Director of Operations.  Councillor Asif Khan, chair of the task group, also attended this part of the meeting.

 

The Chair invited Ben Johnson to comment on each of the outstanding recommendations in turn.  In addition to welcoming the further clarifications provided by the trust, members raised the following issues:

 

Provide information to residents explaining how to notify them when a service, included in their service charge, was not provided.

·               WCH’s processes had been more comprehensively explained, including residents’ recourse to further action where they remained dissatisfied with the service and any remedial measures undertaken by the trust.

·               It was important for the trust to follow through fully when residents considered that the service had fallen short of what was expected.

 

Work collaboratively with Hertfordshire County Council and Watford Borough Council to help improve local amenities for tenants and residents.

·               The detrimental impact of Covid 19 on progress was acknowledged. 

·               Recent joint working between local councillors, Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) and Veolia to resolve fly tipping issues was recognised as a good example of what could be achieved.  It was suggested that further collaborative working of this type would be useful, however this should be led by Watford Borough Council.  Local councillors should be kept informed of this work.

 

Outline any major works that will be required, including when these will be completed and the property ready for habitation, when void properties are placed on the ‘home choice letting’ scheme.

·               Proactive maintenance by the trust as well as prompt action where the need for repairs was identified was important to prevent the requirement for more extensive repairs further down the line. 

 

Complete repairs on the first visit to the satisfaction of tenants in 85% of cases with details published in the annual report.

·               Progress to achieve this recommendation was noted. 

 

A) Complete remaining repairs to the satisfaction of tenants within 30 days of the initial reporting in 95% of cases and include the outcomes in the annual report.

·               It was important to ensure that residents, either without access to online means or uncomfortable with its use, should also be able to provide customer feedback e.g., by speaking to someone. 

·               The trust should keep this recommendation under review to ensure that they were receiving sufficiently representative feedback from residents.

 

B) Not close a case until the resident was content with the repair.

·               Progress to achieve this recommendation was noted.

 

Give any positive feedback received from tenants on repair works carried out to the person or team who carried out the repair and include information on the number of compliments received in the annual report.

·               Progress to achieve this recommendation was noted. 

 

Ensure that records of tenant’s casework were comprehensive, timely and kept up to date, and seek to introduce a computerised central recording system during the next financial year.

·               Tracking work flow against customer cases was key.  Councillors were sometimes frustrated in their own case work where actions logged with the trust were lost.  Central record keeping would help to prevent this. 

·               The trust’s Chief Executive encouraged councillors to follow the trust’s protocol and contact the customer relations team in the first instance.  Where they had examples of information being lost or not acted upon, it was important for them to provide evidence so the trust could follow-up.

 

Councillor Khan acknowledged the excellent cross party work which had been achieved by the task group.  The resultant report and recommendations had done much to progress the concerns of residents and improve Watford Community Housing’s processes and procedures.  Overview and Scrutiny Committee had an important role to play in making sure that the council’s relationship with WCH continued to work well and to ensure that the trust provided the best possible service to its residents.

 

The Chair thanked Tina Barnard and Ben Johnson, wishing Mr Johnson well in his new role outside WCH.

 

RESOLVED –

 

that Overview and Scrutiny Committee approves the updates provided by Watford Community Housing.

Supporting documents:

 

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