Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and declarations of interest.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Coote and Taylor, V Ranger (Leasehold Panel Member) and L Atkinson (Rural Community Council of Essex).

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 December 2024 were approved as an accurate record.

In respect of HB60 – the Chair had suggested that Councillor Dean meet directors outside of the meeting to discuss Manor Road concerns; it was confirmed that a meeting had taken place with Councillors Gooding, Sell and Coote and that Councillor Dean had been invited but had been unable to attend.

Verbal report by Laura Atkinson (Senior Officer), Rural Community Council of Essex.

In the absence of Laura Atkinson (Senior Officer Rural Community Council of Essex), the item was held over to the next meeting.

PowerPoint presentation by Trish Reed EELGA and Simone Russell, Strategic Director of Housing, Environment and Communities.

Trish Reed EELGA and the Strategic Director of Housing, Environment and Communities took Members through the PowerPoint presentation. Trish Reed had been commissioned on behalf of EELGA to carry out a review of the service after changes to senior management and in light of issues of concern about the service which had come to the attention of the Strategic Director in recent months.

Officers highlighted:

·        That £400k had been underspent from the Homelessness Prevention Grant.

·        That the service was currently under resourced.

·        That the Council was not meeting all of its statutory duties, including case management timescales and in its duty to notify any outside placements to the relevant local authority.

·        There were20 recommendations in the Action Plan and work has begun to address the issues.

·        That a new staffing structure had been signed off, with recruitment processes to commence next week following a staff consultation.

·        The Way Forward; this included exploring shared services with Epping Forest District Council and Harlow Council.

·        The development of a new set of KPI’s that would be fit for purpose; these would be brought back to Housing Board.

·        The development of a new team service plan.

·        That effective housing expertise from other teams in the Directorate had been brought in to provide support, particularly reviewing voids and rent arrears.  Additional external resources had been brought in to review old homelessness cases and this was making a positive contribution.

·        The appointment of a fixed-term (18 months) Head of Housing Solutions.

·        Improvements to be made to customer service facilities with a duty housing officer available in person to provide assistance when required.

Report by Simone Russell, Strategic Director of Housing, Environment and Communities and Paula Evans, Head of Contract, Performance and Risk. Item will include a verbal update on Target setting for 2025-6.

The Strategic Director said that the current KPIs were no longer fit for purpose and that these were being reset for 2025/26. There would be a facilitated training session to explain the new KPIs, to be held on 2^nd June. 

Officers responded to various questions on the report. They said:

·        All data was three months out of date.

·        The six outstanding gas servicing, carbon monoxide and electrical cases related to the same properties and were all being dealt with by legal officers. Moving forward, the contractor will look to manage these services through one visit.

·        That Axis would be looking at Voids management.

·        The Asset Management Strategy would be looking at the whole area, mindful of the need to be effective, with the caveat that UDC had the ability to contribute financially.

Officers said that the intention was that at the June meeting, Q4 KPIs would be reviewed and the new key KPIs moving forward would be outlined.

PowerPoint presentation by Brian Burton, Interim Director of Property. Update to include:

·        Demobilisation/ Mobilisation

·        Asset Management

·        Client team set up.

The Interim Director of Property took Members through a PowerPoint presentation. Vinnie Pilkington (Axis Contract Manager) introduced himself to the meeting and all parties round the table introduced themselves. Officers highlighted:

·        That there was currently much systems testing underway. Officers outlined the data transfer and storage arrangements in place re security that would ensure better integration.

·        That moving forward, UDC would control repairs and maintenance data; jobs would only be raised by UDC, and they had to be relevant to the repairs and maintenance contract and that UDC would be notified when the works had been carried out.

·        That robust management arrangements were in place.

·        That stock investment plans would be in place by June 2025 and that a draft 30-year HRA plan would be brought to Housing Board for the June meeting.

·        That a workshop would be held on 10 April in respect of the Asset Management Strategy.

·        That five of the nine positions in the Internal Client Team had been filled and the other four positions were out for recruitment. The Interim Director would remain in post during the transition period.

Comments were made by Members in respect of corporate image and the logos on the new transport. This area would be revisited.

Vinnie Pilkington confirmed that Axis had worked previously with many local authorities and were experienced in this area of work. 

Introduction to Axis.

Vinnie Pilkington (Axis Contract Manager) confirmed that following the previous item on the repairs mobilisation, he had nothing further to add.

PowerPoint presentation by Simone Russell, Strategic Director of Housing, Environment and Communities.

The Strategic Director took Members through a PowerPoint presentation. Officers said:

·        That much work was being undertaken to ensure that all was in place for when an Inspector called. The Housing Ombudsman powers had recently been enhanced.

·        There were four Consumer Standards in place – Safety and Quality, Tenancy, Neighbourhood and Community and Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standards.

·        That in respect of the regulatory approach, landlords were expected to self-refer when they were failing to meet the Standards and that this gave councils “nowhere to hide”.

·        That Axis were well aware of the Standards expected.

·        That UDC had created a self-assessment team which was currently collecting evidence.

·        That there had been a slight dip in TSMs since last year, but this was still seen as positive as there had been a dip nationally. A report would be brought back to the next Housing Board once the results of the survey had been analysed and an improvement plan put into place to address themes of dissatisfaction.

·        A very experienced social landlords market researcher had been engaged to reach out to tenants to collect information on tenants and their households – this would help the Council make adjustments to service so that all tenants had fair access to the services.

·        A new tenant engagement strategy was being put in place, this would provide greater opportunities for tenants to get involved.

·        That officers would be having “Deep dive days” to examine “hot issues” to improve compliancy.

·        The new KPIs would be linked to the new Regulatory Standards.

·        UDC were being much more scientific in capturing data and would be publishing outcomes of tenant engagement, including such matters as coffee mornings held in sheltered housing.

·        That consideration would be given to entering for industry awards, but this would only be in line with stated UDC policies.

AOB.

There was no further business.

Monday 2 June 2025 – 2.00 pm

Monday 4 August 2025 – 10.00 am

Monday 6 October 2025 – 1.00 pm

Monday 8 December 2025 – 10.00 am.

Monday 2 June @ 2.00 pm.

Monday 4 August @ 10.00 am.

Monday 6 October @ 1.00 pm.

Monday 8 December @ 10.00 am.

The meeting finished at 2.32 pm.