Inspection Report July 2010
Contents Chapter Section Page 1 Introduction 1 2 Inspection grades and overview Grades How well is City of Edinburgh delivering? Is City of Edinburgh managed for improvement? Key recommendations 3 Context About the organisation About its housing stock About its current and future tenants 4 How well is City of Edinburgh delivering housing management? Grade Tenant satisfaction Access to housing Lettings Tenancy and neighbourhood management Income maximisation 5 How well is City of Edinburgh managing its assets and delivering repairs? Grade Tenant satisfaction Asset management strategy and planning New homes Investment and home safety Response repairs Value for money in procurement 6 Is City of Edinburgh managed for improvement? Leadership and strategic planning Performance management, planning and reporting Customer focus and influence Equalities and diversity Efficiency and value for money 3 7 11 25 39 7 Next steps 50 Appendix 1 Sources of evidence Appendix 2 Examples of positive practice Glossary
1. Introduction About this inspection 1.1 This inspection was carried out by the Scottish Housing Regulator under section 72 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 on behalf of Scottish Ministers. Our purpose in inspection is to provide an independent external assessment of the effectiveness of housing service delivery and make recommendations to help improvement. Inspections are conducted within a published framework of Performance Standards. How we assessed performance 1.2 Our inspectors asked two key questions: How well is delivering its services? Is managed for improvement? 1.3 In order to answer these questions inspectors: spoke to tenants, service users, staff and elected members of the council; asked other partner organisations for their views; visited homes and local areas; saw and tested first hand how well services were being delivered; examined key policies, publications, information and the organisation s selfassessment submitted for this inspection; and analysed published performance and financial information. 1.4 We have awarded grades for the housing management and asset management and delivery of repairs. The grades and judgements are based on evidence. The grades summarise performance in the following ways: Grade A = Excellent Grade B = Good Grade C = Fair Grade D = Poor 1.5 When we provide a summarised assessment and award a grade, we take various factors into account. These factors are: 1
outcomes for service users; how far the service or organisation meets Performance Standards; performance against key indicators in comparison with others; compliance with legislation; how good the leadership and accountability are; how far good practice is followed; the organisation s level of self-awareness; how well value for money is being achieved; local context and legitimate local priorities; and commitment to, and track record of, improvement. The inspection team 1.6 The inspection team was led by Jonathan Grant (Inspection Manager) and included Marie Savage, Janet Buchanan and Donna Matthewson (Inspectors), Martin Walsh (Associate Inspector), Joyce Kilpatrick (Inspection Officer) and Bill Chapman, Bill Strachan, Esnat Mbisa and Gordon Mason (Tenant Assessors). We were on site between 8th and 19th March, 2010. The tenant assessors also carried out a desktop review of some of the Council s publications. We would like to thank everyone involved in the inspection, particularly the councillors, staff, service users and tenants for their time and co-operation. Responding to this inspection 1.7 We expect all inspected bodies to make the inspection grades and overview section of this report available to anyone that wants it, report our findings to tenants and other stakeholders and respond to the issues raised in this report. 2
2. Inspection grades and overview Grades In this section we set out our overall assessment of City of Edinburgh s performance, including inspection grades and we summarise our inspection findings. 2.1 The inspection of s housing service took place between 8 th and 19 th March 2010. We awarded the following grades: has achieved an A grade for housing management. This is an excellent performance. has achieved a B grade for asset management and repairs. This is a good performance. How well is delivering its services? 2.2 Our assessment is that s housing service has major strengths in the delivery of its services. In housing management: it has excellent access arrangements and works well with its RSL partners to maximise access to housing; it reports consistent improvement in tenant satisfaction across all of its housing management services; it has an excellent performance management framework; it allocates a large proportion of its houses to homeless applicants; its choice based letting scheme increases choice for applicants in Edinburgh; it has an excellent approach to gathering feedback on the quality of its housing services; it provides comprehensive information to applicants on how to apply for housing and processes applications quickly; it provides good information and access to support new tenants to help them establish and sustain tenancies; it has an excellent approach to managing antisocial behaviour (ASB); and it shows sustained improvement in income maximisation. 3
In asset management and repairs: it is good at managing its investment programme and budget and it is customer focused in its delivery of its investment programme; it is meeting its statutory responsibility on gas safety for all but a very small number of its houses; it has responded well to meet the need for new affordable housing with innovative development plans and has an excellent community engagement framework; it has high and improving levels of tenant satisfaction with its response repairs service and investment programmes; its response repairs service is highly accessible and its appointment system is excellent; and it is improving its approach to getting better value for money. 2.3 The Council does, however, have some weaknesses in the delivery of its services. In housing management: its allocation policy did not fully comply with statutory requirements; it had not completed reviews of its age restriction policy following our 2006 inspection report; and its management of allocations for its pilot mid market rental scheme. In asset management and repairs: its asset management strategy and investment plans require further development; its reported performance for responsive repairs is not fully reliable; it has weaknesses in its management and use of post inspections; and it has been slow to deal with statutory duties in relation to managing asbestos and it is not fully complying with its responsibilities under the Right to Repair legislation. 4
Is managed for improvement? 2.4 We found that the Council has a strong strategic planning and performance management framework. It works in a challenging context of high pressure on its housing resources and it demonstrates continuous improvements against its objectives over a number of years. It has a culture focused on improvement, an excellent performance management framework and a strong awareness of where it needs to improve overall. Its approach to gathering service user feedback is excellent and it involves its customers in service improvement activities in an excellent range of ways. It was also extremely responsive to our feedback during our inspection and immediately made many improvements across its services. 2.5 The Council is aware it faces challenges in managing its Housing Revenue Account to secure the funding it needs both to invest in its houses and also for its ambitious plans to build new council houses. It has relatively high rents and its costs are increasing, although it is aware of the need to become more efficient and is developing plans to achieve savings. It is aware of the need to improve how it manages customer complaints and is making good progress. The Council s awareness of its performance in parts of its asset management and repairs services could be improved and it has gaps in parts of its planning and performance management framework. Key recommendations 2.6 Our inspection report covers a wide range of issues. must respond effectively to them. These are our most important recommendations. Across its landlord activities the Council should: develop its approach to achieving value for money for its services and ensure that it delivers its proposed efficiency savings. In housing management the Council should: complete the review of its allocations policy including its approach to age restrictions, local lettings initiatives and mid market renting; and 5
ensure that it always follows its lettings quality assurance framework and develops clear audit trails for selecting and bypassing applicants. In asset management and the repairs service the Council should: improve its asset management and investment plans and closely monitor and report regularly on progress and risks associated with the delivery of the SHQS; continue to improve the information it holds on the condition of its houses; improve its performance monitoring and improve the accuracy of its recording of its responsive repairs performance; improve its management and use of post inspections; and fully comply with its statutory obligations under asbestos and Right to Repair. Shared risk assessment and future scrutiny 2.7 Our inspection will form part of the joint national scrutiny framework for local authorities developed to assess risk and deliver a proportionate scrutiny response. City of Edinburgh has made a range of commitments to us to improve its services. We will assess the Council s progress in achieving improvements, in partnership with other scrutiny bodies, through this national framework. 6
3. Context In this section we look at as an organisation and the context in which it operates. About the organisation 3.1 Edinburgh is Scotland s capital city and the seat of the Scottish Parliament. The city is located on the east coast of the central belt and on the south bank of the Firth of Forth. It covers 264 square kilometres of mostly urban area and has the third highest population density of all Scottish local authority areas, serving a population of approximately 458,000. The city is also one of the major tourist centres of the United Kingdom. Edinburgh is bordered by the neighbouring local authorities of Midlothian, East Lothian, West Lothian and Fife. 3.2 The is currently led by a Liberal Democrat and Scottish National Party (SNP) coalition. The administration has 58 elected members consisting of: 17 Liberal Democrat; 15 Labour; 12 SNP; 11 Conservative; and 3 Green. 3.3 The Council is organised in a formal committee structure. The housing service reports its performance to the Health, Social Care and Housing Committee which meets bi-monthly. In addition to the formal Committee structure, there are also a number of working groups or Member Officer Groups which allow elected members from all political parties and officers to focus on specific aspects of the housing service in more detail. The Council has developed a neighbourhood model of service delivery and provides its housing services from six local neighbourhood offices. About its current and future tenants 3.4 Edinburgh is a relatively affluent city. At April 2009 average gross earnings per week were 518 which is 8.9% higher than those for Scotland as a whole. Edinburgh also has a higher proportion of those of working age at 68% compared 7
to the Scottish average of 63%. Scottish Government labour market statistics report that at February 2010 unemployment within Edinburgh averaged 4.2% which is lower than the national figure of 4.9% for the same period. However, there are a number of deprived neighbourhoods within the city, namely in Forth, Portobello/Craigmillar, Leith, Clermiston and Sighthill/Gorgie areas and up to 66% of the Council s tenants receive Housing Benefit. 3.5 The Lothians Housing Needs and Demand Assessment (2008) found that, like the rest of Scotland, the number of older people living in Edinburgh is projected to increase. There are currently around 68,000 people aged over 65 living in Edinburgh and this is projected to increase by 50% by the year 2031. This is likely to have an impact on appropriate housing and associated community facilities and services over the coming years. 3.6 Based on the 2001 Census, 4.1% of the Edinburgh population are people from ethnic minority communities and is higher than the Scottish average of 2%. This is likely to have increased since 2001 as in-migration has been significant, particularly from the new accession states such as Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. This may impact on how the Council delivers its services. About its housing stock 3.7 Based on the House Condition Survey (2006), housing in Edinburgh consists mainly of traditional tenemental flatted dwellings (66%). The remainder of stock consists of a mix of multi-storey, low rise, terraced, semi and detached homes built to accommodate the city s population growth. Also, many of the later housing estates were built in the mid-20 th century to replace unsuitable housing in the Old Town. 3.8 At November 2009, the Council owned 20,139 houses. Based on the Scottish Household Survey (2008), only 16% of properties in Edinburgh are local authority or other social landlord rented stock, compared to the national figure of 25%. Demand for social housing is very high. 3.9 Based on the Scottish Household Survey (2008), around 64% of properties in Edinburgh are owner-occupied compared to the national figure of 66%. Also, the 8
average house price in Edinburgh is 203,000 compared to the national average of 123,000 making it one of the most expensive places in Scotland to buy property. 3.10 Edinburgh has traditionally had a robust private rented market. Based on the Scottish Household Survey (2008), 20% of homes in the city are privately rented compared to the national average of 10%. The private rented sector in Edinburgh meets a wide range of housing needs, from students and working households to homeless households. 3.11 Since April, 2008, there have been 850 homes completed by local RSLs with the provision of grant funding from the Council. The is the only non stock transfer local authority to have responsibility for the administration of development funding for RSLs. A further 1,450 homes are currently under construction on 34 sites throughout the city. 3.12 The Council has also secured 4.6m from the Scottish Government s fund to help build Council houses. Through its 21 st Century Homes for Edinburgh programme, the Council is aiming to build over 1,300 new homes for sale and for rent over a seven year period. The first phase of development, consisting of 215 homes, will begin soon in the Gracemount area of Edinburgh. Challenges 3.13 As part of the Scottish Government s Community Ownership programme, the Council developed proposals to transfer ownership of all of its housing stock to a newly formed RSL. This proposal aimed to transfer ownership of the houses to an independent tenant controlled organisation and allow the Council to write off the large historical debt it had accrued on its Housing Revenue Account (HRA). This would then have enabled the new landlord to release significant new resources for investment in its houses and to build new houses. The Council s tenants voted against the transfer in a ballot in 2005. Following the ballot result, the Council faced and continues to face significant challenges in achieving its objectives: 9
The Council s rents are the highest of any local authority in Scotland. It has increased rents in consultation with its tenants at levels significantly above inflation to fund necessary investment in its houses; Edinburgh s HRA debt is amongst the highest in Scotland and it uses a large proportion of its rental income from its tenants to service interest payments on this debt; Edinburgh faces significant pressure on its housing resources. It has 25,000 applicants registered as in housing need against its total stock of 20,000; and Edinburgh s housing need projections show that there is an estimated shortfall of around 15,800 affordable houses in the city. This year it plans to approve 465 new houses through its Affordable Housing Investment Programme and build 99 new Council houses. Key Facts 3.14 The table below presents a summary of key information for City of Edinburgh Council showing trends over the last three financial years. Key facts 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 Houses owned 22,154 20,412 20,139 No. of applicants on housing list as at 31 March 25,739 27,413 25,341 Employees (SfC) 3,361 3,327 3,209 HRA Gross Capital Expenditure (incl. Capital Funded from Revenue 35.2m 29.6m 36.4m (CFCR) Total possible rental income 64.6m 67.0m 69.3m % of Rental income from Housing Benefit (HB) 66% 66% 67% % of tenants in receipt of HB 56.5% 57.0% 53.5% % of rent arrears 7.5% 6.6% 6.0% Average weekly rent 61.57 60.16 63.59 Average rent increase 6.5% 6.7% 5.7% Houses re-let 2,501 1,953 1,817 Response repairs carried out 74,904 74,949 81,541 Maintenance spend per house incl. cost of service 692 844 869 Sources: s inspection submission and Scottish Government Statistical Bulletins 10
4. How well is delivering housing management? Grade In this section we set out our assessment of the Council s performance in delivering its housing management service for tenants. has achieved an A grade for housing management. This is an excellent performance. 4.1 Our assessment is that s housing management service has major strengths, with a small number of areas where improvement is needed. The Council works in a challenging context and has a strong track record of improvement over several years in its housing management services. This is also reflected in the consistently improving tenant satisfaction results it reports across its services. It works well to improve services in response to tenant feedback. The Council has an excellent awareness of its performance, a strong performance culture and we saw that it has plans to make further improvements. The Council was also highly responsive to our feedback during the inspection, including making a number of immediate improvements and acting quickly to begin other more complex changes, and this is an important factor in our grade assessment. 4.2 The Council has excellent access arrangements in place for people who want to apply for housing. It lets a large number of its available houses to homeless applicants and it lets a high overall proportion of its houses to people with housing need. Its integrated management of antisocial behaviour is excellent. It has a good approach to the management of its arrears. It is continually improving its performance in income maximisation and in the management of its estates. 4.3 The Council has some areas for improvement. It lacks transparency in some areas of its lettings and could improve its approach to allocating some of its houses. 11
Tenant satisfaction 4.4 The Council s annual neighbourhood survey results for the three years between 2007 to 2009 show: satisfaction with the neighbourhood as a place to live improved from 73.7% to 82.5%; dealing with anti-social behaviour improved from 47.4% to 60.3%; dealing with neighbour disputes and problems improved significantly from 53.8% to 88.5%; and dealing with vandalism and graffiti improved from 53.4% to 68.6%. Access to housing 4.5 The Council participates in and administers Edindex, a common housing register operating in partnership with 20 RSLs and housing co-operatives. Through Edindex, anyone aged 16 or over can register for social housing in Edinburgh by filling in a single application form. This is an excellent customer focused and efficient approach; previously, applicants would have been required to complete 21 different application forms. There were over 27,000 people registered on Edindex at 31March 2009 and over 99% of social housing lets in the city are made by landlords who operate within Edindex. 4.6 The Council provides information on how to register an application through Edindex in a comprehensive range of ways. Housing application forms can be downloaded from the Council s website and are available in alternative languages and formats on request. Applicants can also contact the Edindex Central Team and any of the Council or partner landlord offices, to obtain an application form and for information on how to apply. The Council provides home visits to help people complete a housing application and it has established a training framework in response to areas for improvement that it identified following a mystery shopping exercise in 2008. 4.7 The Council has identified that around 25% of applicants on its housing list consider themselves as having a learning or physical disability and that 7% of people on the list come from an ethnic minority background. The Council assists 12
visually impaired housing applicants and it is also contacting other applicants who require assistance with its bidding process. 4.8 The Council has a comprehensive web based electronic housing options guide with good information on a range of affordable housing options and on making a homeless application. The Council also plans to produce publicity material which will signpost people to other local housing providers. It includes a range of publicity information on other forms of tenure on its website and in its free weekly supplement. The Council has also recently established an online mutual exchange service to provide an alternative route for its tenants to move house. 4.9 The Council processes its housing applications quickly. It has a service standard that it will process Edindex applications within five working days of receiving them. By the end of November 2009 it reported that it had met this target in 98% of cases. This is an improvement on its 2008/09 performance of 88%. The Council has good quality assurance systems in place to ensure that it processes housing applications correctly. It conducts a range of sample checks of each officer s caseload every 6 weeks. The Council has recognised that it needs to improve the information that it provides in its acknowledgement letters to housing applicants and is progressing this. 4.10 The Council has a low level of suspensions from its housing list; in 2009/10 it suspended only two applicants, both for antisocial behaviour. The Council cancelled 5,970 or 22% of all housing applications on Edindex in 2008/09 which was a reduction of 7% from the previous year. The main reason for cancellations was due to applicants failing to respond to its annual review. The Council has a good approach to managing its housing application reviews and it conducts a rolling review of applications on the anniversary date. It sends out two letters to check if an applicant wants to stay on its housing list or to establish if there is a change in circumstances. It also carries out a series of comprehensive checks during the review before it cancels an application where there has been no response. 4.11 The Council gives people wishing to access social housing in Edinburgh increased choice. It participates in a Choice Based Lettings (CBL) Scheme, EH 13
Your Key to Choice, with 13 local RSLs and housing co-operatives. It advertises the availability of its houses weekly on the EH Your Key to Choice website in the local press and in a free supplement and its 2008 on-line survey indicated 97% of respondents felt the Key to Choice website was easy to use. Applicants can bid for up to three properties each week and the Council has improved its approach to publicising bidding results. 4.12 In summary, the Council has excellent access arrangements in place for people who want to apply for housing. Edindex is highly customer focused and well managed. The Council also provides comprehensive information to applicants on how to register an application and processes applications very quickly. The Council is good at managing its annual housing review process, suspends very few applicants and its CBL scheme increases choice for applicants. Lettings 4.13 The Council introduced its CBL in 2003 and has made incremental changes to its allocations policy since then. It has not conducted a complete review of its allocations policy since 2003. When we highlighted to the Council that a few areas of its policy did not fully comply with legislation, it responded quickly and issued revised guidance. The Council also plans to carry out a full review of its policy in consultation with its partners and stakeholders. It plans to report on the outcomes from this review by October 2010 and aims to ensure that all aspects of any new policy fully comply with legislation. This is a positive approach to improvement. 4.14 The Council currently awards two levels of priority to applicants according to their specific housing needs. It awards gold priority, the highest award, to people with a health need where their existing property is unsuitable and cannot be adapted. It awards a silver priority, the next highest award, to people who are: homeless and in priority need; living in overcrowded conditions; under-occupying larger houses; living in areas subject to demolition or regeneration; or in exceptional housing need. 14
4.15 These awards broadly correspond to the statutory reasonable preference categories of housing need. The Council told us that during its consultation on its allocations review it will invite comments on key issues such as overcrowding, under-occupation, homelessness and meeting health needs. 4.16 The Council lets a large proportion of its available houses to homeless applicants. In 2008/09 it let 60% of its available vacancies to these applicants and 61% between April and November 2009. This is an excellent contribution to delivering on Scottish Ministers target to abolish priority need by 2012. Of its other lets, 32% were to households within one of the Council s priority need categories. 4.17 The Council defines applicants as either a Starter (private rented sector tenants and anyone without secure accommodation including homeless people) or a Mover (council or RSL tenants and owner occupiers). Following our inspection of its services for homeless people in 2006, the Council introduced new guidance and procedures to assist its staff in determining which category of applicant they should advertise for and also how to obtain and record authorisation for these decisions. We saw that the Council did not always follow its own procedures but it took immediate action to ensure that staff followed appropriate recording and authorisation arrangements. 4.18 During our 2006 inspection, the Council agreed to review its policy of using age to determine an applicant s eligibility for a tenancy at a small number of its houses. We saw that it had not completed this review. However, the Council moved quickly and terminated its age restriction policy in May. The Council also operates long standing local lettings initiatives (LLI) in six villages. During the inspection the Council agreed to review its LLI s as part of its planned review of its allocation policy. 4.19 The Council purchased 19 properties in 2009 from a private development consortium for 2m. It had identified the need to provide properties for a pilot mid market rental scheme in Craigmillar as part of its positive strategy to achieve balanced communities. We found that the Council s approach to letting these properties was weak. In response to our findings, the Council immediately 15
commissioned an internal audit and it now plans to fully review its approach to allocating mid market rental properties by October 2010 as part of its allocations review. 4.20 We found that the Council could not always demonstrate clear audit trails to show how it selects and bypasses applicants for some of its houses and it did not always follow its quality assurance processes. The Council acted immediately to review its allocations audit and monitoring arrangements. 4.21 The Council has a central team which manages nominations and section 5 referrals to the 12 RSLs which do not participate in the CBL scheme. The Council s allocations policy states that it makes nominations to 25% of available RSL properties and section 5 referrals to 25% of available properties through Homelessness Duty Protocols. In practice, the Council makes more homeless nominations than it does section 5 referrals. While there is no guidance for staff to categorise which properties to select for nominations or section 5 referrals, the Council told us that its current arrangements work well. It also told us that between April and December 2009, 63% of the nominations it made resulted in lets to homeless applicants. 4.22 The Council has good monitoring and reporting arrangements in place to the Edindex Board to ensure that RSLs and Co-operatives are making an appropriate proportion of lets to homeless people. The Council reports a comprehensive range of allocations information at its monthly neighbourhood housing management meetings. While it does not report its performance beyond the neighbourhood level or to elected members, its Edindex Board receives more detailed performance information. 4.23 In summary, the Council achieves excellent results through its allocations and lets a large number of its available houses to homeless applicants. It works closely with its RSL partners to provide houses for homeless people. The Council has agreed to review its allocation policy and it acted quickly to address areas for improvement that we found in its processes. 16
Tenancies and neighbourhood management 4.24 The provision of good information and access to support are important ways in which a landlord can help to establish and sustain tenancies. The Council provides a comprehensive range of useful information to its tenants through its website, newsletters, articles in the Edinburgh Tenants Federation s Tenants Voice, TV screens in housing offices and a range of leaflets. 4.25 The Council provides all of its new tenants with a SST. However, we found it does not know how many of its tenants currently have a SST. In response to our findings, the Council immediately developed a plan to ensure all of its tenants are signed up. 4.26 We saw that the Council uses the SSST in accordance with legislation and has procedures in place to guide its staff. It told us that 33 of its tenants currently have a SSST. However, we saw that the Council s approach to monitoring its SSST cases could be improved. We saw that it did not always follow its own procedures and did not have an accurate record of the number of active SSSTs until a recent review. The Council responded well by introducing a number of improvements. 4.27 The Council supports new and vulnerable tenants to sustain their tenancies and prevent homelessness in a good range of ways. It uses a comprehensive tenancy sign-up process to give a range of information to new tenants. Also, the Council aims to visit new tenants within six weeks and it plans to begin monitoring its performance against this target by June 2010. It recently reviewed its approach to how it helps new tenants settle into their new home. This now includes a comprehensive checklist to highlight rent payment and tenancy management requirements along with a comprehensive assessment to check for any particular needs, including the need for an interpreter and any visual or hearing impairments. 4.28 We found this good and proactive approach links the new tenant visit with a good range of support services through the Neighbourhood Support Team (NST), the Young Persons Service (YPS) and the Housing Support and Inclusion Service 17
(HSIS). These provide a range of services to help tenants deal with establishing and sustaining their tenancy. 4.29 In 2008/09, 11.6% of the Council s tenancies were terminated. The rate at which the Council s houses become empty is above the national figure of 8.8%. The Council collects information on why people give up their tenancies and analyses this information to identify possible trends. It shows that of the tenants who terminated tenancies in 2008/09, 13% had been in their tenancy for one year or less. A reducing number of the Council s tenants abandon their tenancies. 4.30 The Council issued 1,162 Notice of Proceedings for Possession (NOPs) in 2008/09, of which 1,160 were for rent arrears and 2 were for antisocial behaviour. This is a small increase from 2007/08 when it issued 1,098 NOPs. We also found an increasing trend in the number of tenants evicted by the Council from 28 in 2006/07 to 51 in 2008/09. The Council recovered vacant possession of 0.25% of its tenancies in 2008/09 which is less than the national figure of 0.29%. 4.31 We saw that the Council showed good awareness and anticipated a rise in its NOPs and evictions following an audit and review of its approach to arrears management. It uses eviction as a last resort as it promotes its income maximisation service well and uses a comprehensive pre eviction checklist to ensure it has followed its procedures before it authorises an eviction. The Council also refers tenants to independent debt advice and information services at all stages of the process. More recent figures show that the Council has reduced the number of NOPs it has issued to 865 and the number of evictions to 34. 4.32 The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004, places a duty upon local authorities and Chief Constables to prepare a joint antisocial behaviour strategy. The Edinburgh Community Safety Partnership is the community planning body responsible for providing a strategic lead in this area. Chaired by the Convenor of the Health, Housing and Social Care Committee it brings together a wide range of senior representatives together from Council, Police, Fire and Rescue, NHS and the Voluntary Sector. 18
4.33 The Council s ASB strategy, published in 2005, sets out a multi-agency approach to dealing with antisocial behaviour. It has developed an effective working relationship with its community planning partners in monitoring and evaluating the strategy. The Council and its partners are currently reviewing the strategy; we saw a good range of consultation events involving partner organisations and individuals to inform the priorities and the way forward for the 2010/13 strategy. 4.34 The Council s 2007 restructure and development of Services for Communities (SfC) initiated an integrated service approach to dealing with antisocial behaviour through six locally based community safety teams. The teams work in partnership with the neighbourhood action units of Lothian and Borders Police and where possible are co-located. We found each area has regular Tasking and Coordinating Group (TACG ) meetings with staff from SfC, Police, Fire and Children and Families. These groups discuss a monthly report that looks at patterns of ASB and crime, including information on repeat offenders, hotspot areas and emerging trends. The group also plans and records actions on an individual case level and also for community wide events and campaigns. This is an excellent approach to using partnership working to target resources where they are most needed. 4.35 The Council reports a steady decrease in the number of antisocial complaints from 4708 in 2006/07 to 4010 in 2008/09. This positive trend is complemented by the increases in tenant satisfaction with how the Council deals with antisocial behaviour and neighbour nuisance. 4.36 The Council s approach to managing antisocial behaviour is excellent. It uses a comprehensive set of procedures and case management protocols. These link the Prevention, Intervention, Enforcement and Rehabilitation (PIER) approach it adopted in 2002 with its strategies for antisocial behaviour, hate crime, youth, alcohol, drugs and homelessness. We found the Council: categorises ASB cases appropriately within its timescales; escalates cases appropriately, using a range of case management; methods including warnings, Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs), mediation and the use of SSSTs; 19
maintains a good record of actions and contact in most cases; and uses feedback received from its service users. 4.37 Feedback we received from RSLs in Edinburgh also highlights the Council s willingness to engage and support other organisations within its neighbourhoods to deal with antisocial behaviour. It uses consultation, joint training and regular local contact to ensure effective input into the overall strategy and provides assistance for individual cases. 4.38 The Council has an integrated approach to neighbourhood management. We found that the locally based teams of Estate Management, Environmental and Community Safety staff provide and manage a range of services including concierge, warden, open space, cleanliness, graffiti and vandalism. 4.39 We found the condition of the Council s estates to be improving. The Council s annual neighbourhood survey results since 2007 indicate that tenants who responded to the survey are increasingly satisfied with their neighbourhood as a place to live. We saw the Council has a good approach in engaging with its tenants and communities through regular estate walkabouts that involve a range of services, and providing feedback by developing its database to track the actions raised. 4.40 The Council is focused on improving standards and ensuring a consistent management approach across the City. Its Estates Quality Action Group (QAG) has been central to the Council introducing a number of significant improvements including: a review of policies and procedures complemented with new web based process maps; a new training matrix that will identify gaps in knowledge and form the basis of a staff training programme; a review of service standards and their inclusion into the performance management framework in 2010/11; an audit framework to review service delivery and promote consistent practice; and better budget control and communication with the central teams. 20
4.41 We found the Council has been proactive in managing its communal close areas by establishing a stair cleaning service. It worked with Edinburgh Tenants Federation to develop service standards and to select contractors. The Council has a well established customer satisfaction feedback and complaints procedure for this service and it reports 98% satisfaction levels. 4.42 The Council also works well with its tenants and has developed and approved over 100 neighbourhood environmental projects. Examples include the closing of chute rooms and bin stores, the introduction of a recycling area and fencing and garage forecourt refurbishment. 4.43 In summary, the Council s integrated management of antisocial behaviour is excellent. It provides a good range of information and services to help support and sustain tenancies and it uses eviction as a last resort. It has made significant improvements to its estate management that are raising standards on its estates and this is reflected in its consistently improving tenant satisfaction results. The Council also has a good approach to engaging with its tenants and communities through regular estate walkabouts. Its approach to ensuring that all its tenants have signed an SST is underdeveloped. Income maximisation 4.44 The Council provides a wide range of ways for tenants to pay their rent. It issues a rent statement four times a year to ensure that its tenants have clear and accurate rent account information. 4.45 The table below summarises the Council s reported performance in collecting rent. 21
Current tenant arrears as % of net rent due % of current tenants in serious arrears Total former tenant arrears ( ) Rent arrears written off ( ) 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 Council National Council 7.5% 6.7% 6.6% Source: Audit Scotland s published performance indicators National 6.0% Council National 6.0% 6.1% 5.0% 4.4% 4.7% 4.2% 4.6% 4.4% 2.4m 2.2m 1.6m 0.9m 0.8m 0.8m 4.46 The Council s performance in collecting rent shows an improving trend over the last three years. The percentage of current tenant arrears has reduced from 7.5% in 2006/07 to 6.0% in 2008/09 which is just below the national figure of 6.1% in 2008/09. The level of current tenants in serious arrears shows a similar improving trend reducing from 5.0% in 2006/07 to 4.6% in 2008/09 which is just above the national figure of 4.4% for 2008/09. 4.47 The Council has a good and improving approach to the management of its arrears. The rent collection strategy promotes good strategic and operational management that incorporates effective prevention and control. The Council has clear service objectives and service standards. Its rent arrears QAG monitors performance, encourages good practice and improvement. It also has a key role in the challenging approach to local target setting for current arrears which is helping to drive the consistent improving performance. We also found this good approach has reduced the number of tenancies terminating with arrears. 4.48 We found the Council s approach to arrears management includes several positive features: a consistent approach across its offices; early and sustained contact with tenants when they get into arrears; good monitoring and follow up if arrangements are not maintained; appropriate escalation of action; comprehensive pre court action and pre eviction action checklists; 22
referrals to a range of internal and external advice and information services; and an ongoing impact analysis of the income maximisation service, including information on referrals made and the outcomes. The Council could improve further by consistently recording financial assessments to ensure that repayment arrangements are always affordable. 4.49 The Council has good procedures and demonstrates an improving performance for the collection of former tenants rent arrears and debt write off. We found its former tenant arrears has reduced by 25% in the last three years from 2.4m in 2006/07 to 1.6m in 2008/09, while the debt write off has reduced from 0.87m to 0.82m over the same period. 4.50 The table below summarises the Council s reported performance in letting houses that have become empty. 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 Council National Council National Council* National Turnover (no. of new vacancies as % of 14.5% 9.5% 12.1% 9.0% 11.6% 8.8% total dwellings) Total no. of re-lets 2,544 n/a 2,187 n/a 1,869 n/a % of dwellings that were not low demand 58.8% 47.7% 70.8% 49.5% 64.7% 53.4% re-let within 4 weeks Average time (days) to re-let houses that are not low demand 37 days 51 days 31 days 44 days 31 days 41 days % of total annual rental due lost due to voids 1.3% 1.9% 0.9% 1.7% 0.7% 1.4% Source: Audit Scotland s published performance indicators 4.51 The Council lost 0.7% of its total rental income in 2008/09 because of its empty houses. This improving year on year performance is better than the national figure of 1.4%. 4.52 The Council s average time to re-let its not low demand empty houses has reduced from 37 days in 2006/7 to 31 days in 2008/09. This improving performance is below the national figure of 41 days. The Council told us that its 23
performance at 31 st March 2010 was 30 days, which is slightly above its 29 day target set for 2009/10. 4.53 The Council has been working well to improve its performance in letting empty houses quickly through its CBL, re-let standard and preferred utility suppliers. Further improvements are planned with the introduction of local targets, an improved audit framework, better monitoring and staff training to address areas of improvement highlighted by its current audit process. However, we found it had not yet completed an analysis of its empty house process to identify delays. 4.54 In 2008/09 the Council classified 111 or 5.9% of re-lets as low demand. The Council has significantly improved its performance in letting these properties from 76 days in 2006/7 to 49 days at February 2010. 4.55 We found the Council does not yet have a consistent approach to deal with its low demand properties. The Council responded well to our findings by updating its empty house improvement plan to include: a review of the empty house process from termination to re-let due to be finished by November 2010; the development of a revised strategic framework to analyse refusal reasons; using its analysis of refusal reasons to inform actions and reduce the time its houses are empty; and develop a core induction pack and training programme for staff in empty homes management with links to joint training with other functional areas. 4.56 In summary, the Council has a good approach to arrears management and its performance in collecting rent shows an improving trend. It is reducing the amount of rent it loses when its houses are empty. The Council is delivering improvements in its management of its empty houses and responded well to our findings by committing to make further improvements. 24
5. How well is managing its assets and delivering repairs? Grade In this section we set out our assessment the Council s performance in managing its housing assets and in delivering a repairs service for tenants. has achieved a B grade for asset management and repairs. This is a good performance. 5.1 Our assessment is that s performance in asset management and repairs has many strengths, but set against these are some weaknesses. The Council faced significant challenges following the rejection of its stock transfer plans by its tenants. While it has a performance management framework in place, we found some areas where it was less aware of its performance and where it needed to make improvements. The Council was highly responsive to our feedback during the inspection, including making a number of immediate improvements and acting quickly to begin other more complex changes. This is an important factor in our grade assessment. 5.2 The Council is good at delivering its investment programme and it has completed extensive consultation with its tenants on its investment plans. Its repairs service is highly accessible, with an excellent appointment system, and it reports significant increases in tenant satisfaction with responsive repairs and in the time it takes to complete repairs. The Council is meeting its statutory responsibility on gas safety for all but a very small number of its houses. It has responded strongly to meeting the need for new affordable housing with innovative development plans and has an excellent community engagement framework. The Council is improving its approach to getting better value for money in its procurement. 5.3 The Council s asset management and investment plans require some further development and it has some risks in its approach to ensuring it achieves the SHQS for its houses. Its reported performance for its responsive repairs service is not fully reliable and its management of post inspections is weak. The Council has been slow to comply with its statutory duties in relation to managing 25
asbestos and is not fully complying with its responsibilities under the Right to Repair legislation. Tenant satisfaction 5.4 The Council s annual neighbourhood survey results for the three years between 2007 to 2009 show: satisfaction with repairs improved from 58% to 87%; and satisfaction with improvements to homes improved from 52% to 89%. 5.5 We saw that the Council s responsive repairs telephone survey reports that 91% of tenants who responded were satisfied with its repairs service. Its survey does not include questions on the ease of reporting repairs and the accessibility of the repairs service although the Council had already agreed to include these as part of its current repairs satisfaction survey review. 5.6 Tenants that we contacted during the inspection expressed more mixed views; more positive on the speed of repairs but more negative on the quality of completed repairs. The Council has recently recruited service reviewers to provide feedback on their experience and to gather suggestions for improving the repairs service. Asset management strategy and planning 5.7 The Council does not have a documented asset management strategy that outlines its objectives and targets for how it will manage its property assets. It has developed a draft asset management strategy although we saw that this lacks a clear framework for effective strategic planning. In response to our findings, the Council committed to review its current strategy by August 2010. 5.8 The Council outlines its existing housing investment and development needs and priorities in its Housing Investment Plan, which is effectively the Council s Standard Delivery Plan (SDP) and in its Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP). The Council has received positive feedback from the Scottish Government on its SHIP. Its strategic aims are set out in the City Housing Strategy, which the Council is now reviewing in consultation with stakeholders. Strategic objectives are also set out in the Homelessness Strategy and Private 26
Housing Strategy. The Council s key priorities are to increase the supply of affordable housing and to find new solutions to improve the quality of housing across all tenures. It is aware of the key challenges which it faces to increase the supply of affordable houses and to fund the investment required to bring its houses up to the SHQS by 2015. 5.9 The Council has carried out a good range of research of housing need and demand although it has not yet fully applied this, along with other relevant data, into its asset management strategy. It has used its research when developing its plans for new housing and also for decisions relating to sustainability of its low demand stock. The Council has also used options appraisals resulting in decisions to demolish its low demand stock. We saw that its demolition programme is progressing well. 5.10 The Council considers requests for aids and adaptations on a demand led basis. It sets a target of 6 months for completing more major adaptations and it reports that it completes the majority of installations within 3 months. We saw that its policy on installing wet floor showers could be improved. 5.11 Following the rejection of the Council s stock transfer proposals by its tenants in 2006, the Council reviewed its investment plans to take account of its challenging financial position. It produced a new Housing Investment Plan in 2008, after extensive consultation with its tenants to determine its housing investment needs and priorities. The plan contains programmes of investment and major works and the Council is aware that further work is required to develop its plans, particularly to determine all of its necessary SHQS programmes. 5.12 The Council uses a property database that covers all SHQS elements. The database contains data drawn from records of its historical investment works which has been independently validated by its consultants. The database also holds cloned data from its limited survey stock condition information. At the time of our inspection, the Council was mainly using data from its 10% sample survey from 2000. The Council is aware that its survey data could be improved and it has plans to complete new surveys on tenements, low rise common parts and all multi-storey common parts this year. During our inspection and in response to 27