Agenda item

This report will follow in supplementary papers after it has been published for the meeting of the Executive Committee (due for publication on Friday 28 August 2026).

The Committee considered the combined report on Housing Performance and the Housing Improvement Plan for Quarter 1 2026/27. Officers explained that the two reports were previously considered separately but had been merged as performance and improvement activity within Housing were closely connected. The new format also included additional operational measures, including voids, tenancy audits, rental income and information collected to understand tenants’ needs.

Improvements in performance were reported around building safety and compliance across gas, asbestos, water, and communal electrical safety. Standard void performance was stated to be within the upper quartile nationally. Complaint-handling had continued to improve and the tenancy audits were included now to strengthen the Council’s understanding of tenants’ needs and tailor services accordingly.

Repairs performance continued to improve but two key Housing Property Services vacancies had affected capacity during quarters one and two of this year. It was confirmed that Property Services Manager and Business Support Manager had now been recruited to and had started in their roles. The number of outstanding fire remedial actions had continued to reduce, with a second contractor having been engaged and an additional £1 million had been provided for fire compartmentation works. The dedicated damp and mould team was approaching its first anniversary and was reported to be performing strongly, although difficulties with gaining access to some properties, particularly where multi-stage treatments were required, had affected the Council’s performance in this area. However, joint working was undertaken with the Tenancy Team to ensure that access issues were being resolved.

Officers summarised that of the Housing Improvement Plan actions, 30 had now been completed, 48 were on track for completion within timescales and 6 were behind schedule.

A Member referred to concerns raised by the Budget Scrutiny Working Group about performance in Housing, having reviewed the most recent quarterly corporate performance and financial monitoring reports. The Member explained that Housing performance appeared to be an area of concern in those reports, including in relation to measures such as households with children in temporary accommodation, complaint response times, repairs, vacancies, income collection, and legal costs within Housing.

Officers responded that in terms of the number of households with children that were in temporary accommodation, the figure for Redditch was 26 households which compared with other districts in Worcestershire as follows: 45 in Bromsgrove, 37 in Worcester City, 23 in Wychavon and 47 in Wyre Forest. The only outlier was Malvern Hills where the number was 6. It was stated that it was rare for the Council to have families with children in bed and breakfast accommodation and in Redditch there were no families with children who had remained in bed-and-breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks, which was a positive outcome. In terms of homelessness prevention, the Council also performed well regionally in terms of homelessness prevention and meeting the relief duty.

The reported increase in legal expenditure relating to tenants approaching solicitors over housing conditions was discussed. As the relevant performance and financial reports were not before the housing officers, Members considered that detailed responses should be prepared after the report and questions raised at Budget Scrutiny had been reviewed by officers. It was agreed that Housing officers would liaise with the officers responsible for the corporate performance and financial monitoring reports and provide responses to the housing questions raised by the Budget Scrutiny Working Group, including the reported legal costs.

Members questioned the timing and effect of staffing restructures. Officers explained that tenancy management, rent collection and homelessness service reviews had taken place during 2025 and were implemented in January 2026. Only one post had been removed and additional posts had been created, including a new tenancy-sustainment team. Recruitment difficulties arose where staff left following regrading and where the Council’s pay position was temporarily less competitive than that of housing associations. It was noted that some vacancies, for example in Homelessness, remained difficult to fill and the use of career-graded posts depended on having experienced staff available to supervise. Further, Housing Property Services experienced some turnover among skilled trades and used agency staff where necessary.

The Committee considered repairs and voids. Members highlighted a reported average of 164 days for capital voids against a target of 56 days. Officers explained that voids were classified as ‘capital’ where two or more major components of a house/apartment required replacement, for example kitchens, bathrooms, roofs, windows or doors. It was stated that performance from the original contractor had been unsatisfactory in this area, so the Council had appointed a second contractor and had also been implementing an improvement plan. It was highlighted that performance was better, by contrast, in day-to-day voids, which were being completed in approximately 29 days on average, and was described as an upper-quartile performance in the social housing sector. Members returned to capital voids which represented homes unavailable to housing applicants and thus required action to ensure more housing was freed up.

The drop in performance relating to the percentage of emergency damp and mould hazards made safe within 24 hours was also highlighted, with performance having fallen from 100 per cent in quarter four 2025/26 to 71 per cent in quarter one 2026/27. Officers stated that reported cases were triaged to assess severity and that serious category-one hazards could trigger a decant. The principal cause of missed timescales in this area was the inability to gain access despite the issue having been reported. The service had sufficient operational capacity but relied on tenants allowing access. It was highlighted that tenancy officers worked with households to understand the causes of tenants refusing access and to resolve any barriers. Members requested that they be provided with more detailed breakdown of causes underlying a drop in performance, what improvement action is being taken, and how performance would be measured.

Measures relating to anti-social behaviour, rent arrears and the effect of vacant posts on performance within the Housing team were also discussed. Members also asked about the Strategic Housing Improvement Group. Officers confirmed that the Strategic Housing Improvement Group continued to meet, attended by senior officers and the relevant Members, in particular the Portfolio Holder for Housing. It was agreed that consideration would be given to sharing minutes and/or appropriate update information from the Strategic Housing Improvement Group with the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Further actions were agreed by Members which included a request for a more detailed narrative on each measure within the Housing Performance and Improvement Plan reports, having narrative to describe any measures where deteriorations in performance are experienced, root causes, remedial action, responsible officers, with data reconciled across performance monitoring and finance monitoring reports and the specific quarterly housing reports.

It was also agreed that Housing Officers would be invited to the Budget Scrutiny Working Group meeting when the quarter two performance monitoring report would be considered, so that of the Housing data could be explained and any inconsistencies between specific Housing and Performance Monitoring reports resolved.

The report recommendations were endorsed as printed.

RECOMMENDED that

1)    The Council’s Quarter 1 2026/27 Housing Performance be noted.

2)    The Housing Improvement Plan Quarter 1 2026/27 Update be noted.