Housing performance report

Quarter 4 and end of year 2023/24

This report provides updates on performance indicators covering a wide range of Housing services. There continue to be areas of strong performance, with 11 indicators on target and an improvement in 16 of the indicators. However, some delivery challenges remain. The report covers Quarter 4 (Q4) of the 2023/24 financial year alongside end of year results and uses red, amber and green ratings, as well as trend arrows. Commentary has been included for all indicators which are red.

The ratings and trends for Quarter 4 are as follows:

	Green – on target (11 indicators)		Improved since last time (16 indicators)
	Amber – near target (6 indicators)		Same as last time (2 indicator)
	Red – off target (10 indicators)		Poorer than last time (9 indicators)

The ratings and trends for the 2023/24 financial yearare as follows:

	Green – on target (10 indicators)		Improved since last time (13 indicators)
	Amber – near target (9 indicators)		Same as last time (4 indicators)
	Red – off target (8 indicators)		Poorer than last time (10 indicators)

Contents – performance areas	Page
Customer Feedback – all Housing Services
Compliments received	7
Stage 1 complaints	7
Stage 2 complaints	7
Private Sector Housing
Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licensing	8
Property inspections completed	8
Requests for assistance (RFAs)	8-9
Private sector empty homes returned to use	9
Housing major adaptations – private sector and council
Time to approve applications	10
Time to complete works	10
Housing options and homelessness
Homelessness preventions	11
Homelessness acceptances	11
Social housing waiting list	11
Rough sleepers	12
Temporary and emergency accommodation
Households	12
Rent collected	13
Empty homes	13
Gas safety compliance (Seaside Homes)	13
Council housing supply
Additional council homes	14
Other additional affordable homes	15
Council home buy backs	16
Council housing stock	17
Right to Buy sales	17
Council housing management
Rent collected	18
Universal Credit	18
Tenants evicted	18
Anti-social behaviour (ASB)	19
Calls answered (Housing Customer Services)	19
Tenancies sustained	19
Council housing – empty homes
Re-let times	20
Empty homes (snapshot figures)	20
Council housing repairs and maintenance
Repairs completed in time	21
Satisfaction with completed repairs	22
Calls answered (Repairs Helpdesk)	22
Council housing investment and asset management
Decent Homes Standard	23
Energy efficiency rating of council homes	23
Gas safety compliance (council homes)	23
Lift breakdowns	23
Leaseholder disputes	24

		Customer feedback – all Housing services		Target	Q3 2023/24	Q4 2023/24	Status against target	Trend since Q3		2022/23	2023/24	Status against target	Trend since 2022/23
1.1			Compliments received from customers	Info	74	69	n/a		n/a	486	322	n/a	n/a
1.2			Stage one complaints responded to within 10 working days	80%	83% (161 of 195)	81% (163 of 202)				79% (571 of 726)	80% (713 of 891)
1.3	Stage one complaints upheld			Info	60% (117 of 195)	59% (120 of 202)	n/a		n/a	43% (314 of 726)	52% (474 of 891)	n/a	n/a
1.4	Stage two complaints upheld			18%	35% (14 of 40)	34% (12 of 35)				38% (32 of 85)	40% (52 of 130)
During Q4, 12 stage two complaints were upheld or partly upheld following investigation by the corporate Customer Feedback team, after they were escalated following the stage one response from Housing. The top categories for the 35 stage two complaints were: 11 (31%) due to delays completing repairs/works, and 5 (14%) due to appointments not being kept and 4 (14%) unhappiness with service delivery. The top categories for the 12 upheld or partly upheld stage two complaints were: 5 (42%) due to delays completing repairs/works and 2 (17%) due to appointments not being kept and 2 due to repairs not (initially) raised (17%).

		Private sector housing	Target	Q3 2023/24	Q4 2023/24		Status against target		Trend since Q3		2022/23		2023/24		Status against target		Trend since 2022/23
2.1	Total fully licensed Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs)		Info	1,555		1,733		n/a		n/a		1,335		1,733		n/a		n/a
2.2	Corporate KPI: HMOs where all special conditions have been met (for licences issued over 12 months ago)		76%	73.83% (1,856 of 2,514)		73.31% (1,936 of 2,641)						66.43% (1,490 of 2,243)		73.31% (1,936 of 2,641)
The indicator above measures cases where the council has verified that works required via special conditions have been completed. This still includes HMOs covered by the additional licensing scheme which ended in February 2023, as the Private Sector Housing service are able to check conditions that were set as part of this scheme and will continue to do so to ensure that these properties are well managed and maintained.
2.3	Requests for assistance received (RFAs)		Info	184		143		n/a		n/a		775		638		n/a		n/a
Request for assistance top categories during Q4 were 55 (38%) dampness and 40 (28%) disrepair.
2.4	Property inspections completed		Info	265		187		n/a		n/a		-		944		n/a		n/a
2.5	… of which RFA inspections		Info	78		50		n/a		n/a		-		239		n/a		n/a
2.6	… of which HMO licence inspections		Info	187		137		n/a		n/a		-		705		n/a		n/a
2.7	RFA cases closed		Info	209		94		n/a		n/a		-		486		n/a		n/a
2.8	Properties with Category 1 and 2 hazards resolved through informal action (closed RFAs)		Info	98% (56 of 57)		88% (23 of 26)		n/a		n/a		-		93% (121 of 130)		n/a		n/a
2.9	Properties with Category 1 and 2 hazards resolved through formal action (closed RFAs)		Info	2% (1 of 57)		12% (3 of 26)		n/a		n/a		-		7% (9 of 130)		n/a		n/a
2.10	Private sector vacant dwellings returned into occupation during the year to date (dwellings which had been empty for more than two years)		35 for Q4	27		28						57		28

		Housing adaptations		Target	Q3 2023/24	Q4 2023/24	Status against target	Trend since Q3	2022/23	2023/24	Status against target	Trend since 2022/23
3.1	Private sector housing – average weeks taken to approve Disabled Facilities Grant applications		10		16.1	15.4			17.4	16.9
3.2	Private sector housing – average weeks taken for contractor to complete major adaptations		Info		28.3	33.9	n/a	n/a	37.0	33.9	n/a	n/a
3.3	Council housing – average weeks taken to approve applications for major adaptations		10		9.2	9.1			14.4	11.0
3.4	Council housing – average weeks taken for contractor to complete major adaptations		Info		13.7	14.9	n/a	n/a	21.1	15.3	n/a	n/a
The amber threshold for the two targeted indicators above is set at 26 weeks based on historic guidance timescales, with the target of 10 weeks reflecting revised guidance timescales.

		Housing options and homelessness	Target	Q3 2023/24		Q4 2023/24		Status against target		Trend since Q3		2022/23	2023/24	Status against target	Trend since 2022/23
4.1	Corporate KPI: Homelessness cases presenting during the prevention duty stage		45%		34.49% (139 of 403)		29.64% (99 of 334)					38.73% (603 of 1,557)	39.73% (689 of 1,734)
The target for 2023/24 has been set at 45%. This is a progression target working over a two-year period, aiming for 45% by the end of 2024 and 50% for the end of 2025. Although this target is challenging, work continues to increase the proportion of homelessness cases presenting during the prevention duty stage. A number of workshops and sessions were held with various partners during 2023/24, including the Social Prescriber Network, stakeholders working with refugee and migrants and partners working in health. A further workshop is being held in Q1 2024/25 at a conference organised by JustLife to promote the council’s prevention work. The new Housing Advice & Triage team went live from 8 January 2024 and is responsible for managing all contact into the homelessness service as well as quickly and effectively triaging people who are homeless on the day they present to the council. Further to this, existing processes within the Homelessness Prevention Team have been reviewed. A new stage has been introduced to provide customers with greater information and advice at an earlier point in their journey. The review of the Council’s Housing Allocations Policy was presented to and approved by Housing & New Homes Committee on 24th January 2024. Following the committee decision, a consultation on the proposals is running from February to May 2024. One proposed change is aimed at encouraging households who are at risk of homelessness to access our services earlier on, to support this objective and our overall prevention work. The Homelessness & Housing Options service now has its service plan, outlining the changes it will be making in the coming two years, as well as its wider performance management framework, which includes a dashboard of performance indicators to better monitor and respond to service performance.
4.2	Corporate KPI: Homelessness prevention cases closed with a successful prevention outcome		55%		64.40% (123 of 191)		63.45% (92 of 145)					55.69% (274 of 492)	65.40% (482 of 737)
4.3	New households with a full housing duty accepted		Info		105		101		n/a		n/a	516	452	n/a	n/a
4.4	Number of households on the housing register		Info		7,637		7,585		n/a		n/a	7,691	7,585	n/a	n/a

The November 2020 figure above used a blended methodology of an estimate with a spotlight count, due to the national Covid lockdown at the time. Please note that estimates have only been carried out at times when counts have not been.

		Temporary accommodation (including emergency accommodation)		Target	Q3 2023/24	Q4 2023/24	Status against target	Trend since Q3		2022/23	2023/24	Status against target	Trend since 2022/23
5.1	Corporate KPI: Total households in temporary accommodation		1,472		1,730	1,770				1,715	1,770
The end year target of 1,472 is a challenging one which has been set to meet financial savings and requires coordination accross Housing and other council services. Key to this is reducing the number of households going into temporary accommodation through preventing homelessness (please see the indicators on items 4.1 and 4.2 on the previous page) and finding suitable longer term accommodation to move households into from temporary accommodation, such as social and private sector rented housing. However, this performance is in the context of there now being more households in temporary accommodation nationally than there has ever been before, which is largely due to factors outside the control of the local authority (such as the cost of living making the private rented sector less affordable, and also smaller due to many landlords selling their properties due to increasing mortgage costs). The impact of this is now starting to show in Brighton & Hove, with temporary accommodation numbers increasing, rather than remaining relatively static. The Temporary Accommodation Reduction Strategy continues to drive action, which has helped to mitigate the impact of the unprecedented levels of demand. The Private Rented Sector Offer Policy has been approved by Housing & New Homes Committee and now provides an avenue to discharge duty into the private rented sector. Targeted action is being undertaken to assist long-term occupants of temporary acommpdation to bid on the housing register and the council also working with private sector landlords to convert leased and block booked accommodation into a direct tenancies.
5.2	Rent collected for emergency accommodation		95%		89.82% (£2.42m of £2.69m)	90.43% (£3.35m of £3.71m)				96.43%	90.43% (£3.35m of £3.71m)
5.3	Rent collected for leased properties		95%		97.21% (£4.49m of £4.62)	98.55% (£5.98m of £6.07m)				92.71%	98.55% (£5.98m of £6.07m)
5.4	Rent collected for Seaside Homes		95%		97.32% (£3.99m of £4.10m)	97.97% (£5.29m of £5.40m)				92.76%	97.97% (£5.29m of £5.40m)
The three indicators above cover the financial year to date, and their methodology has been revised for 2023/24 due to the development of a new reporting system developed in consultation with Finance and the Corporate Debt Board, to align with other income collection indicators used across the council. This methodology excludes rent loss from voids but factors in changes to the amount of rent arrears over time. Rent collection for emergency accommodation tends to be more challenging to collect than for other types of accommodation, because the placements are shorter-term than for other types of accommodation, with income from Housing Benefit often coming in several weeks after the placement started, due to the time taken to process the claim.
5.5	Void temporary accommodation dwellings		For info		44	63	n/a		n/a	68	63	n/a	n/a
Three were 63 void emergency and temporary accommodation dwellings at the end of March 2024, excluding 34 voids that were with the Empty Homes Team for works.
5.6	Seaside Homes properties with a valid Landlord’s Gas Safety Record		100%		99.60% (492 of 494)	100.00% (494 of 494)				99.39% (491 of 494)	100.00% (494 of 494)

6.3 Council housing – buy backs (Home Purchase, NSAP, RSAP and LAHF)

Buy backs by application date	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22	2022/23	2023/24	Total
Total applications	5	53	87	156	155	94	110	660
… of which became purchases	2	32	53	91	82	53	30	343
… of which rejected by either party	3	21	34	65	72	38	18	251
… of which outcome pending	0	0	0	0	1	3	62	66

Completed buy backs by rent level	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22	2022/23	2023/24	Total
Completed purchases	1	13	43	65	89	70	62	343
... general needs social rent	0	0	1	4	0	2	0	7
… general needs 27.5% Living Wage	0	0	5	17	21	11	11	65
… general needs 37.5% Living Wage	1	5	24	15	42	39	26	152
… general needs at LHA rates	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	8
… temporary housing at LHA rates	0	8	13	29	26	18	17	111

Summary of all buy backs since start of programmes, September 2017

Total purchases	Social rent	27.5% LWR	37.5% LWR	LHA rate	No. rent reserve applied	Total rent reserve applied	Net modelled subsidy (surplus) over all properties to date (£)
343	7	65	152	119	60 *	£2.649m **	(£0.891m)

* Of the 168 purchases following Housing Committee decision to use rent reserve to keep rents as low as possible

** Applied up to 31 March 2024 – this leaves £0.611m to be carried forward to 2024/25 to be used against the future programme.

		Council housing – new supply	Q3 2023/24	Q4 2023/24	2022/23	2023/24
6.4	Additional council homes		18	112	111	286
6.5	… at Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rents		33% (6 of 18)	11% (12 of 112)	41% (46 of 111)	9% (25 of 286)
6.6	… at 37.5% Living Wage rents		44% (8 of 18)	5% (5 of 112)	48% (53 of 111)	10% (26 of 286)
6.7	… at 27.5% Living Wage rents		17% (3 of 18)	5% (5 of 112)	10% (11 of 111)	4% (11 of 286)
6.8	… at social rents		6% (1 of 18)	80% (90 of 112)	1% (1 of 111)	78% (224 of 286)

		Council housing – stock	Q3 2023/24	Q4 2023/24	2022/23	2023/24
7.1	Stock additions from new supply (excluding Kubic Apartments and one block at Denman Place*)		18	112	111	207
7.2	Other stock additions (acquisitions from housing associations which already had tenants)		0	15	0	31
7.3	Council homes sold through the Right to Buy		2	3	38	18
7.4	Net change in the number of council homes		+16	+124	+73	+220
7.5	Total council owned homes		11,915	12,039	11,819	12,039
*The end of year 2023/24 stock figure of 12,039 has been aligned with the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) stock reconcilation carried out by Finance for the council’s annual Statement of Accounts, which does not yet include 79 of the 286 additional council homes counted in the previous table (38 at Kubic Apartments and 41 at one of the blocks at Denman Place). This is because while this new supply had been achieved during 2023/24 from a development perspective, these new build properties were not quite at a stage where they could be counted as part of stock for the purpose of valuations. The council owned dwelling stock of 12,039 includes 10,946 general needs, 895 seniors housing and 198 temporary housing.

		Council housing – tenancy management		Target	Q3 2023/24	Q4 2023/24	Status against target	Trend since Q3	2022/23	2023/24	Status against target	Trend since 2022/23
8.1	Corporate KPI: Rent collected from current council tenants			95.36%	93.63% (£61.0m of £65.2.m)	93.46% (£60.1m of £65.1m)			94.02% (£55.1m of £58.6m)	93.46% (£60.1m of £65.1m)
The methodology for the indicator above excludes rent loss from voids but factors in changes to the amount of rent arrears over time. The Q3 collection rate is a forecast for the 2023/24 financial year and the Q4 rate is the actual result. Although there was a decline in the rent collection rate of 1.64 percentage points over the course of the 2022/23 financial year performance is now stabilising, as the decrease during 2023/24 was lower at 0.56 percentage points. Performance was particularly impacted by staff vacancies in the Income Management team earlier in the year, which have now been resolved. The impact of Universal Credit (UC) on tenants’ incomes remains a challenge. At the end of March 2024, 30% of households are known to be in receipt of UC. The team are newly able to report this using the UC Verification Portal from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as the data source, and new indicator(s) about UC will be developed for this report going forward. Of the households on UC, 57% have their rent paid directly to the council because they are in arrears, of these 14% are in significant arrears. An increasing number of claimants are migrating on to UC from legacy benefits. The DWP have confirmed that migration will resume in Brighton and Hove in February 2024. This is expected to have an impact on at least 800 households over the coming months. This will automatically increase arrears, as UC claimants are generally paid five weeks in arrears. The 2024/25 financial year will contain 53 Mondays, and therefore rent weeks, rather than the 52 covered by UC in a given year (UC is calculated this way because it is paid monthly). This will lead to a shortfall of one week’s worth of UC payments for all tenants on UC, this will also impact on arrears. The service resumed serving Notices of Seeking Possession for rent arrears in January 2023 and as of February 2024 has resumed enforcement action through the courts where this and other interventions have failed. During the Notice period there is an emphasis on support, including face-to-face contact such as home visits. Many procedural changes introduced over the last year place a greater emphasis on early intervention. A key element of the recovery plan is the further development of the housing management IT system to improve income recovery through a system led escalation policy. This will also help categorise, prioritise and automate some of the casework. The revised escalation policy is currently in progress with a ‘go live’ date expected in Q3 2024/25. The revised collections approach has been introduced to the team and has been partially implemented, focusing on personal contact which will form the basis of a wider collection procedure. A ‘go live’ date for the full procedure is expected to be released alongside the escalations policy in Q3 2024/25. Tenants also have the offer of the money advice and debt provider (Money Advice Plus) service which is separate to but funded by Housing.
8.2	Evictions due to rent arrears			Info	0	0	n/a	n/a	0	0	n/a	n/a
8.3	Evictions due to anti-social behaviour (ASB)			Info	1	2	n/a	n/a	1	3	n/a	n/a
8.4	New reports of ASB from victims and witnesses			Info	154	130	n/a	n/a	657	626	n/a	n/a
8.5	ASB perpetrator cases opened			Info	99	83	n/a	n/a	428	402	n/a	n/a
8.6	ASB perpetrator cases closed			Info	83	74	n/a	n/a	449	369	n/a	n/a
8.7	Average days to close ASB perpetrator cases			Info	103	149	n/a	n/a	108	122	n/a	n/a
8.8	Active ASB perpetrator cases at quarter end			Info	162	171	n/a	n/a	138	171	n/a	n/a
The ASB indicators in this report were developed to reflect the way ASB is recorded on the housing management IT system, which includes reports from victims and witnesses as well as linked cases dealt with in relation to the perpetrators. There can often be multiple victims and witnesses linked to a single perpetrator. Recent analysis for 2023/24 of the overlaps between these has identified 675 unique ASB cases recorded during it, and the indicators in this table will reflect this revised methodology from Q1 2024/25 onwards. The Housing service wishes for residents to report ASB, so the number of cases can be driven by reporting as well as incidents and the service welcomes the former.
8.9			Calls answered by Housing Customer Services	85%	81% (4,480 of 5,565)	90% (5,902 of 6,529)			87% (22,160 of 25,382)	87% (22,193 of 25,628)
8.10	Emails received by Housing Customer Services			Info	4,102	6,799	n/a	n/a	25,159	23,600	n/a	n/a
8.11	Closed Tenancy Sustainment cases with positive outcome			90%	88% (35 of 40)	69% (9 of 13)			94% (75 of 80)	85% (56 of 66)
Performance was below target during Q4 because four cases were closed due to non-engagement by the tenant. Performance for 2023/24 was better than for Q4, but down compared to the previous financial year. A potential factor influencing performance is the increasingly complex needs of tenants referred to the service, who are difficult to engage and to achieve a sustained outcome. The officers will only close a case for non-engagement after several attempts at contact, or if the tenant does not consent to work with the team. Closing cases in a timely way ensures we can open new cases on the waiting list for the service.

		Council housing – voids and lettings		Target	Q3 2023/24	Q4 2023/24	Status against target	Trend since Q3	2022/23	2023/24	Status against target	Trend since 2022/23
9.1			Average re-let time in calendar days excluding time spent in major works	21	47	59			77	56
Although the target was missed for Q4 and the 2023/24 financial year, performance for this indicator has improved over the last three financial years (96 days in 2021/22, 77 days in 2022/23 and 56 days in 2023/24). Re-let times still remain high while recovery efforts remain underway to tackle a backlog of empty council homes, which although decreasing still includes many homes which have been empty for long periods of time. Nonetheless, the total number of lets (the sum of items 9.3 and 9.4 below) has been increasing over the last three financial years (515 in 2021/22, 639 in 2022/23 and 753 in 2023/24). There has been the additional challenge during 2023/24 of letting a large number of new homes (256 of the 753 lets) from new build schemes completed at Victoria Road, Quay View and Denman Place, which has had the knock-on effect of many previously occupied homes becoming void due to many existing tenants transferring to new homes in these schemes.
9.2	Average ‘key to key’ re-let time in calendar days including time spent in major works			Info	109	163	n/a	n/a	125	140	n/a	n/a
9.3	Number of previously occupied council homes re-let (general needs and seniors)			Info	134	95	n/a	n/a	560	497	n/a	n/a
9.4	Number of new council homes let for the first time (general needs and seniors)			Info	12	114	n/a	n/a	79	256	n/a	n/a
9.5			Void general needs and seniors council homes (includes new homes)	Info	106	137	n/a	n/a	180	137	n/a	n/a
9.6	Void council owned temporary and NSAP/RSAP accommodation homes (includes new homes)			Info	17	36	n/a	n/a	22	36	n/a	n/a
The two indicators above provide a snapshot of empty council owned homes on the last day of the period, whether they were available to let or otherwise (for example, because they were undergoing major works at the time).

Please note the figures for the first three indicators in the table below are provisional as there are currently issues with reporting of repairs data arising from the switchover of our main housing management IT system since the start of July 2021. At present two IT systems are being used and it is not yet possible to fully integrate reporting between them, meaning that performance data is currently being extracted and manually combined.

		Council housing – Repairs and maintenance			Target		Q3 2023/24		Q4 2023/24	Status against target	Trend since Q3	2022/23	2023/24	Status against target	Trend since 2022/23
10.1	Emergency repairs completed within 24 hours			99%		95.2% (3,345 of 3,512)		95.3% (3,159 of 3,316)				97.8% (11,377 of 11,635)	95.4% (13,113 of 13,751)
10.2	Corporate KPI: Routine repairs completed within 28 calendar days			70%		50.4% (2,899 of 5,755)		41.3% (2,180 of 5,277)				53.3% (9,863 of 18,518)	46.4% (10,048 of 21,664)
10.3	Average days to complete routine repairs			15		92		92				74	94
Repairs completed recently have included jobs from a backlog of older non-urgent jobs, which is in the process of being reduced. This means that these jobs took longer than their target timescales once they were completed. The 2023/24 result for the proportion of routine council housing repairs completed within 28 calendar days is 46.4% (10,048 of 21,664). This is impacted by the number of very old non-urgent jobs (4,700 were originally issued before 1st April 2023). Of the 16,964 newer jobs issued on or after 1st April 2023, 58.1% (9,851 of 16,964) were completed within 28 days, which is closer to the 70% target. There were increased pressures earlier in the year following a period of poor weather and significantly higher levels of reported damp and condensation cases following the tragic Rochdale case. Repairs & Maintenance had 950 live damp and condensation cases on 23 April 2024, which is down from 1,010 on 15 December 2023. All recruitment has now been completed and the service has taken on two additional contractors to help recover the backlog of older jobs to ensure that essential repairs are carried out, and these contractors will contact tenants directly to arrange appointments. The service completed an average of 7,538 repairs per quarter (2,909 of which are emergency and 4,629 of which are routine repairs) during 2022/23. Since then, the quarterly average for 2023/24 has increased to 8,854 (of which 3,438 emergency and 5,416 routine). The average number of repairs per quarter between 2015 and 2020 when Mears held the contract for repairs was 8,102 repairs per quarter.
10.4			Calls answered by Repairs Helpdesk	85%		92% (18,315 of 19,807)		91% (17,991 of 19,681)				85% (69,333 of 82,030)	93% (65,985 of 70,994)
Following a request at Central Area Panel, this report will also include the number of emails and online forms received by the Repairs Helpdesk, starting from Q1 2024/25. This request has already been actioned when it comes to emails received by Housing Customer Services.
10.5			Surveyed tenants satisfied with repairs: standard of work	96%		97% (1,128 of 1,161)		98% (778 of 793)				97% (2,321 of 2,382)	98% (5,075 of 5,185)
10.6	Surveyed tenants satisfied with repairs: overall customer service			96%		97% (1,123 of 1,161)		99% (783 of 793)				98% (2,326 of 2,382)	98% (5,072 of 5,185)

		Council housing – investment and asset management			Target	Q3 2023/24	Q4 2023/24	Status against target	Trend since Q2	2022/23	2023/24	Status against target	Trend since 2022/23
11.1	Corporate KPI: Council dwellings meeting Decent Homes Standard				100%	96.6% (11,428 of 11,828)	97.2% (11,711 of 12,046)			95.8% (11,323 of 11,819)	97.2% (11,711 of 12,046)
There were 335 non-decent homes at the end of Q4, down from 404 at the end of Q3. Of these, 58% were because ‘key components’ such as windows and external doors were not up to standard. Another 23% were because ‘non-key’ components such as kitchens and bathrooms were not up to standard, 12% were because of identified health and safety risks (which are prioritised) and 6% because thermal comfort criteria were not met. Delivery of planned works for all areas is ongoing following delays in establishing contracts and five-year improvement programmes are now in place for these, including kitchens, bathrooms, roofs, doors and external/communal decorations. A difficulty with works such as kitchens and bathrooms is that they are disruptive to tenants, and often have to be carried out while properties are empty. There have been performance issues with kitchens and bathroom contractors, and additional contractor resource has now been appointed, with a view to enhance the programme accordingly during 2024/25. The government are reviewing the decent homes standard as part for the Social Housing Regulation Act. To prepare for this, the Housing investment & Asset Management service have been planning and resourcing the service for expected increases in requirements. Two asset stock surveyors have been appointed to improve the information held on the asset management IT system and to provide additional review of that information, their priorities will be internal surveys of our stock and to update on the condition of kitchen and bathrooms in particular as well as general conditions and identifying damp and mould issues.
11.2	Corporate KPI: Energy efficiency rating of council homes (out of 100)				73.8	74.1	74.1			74.1	74.1
11.3			Council dwellings with a valid Landlord's Gas Safety Record		100%	99.97% (10,073 of 10,076)	99.99% (10,107 of 10,108)			99.98% (10,108 of 10,110)	99.99% (10,107 of 10,108)
11.4				Lifts restored to service within 24 hours	95%	89% (118 of 133)	94% (197 of 210)			91% (530 of 582)	91% (611 of 673)

		Leaseholder disputes	Q3 2023/24	Q4 2023/24	2022/23	2023/24
12.1	Stage one disputes opened		39	1	18	52
12.2	Stage one disputes closed		39	10	20	50
12.3	Active stage one disputes (end quarter)		36	27	28	30
12.4	Stage two disputes opened		8	2	9	12
12.5	Stage two disputes closed		6	3	5	13
12.6	Active stage two disputes (end quarter)		7	6	7	6
12.7	Stage three disputes opened		2	2	1	5
12.8	Stage three disputes closed		1	1	0	4
12.9	Active stage three disputes (end quarter)		2	3	2	3


99.99% Gas safety compliance	93.46% Rent collected in past year	59 days Empty home re-let time

97.2% Dwellings meeting Decent Homes standard	90% Customer services calls answered	74.1 Average energy efficiency (rating out of 100)

81% Complaint responses within 10 working days	93% Repairs helpdesk calls answered	92 days Average time to complete routine repairs