Council housing performance
Quarter 3 2024/25 (Oct to Dec 2024)
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100% Gas safety compliance |
93.07% Rent collection rate |
29 days Empty home re-let time |
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97.9% Dwellings meeting Decent Homes standard |
84% Customer services calls answered |
74.1 Average energy efficiency (rating out of 100) |
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76% Complaint responses within 10 working days |
96% Repairs helpdesk calls answered |
108 days Average time to complete routine repairs |
Quarter 3 2024/25 council housing performance – key trends
Top scores (compared to target)
1. Average re-let time excluding time spent in major works (29 days vs 42 day target)
2. Average weeks taken to approve major adaptations (8.1 weeks vs 10 week target)
3. Calls answered by Repairs Helpdesk (96% vs 85% target)
4. Surveyed tenants satisfied with repairs: standard of work (99% vs 96% target)
5. Surveyed tenants satisfied with repairs: customer service (99% vs 96% target)
Bottom scores (compared to target)
1. Average time to complete routine repairs (108 days vs 15 day target)
2. Routine repairs completed within 28 calendar days (46% vs 70% target)
3. Emergency repairs completed within 24 hours (95% vs 98% target)
4. Energy efficiency rating of council homes (out of 100: 74.1 vs 77.2 target)
5. Lifts restored to service within 24 hours (92% vs 95% target)
Biggest improvements (since previous quarter)
1. Average re-let time excluding time spent in major works (39 to 29 days)
2. Average weeks taken to approve major adaptations (8.5 to 8.1 weeks)
3. Stage two complaints upheld (54% to 50%)
4. Emergency repairs completed within 24 hours (92% to 95%)
5. Rent collected from current council tenants (92.90% to 93.07%)
Biggest drops (since previous quarter)
1. Average time to complete routine repairs (87 to 108 days)
2. Routine repairs completed within 28 calendar days (48% to 46%)
3. Calls answered by Housing Customer Services (87% to 84%)
4. Stage one complaints responded to within 10 working days (78% to 76%).
Housing performance report
Quarter 3 2024/25
The ratings and trends for the quarter are as follows:
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Green – on target (9 indicators) |
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Improved since last time (10 indicators) |
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Amber – near target (8 indicators) |
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Same as last time (7 indicator) |
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Red – off target (9 indicators) |
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Poorer than last time (9 indicators) |
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Contents – performance areas
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Page |
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Customer Feedback |
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Compliments received |
6 |
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Stage 1 complaints |
6 |
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Stage 2 complaints |
6 |
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Private Sector Housing |
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Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licensing |
7 |
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Property inspections completed |
7 |
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Requests for assistance (RFAs) |
7-8 |
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Private sector vacant dwellings returned to use |
8 |
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Housing adaptations – private sector and council |
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Time to approve applications |
9 |
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Time to complete works |
9 |
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Housing options and homelessness |
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Homelessness preventions |
10 |
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Homelessness acceptances |
10 |
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Social housing waiting list |
10 |
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Rough sleepers |
11 |
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Temporary and emergency accommodation |
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Households |
11 |
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Rent collected |
11 |
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Voids (empty homes) |
12 |
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Gas safety compliance (Seaside Homes) |
12 |
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Housing supply |
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Additional council homes |
13-14 |
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Right to Buy sales |
14 |
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Other additional affordable homes |
15 |
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Council housing management |
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Rent collected |
16 |
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Universal Credit |
16 |
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Tenants evicted |
16 |
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Anti-social behaviour (ASB) |
16 |
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Calls and emails (Housing Customer Services) |
17 |
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Re-let times |
17 |
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Voids (empty homes) |
17 |
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Council housing maintenance |
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Repairs completed in time |
18 |
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Calls, emails and online forms (Repairs Helpdesk) |
18-19 |
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Satisfaction with completed repairs |
19 |
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Decent Homes Standard |
19 |
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Energy efficiency rating of council homes |
19 |
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Gas safety compliance (council homes) |
19 |
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Lift breakdowns |
19 |
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Leaseholder disputes |
20 |
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Customer feedback (all indicators in this table are year to date) |
Target (amber value) |
Q2 2024/25 |
Q3 2024/25 |
Status against target |
Trend since Q2 |
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1.1 |
Compliments received from customers |
Info |
132 |
172 |
n/a |
n/a |
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1.2 |
80% (70%) |
78% (253 of 323) |
76% (462 of 611) |
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1.3 |
Stage one complaints upheld |
Info |
60% (193 of 323) |
52.9% (323 of 611) |
n/a |
n/a |
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1.4 |
Stage two complaints upheld |
18% (20%) |
54% (36 of 67) |
50% (52 of 103) |
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During 2024/25 to date, 52 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. These were most commonly where the complainant felt that the council failed to deliver a service or were delayed in doing something, such as completing a repair. |
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Private sector housing |
Target (amber value) |
Q2 2024/25 |
Q3 2024/25 |
Status against target |
Trend since Q2 |
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2.1 |
Total fully licensed Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) |
Info |
1,845 |
1,879 |
n/a |
n/a |
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2.2 |
Corporate KPI: HMOs where all special conditions have been met (for licences issued over 12 months ago) |
55% (50%) |
45.47% (271 of 596) |
48.14% (310 of 644) |
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The indicator above measures cases where the council has verified that works required via special conditions have been completed. This indicator includes HMOs covered by the national mandatory licensing scheme and the new local additional and selective licensing schemes introduced during this financial year. A programme of checks is in place to ensure all special conditions are met and continues to improve. During Q3 the Private Sector Housing team’s resource has been supporting the introduction of the new schemes whilst further recruitment is undertaken and this has affected the amount of checks that could be made in the quarter. The team is also working through a backlog of 71 mandatory licences, which has decreased by 25 during Q3. Once completed, further resource can be allocated to the programme of checks to ensure all special conditions are met, which drives improvements in this performance indicator. |
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2.3 |
Requests for assistance received (RFAs) |
Info |
180 |
168 |
n/a |
n/a |
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The types of the 168 RFAs received during Q1 included 35 disrepair (21%) and 28 dampness (17%). |
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2.4 |
Property inspections completed |
Info |
145 |
141 |
n/a |
n/a |
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2.5 |
… of which RFA inspections |
Info |
38 |
51 |
n/a |
n/a |
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2.6 |
… of which HMO licence inspections |
Info |
107 |
90 |
n/a |
n/a |
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2.7 |
RFA cases closed |
Info |
111 |
81) |
n/a |
n/a |
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2.8 |
Properties with Category 1 and 2 hazards resolved through informal action (closed RFAs) |
Info |
100% (26 of 26) |
90% (9 of 10) |
n/a |
n/a |
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2.9 |
Properties with Category 1 and 2 hazards resolved through formal action (closed RFAs) |
Info |
0% (0 of 26) |
10% (1 of 10) |
n/a |
n/a |
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2.10 |
Private sector vacant dwellings (for more than one year) returned into occupation |
9 |
18 |
20 |
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Housing adaptations |
Target (amber value) |
Q2 2024/25 |
Q3 2024/25 |
Status against target |
Trend since Q2 |
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3.1 |
Private sector housing – average weeks taken to approve Disabled Facilities Grant applications |
10 (26) |
14.8 |
16.3 |
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3.2 |
Private sector housing – average weeks taken for contractor to complete major adaptations |
Info |
29.6 |
38.3 |
n/a |
n/a |
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3.3 |
Council housing – average weeks taken to approve applications for major adaptations |
10 (26) |
8.5 |
8.1 |
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3.4 |
Council housing – average weeks taken for contractor to complete major adaptations |
Info |
12.4 |
12.6 |
n/a |
n/a |
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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. |
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Housing options and homelessness |
Target (amber value) |
Q2 2024/25 |
Q3 2024/25 |
Status against target |
Trend since Q2 |
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4.1 |
Corporate KPI: Homelessness cases presenting during the prevention duty stage |
50% (40%) |
27.0% (131 of 486) |
33.3% (136 of 408) |
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Although performance improved during Q3, most households continue to present once already homeless (a ‘Relief’ duty) rather than when at risk of homelessness (a ‘Prevention’ duty). During Q3, the Homelessness & Housing Options service continued to hold ‘awareness raising’ workshops with different voluntary and statutory agencies to explain the housing pressures in the city and finalised its stakeholder engagement plan, identifying the groups of people most at risk of homelessness and the agencies they are most likely to engage with, with a view to encouraging partners to refer to the service as early as possible. This work has led to the development of a new campaign to target agencies that work with households most 'at risk' of homelessness, based on data held by the service. The service is also delivering training for its staff on the legal tests of homelessness and when a ‘Prevention’ or ‘Relief’ duty applies. Furthermore, the proposed changes to the council’s Housing Allocations Policy were approved by Cabinet in October 2024: these are designed to encourage people to contact the council as soon as they become at risk of homelessness. Work is now underway to implement the new policy by April 2025. Finally, the Homelessness Transformation Programme continues with changes to the operating model due to come into effect from March 2025. |
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4.2 |
Corporate KPI: Homelessness prevention cases closed with a successful prevention outcome |
55% (45%) |
72.4% (89 of 123) |
64.5% (80 of 124) |
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4.3 |
New households with a full housing duty accepted |
Info |
136 |
178 |
n/a |
n/a |
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4.4 |
Number of households on the housing register |
Info |
7,516 |
7,592 |
n/a |
n/a |
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Temporary accommodation (including emergency accommodation) |
Target (amber value) |
Q2 2024/25 |
Q3 2024/25 |
Status against target |
Trend since Q2 |
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5.1 |
Corporate KPI: Total households in temporary accommodation |
1,770 (1,870) |
1,838 |
1,928 |
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The end year target of 1,770 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 increased mortgage borrowing costs).The impact of this has been seen in Brighton & Hove, with temporary accommodation numbers increasing, although generally at a slower rate than for other comparable local authorities. While move on options continue to be limited, especially for larger households, staff are taking targeted action to assist long-term occupants of temporary accommodation to apply for social housing through the housing register. Furthermore, action is underway across multiple council services to bring in more affordable types of temporary accommodation, such as dwellings leased from the private sector and council owned dwellings in Large Panel System (LPS) blocks, to reduce reliance on more expensive types of emergency accommodation. |
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5.2 |
Rent collected for emergency accommodation (year to date including changes in arrears) |
95% (90%) |
91.88% (£2.13m of £2.32m) |
90.84% (£3.34m of £3,69m) |
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5.3 |
Rent collected for leased properties (year to date including changes in arrears) |
95% (90%) |
101.98% (£2.93m of £2.87m) |
101.99% (£4.47m of £4.38m) |
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The latest result is over 100% because successful efforts to reduce rent arrears have meant that more rent was collected during the period than was charged during it. |
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5.4 |
Rent collected for Seaside Homes (year to date including changes in arrears) |
95% (90%) |
79.60% (£2.81m of £3.53m) |
88.54% (£4.46m of £5.04m) |
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The Seaside Homes collection rate has fallen due to delays in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) updating many of these households’ Universal Credit (UC) Housing Element after the rent and Local Housing Allowance (LHA) increase in April, meaning a lower proportion of their rent is being covered by LHA than should be the case. This was escalated with the DWP and the situation has been improving since. |
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5.5 |
Void temporary accommodation dwellings |
For info |
89 |
80 |
n/a |
n/a |
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There were 109 void emergency and temporary accommodation dwellings at the end of September 2024, excluding 29 voids that were with the Empty Homes Team for works. |
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5.6 |
Seaside Homes properties with a valid Landlord’s Gas Safety Record |
100% (99%) |
100% (494 of 494) |
99.80% (493 of 494) |
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6.1 New supply of additional council homes
A total of 726 homes were completed between April 2019 and March 2024 with a further 90 projected for completion during the 2024/25 financial year. The total for 2023/24 (286) exceeded all previous years, and this programme has been delivered during a period of unprecedented complexity due to the Covid-19 pandemic and recovery phase.
· 2019/20: 77 homes – buy backs (43 Home Purchase), Hidden Homes (6), Kensington Street (12), Tilbury Place (15) and Devon Lodge (1 lease handed back)
· 2020/21: 144 homes – buy backs (40 Home Purchase and 24 NSAP – Next Steps Accommodation Programme), Buckley Close (12), Hartington Road (38) and Hawkridge Court (30)
· 2021/22: 108 homes – buy backs (66 Home Purchase, 6 NSAP and 18 Rough Sleepers Accommodation Programme – RSAP), Hidden Homes (8) and Oxford Street (10)
· 2022/23: 111 homes – buy backs (52 Home Purchase and 17 RSAP) and Victoria Road (42)
· 2023/24: 286 homes – buy backs (42 Home Purchase, 5 RSAP and 15 Local Authority Housing Fund – LAHF), Homes for Brighton & Hove rented units (49 at Quay View and 127 at Coldean Lane), Hidden Homes (4), Kubic Apartments (38), Charles Kingston Gardens (2) and Grand Parade (4)
· 2024/25: 90 homes (projection) – buy backs (61 Home Purchase and 4 LAHF), Frederick Street (4) and St Aubyn’s (21). This projection is currently above the target of 78 for the 2024/25 financial year.
6.5 New supply of other affordable homes
A total of 877 homes (385 rent and 492 shared ownership) were completed between April 2019 and March 2024 with a further 229 projected for completion during the 2024/25 financial year. This programme has been delivered during a period of unprecedented complexity due to the Covid-19 pandemic and recovery phase.
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2019/20: 87 homes – Montpelier
Place (5), Kingsway (54) and Circus Street (28)
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2020/21: 48 homes – Freehold
Terrace (8), Plumpton Road (2), Nevill Road (4) and Preston Road
(34 from two providers)
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2021/22: 75 homes – Preston
Barracks (19), Falmer Avenue (13), Hangleton Way (33) and Lions
Gardens (10)
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2022/23: 441 homes – Edward Street (33), School Road
(104), Preston Barracks (67), Graham Avenue (125), Sackville Hotel
(7), New Church Road (5) and King’s House (100)
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2023/24: 226 homes – Homes for
Brighton & Hove shared ownership units (55 at Quay View and 115
at Coldean Lane), York and Elder (22), Hove Gardens –
Ellen Street (16) and Allingham Place
– Ovingdean Road (18)
· 2024/25: 229 homes (projection) – Davigdor Road (5), Home X – Preston Barracks (16), Coombe Farm phase one (16), Coombe Farm phase two (13), St Aubyn’s – Rottingdean (16), Lyon Quarter (77), Hove Central (56), Coombe Farm phase three (30)
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Council housing management |
Target (amber value) |
Q2 2024/25 |
Q3 2024/25 |
Status against target |
Trend since Q2 |
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7.1 |
Corporate KPI: Rent collected from current council tenants |
95.36% (94.90%) |
92.90% (£67.2m of £72.3m) |
93.07% (£67.2m of £72.2m) |
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The methodology for the indicator above excludes rent loss from voids but factors in changes to the amount of rent arrears over time. The Q2 and Q3 collection rates are forecasts for the 2024/25 financial year. Universal Credit (UC) managed migration has resumed and expanded which means hundreds more tenants are moving from Housing Benefit (HB) to UC which increases the caseload for staff to recover the arrears which tend to increase because of this switch: at least 569 tenants are known to have been migrated over since April 2024, 242 of these in Q3. The Department of Work and Pensions plans to move all benefit claimants to UC by March 2026, thereby completing the rollout. This is in addition to wider cost of living pressures and changes affecting tenants' ability to pay rent, including changes to eligibility for benefits such as Pension Credit and Winter Fuel Payments which took effect in Q3. The Income Management service is placing greater emphasis on early intervention and prevention. To promote and increase the uptake of debt advice, the service is now a member of the Money Adviser Network which provides instant debt advice. The service continues to focus on early contact and all new tenants are being contacted by an income specialist, with 440 new tenants contacted since April 2024, including 114 during Q3, and a dedicated officer has been recruited into the service tasked specifically to provide advice and support to tenants moving to UC. In support of this, IT project work is ongoing to update the housing management system, NEC, to help officers manage casework: during Q3 this included the introduction of an ‘escalations policy’ in cases where arrears are increasing, in order to set up arrangements set up with tenants to repay arrears, and authorisation of preparations to automate verification of UC claims to support staff to focus more of their time on critical casework. Furthermore, in Q3 the service worked closely with the Welfare, Revenue and Benefits Service (WRBS) and the Seniors Housing service to increase the uptake of Pension Credit as this will allow residents to be automatically eligible for Winter Fuel Payments. Tenants who have not yet managed to become eligible will be supported to access the local Brighton & Hove Fuel Payment scheme for older people struggling with energy costs. |
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7.2 |
Evictions due to rent arrears |
Info |
1 |
3 |
n/a |
n/a |
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7.3 |
Evictions due to anti-social behaviour (ASB) |
Info |
3 |
1 |
n/a |
n/a |
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7.4 |
ASB cases opened |
Info |
206 |
164 |
n/a |
n/a |
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7.5 |
ASB cases closed |
Info |
186 |
152 |
n/a |
n/a |
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7.6 |
Average days to close ASB cases |
Info |
130 |
97 |
n/a |
n/a |
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7.7 |
Active ASB cases at quarter end |
Info |
312 |
324 |
n/a |
n/a |
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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. |
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7.8 |
Calls answered by Housing Customer Services |
85% (80%) |
87% (5,760 of 6,616) |
84% (4,944 of 5,908) |
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7.9 |
Emails received by Housing Customer Services |
Info |
6,341 |
5,191 |
n/a |
n/a |
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7.10 |
Number of council homes let |
Info |
147 |
110 |
n/a |
n/a |
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7.11 |
… of which new council homes let for the first time |
Info |
13 |
28 |
n/a |
n/a |
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7.12 |
… of which re-lets of previously occupied council homes |
Info |
134 |
82 |
n/a |
n/a |
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7.13 |
Average ‘key to key’ re-let time in calendar days including time spent in major works |
Info |
94 |
60 |
n/a |
n/a |
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7.14 |
Average re-let time in calendar days excluding time spent in major works |
42 (49) |
39 |
29 |
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7.15 |
Void council homes (includes new homes) |
Info |
116 |
119 |
n/a |
n/a |
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The indicator above provides a snapshot of empty council owned homes on the last day of the period, whether they were available to let or not (e.g. because they were undergoing major works at the time). |
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Council housing maintenance |
Target (amber value) |
Q2 2024/25 |
Q3 2024/25 |
Status against target |
Trend since Q2 |
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8.1 |
Emergency repairs completed within 24 hours |
99% (97%) |
92.3% (2,936 of 3,182) |
94.9% (3,013 of 3,174) |
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8.2 |
Corporate KPI: Routine repairs completed within 28 calendar days |
70% (58%) |
48.4% (2,991 of 6,175) |
46.2% (3,333 of 7,213) |
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8.3 |
Average days to complete routine repairs |
15 (17.5) |
87 |
108 |
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Repairs completed recently have included jobs from a backlog of older non-urgent jobs, which is in the process of being reduced, with two additional contactors now mobilised to focus on these. Nonetheless, this means that jobs which had been part of this backlog exceeded their target timescales once completed. The proportion of routine council housing repairs completed within 28 calendar days was 46.70% (8,943 of 19,150) during 2024/25 to date. This is impacted by the number of very old non-urgent jobs among those completed (4,850 were originally issued before April 2024). Of the 14,300 newer jobs issued during or after April 2024, 61.89% (8,850 of 14,300) were completed within 28 days, which is closer to the 70% target. The Repairs & Maintenance service has experienced a higher volume of repair requests compared to when it was introduced in April 2020. The current resource of both contractors and directly employed staff was modelled around the levels of demand at the time the service was introduced, with the addition of two specialist contactors to meet a backlog of jobs following the disruption caused by the pandemic. Therefore, the increased everyday demand has meant that in effect the additional resource has been successful in stopping the number of outstanding repairs from increasing but not in substantially reducing it over time. The service is carrying out deeper analysis of its performance data to better understand the resourcing and performance improvement required to achieve this. |
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8.4 |
Calls answered by Repairs Helpdesk |
85% (80%) |
96% (16,329 of 17,062) |
96% (17,109 of 17,924) |
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8.5 |
Emails received by Repairs Helpdesk |
Info |
5,841 |
6,498 |
n/a |
n/a |
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8.6 |
Online forms received by Repairs Helpdesk |
Info |
489 |
298 |
n/a |
n/a |
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8.7 |
Surveyed tenants satisfied with repairs: standard of work |
96% (92%) |
98.6% (3,394 of 3,439) |
98.8% (2,141 of 2,167) |
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8.8 |
Surveyed tenants satisfied with repairs: overall customer service |
96% (92%) |
98.8% (3,398 of 3,439) |
98.5% (2,135 of 2,167) |
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8.9 |
Corporate KPI: Council dwellings meeting Decent Homes Standard |
100% (96.3%) |
97.9% (11,880 of 12,131) |
97.9% (11,926 of 12,177) |
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8.10 |
Corporate KPI: Energy efficiency rating of council homes (out of 100) |
77.2 (72.8) |
74.1 |
74.1 |
|
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8.11 |
Council dwellings with a valid Landlord's Gas Safety Record |
100% (99%) |
100% (11,274 of 11,274) |
100% (11,280 of 11,280) |
|
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The indicator above includes council dwellings served by a communal gas boiler (1,252) as well as those with their own gas supply (10,028). |
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8.12 |
Lifts restored to service within 24 hours |
95% (90%) |
92% (134 of 146) |
92% (137 of 149) |
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Leaseholder disputes |
Q2 2024/25 |
Q3 2024/25 |
|||
9.1 |
Stage one disputes opened |
13 |
68 |
||
9.2 |
Stage one disputes closed |
3 |
21 |
||
9.3 |
Active stage one disputes (end quarter) |
35 |
82 |
||
9.4 |
Stage two disputes opened |
3 |
4 |
||
9.5 |
Stage two disputes closed |
3 |
2 |
||
9.6 |
Active stage two disputes (end quarter) |
2 |
4 |
||
9.7 |
Stage three disputes opened |
3 |
1 |
||
9.8 |
Stage three disputes closed |
2 |
1 |
||
9.9 |
Active stage three disputes (end quarter) |
5 |
5 |
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