Neighbourhood and community
These are the performance indicators for the regulator’s ‘neighbourhood and community’ standards.
| Performance Measure | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | Target 2022-2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of new antisocial behaviour (ASB) cases reported | 177 | 160 | N/A |
| Resident satisfaction with the handling of their ASB case | 50% | 56.25% | N/A |
| Resident satisfaction with the internal cleaning service | 75.03% | 72.62% | >=75% |
| Resident satisfaction with the external cleaning service | 75.04% | 72.85% | >=78% |
| Resident satisfaction with the grounds maintenance service | 83.39% | 81.47% | >=86% |
How are we doing?
Estate care
We bedded-in our new in-house frontline Estate Care Service. As with any new service we faced challenges – in this case recruitment and delivering a consistent service whilst major works were carried out. However, we have already started seeing the benefits, for example we made a saving of £65,000 by dealing with blocked bin chutes in-house.
We also introduced an evening caretaking service, with operatives checking blocks from 4pm to midnight across various estates. The team have already changed over 750 light bulbs in communal areas, improving block safety.
We engaged with our residents throughout the year, helping us shape our Estate Improvement Budget spending on estates. We also worked with residents on a new 5-year contract for the Notting Hill carnival fencing and hoarding, and security for council housing on the carnival route.
Dealing with fraud
Our Housing Investigations team performed strongly last year. The team deals with fraudulent activities in council homes, to ensure properties are available for the residents who need them. In total they recovered 23 properties that were sub-let, used as holiday rentals, or abandoned. This has provided savings of £966,000 (based on the government figure of £42,000 per property), and freed up those properties so people on the housing register can access the homes they need.
In one particular case, our team discovered that a tenant had been sub-letting a property since 2010 and was living overseas. The action resulted in the tenant being served with a court order requiring them to return £34,000 of illegal profit to the Council.
Sheltered housing
Our Sheltered Housing team continued to work with residents, advocates, social care and health, volunteer organisations and a range of housing management colleagues to provide support services and engagement opportunities for sheltered housing residents. In 2022 to 2023 customer satisfaction with the overall sheltered housing service was 96%.
The Community Alarm Service (CAS) maintained seamless 24/7 all-year-round telecare and emergency response services throughout the year for over 2,000 residents. CAS completed 98.5% of all emergency visits within target time and received 100% customer satisfaction with the overall service. This was reflected in the team achieving the Telecare Services Authority (TSA) industry standard re-accreditation for the seventh year in a row in 2023.
Last year we rolled out Wi-Fi in sheltered scheme communal lounges and clubrooms, and started an iPad loan scheme for sheltered housing residents. We also upgraded the warden call systems from analogue to digital systems.
Neighbourhood Management
In 2022 to 2023, our Neighbourhood Management Team dealt with 3,156 general enquiries, and raised 2,897 repairs. We held monthly surgeries on certain estates to give residents an opportunity to meet with them and discuss any issues or concerns with their tenancies or estates.
During 2022 to 2023, we carried out 144 out of 145 new tenant visits. These visits ensure that residents are supported during the early stages of their new tenancies and allow us to discuss any additional support required, and help us identify any potential challenges the resident may face.
We also carry out tenancy review visits 9 months into an introductory tenancy, before moving from introductory to secure tenancies. The team successfully completed 134 out of 145 ‘9-month’ visits.
Tenancy sustainment
The Tenancy Sustainment Team continued to provide support to vulnerable residents in need of short-term help relating to their housing, enabling them to sustain their tenancies. The Tenancy Sustainment Officers support residents by helping them identify their needs and linking them to relevant local services.
Over the year we improved access to financial assessments and held monthly Money Cafés, where residents can come and talk to an officer in confidence about their finances and receive advice and support.
We were awarded £70,000 from the government to assist residents struggling with the increasing cost of living. We helped over 225 households by providing e-vouchers for Sainsbury’s and Argos.
In light of the significant increase in the cost of gas and electricity, we capped the increase at no more than £5 a week in the financial year, in an effort to ease the impact on residents’ general outgoing expenses.
Housing and employment service
Last year our Housing and Employment Service (which helps residents find work/training, apply for benefits, manage money and maximise their income) received 300 referrals.
We launched our Careers Zone Portal for residents in July 2022. This offers a wide range of advice and support on employment including CV building, completing job applications, mock interviews, and tips on how to handle interviews.
Our Money Wise courses, launched in March 2023, helped residents improve their finances by learning handy tips to help save money, spot a good bargain, and understand energy usage.
Facing the future
Last year, residents across Notting Dale ward engaged enthusiastically with the Future Neighbourhoods programme, feeding into an environmental strategy and projects for the area. Projects delivered through this programme include new community kitchen gardens, co-designed nature gardens on estates, retrofitting homes, a green skills academy and repairs workshops.
We also established an energy advice service and green skills equipment library to help residents with rising energy costs, as well as securing funding through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to improve energy efficiency of homes.
Antisocial behaviour
We held a resident focus group to review our antisocial behaviour (ASB) policy to ensure it meets their needs. We introduced interventions which are focused on resolving nuisance that can’t be managed under the policy, such as domestic noise and neighbour disputes.
We have expanded the ASB team, to better serve residents, and have worked closely with the Neighbourhood Services Coordinators to ensure that that antisocial behaviour reports are managed in the best way.
We have been working in partnership with the police to design out crime on estates which experience high levels of ASB and to make improvements to estates to reduce the opportunities for ASB.
How we can improve
Always keen to improve, the Housing and Employment service carried out a customer satisfaction survey in 2022 to 2023, to give residents the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas on the service.
The resident-proposed improvements included:
- sharing more information about the service more widely – we have featured our service in Housing Matters and also on estate notice boards.
- having a faster application process – we have revised our referral form and made this more streamlined.
- increasing the number of face-to-face appointments – we ensure all residents are asked how they prefer to be contacted and offered support whether face-to-face, over the phone or via video call.
- increasing capacity to be able to help more people – we are working on expanding our team so we have more staff to meet the needs of the increasing number of residents approaching our service for support.
As a result of the customer satisfaction survey, the team will be launching its service improvement group, which will be made up of residents who have used the service. This will help them shape the service and make the improvements identified.