Agenda item

Report from the Executive Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1.    Notes the content of the report.

2.    Agrees to receive a further update in six months’ time.

Consideration was given to the report which presented the 2025/26 mid-year Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM). The survey results showed that overall tenant satisfaction stood at 77.6%, representing a slight decrease of 0.6 percentage points from 2024/25, but an improvement of 0.7 percentage points compared to 2023/24. A positive development was in tenant satisfaction with repairs: overall satisfaction had risen to 78.9%, up 0.3 percentage points from last year and 4.8 percentage points from 2023/24. Satisfaction with the time taken to complete the most recent repair had also improved significantly, reaching 79.5% - a 1.9 percentage point increase from 2024/25 and 7.4 percentage points from 2023/24.

11 out of 12 tenant satisfaction measures were currently above the national median, based on 2024/25 data published by the Regulator of Social Housing. Moreover, when comparing Local Authorities (LAs) only, the Council ranked in the upper quartile for 11 of these 12 measures. However, areas such as complaints handling and anti-social behaviour (ASB) management continued to present challenges, with scores in these categories showing slight declines compared to the previous year.

Targeted actions had already been taken to address these areas, with further improvements planned for 2025/26. Key initiatives included:

·       The development of the recently launched tenant-led Learning from Complaints Panel.

·       Review of the service operating model for tenancy and ASB case management to improve efficiency and outcomes.

·       Delivery of a targeted training and development programme for area housing teams, focusing on ASB tools and powers, hate incidents, and effective case handling.

The ten council-reported TSMs remained strong. Repairs performance was a particular strength, mirroring the positive perception survey results:

·       98.9% of non-emergency repairs were completed within target timescales (16.4 percentage points above the national median.)

·       98.4% of emergency repairs were completed within target (3.5 percentage points above the national median.)

In addition, the Council had achieved full compliance across all health and safety related measures, except for Gas Safety, which stood at 99.9%. 26 properties were currently non-compliant, and actions were underway to try and obtain access to those properties. Progress also continued on achieving the Decent Homes Standard, with the proportion of non-decent homes reducing from 7.2% at the end of 2024/25 to 6.38% at the mid-point of 2025/26. For context, the median non-decency rate for Local Authorities in 2024/25 was 3.2%. It was important to note that levels of non-decent stock would fluctuate as the current Stock Condition Survey Programme advanced.

A comprehensive Stock Condition and Housing Health and Safety Rating System survey programme began in April 2025 and aimed for 6,000 surveys by March 2026. As of October 2025, 2,943 properties had been surveyed. Data from those surveys would inform future investment and asset management strategies.

During the meeting it was noted that the proactive nature of the survey programme meant issues would be identified and there was a robust programme of repairs in place which would help to ensure that residents continued to live in quality homes.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

1.    Notes the content of the report.

2.    Agrees to receive a further update in six months’ time.