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 set out the 2025/26 Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) survey for Housing Services. It showed how the service had performed against previous years and national data benchmarking. 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. When comparing Local Authorities (LAs) only, the Council ranked in the upper quartile for 11 of these 12 measures. The report also set out areas that required improvement and actions in response.

During the 2025/26 financial year, 3,334 tenants were surveyed by an independent research partner (Kwest Research Ltd), representing over 16.5% of the total tenant population. This substantially exceeded the Regulator of Social Housing’s minimum requirement to survey 5% of tenants and demonstrated the Council’s strong commitment to meaningful tenant engagement. As with previous years, contact methods remained aligned with industry best practice, with 85% of surveys conducted by telephone and 15% via email. Importantly, the tenants surveyed closely reflected the Council’s tenant Equality and Diversity profile, providing confidence that the results were representative and inclusive.

The year-end position for 2025/26 showed a slight decline in satisfaction that the home was well maintained, reducing by 0.3 percentage points to 77.4% compared to the end of year 2024/25 figures. However, satisfaction with home safety improved to 81.8%, and both repairs-related measures continued to rise. Satisfaction with the overall repairs service reached 78.7%, and satisfaction with the time taken to complete repairs increased to 78.1%. Compared to the 2023/24 baseline, these represented gains of 4.6 and 6.0 percentage points, respectively, highlighting sustained improvement in service delivery.

At the year-end position for 2025/26, the percentage of tenants who felt well informed had decreased slightly by 0.4 percentage points to 76.4%, while perceptions of fairness and respect had remained stable at 83.1%. However, the proportion of tenants who felt listened to has reduced by 1.8 percentage points to 69.7%, and satisfaction with complaints handling had remained static at 34.5%.

The Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) for 2024/25 showed that satisfaction with how well communal areas were kept clean and well maintained experienced the largest decline, falling by 3.5 percentage points compared to 2023/24. This decline was reinforced by tenant comments captured through the tenant perception survey. In response, the Council invested an additional £135,000 in caretaking services for 2025/26 and introduced refreshed service level agreements to strengthen standards and accountability. As a result of this targeted investment and service improvement, satisfaction with communal areas became the most improved measure year on year between 2024/25 and 2025/26, increasing by 4.8 percentage points. The key initiatives to improve anti-social behaviour were outlined in paragraph 2.8 of the report.

The ten council-reported TSMs also remained strong. Repairs performance was a particular strength, mirroring the positive perception survey results with 97.5% of non-emergency repairs completed within target timescales (15.0 percentage points above the national median) and 98.6% of emergency repairs completed within target (3.7 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%. 13 properties were non-compliant as at end of March 2026 and actions were underway to gain access to those properties. The proportion of non-decent homes had risen slightly from 6.38% at the end of 2024/25 to 7.58% at the end of 2025/26. By comparison, the median non-decency rate across Local Authorities in 2024/25 was 3.2%. This increase was anticipated and reflected the accelerated progress of the Stock Condition Survey Programme. As the programme continued, the recorded level of non-decent stock was expected to fluctuate as a more accurate and up-to-date picture of stock condition emerged.

In 2025/26, the Council recorded 69.8 ASB cases per 1,000 properties, which was 33.8 above the national median. Reported hate incidents stood at 0.3 per 1,000 properties, 0.4 below the national median. While this could initially appear positive, it raised a potential concern regarding under-reporting. As part of the improvement journey, a detailed audit of ASB cases was underway to ensure hate incidents were being accurately identified and recorded. Where gaps were identified, targeted actions would be implemented to strengthen staff awareness, reporting pathways, and case classification.

Complaint volumes also highlighted an area for improvement. In 2025/26, there were 23.1 stage one complaints per 1,000 properties (30.4 below the national median) and 1.8 stage two complaints per 1,000 properties (6.5 below the national median). While low complaint rates could suggest satisfaction, it was recognised that in this context they were more likely to indicate barriers to reporting or a lack of tenant confidence in the complaints process. In response, a programme of improvements was being taken forward, focused on increasing accessibility, transparency and trust. This included making it easier for tenants to raise complaints through clearer communication and simplified channels, alongside strengthening internal processes to ensure timely, thorough and learning-focused responses. These changes were being aligned with Housing Ombudsman expectations, with a strong emphasis on using complaints as a driver for service improvement.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

1.    Notes the content of the report.

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