NOTTINGHAM CITY HOMES

REPORT OF Steve Pepper & (Area Housing Manager, ) Area Committee 8 November 2007

IMPROVING CUSTOMER SERVICES AT CITY HOMES

1 SUMMARY

1.1 This report sets out changes in which the way services are delivered by Nottingham City Homes since July 2007.

1.2 The specific ways in which front-line services have changed in Wollaton and Lenton Abbey are outlined in this report.

2 RECOMMENDATIONS

2.1 It is recommended that the Area Committee note the contents of this report and the changes in Nottingham City Homes working arrangements that have resulted.

3 REPORT

3.1 Nottingham City Homes has undertaken a restructure of it’s working arrangements to achieve sustained service improvement in the following areas:

§ Customer focus § Vacant property management (and allocations) § Estate services § Tenant participation § Rent collection § Improving the quality of repairs

3.2 Vacant Property Management & Allocations

3.2.1 During 2006/7 positive progress was made in reducing the number of empty properties but our performance (when compared against other ALMOs) remains bottom quartile. The previous arrangements and processes involved over 300 people in various locations managing the process from the termination of a property to re-letting and costs over £10 million per annum.

3.2.2 In line with many other ALMOs, a specialised central team has been established which will operate from Harvey Road, Beechdale . This brings together staff who were previously based at area offices under one senior manager and includes the emergency accommodation team, central allocations and the void repairs team.

3.2.3 This team will cover the full management process for minor and major voids. Best practice supports and demonstrates the successes that can be made with this approach and our aim is to make dramatic improvements in turning around empty properties.

3.3 Rents & Income Management

3.3.1 Our performance in rent arrears has improved year on year over the last 3 years, but levelled out in 2006/7. The rent to be collected in 2007/8 is £81.8 million, plus arrears bought forward of £3.6 million. A step change in performance will be required if Nottingham City Homes is to move to higher quartile performance and the specialist approach adopted by nearly all 2 and 3 star ALMOs has been adopted by the Company.

3.3.2 In order to achieve this, 3 area based specialist Rents Teams (based at the Southglade, Bilborough and Lenton housing offices) will be supported by a Central Team which also includes staff dedicated to leasehold management and other income management collection.

3.4 Tenancy and Estate Management

3.4.1 Area Housing Managers and officers at the area housing offices core activities will be tenancy and estate services, anti-social behaviour, tenant and resident participation and frontline advice services.

3.4.2 We are aiming to empower Housing Patch Managers to focus on improving estate based services and response to issues such as anti- social behaviour. The revised arrangements will also enable Nottingham City Homes to work more effectively with other partners, for example in Neighbourhood Policing which is currently being rolled out citywide.

3.4.3 Procedures and processes for estate services are being reviewed with colleagues in Property Services and the City Council to ensure that an integrated approach is delivered for communal areas on our estates.

3.4.4 Tenant and leaseholder participation at a local level will be developed through engaging local tenants and leaseholders to become involved in setting standards and shaping programmes in order to make a real difference in their areas.

3.4.5 The service will be delivered from the existing 9 area offices (plus Victoria Centre) providing a fully comprehensive housing service. Tenants, leaseholders and other customers will continue to have their queries dealt with in their local offices or by telephone.

3.4.6 These formation of separate rents and voids functions has resulted in significant movement of staff from local offices to create the new teams and some changes in the management structures and personnel have resulted. Nottingham City Homes has attempted to reduce the impact of these changes as much as possible and most Housing Patch Managers continue to cover their previous patches.

3.4.7 In the previous structure all tenancies and leaseholds in the Wollaton West and Wollaton East/Lenton Abbey wards were managed from the Bilborough Housing Office.

3.4.8 In the new structure office boundaries have been realigned to coincide with police beat areas wherever possible. As a result City Council properties in Wollaton West continue to be managed by Bilborough whilst the management of properties in Wollaton East and Lenton Abbey has now been transferred to the Radford Housing office.

3.5 Bilborough Housing Office

3.5.1 Steve Pepper remains Area Housing Manager at Bilborough.

3.5.2 In order to accommodate the local Rent and Income Management team at Bilborough, all Housing Patch Managers working in our area have been transferred to the Aspley Housing Office where they are managed by Cheryl Mahabir.

3.5.3 Iselyn Warner (Housing Patch Manager) continues to cover all City Council properties in the Wollaton West ward.

3.5.4 Bilborough Office Management Team

• Steve Pepper, Area Housing Manager • Cheryl Mahabir, Housing Manager (Tenancy & Estate Management) • Montie Douglas, Housing Manager (Customer Services)

3.5.5 Customer Services Team

The Bilborough Customer Services Team is managed by Montie Douglas. The office based Customer Services Team will continue to provide a point of front-line contact and advice for all our services as well as income collection. Appointments and contacts with our Housing Patch Managers will obviously be maintained and at least one Patch Manager will be on site at Bilborough to cover emergencies and deal with more complicated or involved queries.

3.6 Radford Housing Office

3.6.1 Val Billings is the Area Housing Manager at Radford.

3.6.2 The Radford Housing Patch Manager Team is managed by Shaun Elliott.

3.6.3 Rukaiyat Ahmed (Housing Patch Manager) covers all City Council properties in Lenton Abbey and Mario Recchia (Housing Patch Manager) covers .

3.6.4 Radford Office Management Team

• Val Billings, Area Housing Manager • Shaun Elliott, Housing Manager (Tenancy & Estate Management) • Lynn Standen, Housing Manager (Customer Services)

3.7 Contact details for all staff listed above can be found in Appendix 1.

4 OTHER OPTIONS

4.1 This report outlines phase one of an ongoing re-structure designed to improve performance and to meet customer needs and expectations in respect of service delivery.

5 OBSERVATION OF THE DIRECTOR OF RESOURCES

5.1 None.

6 IMPLICATIONS FOR NOTTINGHAM CITY HOMES OBJECTIVES

6.1 These changes have taken place to put Nottingham City Homes structures and working arrangements in line with 2 and 3 star performing ALMOs throughout the country and to put the company on the best possible footing for the re-inspection in June 2008.

7 EQUALITIES AND DIVERSITY IMPLICATIONS

7.1 The changes outlined in this report will contribute to the Nottingham City Homes mission of delivering excellent services and vision of homes and places people in a diverse and multi-cultural community want to live in.

8 BACKGROUND MATERIAL AND PUBLISHED DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN COMPILING THIS REPORT

8.1 None.

CONTACT OFFICERS: Name: Steve Pepper, Area Housing Manager Address; Bilborough Housing Office 95 Bracebridge Drive Bilborough Nottingham, NG8 4PL Tel: 0115 915 0471 E-mail: [email protected]

Name; Val Billings, Area Housing Manager Radford Housing Office Highcross Court Radford Nottingham, NG7 3LR Tel; 0115 915 3176 E-mail; val.billings@nottinghamcityhomes,org.uk

9 October 2007

APPENDIX 1

CONTACT DETAILS

Bilborough Housing Office 95 Bracebridge Drive Bilborough Nottingham NG8 4PL

Telephone; 0115 915 0491 Fax; 0115 915 0470 Email; [email protected]

Bilborough Management Team

Steve Pepper, Area Housing Manager Tel; 0115 915 0471. Email; [email protected]

Cheryl Mahabir, Housing Manager (Tenancy & Estate Management) Tel; 0115 915 0583. Email; [email protected]

Montie Douglas, Housing manager (Customer Services) Tel; 0115 915 0510. Email; [email protected]

Radford Housing Office Highcross Court Radford Nottingham NG7 3LR

Telephone; 0115 915 3166 Fax; 0115 915 3177 Email; [email protected]

Radford Management Team

Val Billings, Area Housing Manager Tel; 0115 915 3176. Email; [email protected]

Shaun Elliott, Housing Manager (Tenancy & Estate Management) Tel; 0115 915 3181. Email; [email protected]

Lynn Standen, Housing Manager (Customer Services) Tel; 0115 915 3158. Email; [email protected]