Audit Commission report on Homes for Islington

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p 32 London Borough of Islington - Homes for Islington (ALMO) 198 HFI and the council have taken clear and effective steps to address our recommendations. The adaptations budget was transferred to the council’s social services department to streamline the arrangements. The budget was increased from £800,000 in 2003/04 to £1.25 million in 2004/05. 199 HFI have taken steps to ensure properties that have adaptations installed are highlighted on the housing management IT system so that suitable allocations can be made to disabled applicants from the housing register. If there are no suitable applicants available social services are informed and the adaptations removed and recycled where possible. 200 Social services have taken positive steps to assess the level of need. There are currently around 450 cases but they only expect to fund the highest priority cases, about 200 from the existing budget. The need to establish the exact cost of the service and assess the level of demand was prioritised by the council and they are now at the stage of developing a strategy to meet the demand, such as means testing. 201 There are effective processes in place to administer the adaptations system and there are clear lines of communication between surveyors and the occupation therapy teams. A series of checks on the housing database are carried out in order to establish eligibility including checks on rent arrears, tenancy status and right to buy applications. 202 Surveyors routinely carry out satisfaction survey and there are high rates of satisfaction with the service even though the process is lengthy. It is around five months on average and there are no targets for this process. Housing income management 203 In our previous inspection, we found a range of rent payments methods. There were regular and consistent processes to guide housing officers in improving performance, and the addition of housing benefit officers to the area offices had improved the service to tenants. Performance on current rent collection was improving, but from a low base and we found support for vulnerable tenants. However, rent could not be paid over the internet and payment methods were not included in the tenancy video; tenants who used the cash payment facilities at the area housing offices may not have had their needs fully addressed when this facility was withdrawn; cumulative arrears were high and collection of FTA debt was staff intensive and inefficient; procedures needed to be improved for the recovery of FTA and; IT systems did not support all areas of the service well. 204 Performance collecting current and former rent is improving and arrears reducing for reception centre charges. A responsive service is provided with support for residents. However, a strategy is required to tackle the large historic current arrears and performance does not compare well with other London authorities. This is an area of service that still needs development. 205 HFI have separated out service charges since our last inspection and these are easily understood on the rent statement. They have developed additional payment methods to supplement the withdrawal of the facility to make cash payments at the area offices and this has increased the number of payments made. Rent and service charge payments can now be paid at post offices; paypoints; by credit and debit cards; by phone to HFI Direct; and by IVR (making payments using the keypad on the phone), standing order; direct debit, and internet payments online. Although, direct debit payments are restricted to one specific payment date.
London Borough of Islington - Homes for Islington (ALMO) p 33 206 There are comprehensive procedures that staff use to manage income and debt collection for current and former arrears and positive intervention and prevention work. For example the two area based housing benefit (HB) officers in each neighbourhood office provide customer services and assessment of claims. The customer service HB officer completes the HB form with new tenants at the tenancy sign up stage and they provide daily drop-in sessions for tenants with HB queries. There is a protocol in place that provides target times to respond to queries. This has resulted in housing benefit problems being resolved quickly and efficiently, particularly where outstanding documents and proof are of identification is holding up the assessment of claims. It has also led to speedier processing of HB payments. 207 HFI takes prompter action to recover debts, with an emphasis on early warning letters and a semi automated arrears process. This has improved performance as the average current arrear has reduced from £379.48 in 2001/02 to £292.84 in 2003/04 and to £269.59 in the first quarter of 2004/05. The percentage of rent collected (BVPI 66a) has also improved from bottom quartile to third quartile, from 91.2 per cent in 2001/02, 93 per cent in 2002/03 and 94.6 per cent in 2003/04, current performance for the first six months of 2004/05 is 95.35 per cent against a target of 95 per cent. 208 HFI took over the management of the council’s reception centres in April 2004, at that time arrears for charges were £153,000 in eight months they have reduced the figure to around £74,000. 209 There is now a greater emphasis on prevention with housing support officers (HSOs) at each area office to help sustain tenancies, before legal action is taken rent recovery staff assess whether support is required. HSOs are trained in welfare advice and they refer tenants to independent advice services and can access additional floating support where necessary. 210 A positive relationship with the council’s legal services has been built. Legal services are providing a more responsive and proactive service to HFI than that previously provided to the council’s housing department. This is evidenced by better response times, more activity in arrears collection, legal training and improved liaison. 211 However, there are still some weaknesses. For example there is a lack of an agreed strategy with the council on how to tackle the large historic current arrears. There have been no discussions yet on incentive schemes. Vulnerable tenants are not always flagged on the IT system and this may impact on the approach and support provided to them. Pre eviction interviews are offered for tenants facing eviction although where an eviction is not immediately agreed by a court, the tenant is not re-interviewed if their case is referred back to court. 212 HFI consulted tenants through the best value review of housing management services, and improvement suggested by tenants were an increase in frequency that rent statements are sent out, but HFI have not implemented this because of cost. And, staff at the area offices were unaware that HFI Direct were unable to send out rent statement and were referring callers through to the call centre. The facility to send out rent statements has not yet been implemented. 213 HFI has reviewed former tenant arrear (FTA) processes, this has resulted in a significantly improved turnaround time for housing benefit notifications, with daily notification and improved arrangements and targets set with HB for dealing with rejections and queries. There has also been a review of poor collection levels with the council’s legal services and new arrangements implemented. Now all cases within 18 months of being statute barred are assessed to check where the case is in the system and to ensure cases are chased and action taken.
Page 1 and 2: Inspection report
Page 3 and 4: Summary London Borough of Islington
Page 5 and 6: London Borough of Islington - Homes
Page 7 and 8: Recommendations London Borough of I
Page 9 and 10: © Audit C
Page 11 and 12: The service London Borough of Islin
Page 13 and 14: How good is the service? London Bor
Page 31: London Borough of Islington - Homes
Page 45 and 46: Service charges London Borough of I
Page 59 and 60: Summary London Borough of Islington
Page 61 and 62: Documents reviewed London Borough o
Page 63 and 64: Gary Doolan GMB London Borough of I
Page 65 and 66: Positive practice London Borough of

Audit Commission report on Homes for Islington

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