Audit Commission report on Homes for Islington

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p 34 London Borough of Islington - Homes for Islington (ALMO) 214 Performance has improved, the FTA debt at the end of 2003/04 was £9.4 million and a further £1.7 million has been added to this debt in the remainder of 2004 making a total of £11.1 million arrears. The FTA team have collected £2.2 million between April and the end of November 2004 leaving a debt of £8.9 million. 215 HFI is also improving publicity about FTAs. It has introduced a publicity campaign called 'disappearing debtors’ poster campaign. This identifies tenants who have left their tenancies without notice and asks for information about their whereabouts. So far the campaign has generated some telephone calls, but has not yet located any former tenants. However, the campaign is also aimed at deterring tenants from fleeing without paying their arrears or providing notice. HFI are addressing the delay in taking action to chase former tenants when they leave to recover debts owed. Where tenants notify the council/ALMO that they are terminating their tenancy, they are informed of their responsibility to clear outstanding arrears before they vacate the dwelling. 216 HFI has used procurement in outsourcing debt collection to two debt collection agencies. Previously the service was provided by one provider. HFI carried out a check among the FTA Housemark benchmarking club members to identify the performance of different agencies and used this information in its tendering and procurement process. Resident involvement 217 In our previous inspection, we found the council had a clear participation framework in place and a challenging forum for leaseholders. Considerable funding was committed to the framework including support for TMOs which are popular with tenants. A range of initiatives were being undertaken to encourage the involvement of tenants. However, poor perceptions were proving difficult to turn around in some areas of the participation framework. The need for a formal tenant participation strategy was highlighted at the end of 2002, but this was still in development. Management information for leasehold management and performance by TMOs was weak and there were insufficient resources to manage the programme of work to improve TMOs performance monitoring, and IT investment. 218 A resident focused approach has been taken to review tenant participation and progress is being made. Staff are accessible and accountable and additional resources have been targeted to support TMOs and IT. The current formal arrangements provide access for residents to improve services and monitor performance. However, until the review of tenant involvement by the resident involvement project group (RIPG) is complete a number of key weaknesses remain and HFI are not measuring the success or impact of all current activity. This is an area of service that still needs development. 219 The officer structure had changed to encourage greater participation with a centralised resident involvement team (RIT) leading, co-ordinating and supporting performance and partnership officers (PPOs) in the area offices. The PPOs deal with local tenant and resident associations on a daily basis and service area panel meetings. These officers also work with the tenant management organisations (TMOs), in their area and with local tenant and resident associations (TRAs) and community groups. There is also a small team servicing and co-ordinating the activity of the board and an external organisation the federation of Islington tenants associations (FITA) supporting and servicing tenant and resident association meetings and advising and helping residents who wish to set up associations. They receive a £100,000 grant from HFI to do this work.
London Borough of Islington - Homes for Islington (ALMO) p 35 220 The consultative framework has not changed to reflect the new board arrangements which have been added on to the current structure. There are still around 57 recognised TRAs and 12 TMOs and TMCs that feed into the 9 consultative panels which feed into the housing consultative panel (HCP) and then to the council’s executive. Representatives from these panels sit on two sub-boards of the main board, that has increased access to the board and provides a vehicle for capacity building. 221 There is a separate body made up of nominated residents and Board members, this is the Compact Negotiating Committee (CNC). Their role is to subject the Compact to periodic review and amendment as appropriate to reflect changes in circumstances. 222 A project group made up of resident Board and Sub-board members and supported by officers is currently reviewing the resident involvement strategy and funding for the arrangements put in place. This group plans to <strong>report</strong> its recommendations to the Board in May 2005. 223 Through the annual surveys HFI have a picture of how residents want to be involved and this is being used to inform the new strategy in addition to wider consultation and positive practise from elsewhere. The committee plans to <strong>report</strong> its recommendations to the board in early 2005. 224 In the interim residents are still involved in decision making and performance monitoring through area panels and there are a number of separate groups for themed development of policy such as the repairs improvement group. There are also focus groups that are consulted on issues the outcomes of which feed into service improvements. 225 HFI has done a number of things to improve communication with residents and to encourage and support wider involvement. It accepts that the current tenant compact is complex and so sent out a summary to all residents that was easier to understand. HFI has also put up more publicity in area offices about TRAs to encourage involvement and all new tenants are invited to join their local TRA. This is having an effect as all the new tenants we contacted had been told about or invited to join their local TRA. 226 The PPOs are working with community groups and agencies such as the older peoples’ services to access particular groups. There have been positive outcomes from this such as a young person is now involved and chairing the board of a community centre that HFI have responsibility for. 227 On a daily basis the PPOs are accessible, responsive and accountable, this was confirmed by TRA representatives we spoke to. The PPOs provide feedback to TRAs about issues they raise as soon as they have dealt with it rather than waiting for their next meeting, they are also there to answer queries and provide support. TRA representatives were also positive about their relationship with HFI staff at both area offices and at a senior level and they quoted a range of improvements they had raised at their area panels that were being delivered by HFI, such as appointments for emergency repairs and out of office hours appointments. These changes have improved tenants satisfaction with opportunities to participate from 27 per cent in 2000/01 to the 2003/04 survey that showed performance at 38 per cent. 228 Staff found that the relationship and communication with TRAs has improved as has the relationship with TMOs. The PPOs now have a six weekly open day for their local TMOs where issues are discussed and there is information sharing, TMOs that completed our survey consider that this has improved communication.
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 33: 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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