Audit Commission report on Homes for Islington

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p 6 London Borough of Islington - Homes for Islington (ALMO) 10 We consider that HFI have excellent prospects for improvement because: there has been a consistent drive to improve that has resulted in benefits residents recognise; there is a consistent upward trend on all key best value performance indicators (BVPIs) and local performance indicators; there are systems to capture internal positive practice and learning through secondments and shadowing, staff conferences and workshops with tenant management organisations (TMOs) 2 ; improvements are driven through service improvements identified through feedback, resident involvement, performance management and the BVR process; residents are dominant in key strategic reviews such as the tenant compact group; HFI are self aware and plans realistically address service weaknesses, take account of current and forthcoming legislation, positive practise elsewhere and are customer focused; there is a clear and timely business planning process and the board have clearly prioritised plans and resources; the council is supportive of the ALMO’s independence; there is strong leadership from senior staff and the board, the board works well, provides clear leadership and members are visible to staff and residents; there are clear and challenging ambitions, targets and service standards; there is a commitment to invest in staff and ensure a diverse workforce; the organisation has restructured to improve capacity, meet business needs and improve service delivery and it uses partnerships effectively; the board, staff and council are clear about their respective roles and responsibilities; there are robust performance management arrangements in place, both between the council and HFI and within HFI; and there is a clear and robust risk management strategy. 11 However, we identified the following weaknesses in relation to prospects for improvement: some more recent improvements have yet to show clear and demonstrable outcomes; there are too many plans and the alignment of plans is not comprehensive; benchmarking is not being fully utilised to assess VFM and VFM assessments are not consistently carried out; there are opportunities for conflict of interest within the current governance arrangements; and not all resources are aligned to meet organisational and user focused objectives. 2 Tenant management organisations include tenant management co-operatives and estate management boards.
Recommendations London Borough of Islington - Homes for Islington (ALMO) p 7 12 To rise to the challenge of continuous improvement, organisations need inspection <strong>report</strong>s that offer practical pointers for improvement. In this context, the inspection team makes the following recommendations. Improve the accessibility of service to the diverse range of residents in the community. Ensure consistent monitoring of diversity information across HFI and the tenant management organisations (TMOs) and respond to issues arising from monitoring service delivery (six months). Include diversity information in estate agreements and use all opportunities to collect diversity information where it is not held (three months). With the council and residents secure funding for community centres to meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act (12 months). Improve access and customer care arrangements. Provide clear targets for all customer commitments (CCs) at the next planned review with residents. <strong>Audit</strong> and improve the quality of responses to complaints and ensure performance meets targets for replying to all complaints (three months). Capture informal feedback to inform improvements and introduce targeted surveys of victims of ASB and harassment to understand the effectiveness of actions taken and use this to ensure the service meets their needs (three months). Work with the council to resource improvements to reception centres and improve security (12 months). Improve the repair and maintenance service. Take action to ensure all properties that have not had a gas service for over 12 months are serviced as a matter of priority (three months). Involve residents in the development of capital schemes, their timing and design (12 months). Put in place a mechanism to check that repairs are carried out right first time and that targets for this are set and met (six months). Improve housing income management. Work with the council to develop a strategy to deal with historic current arrears using positive practise from good performing organisations (three months). Improve tenancy and estate management services by: ensuring consistency in estate care services and that window cleaning and refuse collection arrangements, meet the needs of residents (six months). Improve allocations and the letting service. Work with the council to implement the draft service level agreement with the council’s allocation service (three months).
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Audit Commission report on Homes for Islington

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