Armagh - Northern Ireland Housing Executive

3.5 Objective 4 - Delivering quality services
We recognise the importance of working closely with
local communities and their representatives. The
changes to the structure of local management and
regional management will not affect service delivery.
To understand our customers’ needs we use
techniques such as customer surveys whilst also
comparing the quality and efficiency of our services
with other organisations. The following processes
identify areas for improvement:
We are currently
reviewing our Housing
Selection Scheme. A
consultation paper
proposes amendments
to the rules to align it
with changes in Housing
Benefit, in light of
Welfare Reform.
• The Continuous Tenant Omnibus
Survey (CTOS) provides a
comprehensive socio-economic
profile of Housing Executive tenants
and their views and attitudes to
service provision;
• We accredit the performance of our
services through a number of
frameworks. These include Customer
Service Excellence, the European
Foundation for Quality Manager,
Investors in People and ISO 9001
accreditations;
• We operate a two stage complaint scheme for our customers.
DSD has commissioned a fundamental review of the Allocations Policy for social
housing. This will ensure that the current procedures for accessing the social housing
waiting list and allocating social housing make the most effective use of scarce
public resources in identifying and meeting housing need.
We continue to administer Housing Benefit prior to the phased transfer to Universal
Credit between 2014 and 2017. We have spent £96K on discretionary housing
payments to over 460 claimants to ease financial hardship in Armagh City and
District during 2012/13.
Table 5: South Area Housing Benefit Performance at March 2013
Target
Actual
Clear Housing Benefit new claims within 25 days 27 days
Clear Housing Benefit change of circumstances within 8 days 5 days
Action Plan 2013/14
• Manage services in a cost effective manner;
• Complete the review of the Housing Selection Scheme;
• Administer housing benefit and discretionary housing payments;
• Provide grant applicants with copies of our grants newsletter;
• Update and implement our Learning and Development Strategy;
• Update and implement the People Strategy;
• Maintain an excellent, well-trained and highly motivated workforce.
31