Inspections

Housing inspection

The Strategic Housing Service was judged by the Audit Commission to be 'fair' with 'promising' prospects for improvement.

They said that: “Customers have good access to services and Worcester 's work to prevent homelessness is particularly strong. It is working with neighbouring councils to allow more new affordable homes to be made available. Some aspects of its performance are weak compared to other councils though, and the Council needs to do more to ensure the service reflects the diverse needs of the community and provides value for money.

" Worcester is getting results for customers, particularly those at risk of becoming homeless. It has focused resources on addressing standards in the private sector, particularly on its high level of homes in multiple occupation. Although it needs to improve its performance in some areas, we consider that it has promising prospects for improvement. It can already demonstrate improvements for customers, it is working well with other local authorities and partners and has plans in place to address its key areas of weakness."

Strengths include:

• Strong performance in preventing homelessness, including services to reduce levels of rough sleeping
• Good use of funding grants to improve the standard of properties in the private sector, particularly houses in multiple occupation, and to provide adaptations for people with disabilities
• Effective use of planning guidance and requirements has increased the level of affordable housing that can be made available
• Areas for improvement include
• Weaknesses in measuring whether services are provided equitably and in ensuring they offer value for money
• Poor performance in the Council's use of temporary and bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless households, and in returning empty homes to use

Recommendations include:

• Concentrating more on customers when setting standards and in measuring customer satisfaction
• Developing better systems to manage performance, including measuring whether services are provided fairly to everyone
• Ensuring it has clear plans and procedures to improve its performance and maximise results for customers

Worcester City Council is responsible for providing statutory services, including the provision of affordable housing, private sector stock condition and homelessness and housing advice services within the city. The Council does not own any housing stock itself, having transferred its properties to Worcester Community Homes in 2004.

Copies of the report are available at: http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/reports

The Audit Commission’s report is a positive reflection of the great strides we have made since the housing stock was transferred and the City Council refocused on strategic services. It’s a credit to the housing services team.

The report has yet to be considered by the City Council’s cabinet. Inevitably there may be some aspects which the Council may not wholly agree with and there a few factual errors which we will be drawing to the Audit Commission’s attention. Nevertheless the outcome is a fair and positive result and will encourage the Council to continue working hard to further improve its housing services

Internal assessments

Internal Audit have done a major Value for Money study during the year on how we procure goods and services. The recommendations in the report have been picked up for action by our new Procurement Manager and form the basis of the current service plan.

Surveys:

We have continued to keep a Citizen’s Panel throughout the year but, because of management changes, have only used them once (normally we would send two questionnaires per year). The one exercise was a special one to investigate attitudes to the Council’s budget to assist with the difficult financial decisions. The following describes the method, its logic and the results.

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