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Housing Services Annual Report 2023/24

10/10/2024

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As the Executive Member for Housing and Development in Manchester, I am proud to introduce Manchester City Council’s Housing Services Annual Report for 2023/24. 

It was a busy year for your housing team. We began the process of restructuring our service to better deliver the priorities that you told us matter the most whilst meeting the demands of the many changes to housing regulation.

This was alongside delivering the services that matter the most to our residents. Here’s an overview of our performance for 2023/24. 

You – resident led services, putting you at the heart of everything we do 

We answered 65,395 calls from residents as well as handling 23,242 digital interactions, this includes contacts that come in via our website as well as enquiries via social media.  

83% of residents were satisfied with our customer service. One commented: “Joanne was amazing! … She took control of the request and dealt with it promptly. It was a breath of fresh air to have someone take control of the situation and take responsibility. She is indeed an asset!" 

The cost-of-living crisis continued. Shopping and fuel prices remained high and many of us are feeling the pinch. This is where our money advice team can help. They supported 3,441 residents, helping them to access £875,416 of support.  

Our rent team collected over 100% of the rent owed and worked hard to support residents in rent arrears to effectively manage their debt and reduce this over time. More than 50% of residents who started the year with rent arrears were no longer in arrears by the end of the year.  We would like to thank everyone for prioritising their rent payments during these challenging times. 

330 residents were supported by Naila our energy advisor, she can advise on how to reduce your energy consumption in the home, and she knows all the best fuel tariffs. Last year she helped residents save 48 tonnes of carbon and £65,029 on their energy bills. 

Your home - high quality housing services and home improvements for secure, warm, sustainable homes 

69% of repairs were completed on time. 82% of residents were satisfied with their repair and 99% of homes had a gas safety check.  

We spent over £10 million on improvements made up of 1,574 individual improvements to homes. £1.4m of this was spent making homes more energy efficient to support our vision to become a zero-carbon city by 2038. 

Our estate services team cut the grass in 1,885 gardens, where residents were unable to do it themselves. 

And 69 households moved into our brand new, low carbon homes in Silk Street, Newton Heath. They were built to HAPPI design principles, featuring ground source heating, solar panels, electric vehicle charging points, living walls and green roofs. 37 of the residents who moved were downsizing, freeing up their original homes for households that needed them. 

Your Neighbourhood - welcoming, safe and vibrant neighbourhoods 

Our community safety team investigated 169 cases of ASB and opened 119 safeguarding cases. 

Our waste and recycling team investigated 421 reports of fly tipping and removed 431,530kg of waste. 

We donated £10,000 to local community groups through our Hobin’s Community Fund. The winners included the Collyhurst and Moston Boxing Club, who provide opportunities for young people and Men United Against Suicide Football Club. Members of the community joined us to vote for their favourite groups, thank you to everyone who took part. 

This fund is available to community groups every year. It means a lot to us to be able to support the wonderful people working hard to improve the lives of people in the communities we serve. 

And we held 25 community events. 3,840 of you joined us to party in the parks of north Manchester, to pitch in with our clean up days and vote for your favourite community groups in the Hobin’s pitch events.  

We love these events, it gives us the opportunity to meet residents, face to face, find out what issues are of concern to you and gain a real insight into the things that matter most.  

Aside from our performance, here are some of the other highlights of the year 

Our Your Voice groups completed their first year since they formed in 2023, and they really hit the ground running.  

This group is made up of local residents. They work in three groups, each group oversees each of the main priorities set out in our Place Called Home Vision, You, Your Home, Your Neighbourhood.  

They meet every two months, but it’s not all about meetings, as well as overseeing our policies, the groups have spent time with our teams, looking at how things are currently working and what improvements can be made. This year they have: 

  • Spent time with Equans looking at how they plan work 

  • Drafted a new service standard for repairs 

  • Reviewed our rent and money advice policies 

  • Helped shape our new operating model 

We would like to say a huge thank you to Your Voice for their support this year. If you fancy getting involved, you can find out more here: https://www.mcchousingservices.co.uk/get-involved/get-involved-join-your-voice/ 

The regulator of social housing introduced Tenant Satisfaction Measures in April 2023 and this year we reported our first results. 

We spoke to over 1,500 residents to find out how satisfied they were with their home, and the range of services we provide to them as their landlord. This provided us with lots of information about what residents really value, and where we need to do better.   

We repeat this exercise annually so look out for the next survey. 

The Housing Ombudsman’s new Complaint Handling Code became a statutory requirement from 1st April 2024. 

We published our annual complaints performance report for 23/24 and submitted it to the Housing Ombudsman. 

Our headline figures included: 

  • Total number of Stage 1 complaints - 375 

  • Total number of Stage 2 complaints - 69 

  • Stage 1 complaints responded to 'in time' against our internal policy - 59% 

  • Stage 2 complaints responded to 'in time' against our internal policy - 70% 

  • Average response time for all complaints - 9.6 days 

We also shared our plans for improvement. Our key priorities for 24/25 include: 

  • introducing a more robust follow up process to improve resident satisfaction with complaint handling 

  • To respond to all complaints ‘in time’, as per our internal Complaints Policy 

  • To demonstrate that the learning from resident complaints is used to truly change and improve services 

  • To improve communication channels both internally and with our residents – as this is a key theme in most complaints. 

What’s next? 

We will shortly welcome residents into 130 brand new Council homes in Collyhurst as the first phase of the Victoria North development is completed. 

And for 2024/25, we are excited to announce the biggest transformation to our frontline housing management services in over two decades. 

Our new model focuses on increasing our frontline presence, expanding anti-social behaviour (ASB) services, and bolstering support-based offerings. 

Housing Officers will now have more time to spend on estates, addressing environmental issues and be more involved with our Independent Living Schemes. 

Additionally, we are supporting our dedicated ASB and Support teams to safeguard residents, creating a seamless, end-to-end service. 

With these improvements, you can expect a much more personalised and efficient experience, with your wellbeing and housing conditions at the heart of everything we do, I can’t wait to see what we achieve next year. 

Best wishes,  

Councillor Gavin White 
Executive Member for Housing and Development 
Manchester City Council