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Service Housing Strategy & Performance Management – Communities and Housing

Directorate Communities, Housing & Infrastructure

Approval:

Title Signature Date

Service Manager Graeme Stuart

Director Pete Leonard

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April 20

Service Business Plans 2016-17

Contents/Checklist

1. Introduction 2. Service Description 3. Summary of current year performance

3.1. Key achievements against plan 3.2. Performance (vs KPIs/objectives) 3.3. Finance

4. Service assessment

4.1. PESTLE 4.2. SWOT

5. 2016/17 Business Plan 5.1. Service Vision 5.2. Link to strategic priorities 5.3. Service objectives 5.4. Shaping Aberdeen:-

5.4.1. What it means for the service 5.4.2. Action plans

a. Improving the Customer Experience b. Improving the Staff Experience c. Improving our Use of Resources

6. Organisation & Key Staff

7. Workforce Plan

8. Communication & Engagement Plan

9. Risk management

10. Health & Safety Plan

11. Financial Summary 12. Performance Management

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1. INTRODUCTION

Communities, Housing and Infrastructure (CH&I) is responsible for a broad range of services that the Council provides to those who live, work, visit and invest in the City of Aberdeen. The Directorate brings together teams and individuals in order to support the development of enhanced strategic planning capability and improved joined-up operational practices in the following areas:

Pete Leonard

Director

Communities, Housing & Infrastructure

Donald Urquhart

Head of Communities & Housing

Mark Reilly

Head of Public Infrastructure and

Environment

John Quinn

Head of Land and Property Assets

Richard Sweetnam

Head of Economic Development

John Lynch

Interim Head of Planning & Sustainable Development

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2. SERVICE DESCRIPTION

What services do you provide, and to whom?

Housing Strategy service working across public and private sector;

Performance Management and Quality Assurance service across Aberdeen City

Council landlord, homelessness and anti social behaviour services;

Maintenance and development of ICT systems for the housing service;

Property Factor for 38 multi storey blocks;

Owner liaison for HRA Capital and planned maintenance programme;

Rent and miscellaneous accounts service to Aberdeen City Council tenants.

Why is the service important and how does it link to ACC strategic agenda? The service provides a mix of strategic support and direct service delivery across housing sectors ensuring delivery of new affordable housing in association with the Scottish Government, RSLs and the privates house building sector; Performance Management and Quality Assurance ensure statutory requirements around Scottish Social Housing Charter and other requirements are delivered; Support to deliver performance and ICT services across Aberdeen City Council tenancy, homelessness and anti-social behaviour services which are essential to the continued delivery and improvement agendas for these services; Provide a property factor service to owners and a liaison service for owners where maintenance and property improvements are proposed by Aberdeen City Council. The Property factoring Service is a relatively new statutory service which is developing to meet the needs and expectations of owners; and to assist in the delivery of the asset management plan for the HRA stock Rent Accounts function is essential to insure the effective collection of rental and other associated accounts across a range of payment methods. Financial budget Housing Strategy Housing Strategy £303,188

Quality Assurance & Performance Management £263,183

Integrated Systems £480,487

Rent Accounts £542,031

Other Housing H71 831

PSHG Other Investment H71 866

Property Factor H71 861

Manage affordable housing budget with Scottish Government circa £10m per annum and Aberdeen City Affordable housing fund from Council Tax and S75 obligations circa £2m per annum. Number of employees 22

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3. SUMMARY OF THE YEAR (2015/16) 3.1. Key achievements against plan

Key service developments during the year

Introduced Payment Expectations Module, Housing Support module;

delivery of Scottish Housing Charter annual return and annual report to tenants;

development and introduction of Performance Management and Quality Assurance

Framework

introduced any day direct debit

introduced online application for tenants home contents insurance

delivered annual rent increase

Continue to develop Property Factoring Service for owners

Took over responsibility for Rent Accounts Service from Corporate Governance

Delivered Housing Contribution Statement

Financial outturn All within budget KPI performance Percentage of factored owners satisfied with the factoring service they receive

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4. SERVICE ASSESSMENT

4.1. PESTLE analysis

Political New legislative requirements from

Scottish and UK Governments

Implementation of decisions by

committee.

Economic Continued down turn in Aberdeen

economy and house building will make

facilitating the delivery of affordable

housing more challenging

Social Changing demographic due to economic

downturn, large number of migrant

working age leaving city to return to their

native residence (impacts on housing

demand/build etc)

Technological Continue development of iworld and self

service module

Legal Implementation of new legislative

requirements from Scottish and UK

Governments

Environmental

Summary of critical issues from the PESTLE analysis that will influence the plan

Downturn in local economy impacting on affordable housing delivery

Continual legislative change requires policy and procedures to be updated

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4.2. SWOT analysis

Strengths Staff knowledge and commitment

Existing systems deliver required

outcomes

Weaknesses Staff resource in key areas

ICT could be better integrated into

processes for some parts of the team

Competing demands on limited staff

resource, so need to prioritise use of

resource

Opportunities Develop property factoring service for

additional tenements

Increased use of website eg online

Tenants Contents Insurance Application

Form

Successful City Region deal around

housing ‘asks’

Threats Property Factor as a corporate body is

exposed by weakest in-house service;

Any period of ICT unavailability;

Loss of key staff

Summary of critical success factors emerging from the SWOT

Continued development of service with current staff resource

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5. 2016/17 BUSINESS PLANS

5.1. Service Vision

Continue to deliver and develop housing ICT systems, performance management

service with greater focus on quality assurance.

Delivery of consultation outcomes on future rent setting;

Rent Accounts service modernisation, any day direct debit to all tenants, online house

contents insurance application;

Contribute to successful City Region Deal outcomes with ‘housing asks’ delivered on;

Contribute to delivery of ‘robust and credible’ Housing Need and Demand Assessment;

Continue to develop the Property Factor Service to the existing service recipients and

look to deliver for additional tenements;

Contribute to delivery of the Local Housing Strategy and SHIP outcomes

Ensure housing contributes to the economic development of the city;

Increase housing supply to meet housing need and demand;

Improve housing conditions in both the public and private sector;

Ensure continued supply and access to affordable housing;

Continue to provide information and advice to improve housing conditions in the

private housing sector;

Develop a framework for a Regeneration Strategy for the city;

Ensure there is a supply of particular needs housing of the right type to meet

future requirements;

Improve energy efficiency in both the public and private housing sectors and

alleviate fuel poverty.

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5.2. Link to Strategic priorities (Smarter Aberdeen)

SMARTER GOVERNANCE (Participation)

We will seek to develop a sense of community in Aberdeen based on principles of openness, fairness, reciprocity and responsibility.

Continued commitment to consult tenants and owners to ensure effective and legal decision making.

We will encourage and support citizens to participate in the development, design and decision making of services to promote civic pride, active citizenship and resilience.

Continued commitment to consult tenants and owners to ensure effective and legal decision making.

SMARTER LIVING (Quality of Life)

We will provide quality services to our council tenants to enable them to have a dry, warm home in a safe and enjoyable environment.

Continued commitment to consult tenants and owners to ensure effective and legal decision making.

5.3. Service Goals – overarching goals that link to strategic priorities

Goal Lead Officer

1 Facilitate increased delivery of Affordable Housing Housing Strategy & Performance Manager

2 Continued development of iworld and other ICT solutions

Systems Manager

3 Full implementation of Performance Management and Quality Assurance Framework

Quality Assurance & Performance Management Manager

4 Modernisation of Rent Accounts Service Rent Accounts Officer

5 Continued development of Private Factor Service Private Sector Housing Strategy Officer

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5.4. Shaping Aberdeen

PURPOSE: Shaping Aberdeen is the organisational plan enabling Aberdeen City Council to play a leading role in ensuring the region continues to prosper economically and also prospers in terms of well-being. The emerging Economic and Wellbeing strategy will be underpinned by having the necessary People, Place and Technology plans in place.

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HOW WE DO BUSINESS: For the Council, this means changing how we do business, recognising the challenging landscape within which we operate of increasing service demand, a reducing financial envelope and an ambitious vision for Aberdeen. We will need to modernise the ways in which we deliver our services, embracing new technology and changing our processes to improve our service quality and operational efficiency. We will need to become more innovative, seeking better and new ways to serve our customers, both external and internal. A programme of continuous improvement through doing things better, and a more transformational approach looking at doing better things will demand different thinking and learning from best practice elsewhere.

Putting these new ideas into practice is effectively how we transform the organisation, which will demand courage in decision making, diligence in our assessment and management of risk, and a focus upon rigorous implementation of our plans.

We will modernise by continuing to develop systems to provide for easier interaction by and a wider range of a service for our customer’s e.g. move tenants from a weekly direct debit to any day direct debit and have a web based application form for tenant’s household contents insurance.

We will innovate by looking to develop web based portal for owners receiving the Property Factor Service; Develop online Tenants Contents Insurance; Continue to develop iworld to assist effective delivery of services across housing services;

We will transform using ICT solutions, looking at best in class solutions, continues self appraisal to identify areas for improvement and work with colleagues across services.

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ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE: How we go about this is guided by the culture we wish to evolve and nurture within the organisation – a culture based upon an avid commitment to add value to our customers’ lives, on improving the work environment and opportunities for our staff and through managing the resources of the council in a more efficient and effective way. Improving the Staff Experience recognises that the employees of the council are the core “product” of the council, and the quality of the services that we provide is entirely dependent upon a motivated and empowered staff, whose behaviours, relationships and ways of working form the culture of the organisation. A positive culture depends on a staff who understand our vision and direction, share our values and ambitions and have the drive and desire to play their part, and on managers who take on a lead role in this and understand how to engage and empower their teams. We aim to be seen as an employer of choice in the area, attracting, recruiting and retaining staff whose values are aligned to the organisation’s, who share the council’s vision and goals and who have the drive and ambition to make a difference. Improving our Use of Resources recognises that the council faces a challenging environment whereby funding is reducing, service demand and customer expectations are increasing and we have an ambitious agenda and vision for Aberdeen. We therefore, have to become much more efficient at delivering the core services through continuous improvement, in order to create the headroom to transform the organisation and invest in our future priorities for the area. Improving the Customer Experience starts with an organisation that embeds “customer centricity” within everything we do, from the staff we employ to the processes and systems we adopt to manage the organisation effectively. This also recognises that everyone in the organisation has a contribution to make, and that our customers may be external or internal, but the focus upon delivering an improved experience to those customers is paramount. We will transform the ways in which customers are able to access our services, and the services themselves as we continuously review what we do against a backdrop of changing customer demands and increasing financial constraints. We will recognise that one size does not fit all and build in tailored solutions where appropriate that recognises the diversity of our customer base and their individual needs and expectations.

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5.4.1. Action Plans – Improving the Customer Experience (TBC)

Objective Activity Customer improvement By when Lead officer

Encourage use of self serve rent statements

Easy access to account balance information

ongoing Rent Accounts Officer

Online application for household contents insurance

Easy application March 2016 Rent Accounts Officer

Encourage use of direct debit and move standing order and fixed week DD to any day DD

Fixed day DD gives customer certainty on when payment take from their bank account

December 2016

Rent Accounts Officer

Increase delivery of affordable housing Range of new affordable housing available for occupation

ongoing

Housing Strategy & Performance Manager

5.4.2. Action Plans – Improving the Staff Experience (TBC)

Objective Activity Customer improvement By when Lead officer

Performance Management Framework

Staff see their activity delivered against improved service performance

Ongoing Quality Assurance & Performance Management Manager

5.4.3. Action Plan – Improving our Use of Resources (TBC)

Objective Activity Customer improvement By when Lead officer

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6. Organisation

7. Workforce Plans

The staffing compliment for Rent Accounts team is under review. The team may need additional resources as the 3full time and1 part time (20 hours) may not be sufficient to deliver the service. A member of staff has been seconded long term to Social Care & Wellbeing which has made the delivery of service and future planning of resources difficult. A member of staff is likely to retire this year which will allow the team resource to be reviewed and reorganised.

Director - Communities,

Housing & Infrastructure

Head of Communities &

Housing

Vacant

Communities & Housing Strategy

Manager

Equalities Manager

Community Planning Manager

Housing Strategy Manager

Inclusion & Welfare Manager

Communities & Housing Area

Manager Citywide Manager

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8. Communication & Engagement Plans (TBC)

Objective Activity Internal Customer Improvement By when Lead officer

Objective Activity External Customer Improvement By when Lead officer

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9. Risk management

The Directorate Risk Register is being reviewed for the new financial year and will align with the new corporate Risk Register based upon the priorities and objectives outlined in the Council’s Strategic Business Plan. This overarching document will be supported and augmented by a series of more specific and detailed Risk Registers at an operational (and major project) level which are currently being developed by service managers and at a corporate level. The current Directorate Risk Register focuses on seven distinct areas of risks:

Business continuity planning

Financial management

Health and safety

Workforce planning

Customer engagement

Staff engagement

Delivery of service priorities and major project

Section 75 Developers Contributions

10. Health, Safety & Wellbeing Plans

The Communities, Housing and Infrastructure Health, Safety and Wellbeing Improvement Plan is currently under development. The Health and Safety Co-ordinator (Operations) has meetings scheduled with Service Managers to discuss the improvement themes and tasks identified within each area of service. This information will be collated and used to populate the Service Plan as appropriate.

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11. FINANCIAL SUMMARY - Revenue Budget 2016/17 (TBC)

Service area

Outturn 2015/6 £000’s

Variance to 2015/16

Budget £000’s

Budget 2016/17 £000’s

Variance

to 2015/16 £000’s

Total Service

Commentary on Revenue Budget

(TBC)

Please note that additional tables and commentary boxes will be available for Capital Expenditure, HRA and Common Good budgets.

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12. SUMMARY OF PERFORMANCE

12.1. Key Performance Indicators (TBC)

12.2. Commentary on performance targets

TBC

Key indicators/ Outcomes Target

2015/16 Actual

2015/16 Variance

Target 2016/17

CUSTOMER

STAFF

RESOURCES