Audit Commission

Circle 33 Housing Trust 'has more strengths than weaknesses' according to a report released today by the independent Audit Commission.

Audit Commission inspectors reached this conclusion following a short-notice inspection of how the London-based housing association is responding to: repairs that tenants report; the servicing of gas appliances; and how rents and rent arrears are collected. This was because although repairs to its homes are not always carried out quickly, they are to a good standard and customer satisfaction is high. There are high levels of rent collected, rent arrears are low and there is effective debt and welfare advice for tenants. However, annual gas servicing of around 100 properties is not currently meeting legal timescales.

Adrian Brown, Audit Commission Lead Housing Inspector, said:
'Circle 33 Housing Trust has a sympathetic approach to tenants in rent arrears but is nevertheless effective in collecting rent and arrears. A new partnership arrangement for carrying out repairs to tenants' homes is yet to complete all repairs quickly although they are generally of a good quality with high levels of tenant satisfaction. New arrangements for servicing gas installations to tenants' homes have been put in place however, they are not yet meeting the Trusts' legal requirement to service all tenants' homes within twelve months.'

Strengths include:

• Emergency repairs are completed within target times and to a good standard that tenants expect
• Most repairs are completed in a single visit. This increases efficiency for the Trust and lessens inconvenience for tenants
• There is a customer focused appointment system where tenants can make repair appointments at convenient times, including evenings and Saturday mornings
• The Trust makes it easy for tenants to pay their rent by providing a comprehensive range of payment methods
• There is significant debt and welfare support to help tenants sustain their tenancies
• The services inspected are sensitive to the different needs of customers.

Weaknesses include:

• Urgent and routine repairs are not always completed within target times that tenants expect but they are generally completed to a good standard
• There are some problems diagnosing more complex repairs and this means tenants experience inconvenient return visits from contractors
• There is weak performance on gas servicing with a number of properties without a gas safety certificate for longer than six months.

To help the service improve, inspectors made a number of recommendations. These include:

• Increase performance on gas servicing to ensure all homes are serviced annually
• Reviewing the repairs service to ensure repairs completion times for urgent and routine repairs are improved
• Reviewing and improving the systems for diagnosing complex repairs
• Reviewing the telephone answering service to ensure a more responsive service for tenants.

Notes to editors

1. The Circle 33 Housing Trust was set up in 1968 to provide general needs social housing in London, primarily in the London Borough of Islington.
2. The Trust is the largest of the partners in Circle Anglia, which was formed by the merger of Circle 33 and Anglia Housing Groups. In total, Circle 33 Housing Trust owns and manages16, 171 homes. Circle 33 works across London in 21 local authority areas, although the vast majority (75 per cent) of its directly managed stock is concentrated in the 5 Core London Boroughs of Camden, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest.
3. The Audit Commission introduced short-notice inspections for housing associations to give inspectors a clearer and more realistic view of the services that tenants receive.
4. Associations are given just five days notice of the inspection before their services are rated on a four point scale - from 'strengths significantly outweigh weaknesses' down to 'weaknesses outweigh strengths'.
5. Within two months of the publication of this report, Circle 33 HT will provide the Audit Commission with a plan showing how it will implement the report's recommendations. The Commission will then assess and publish Circle 33 HT's prospects for improvement.
6. The Audit Commission is an independent watchdog, driving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local public services to deliver better outcomes for everyone.
7. Our work across local government, health, housing, community safety and fire and rescue services means that we have a unique perspective. We promote value for money for taxpayers, auditing the £200 billion spent by 11,000 local public bodies.
8. As a force for improvement, we work in partnership to assess local public services and make practical recommendations for promoting a better quality of life for local people.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR FOR AN EMBARGOED COPY OF THE FULL REPORT CONTACT
Chloe Morales Oyarce, Regional Communications Manager, 0844 798 2095