Richmond upon Thames Churches Housing Trust (RuTCHT) is providing tenants with a good day-to-day repairs service and is carrying out annual gas safety checks well. However, access to services and information and the way the association manages value for money need to improve.
Audit Commission inspectors reached this conclusion following a short-notice inspection of how effectively the Hampton-based housing association is providing repairs, gas safety and income collection services.
Kieran Colgan Audit Commission Lead Housing Inspector, said:
'RuTCHT provides some strong services in areas that are important to tenants such as repairs and gas safety. However, in some other areas there is more to do before services match the best performing landlords.'
Strengths include:
- overall tenants' satisfaction with the RuTCHT is high and is improving
- most repairs are completed quickly and performance on annual gas safety checks is strong
- RuCHT has taken active steps to support its tenants to pay their rent
Weaknesses include:
- access to services and information can be difficult and tenants are not fully involved in shaping the services that they receive
- the association does not fully understand its costs and how these compare and some services do not represent best value for money
To help the service improve, inspectors made a number of recommendations. These include:
- improving the ways that tenants can be involved in managing their homes
- ensuring that offices are fully accessible and services are delivered fairly
- improving the way the association manages value for money
The Tenant Services Authority (TSA) is the affordable housing regulator in England and works with the Audit Commission on the inspection of housing associations. The TSA commissions the Audit Commission to carry out inspections and the results are used by the TSA in its overall assessment of housing association performance.
Notes to editors
Richmond upon Thames Churches Housing Trust (RuTCHT) is a Registered Social Landlord that provides general needs, sheltered, leasehold and supported housing, and care homes. The Trust has properties in ten local authority areas mainly in the south and west of London and has 2,735 tenants and 723 shared owners and leaseholders. The Trust employs 89 people in residential care homes and sheltered housing and 58 in its office in Hampton.
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.
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'.
Within two months of the publication of this report, RuTCHT will provide the Audit Commission with a plan showing how it will implement the report’s recommendations. The Commission will then assess and publish RuTCHT’s prospects for improvement.
The Audit Commission is an independent watchdog, driving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local public services to deliver better outcomes for everyone.
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.
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 further information please contact: Chloe Morales Oyarce, Regional Communications Manager (London) on 0844 798 2095.