Strengths outweigh weaknesses in the way that Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association (ISHA) involves residents in shaping its services and in its approach to repairs and gas safety. Satisfaction with services is high and they are accessible to tenants. However services are not tailored to meet tenants' needs and don't always represent value for money.
Audit Commission inspectors reached this conclusion after a short-notice inspection of how well the London-based housing association involves residents, responds to repairs requests and undertakes gas safety checks.
The report shows that appointments are available at times to suit residents. Repairs are completed quickly to a good standard. Gas servicing is up to date, with all properties having had a recent gas safety check. Residents are happy with the service they get when they contact ISHA and are happy with the response they receive. Residents have also been taking advantage of the events organised by the association and the opportunities to shape the services that ISHA provides. However, we identified some weaknesses in the way that ISHA tailors services to the needs of some individual tenants and the amount of information it collects to be certain that it is providing value for money in the services we inspected.
Hugh Boatswain, Audit Commission senior manager, said:
'ISHA has made significant improvements in its services, which is shown by high levels of satisfaction. The Association is accessible and offers residents a wide variety of ways to get involved. Residents are positive about the repairs service and their safety is safeguarded by an efficient gas service.'
Strengths include:
- resident involvement is valued by ISHA and the additional resources focussing on this have led to significant changes;
- all properties have had a recent gas safety check; and
- it is easy to report repairs, which are completed to a high standard to the satisfaction of residents.
Weaknesses include:
- resident profile information is not used to routinely adjust services for individuals or groups or to analyse levels of satisfaction; and
- not all services offer value for money, with some having high costs, but low levels of satisfaction and performance.
To help the service improve, inspectors made a number of recommendations. These include:
- it should continue to collect and use resident profile information to tailor services, making sure that all residents are able to access services;
- it should involve residents in monitoring the performance of contractors, which will help to improve the repairs services; and
- it should use cost, performance and satisfaction information to assess whether its services provide value for money.
ISHA is now required to work with its customers to produce an action plan to address these recommendations.
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
Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association (ISHA) is a registered charity which was founded in 1934 and registered with the Housing Corporation in 1975. ISHA owns or manages 1567 homes, mainly in Hackney, Islington and Waltham Forest but also in Camden. It is a general needs housing association with some supported housing for residents with learning difficulties. ISHA works in areas of high demand and around 34 per cent of the population in the three core boroughs are from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. Its mission statement states that it 'is a community and neighbourhood-based Housing organisation managing & developing quality affordable housing for people in North London'.
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, the Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association will provide the Audit Commission with a plan showing how it will implement the report's recommendations. The Commission will then assess and publish the Peabody Trust'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