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United Welsh Housing Association is providing mainly good services to its tenants, according to an inspection report published today by the Auditor General for Wales. It rated the Association as providing a ‘good’ letting service; having a ‘good’ approach to providing housing and ‘good’ equal opportunities arrangements in place. It also found the Association was providing an ‘excellent’ rents service and ‘excellent’ services for people with support needs. Its maintenance service was found to be ‘satisfactory’, along with its housing management service and its relationship with residents.
The Association also demonstrated strong corporate and strategic capabilities. It had established a comprehensive performance management system that was focussed on delivering corporate targets, and had recently developed a new system to better support continuous improvement.
The report also includes examples of good practice at the Association. These include the Association's Select a Home choice based lettings scheme, which had resulted in an improved performance in letting empty houses. The Association has also developed an eviction protocol, aimed at reducing the number of tenants experiencing rent arrears difficulties and at risk of losing their homes. Other examples of good practice include the Association's approach to equalities issues through use of the Intranet; its management of statutory servicing; and development of a Welfare Benefits Advisory Service that has delivered benefits to residents worth £123,000 in seven months.
The report includes a number of recommendations to promote further improvement, including:
- working with tenants to develop a Tenant Participation Strategy, with clear action plans;
- setting challenging targets to support continued improvement in the management of empty homes;
- developing and introducing a repairs appointments system;
- developing and implementing a Welsh Language Scheme;
- developing more effective methods of engaging with difficult to reach groups and engaging more effectively with those not involved; and
- ensuring that the work of the Association is routinely evaluated.
Jeremy Colman, Auditor General for Wales, said today:
“My report shows that overall United Welsh Housing Association is providing a good service to its tenants. And with continued development of the areas I have highlighted, such as routinely evaluating performance, the Association should be able to further improve the quality of its services. I have also identified a number of examples of good practice, which should be of interest and relevance to other public housing organisations in Wales.”
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