Linc Cymru Housing Association has scope for considerable improvement in most key areas
04/09/2008
Auditor General releases report on south and mid Wales Housing Association
Linc Cymru Housing Association has scope to considerably improve in five out of eight services for customers, according to a report released today by the Auditor General for Wales.
It found that the association, which manages approximately 3,500 homes in south and mid Wales, has 'good' arrangements in place for providing housing and 'satisfactory' arrangements for its rents service and housing people with support needs. But, the association has scope for considerable improvement in its relationship to residents; equal opportunities, lettings, managing its housing and maintenance services.
The report also looked at the Association's arrangements to secure continuous improvement in its services. It concluded that the Association showed weakness in process and performance and needed to make sure that the objectives it was setting were actually being met. The Association's track record in delivering improvements for its customers was unimpressive and although it had recognised a need to tackle problems its plans for doing so remained weak.
The report included a number of recommendations to promote further improvement, including:
- Involving tenants in developing its customer involvement strategies and service standards
- Providing more accommodation to assist local authorities in rehousing homeless people
- Ensure its offices and housing stock comply fully with the Disability Discrimination Act
- Ensure senior staff manage performance and address areas of poor performance effectively
Jeremy Colman, Auditor General for Wales, said today:
"This report shows that Linc Cymru is falling short of standards in most areas. It needs to accept the need for considerable improvement and to implement my recommendations."
Notes to Editors:
- The inspection of Linc Cymru Housing Association took place in November 2007. At the time of inspection the Association managed over 3,442 properties in 10 local authority areas in South and Mid Wales including Blaenau Gwent and Powys.
- The Association was established in 1977 as Glamorgan and Gwent Housing and was renamed Linc Cymru in 2006. It has an office in Cardiff and one officer in a shared community office in Six Bells in Blaenau Gwent. Linc Cymru has 12 board members, of which 2 were tenant board members, and is managed by a corporate executive scheme.
- The Welsh Assembly Government has appointed the Wales Audit Office to carry out the inspection of housing associations in Wales. Inspection is carried out under the Local Government Act 1998, as amended by the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2004.
- The specific questions about each aspect the inspection covers are set out in the latest version of the Assembly Regulatory Code for Housing Associations in Wales. This can be found by clicking on the following link: http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/housingandcommunity/housing/publications/regulatorycode
has;jsessionid=9B45EEEB797A798A2F70307FCF99609A.www1?lang=en.
- The Wales Audit Office is independent of government and is responsible for the annual audit of some £19 billion of annual public expenditure.
- The Wales Audit Office was created in April 2005 through the Public Audit (Wales) Act, 2004, which expanded the functions of the Auditor General for Wales and enabled the transfer of staffs from the Audit Commission in Wales and National Audit Office in Wales to his employment.