The report rated the Association as providing ‘satisfactory’ services in four out of eight key areas including the letting of houses, providing housing to people with support needs; the Association’s relationship with its residents and in its approach to equal opportunities. The report also found that the Association’s approach to three services areas - rents, housing management and provision of housing - was ‘good`; But there was ‘scope for considerable improvement’ in its maintenance service.

The report also found that the Association’s approach to continuous improvement was ’raising standards in service delivery’. The Association had a clear strategic direction and effective arrangements to deliver strategic objectives. It acknowledged the need to develop its arrangements for performance management and review its approach to continuous improvement and was already developing proposals to do so. 

The report included a number of recommendations to promote further improvement, including:

• Developing an effective response repairs system which is helpful to both residents and contractors; 
• Improving planning to meet the Welsh Housing Quality Standard by 2012; and
• Ensuring the factors causing the increasing cost of, and time spent on, repairs to empty homes are identified and tackled to enable empty homes to be let more quickly.

Jeremy Colman, Auditor General for Wales, said today:
“Cymdeithas Tai Clwyd overall is providing satisfactory or better services for its tenants. The Association has also demonstrated the potential to further improve services. The recommendations I have made should help the Association to focus on the key areas where improvement is needed.”

Notes to Editors:

• The inspection of Cymdeithas Tai Clwyd took place in April 2008. At the time of inspection the Association managed over 1,632 properties.
• The Association was established in 1974 and has housing stock in 6 local authority areas across Wales. The Association has 72 staff who provided housing services from its head office in Denbigh and regional office in Bala.
• 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/
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• 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.