Council to spend £231k to tackle housing repair backlog in Cannock

Historically the district council’s housing maintenance team has received an average of just over 1,300 service requests a month. But during the last financial year this rose to an average of 1,615 requests a month – and April alone saw 1,899.

The Cannock authority has also seen an increase in works required for disrepair claims in the wake of new legislation which requires landlords to take more responsibility for dampness and mould in housing stock. This follows the death of toddler Awaab Ishak from a respiratory condition caused by mould in his family’s rented home in Rochdale.

A report to Cannock Chase Council’s cabinet revealed there had been “teething issues” with a new IT system too. It said: An increase in repair requests during 23/24 and a projected forecast of repair orders for 24/25 has – and is expected to – place more pressure on front-line and back-office colleagues to deliver the repairs service in a timely fashion, within targets and complying with regulatory standards, and so providing an excellent service for our tenants.

“The implementation of NEC Northgate ‘Console’ has not enabled a smooth transition from previous IT systems and has resulted in workarounds to ‘make the system work’ in a number of cases. Currently, there are circa 3,500 work orders ‘in the NEC system’ whereas we would normally run on a monthly basis circa 1,500.

“The internal repairs team are working to capacity and requires additional resources to reduce the backlog to a more acceptable and manageable figure. It is proposed to seek approval to enlist the assistance of an external contractor to be allocated works orders and to manage this ‘contract’ utilising existing supervision with support from a short-term additional supervisor.

“It is anticipated, that once complete and with a robust and fully functioning IT system, we will be able to manage the workflows and have a clear sight of the status of workflows and be in a position to once again manage the monthly turnover of repair service requests with our existing workforce. Subject to approval to proceed, this will bring the live number of jobs back in line with the average trends for the internal team to continue to deliver.”

The estimated cost to cover the backlog of jobs is £231,000 and the money will come from the council’s Housing Revenue Account (HRA). The report warned that failing to respond to disrepair claims would result in regulatory targets being breached – and may result in inspections by the regulator.

It added: “If found to be in breach, this may result in fines and reputational damage for CCDC. Additionally, any failure to complete works agreed as part of a disrepair claim within the relevant timescale will result in additional disrepair breach compensation claims being issued, along with associated legal costs.

“This will result in a further financial burden to the council. The council is obliged to adhere to the requirements of the Housing Ombudsman as a registered member.”

Councillor Sue Thornley, Housing and Corporate Assets Portfolio Leader said: “Cannock Chase Council is committed to taking the necessary steps to restore its housing repair services to a manageable and efficient level. By using some of the HRA budget to procure an external contractor, we can clear the backlog swiftly and progress with the positive initiatives that we have planned.”