Agenda item

Report to follow

The Strategic Director of MyPlace, the Cabinet Member for Community Leadership & Engagement, and the Chief Executive of Barking and Dagenham Trading Partnership (BDTP) presented an update report on BDMS Responsive Repairs Performance.

The report provided an update on the Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) achieved during November 2023 to January 2024. There had been improvements in the BDMS service delivery, however there were still many areas of underperformance and low productivity. 

The Council started from a low significant investment to BDMS. However, BDMS needed additional funding from the Council to get its services to the point in which it needed to be, while ensuring the Council was getting its value for money.

There was an increase in the use of sub-contractors within the past year which were expensive and unsustainable to maintain. There was also a need to have motor skilled operatives who would have an understanding in the more complex work.

Although there had been improvement to the services provided by BDMS within the past year, the Council needed to reconsider the cost it took to reach the juncture, and any further costs to continue the improvement of the services. There was a question on whether the current model was the right model for the Council or, whether the Council should look elsewhere at other providers. The current intention was for the Council to enter into a two-year contract with BDMS.

There Committee questioned the intention of the Council entering a two-year contract with BDMS, despite the suggestion of the model not being the right fit for the Council.  The Chief Executive of BDTP informed the Committee that there was a 12-month program of activity centered around productivity scheduled to commence in the next financial year. It was suggested for strategic objectives to be set in which BDMS would aim to achieve. There was a gradual improvement over the last 12 months in which sub-contractors played an important role at the start of the year to remove legacy work, however BDMS were now moving onto muti-skilled work from within BDMS. It was expected that there would be continued improvement over the next 12-months of the program of activity. BDMS had prepared several options if underperformance were to continue over the next 12-months. The options had been presented to the Shareholder Panel in September 2023.

In a previous report, there was expectation to have an estimated average of 3000 open jobs. However, it was reported in September 2022, that there were around 5800 open jobs, which had increased to 6500 open jobs within the current report. The Committee enquired why there was an increase in open jobs despite improvements made within the BDMS service. The Chief Executive of BDTP clarified that at the start of 2024, there were 6474 open jobs and from the 7^th March 2024, the current number of open jobs were reduced to 2838.

It was noted from the report that there were issues with damp and mould throughout the Borough. A question was raised on the policies and procedures in place for dealing with damp and mould. The Strategic Director of My Place explained that there were robust procedures in place for dealing with damp and mould with specific teams to deal with damp across the Council and BDMS. There were defined timelines for dealing with damp and mould with inspections taking place within 10 days of being reported.  It was expected that the first steps of preventive measures would be taken during the inspections. A report would be submitted which would set out the diagnostics of the job in which the team would carry out repairs. It was stated that although the repair job would be closed, the case would be kept open by the Council and checkups would be carried out after six months. BDMS’s turnaround for dealing with damp and mould was an average of 15.5 days with an estimated 2000 damp and mould jobs completed last year.

The cost of service for BDMS was high due to the use of sub-contractors to remove the backlog of legacy work. The use of sub-contractors had slowly reduced throughout the year; however, it was inevitable to use sub-contractors for more complex jobs. There was a fragmented workforce in which workers were partially employed by the Council, BDMS and other agencies. The fragmented workforce had work against BDMS as there were difficulties to work as one unit partly due to the difference in best interests between BDMS and union members. To encourage cohesion between the workforce, it was suggested to get all workers to work towards the same performance targets.

The Committee inquired on whether a lack of muti-skilled workers contributed to the issues that BDMS faced. The Chief Executive of BDTP informed the Committee that BDMS were recruiting through apprenticeships for all primary trades. It was expected that apprenticeships would first focus on an single specialism before introducing other skills. There were muti-trade requirements in the productivity agreement with BDMS workforce. Improvements needed to be made at the contact centers to ensure there are correct allocations of work and minimize follow-up jobs while increase the number of first-time fixes.

There needed to be a cultural change within the workforce of BDMS to deliver a better service. Workers tended to stick to one trade despite being skilled in many trades. There was also the challenge of the different terms and conditions within the fragmented workforce with workers having different employment contracts. There had been positive feedback from Unions that welcomed and would support progression. The productivity agreements would ensure that all workers would have the same expectations of the service.

Over the last 18 months, there were consistent failings in some of the BDMS services, specifically in customer services which although it had improved, it was still below the 80% target. The current customer satisfaction for 2024 stood on average at 74%, which was 4% over the London benchmark.

The Committee raised concerns around the Void turnaround times which had been missed. At the start of 2024, there were 163 reported Voids, as of the time of the meeting (13 March 2024), the number of reported Voids were reduced to 39. The Chief Executive of BDTP updated the Committee that the turnaround time in 2023 averaged at 61.5 days which had since reduced and average at 32.8 days in 2024. The legal disrepairs started at 221 cases in April 2023 which had since reduced to 108 cases as of 7^th March 2024.

The Council had the second highest repair maintenance cost per housing unit across the three other London Boroughs at £4235. The average benchmarked unit cost across the four London Boroughs was £3,707. The 23/24 forecast indicated a further rise to £4903 per housing unit. The Strategic Director of MyPlace explained that the lower rent incomes from the HRA had impacted the maintenance cost.

BDMS had reviewed all contractors at the start of the year. Several contractors were identified for underperformance which had since been removed. There was a misinterpretation between the fragmented workforce, WeFix and, other agency operatives that only certain contractors work on HRA properties.  WeFix operatives were currently paid by the Council and not by BDMS as an organisation. Collaboration into a single workforce was critical for growth of the service which would ensure the workforce were paid fairly and to employ more staff.

The Committee inquired on the number of jobs that BDMS had undertaken from Reside. In answer to the inquiry, the Chief Executive of BDTP advised the committee that it came down to the value of money. It was hoped that the program moving forward would put BDMS in a better position with Reside.

Work needed to be undertaken to improve how the contact center engaged with residents. A suggestion was made to review the use of technology to ensure it was used the right way while not being completely reliant on technology. Work was being carried out to improve the diagnostics of the contact center to ensure there were more first-time fixes.

Between 2019 to 2023, the Council paid £31.5m to BDTP, the Committee raised a question on whether the Council would recoup its costs if the contact between the Council and BDMS were to be extended. The Chief Executive of BDTP explained that active conversations were taking place with the Councils Financial Officers regarding the forecast of payments back into the Council. There was a focus to achieve a positive surplus within the next coming years.

The committee asked if an internal survey was carried out within BDMS to further understand the opinions of the workforce. A bi-annual survey was circulated to all workers of BDSM. Feedback from the surveys were circulated to colleagues across the service.

The Committee proposed and resolved to approve the following recommendations:

1.  A review into the efficiency of BDMS to be undertaken and presented to the Committee early in the new municipal year.

2.  An independent review to be undertaken on BDMS ascertain a greater picture of how it is working to be presented to the Committee early in the new municipal year.

(Standing Order 7.1 (Chapter 3, Part 2 of the Council Constitution) was extended at this juncture to enable the meeting to continue beyond the two-hour threshold).