Our performance in the collection of arrears and service charges has continued to improve in the last quarter. This improvement has been the result of the the introduction of a new housing management team with more focus and emphasis on arrears management and control.
Our end of year performance is disappointing with a number of historic debts being presented for write off in Q1 May 2007 We also identified that the way former rent arrears had been previously collated and reported was not accurate and therefore has had an negative impact on the end of year performance. We have made change to our arrears collation and reporting systems to ensure more accurate reporting in future.
Following a review of our lettings function in 2006, we introduced a number of improvements to our policy, internal communication, referrals and monitoring and reporting systems. We have also redefined roles within the housing management team. These improvements were not however able to make a significant difference to our year end figures. We have experienced significant delays in relet times for voids which has resulted in poor performance in this area.
At the end of March 2007 there were a total of 21 Voids awaiting allocation We have introduced a new pre-allocation policy and all have tenants identified and signed up ready to move in when available to let.
The number of complaints received during the year increased from 2005/06. 41% related to housing issues, 27% support and 32% maintenance. All complaints were resolved internally and the average time taken to resolve them was 13.5 days. A further 2 complaints were resolved following referral to the Ombudsman and another resolved through mediation. We have reviewed our internal systems for handling complaints and are making managers more accountable for lack of service and performance.
