Annual performance spotlights

Good quality, suitable and sustainable places to live

What communities told us:

• Provide good value affordable rents for tenants while allowing continued investment, particularly in the current economic climate.
• Where I live there is a good community spirit
• The Gypsy/Traveller community have stated that ‘By working with the council, our community have been fully involved in the decision-making process about the new facilities making us feel valued.’

What success will look like:

• Increased levels of affordable rented homes
• Improved outcomes for households experiencing homelessness, including access to settled accommodation
• Ensure our repairs service continues to meet the needs of customers
• More energy efficient council homes

Case study: Supporting private households to make energy efficiency improvements

The South Lanarkshire Local Housing Strategy 2022-27 aims to ensure everyone has access to a home that they can afford and meets their needs.

This includes the ability to heat and maintain their home with the higher cost of energy alongside other cost of living pressures having impacted on the affordability of heating and maintenance. Private tenure households on lower incomes or with residents who are vulnerable to the effects of a cold home may be particularly affected. This could include homes with very young children, older people and people with health problems.

Recognising these challenges, in 2023 South Lanarkshire Council was among the first local authorities in Scotland to fully launch a new ‘Energy Company Obligation Scheme’. This allows locally based contractors to use funding which has been set aside by large national energy providers to make energy efficiency improvements to eligible homes at no cost to the homeowner. 

Administered through Ofgem, the current version of the Scheme is known as ECO4 and runs until March 2026. Local authorities who participate have to conduct a significantly enhanced due diligence role than on previous versions, aiming to ensure the funding reaches eligible households.

Approved contractors participating in the Scheme are well supported in their use of the system and the process through the provision of tailored process guidance and training made available to them, as well as access to a single point of contact for advice and guidance.

The South Lanarkshire ECO4 Scheme launched in July 2023 and so far, from the feedback received from contractors, 128 private tenure households have benefited from the installation of retrofit energy efficiency measures. The final figures to 31 March 2024 will be higher as contractors continue to advise of completed projects.

Of those 128 households, 326 measures have been installed over that period, comfortably surpassing the 300 annual target set out in the council’s Local Housing Strategy. The number of measures installed in each property has varied the installation of Solar PV (23% of installations) and of boiler upgrades to a renewable heating system (21% of installations). Twenty properties have benefited from first time central heating and 77 properties have benefited from a variety of home insulation measures (23%).

The Scheme also aligns with the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan that sets out a pathway for achieving Net Zero. Also, the Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy, which includes proposals to create a new Heat in Buildings Standard, requires owner occupied tenure to meet a minimum energy efficiency standard by 2033 and private rented tenure by 2028.

More information on can be found at ECO Flex for suppliers

How we did in 2023-24

See Homelessness

See Housing

See Housing repairs

See Housing repairs