Housing Charter performance report 2023-24

South Lanarkshire is the fifth largest local authority area in Scotland with a population of 322,000 and around 145,000 households. We are also the third largest council provider of rented housing in Scotland – managing just over 25,000 homes for tenants. As the population continues to rise year on year, this places additional demand on housing services.

Our stock provides a range of house types and sizes to meet most of the requirements of our tenants alongside specialist housing provision, including amenity and sheltered housing, for older people and tenants with mobility issues.

• 4 in a block 4,672
• Highrise 1,349
• Houses 12,129
• Tenement 5,504
• Other flats/maisonettes 2,088

Understanding the information and how we compare to others

This report is based on the Scottish Social Housing Charter. The Charter applies to all social housing landlords in Scotland. It provides a basis for the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) to assess and report on how well landlords are performing and identify areas that might require further regulatory involvement.

This report and information which is available through the SHR’s website www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk helps us to compare our performance with other landlords and enables you to see where we are performing well and where we need to improve.

We gather information about our tenants in order that we can get a better understanding of their needs. For example we know that 9.03% of tenants consider themselves to have a disability. This information helps to ensure that housing services are both accessible and delivered in a way that meets the needs of our customers.

Age profile of tenants

• 16-24 years - 4%
• 25-44 years - 30%
• 45-64 years - 37%
• 65 years plus - 26%
• Not known - 3%

Every three years we carry out a customer satisfaction survey to obtain views on a wide range of our services. The feedback we receive helps to ensure that we deliver services which are ‘fit for purpose’ and meet the needs and demands of customers. The last customer satisfaction survey was carried out in 2022/23 and received 1,607 responses. The survey showed an increase in satisfaction across all areas, with more than 5% improvement in some areas. Here are the key highlights from this survey together with a comparison of the local authority average (LAA) and the Scottish average (SA).

Your opportunity to tell us what you think about our services

Understanding what tenants think about the broad range of services we provide is extremely important to us. If you are contacted about any services you have recently used, please take the time to tell us how we did.

All feedback is completely confidential and helps us to identify areas for improvement and development. 

We also carry out other routine customer satisfaction surveys throughout the year.

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) is an issue that can affect individuals and communities across the country. Working with our partners we aim to resolve anti-social behaviour complaints quickly and effectively to minimise the impact it can have on communities.

Our Anti-social Behaviour Policy focuses on reducing and preventing anti-social behaviour and the impact it has on communities. By working together with our partner agencies, including Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, we aim to resolve anti-social behaviour quickly and effectively, ensuring victims of anti-social behaviour are always provided with the right kind of support.

Gypsy/traveller community 100% - All tenants in this category said they were satisfied with the management of their site

We work closely with the residents of our two Gypsy/Traveller sites at Shawlands Crescent and Springbank Park and have commenced the next phase of the Masterplans to improve the sites. These plans, which were developed jointly by residents and the council, aim to ensure that both sites continue to meet the cultural needs and traditions of the Gypsy/Traveller community.

Meeting the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) and Energy Efficiency Standards for Social Housing (EESSH)

21,519 council homes now meet all five elements that make up the SHQS and during the current year, we will continue to invest in home improvements which will help us to meet this standard.

There are 1,283 council homes (4.98% of our stock) that don’t yet meet the SHQS Standard. Our SHQS compliance decreased due to the introduction of Fire Tolerable Standard and Fixed Electrical Testing regulations to the SHQS criteria. In addition, there continues to be a number of tenants who refuse to allow our tradesmen access to carry out the necessary checks and associated work bringing the property up to standard. In these circumstances, we will continue to pursue access arrangements with tenants allowing necessary works to be completed at the earliest opportunity.

The Scottish Government is currently reviewing the EESSH2 milestone target and reporting framework, which means that we are not required to report on EESSH2 this year. Whilst the review is underway, we will continue to invest in energy efficiency measures to help reduce running costs, and in zero direct emissions heating systems where appropriate. This will prevent lock-in of poor performance and reduce the risk of additional issues arising in future.

Our key priority is to ensure provision of well maintained, appropriate quality housing which meets the need of existing and future tenants. The 2023-24 Housing Capital Programme reflects the level of investment required to continue to maintain the SHQS and increase the energy efficiency of all existing council homes.

Gas safety checks were carried out in 21,856 homes 

Each year, we aim to achieve 100% gas safety checks. The council’s approach to gas servicing continues to take account of the individual needs of tenants who may feel anxious about anyone entering their home. This meant that we were unable to complete gas safety checks within normal timescales in 82 (0.4%) properties over the last year, however, we had no properties out of service at year end. We continue to monitor performance at a senior management level and take appropriate action to address issues as they arise.

About our repairs service

Our repairs performance during 2023/24 reflects the impact of last winter’s severe weather and the resulting work that was required in relation to moving tenants to other council properties while repair work was carried out. This resulted in an increase in heating related repairs which we didn’t respond to within our 24 hour timescale, meaning our average time to complete emergency repairs increased.

The information below shows an increase in both our emergency and non-emergency repairs. However, despite this, we still managed to improve our average time to complete non-emergency repairs.

We carried out over 45,000 emergency repairs well within our target.

A wide range of work is carried out on a non-emergency or routine basis and last year we completed 28,500 repairs.

• Repairs by appointment – 18,450
• Routine repairs – 3,980
• Planned maintenance – 4,697
• Other works – 1,197

28,324 non-emergency repairs completed

While our performance is higher than the LAA or SA average, we are well within the 30 day target we agreed with tenants. We focus on completing our repairs ‘right first time’ reducing the need for follow up visits and further disruption to our tenants.

Repairs right first time

We know that when work is required it is important to tenants that it’s carried out quickly and to a high standard. Last year we were able to plan a high proportion of our reactive repairs (27,041) resulting in 99.7% of these carried out ‘right first time’.

Repairs satisfaction

Of the 937 tenants who responded to our survey 89.1% said they were satisfied overall with the repairs service. This compares well with the landlord and Scottish average.

We are committed to making it as simple as possible for customers to access our services. Working in partnership with a number of housing associations, we operate HomeFinder, the South Lanarkshire Common Housing Register. Before applying for housing, applicants must complete the HomeOptions self-assessment tool, on the council’s website. The tool provides a range of information and advice to help applicants consider the housing options which best suit their circumstances. Applicants can then complete an on-line HomeFinder housing application form, to apply for housing with any of the HomeFinder landlords.

At the end of March 2024, there were 13,075 applicants on the housing register, wishing to be housed within South Lanarkshire. The housing needs of these applicants are assessed in line with the HomeFinder assessment of housing need and placed on the appropriate list.

…just over 13,000 people on the housing register

• Waiting list – 8,458
• Transfer list – 2,842
• Urgent housing need – 1,775

Homes let

We continue to be committed to letting homes to those in most housing need, including homeless households and other priority groups, such as H.M Forces applicants and those with an urgent medical need, ensuring that we respond to local needs and make best use of available housing stock.

Last year, we let 1,992 homes. 1,829 of these homes were ‘general needs’, while the remaining 163 were sheltered homes.

Last year we managed to let our homes more quickly than the majority of other landlords.

Rent loss from empty homes

Even when we perform very well in turning around empty homes, there will always be an element of rent loss. At the end of March 2023, we had 200 homes which were empty while we carried out essential repairs and found the next tenant. The total rent loss during the year for homes available to let was £531,034.37.

Stephen Gibson - Executive Director “We continue to ensure that vacant council homes are directed to those who are in most housing need. I am pleased to see that we are performing well in relation to reletting properties, minimising rent loss and supporting new tenants to sustain their tenancies. These achievements are a result of the hard work and commitment shown by our employees.”

We continue to be one of the most affordable landlords in Scotland with the seventh lowest average weekly rent.

The rent a tenant is required to pay depends on the type and size of their home. The table below shows the average rental charge for a council home over the last three years and provides a comparison against the local authority and Scottish average last year.

Rent increase

Every effort is made to keep rent increases to a minimum and ensure they remain affordable, while at the same time maintaining a high standard of service and investment. This allows us to continue to build new affordable homes, improve existing homes and meet quality and energy efficiency standards.

As part of the annual rent setting process, we consult widely with tenants across all areas of South Lanarkshire to get their views on proposed rent levels. For 2023-24, it was agreed that rent levels should be set at an increase of 3.5%. This level of increase took account of the ongoing financial challenges and uncertainty being faced by tenants.

The total amount of rental income (and service charges) we were due to collect during 2023-24 was £104,440,714 and we successfully collected 99.5% (£103,931,294). This amount includes income that was due in previous years.

Sharon Egan - Head of Housing Services - Rental income contributes towards providing high quality, affordable homes, so it is important that we continue to perform well in this area. The agreed rent increase of 3.5% for 2023-24 took account of the ongoing impact of cost of living increases on tenants and ensured that we maintained our position as one of the most affordable landlords in Scotland

Satisfaction - good value for money

We work hard to ensure that our housing services provide good value for money. As part of our tenant survey, 94.8% of tenants told us that they felt our services represented good value for money.

The information below provides a breakdown of the key areas of expenditure within the Housing Revenue Account (which is the total of rent and other income received) during 2023-24 and how this was used for the benefit of tenants.

2023/24 - £117 m total spend