New Edinburgh housing repairs action plan is 'wake-up call' for city council

Housing chiefs in Edinburgh have published an action plan for improvement after satisfaction with the council’s housing repairs service has declined.

Edinburgh City Council Headquarters, in Market Street.

A report to the council’s housing and economy committee, to be discussed today shows that the time taken to complete non-emergency repairs in the Capital is 10.8 days, compared to a local authority average of 7.5 days.

“Dissatisfaction with length of time to complete a repair, missed appointments and repairs not being completed first time are among the primary issues.

“Lack of communication and follow-up has also been a recurring theme in tenant feedback, along with frustrations about the overall customer experience when compared with access to other services.”

Green housing spokesperson, Cllr Susan Rae, said: “Unfortunately this report shows that the council performance is falling far short of that, with both the repairs service and customer service being below par.

“In my own experience the big problems are the gulf between local housing officers and the repairs service and the rigidity of the service. If call handlers give inaccurate information to tenants, which seems to be an issue, what information are they passing to those carrying out repairs?

“There seems to be a real communications breakdown there and it is the tenant who is often misinformed or simply not given any information at all, so the tenant is the one who suffers.

That’s not the kind of service we as a council should be delivering and it’s a solvable problem. However I expect to see big changes and a greatly improved service in the future.”

Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson, Cllr Kevin Lang, said the report was a “wake-up call for the council”.

He added: “Too many tenants feel their requests for repairs are just going into a big black hole and never actioned. They have to continually chase up essential repairs and struggle to find out who specifically within the council staff team is taking responsibility for completing the work.

“We need to show that maintaining their homes as safe, secure and comfortable places to live is just as important.”

Problems between IT company CGI and their mobile providers has led to “significant delays” which has meant “the majority of the workforce having to revert back to a paper-based system”.

A new mobile IT system is set to be rolled out in the summer – which will also aim to improve communication with tenants. The council also aims to launch out an online application form for the common housing register, EdIndex, for tenants seeking social rented homes in Edinburgh.

Housing and economy convener, Cllr Kate Campbell, said: “This is an extremely honest report which is clear about the areas that we need to improve. But it also sets a comprehensive strategy, actions and outcomes for how we will deliver.

“It’s all encompassing, looking at the short, medium and long term. And it looks across a range of processes, systems, policies, procedures and crucially communication – both internally and, most importantly, how we communicate with our tenants.

“This is a major service redesign that will create a service that has better outcomes for tenants, and that is more efficient. This means that we will be able to continue to invest in building new homes and improving existing ones.”