Wiltshire Council's tenants receive a 'poor' service, says watchdog

8.26.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 20th May 2010

Wiltshire Council is providing a 'poor' housing management service which has 'uncertain' prospects for improvement, according to a report released today by the independent Audit Commission.

On a scale from zero to three stars the Audit Commission gave the Council's housing management service a 'poor', zero star rating. Areas covered by the inspection included: the repair and improvement of homes; rent collection; and dealing with antisocial behaviour.

Kieran Colgan, Audit Commission Lead Housing Inspector, said:

'Overall Wiltshire's housing service falls well below the standards we expect to see and their tenants deserve. There is much to do, but the Council has responded very positively to our report and has shown a strong desire to improve the service. This gives us greater confidence that tenants will see a better service in the future.'

Weaknesses include:

The service does not have a complete understanding of its tenants and their needs. It is therefore unable to tailor its services to meet those needs.

There is not enough focus on providing services fairly and equally.

It takes too long to let empty homes to new tenants.

It also takes too long to complete repairs to tenants' homes. And when appointments are made, they are not always kept.

The process for dealing with anti-social behaviour is weak and tenant satisfaction is low.

Strengths include:

It is generally easy for customers to access services and customer feedback is used to improve services.

Homes are maintained well, and tenants are usually very satisfied with improvement work.

To help Wiltshire Council improve its services inspectors made a number of recommendations. These include:

Consult all tenants on their preferred ways of accessing services, then use their feedback to develop a housing management service that responds to customers' needs.

Make sure all tenants have fair and equal access to services.

Take steps to complete repairs, and relet empty homes, more quickly.

Wiltshire Council owns and manages around 5,400 homes in the former Salisbury District Council area. In the other parts of Wiltshire council housing has been transferred to local housing associations.