Verbal Report
Minutes:
The Cabinet Member for Housing, Ecology & Climate Change, Councillor Lax, introduced the briefing paper on Delivery of Disabled Facilities Grants and said there was also a Cabinet Report now available with all the financial details as all legal issues had now been resolved and this item was no longer in private and confidential.
Councillor Lax advised that this was no longer going to be a shared service with Tamworth Borough Council and it would mean we have control of the service and can monitor as we go along and provide a holistic approach. She reassured members that the money to be used was ring-fenced and thanked Anthony Thomas, Lucy Robinson and Simon Fletcher for all the work to date.
Councillor Lax said the current contract with Millbrook expires on 31 March 2023 and we will take over the contract with support from Cherry Whites, the outside consultants we currently use, who will stay on board as we transition over and offer their expertise and support. She advised that Lucy Robinson had secured the computer system for exclusive use at Lichfield and the service would run like an in-house service and would mean we will be able to apply our own housing assistance policy and make decisions relating to the mandatory grants as well as discretionary grants if suitable. Councillor Lax said we will be using an Independence Community Interest Company (Plymouth) Dynamic Purchasing System whereby any contractor locally can apply to be registered and “cleared” by the company at no expense to them and they will provide us with the due diligence for the contractor providing warrantees for the work they do and providing insurance etc. etc. It was envisaged that once on that system we can grow our own pool of contractors and have a more dynamic team who can respond more speedily than that which we have experienced with the current provider. It will also mean we can use staff from within our own property company (Latco) who have the skillsets for the work to be carried out i.e. surveyors. It was known that some staff will be TUPE’d over to us from Milbrook which is a legal requirement but the details were yet to be received.
The following questions were asked:-
· We know there is circa 200 people on a backlog list – what will we do to tackle this?
· Will we see regular data to see how we are performing as an organisation in delivery going forward? (Briefing papers perhaps every 3 months after April 2023 suggested).
· What pressure will we put on the people who are providing the adaptations?
· Have we set a target on how many adaptations we want to see happen?
· Will staff TUPE’d over receive additional training to perform appropriately and not bring any bad habits with them?
The following views were given:-
· Great to see this service as there have been issues for a long, long time and we have to get it right. Happy to see stated a “seamless customer journey” as this is vitally important for people who need disability grants. We need a much more robust service.
· Need to ensure backlog of cases dealt with.
· Greater chance of being successful if running it on our own.
· The biggest factor on this was the delivery of Milbrook to do the job when they said they would.
· Very pleased with new service but we have previously offered this service with our own in-house staff and it went outside to the professionals to deliver, do hope we have the staff in place to take on this big responsibility, a lot of homework, a lot of visiting, a lot to take on as it is a vast job.
· Scheme welcomed.
RESOLVED:- That the views of the committee be considered by Cabinet.