Agenda item

The Director of Housing submits a presentation for noting to the Commission to update on the responsibilities and winter preparations for the Council’s housing gas and heating services.

The Director of Housing submitted a presentation for noting which updated the Commission on the responsibilities and winter preparations for the Council’s housing gas and heating services.

Rob Webster (Gas and Heating Services Manager) and Ed Quick (Customer Services Manager), delivered the presentation and the following additional points were made:

·         The ‘Beast from the East’ (BFTE) had impacted across many services. The Housing Division had an extreme weather policy for Council owned properties and had been implemented during the extreme weather conditions.

·         Every customer must have a gas safety inspection every 12 months.

·         Some work is done by contractors, for example, heavy pipework.

·         A big recruitment drive of Gas Service & Heating Engineers had taken place this last year and the service has increased overall numbers. Emergency out-of-hours cover had also increased from one engineer to two engineers during winter.

·         It had been reported at a previous Scrutiny Commission meeting about the installation of Boiler Buoys to all properties, and the programme of installation continued, usually during the annual gas safety visit. Residents would be shown during installation what to do when boiler issues arose during severe weather.

·         Customer Support was at the sharp end of the service, and during the BFTE had received a huge increase in the number of calls, including gritting and bin collections. Telephone systems had broken down and customers could not get in touch.

·         Staff had been reluctant to give advice to customer on how they could repair the boiler themselves, as it involved hot water. As a result, engineers had received an influx of calls. The Team received training to give advice on boiler buoys. There was also an online video offering advice to people during severe weather conditions and this is available on the Council’s main web page.

·         With emergency arrangements in place, extra staff members can be brought on board from repairs to increase craft staffing linked to weather related repair jobs.

·         Previously from a telephony perspective lots of teams had reacted to their own services but could not be brought together to give unity of messages.

·         A pre-greet message on the line with additional information and advice, and information to view the online video would be given.

In response to Members’ comments and questions, further information was provided:

·         People were prioritised into different categories following a series of questions. Sometimes people would be flagged in the system as vulnerable, having a disability / package of care. Prioritisation might also be made due to age or learning difficulty (picked up by staff training).

·         Other calls received included enquiries regarding social welfare and benefits.

·         A Communications Officer is now a standard response from Housing to improve communications to tenants, councillors and other stakeholders of issues, and to provide advice. Officers were working on additional general advice to go online.

·         A number of changes had been made to the system. In the past, too many calls had broken the system which covered all areas, for example, leisure services. The throttle system meant that extra calls received than the system could handle would be kept on another system and played a message and would keep the call system afloat.

The Chair asked that information be made available in local Housing offices and libraries. He added that the Division needed to work in conjunction with Age Concern to pass on information to people. The meeting was informed it was a vital role of the Communication Officer to pass on information. The role was not a nominated person, but one person set by the Director as single point of contact to coordinate the Divisions communications in severe weather

The Chair thanked the officers for the information.

AGREED:

1.    That the presentation and additional information received be noted.