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Help is at hand for housing providers facing the double challenge of meeting the Government's target to bring all publicly owned housing up to a 'decent' standard by 2010, while dealing with the spiralling number of housing disrepair claims. Zurich Municipal, the leading provider of risk management and insurance to Britain's public services, has developed a package of guidance and advice to help housing providers meet these challenges.
Spiralling housing claims, which led to some housing associations receiving more than 10 times the number of claims in 2002 than previous years, are exacerbated by an increasing compensation culture and more recently, an increase in cold callers seeking to identify grounds for compensation. It is therefore vital that local authorities and housing associations consider practical ways of defending these claims and, more importantly, of reducing such incidents in the first place. Prevention is better than cure - decent housing means housing providers are less likely to receive disrepair claims.
To help Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) and housing associations meet the Government's Decent Housing Target, Zurich Municipal has provided customers with a package of risk management products, including the Safety Inspection Review, the Risk Mapping Analysis, and the Health and Safety Review.
Accompanying this guidance are a number of recommendations to reduce claims:
- Councils and housing associations should act on reported defects straight away, assessing the urgency of the job and ensuring that work is scheduled, and more importantly, carried out
- There should be a rolling inspection programme, although this is often difficult to put in place due to the pull on resources in other areas. Staff should be briefed on how to recognise potential claims issues during the course of their work - housing providers might consider asking rent collectors to report damage as part of their usual work routines, or introduce zoning, where work is carried out in specific locations at determined times of year
- Councils and housing associations should make sure records are complete and an audit trail is available. A cast-iron system for logging complaints and dealing with them will strengthen grounds to defend such cases and ensure work is carried out efficiently, causing minimum disruption to residents
- When tenants leave a property there should be a full inspection of the premises
- Once claims are made, organisations should investigate complaints promptly and liaise with tenants over the expected repair date.
Mick Kelly, Zurich Municipal's Housing Market Manager, said: "The Government's target to bring all publicly owned housing up to a 'decent' standard by 2010, and the spiralling number of housing disrepair claims, means social housing providers are facing a number of challenges. There are already limited resources which may be stretched even further. However, effective risk management is essential if statutory and commercial objectives are to be met. The aim is to deliver high quality, value for money services. By having simple risk management procedures in place, and a more proactive approach to dealing with housing repairs, housing providers can fulfil their duty to their tenants to provide improved conditions and demonstrate that best value is being delivered."
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The Zurich Financial Services Group is an insurance-based financial services provider that focuses its activities on its key markets of North America, the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. Founded in 1872, Zurich is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. It has offices in approximately 60 countries and employs well over 70,000 people. |
