Agenda item

To note the:

·       Content of the Leaseholder Services Working Group report.

·       Question-and-Answer paper on Insurance Services and to invite comments.

·       Report on the Meeting with Camden on Digital Transformation and to invite CLF’s Billy Byatt to field or to pass on questions.

·       Report on the Resident Action Day.

It was noted that a lot of the Leaseholder Services update had been covered under the matters arising item 8.

The Chair informed the Forum that the Council had commissioned Housemark to conduct a leaseholder survey which took place in February 2024. Officers indicated that they had only got the headline information with the detailed results not yet available.

·       It was based on 565 respondents, the top line leaseholder satisfaction score was 30%which was down on the 2019 score of 35%.

·       In comparison with other London boroughs the median satisfaction score was 37% with the range between 24% and 54%.

·       The Repairs satisfaction in 2019 was 28% it was now 24% in 2024.

·       Camden was at the bottom of the range and Camden had gone backwards since 2019.

The Chair commented that this was not surprising based on the findings from the work of the Cabinet Advisor on Improving Services for Camden Leaseholders and leaseholders’ collective experiences over the past 5 years.

She had asked the Head of Leaseholder Services and Housing income to find out which borough had got 54% and have a discussion with that borough, and also asked that the survey be conducted again in 2 years’ time.

The Forum was informed that the detail behind the figures would be made available in June or July which could then be shared.

Action: Head of Leaseholder Services and Housing Income

Councillor Adams invited to comment by the chair, remarked that a debt of gratitude was owed to the Leaseholders Forum for highlighting the problems with Camden Housing in general and raising concerns when things were not going as well as they should be. He expressed his support for Councillor Slater’s report congratulating the Leader of the Council for commissioning it and Councillor Slater for an excellent report, remarking that the only criticism he had of the report was that there appeared to be a disconnect with tenants’ problems which were similar to leaseholders. He however expressed the view that the combined effect of the Leaseholders Forum and Councillor Slater’s report was a benefit to Camden Housing.

There was general consensus among Forum members that the Leaseholder Forum served as an early warning system for the Council when things were not quite right.

The new Communications member advised that this had been deferred to sometime in September she would let the Forum know once she had a confirmed date.[later confirmed as 28 Sep]

The Leaseholder Services Working Group member informed the forum that various Camden departments were working with the Camden IT department, which was not fit for purpose.

What had been identified through liaison work with the Leaseholder Services Team was that the team were unable to process multiple touch points, they were unable to log and track an enquiry because it went off to different teams who had different systems which were not unified. He commented that the IT department was not using standard project documentation, project specification, design or development specifications and was of the view that departments such as Leaseholder Services were hamstrung by poorly designed systems and disconnection between the various departments. Raising the question who was managing the systems and until this was resolved the same problems would continue to occur.