Repairing and maintaining your home

Investing in homes

Last year we completed over 45,000 repairs to our homes and spent £22.6 million improving and maintaining our homes. We did this using our in-house team, Property Services, as well as external contractors. This means that all of our properties meet or exceed the national Decent Homes Standard set by the Government.

Over £5 million was spent on replacing more than 360 kitchens and 230 bathrooms, and fitting almost 400 new boilers; £3.4 million was spent on replacing doors, windows, fencing and carrying out fire safety improvements to homes.

£2.5 million was spent on keeping you safe by delivering gas and electrical safety checks to 100% of our homes. And more than £10 million was invested in repairs, with over 45,000 jobs carried out, including repairs to 470 empty homes.

Tenant match funding

We encourage you to make home improvements yourselves through our ‘Tenant Match Funding’ scheme. This scheme enables you to make improvements, such as installing an electric shower over a bath or fitting extra plug sockets, as long as you meet the criteria and seek approval in writing before carrying out any works. If you qualify you can apply for a contribution of 50% towards the cost of the home improvement up to a maximum of £500.

Right first time

The Responsive Repairs Team has had a successful year, increasing the average number of jobs they carry out each day from five and a half in 2018, to eight in 2019.

We ended the year with 98.5% of our repairs being completed ‘right first time’, an increase of 0.4% on last year.

Repair appointments

We recognise that most people lead busy lives and want to know when we are going to carry out a repair and because of this we offer an appointment system for repairs completed by Property Services. We complete emergency repairs within 24 hours and we aim to complete non-emergency repairs within an average of 20 working days.

The average number of days taken to complete a responsive repair (including emergency and non-emergency) is 9.5 days (our target being 6.5 days).

In order to improve our performance we are further embedding the appointment system and introducing a contractor portal to help to provide us with more accurate information.

Overall satisfaction with the aids and adaptation service - 89.4%


How much the service met the individual’s needs - 91.3%


How much the service has improved quality of life - 85.9%

Aids and adaptations

We support tenants to live independently in their homes and one of the ways in which we do this is through our aids and adaptations service. Over the last year we have completed 840 aids and adaptations, investing £480,397. Examples of work range from large scale adaptations such as fitting level access showers to smaller adaptations such as fitting grab rails and key safes. We have also provided aids like flashing door bells and vibrating pillows to alert those with visual and hearing impairments to potential risks.

We also accessed Disabled Facilities Grants for 52 supported living customers, reducing expenditure within the Group.

After every adaptation is completed we send out a satisfaction survey so that we can measure how well we have performed. See the blue box opposite for the results for 2018/19.

Environmental improvements

We are constantly looking to improve the areas in which we have homes and over the last year we have invested over £271,000 in environmental works for general needs and independent living accommodation and over £99,000 in supported living accommodation. These works include improved car parking, enhanced security such as additional lighting, cutting back overgrown trees and ensuring areas are accessible for all.

Independent living

We have 30 independent living schemes across South Ribble and the Fylde coast for people over the age of 55. Each scheme offers self- contained apartments with a range of communal facilities, support from an independent living co-ordinator and 24 hour support through emergency alarm equipment. During the year, we completed the refurbishment of Hennel House in Walton-le-Dale and Croft Court in Freckleton by decorating and recarpeting throughout and adding new fire doors.

Other improvements included installing a new kitchen at Lowerhouse in Leyland and improving the car park at Tuson House in Penwortham.

Service improvements

We have surveyed around 7,000 customers and held regular meetings with tenants as part of our Repairs Forum. And in March 2019 we introduced a new satisfaction survey to help us focus on what matters most to you.

This will give us valuable insight so that we can continue to improve existing services and create new ones.

We have also introduced:

  • Online scheduling of repairs, enabling customers to choose the date and time of a repairs appointment in addition to reporting repairs online
  • A new service so that customers can see an impression of their new kitchen before works starts.

Last year 98.6% of tenants told us that they were satisfied with the repair service they received.

  • 99.1% of all responsive appointable routine repairs were given an appointment
  • 93.1% of appointments were kept by us (our target being 95.0%)
  • 92.0% of emergency repairs were responded to within time.

Last year 98.6% of tenants told us that they were satisfied with the repair service they received.