Estate Services

In 1985 Wandsworth Council set up its Housing Patrol Service as a precursor to its Estate Services team and Emergency Control unit. The services consistently receive excellent satisfaction results from residents for the core and added value services they provide.

Context

Wandsworth is the largest of the inner London boroughs, stretching along the south bank of the Thames in West London and includes some very expensive private housing as well as pockets of high density social housing. The Council has maintained an 'excellent' CPA score since the introduction of CPA in 2002.

Wandsworth Council continues to own and manage its social housing stock after strong endorsement from tenants. The Housing Management Division provides a wide range of services to around 33,000 council tenanted and leasehold properties. The largest estate has 3,500 properties, mostly flats. The other estates are a mixture of low rise and high rise flats spread out through the borough.

Housing Patrol Service

In July 1985 Wandsworth took what was then a radical step of replacing their 220 residential caretakers with a Housing Patrol Service, consisting of a team of 56 Patrol Officers run by a central control unit of six Control Officers.

The Patrol Officers worked under a three shift pattern comprising early, late and nights to provide an extended 24 hour service. They were given radios for contact with the central control unit, a new uniform, and new liveried vehicles.

Creation of Estate Services

In 2001 the Housing Patrol Service was renamed Estate Services to reflect the growing breadth of services now provided to around 33,000 council tenanted and leasehold properties.

As at January 2008 the Estate Services team, which is part of the Housing Management Division, comprised 80.5 posts broken down into:

• 3 senior managers
• 67.5 officers including Estate Services Officers, night staff, inspection team, Wandsworth Emergency Control (WEC) unit and administrative team
• 10 officers dealing with grounds maintenance, traffic management, non-residential property management and graffiti removal

Residents can easily spot estate services staff as they all wear a distinctive green uniform, carry Council ID cards, and the 15 vehicles used are all liveried.

What they do

The Estate Services team deal with everything from housing emergencies to monitoring cleaning contracts:

• Emergency response to, for example: lift breakdowns; door entry faults; minor repairs; flooding; power, gas and water failures; noise nuisance; ASB incidents.
• Monitoring estate cleaning and grounds maintenance contractors.
• Monitoring communal repairs, including playgrounds – these areas are inspected on a routine basis.
• Dealing with abandoned vehicles – regular checks are carried out on estates for any abandoned and untaxed vehicles.
• Health and safety inspections – carried out every three months and include fire risk assessments.
• Water quality sampling – includes legionella risk assessments and temperature control testing.
• Non-residential property management – includes the management of all council owned garages and store sheds.
• Graffiti removal service – provides a clean up service to all properties in the Borough that is free for all residents, and aim to get it cleaned up within three days. Racist or obscene graffiti is removed within 24 hours.
• Traffic management on estates – monitor the contractor that is responsible for the enforcement of parking regulation schemes.

In addition to these core estate services the team also provides some added value services to residents:

Carrying out minor communal repairs - all Estate Services Officers are trained to carry out minor communal repairs: anything from a broken entry phone system to cracked paving stones. They have a limited tool box available to them. If it is a more complex problem, they can arrange for a contractor to put it right.

Tackling anti-social behaviour - all Estate Services Officers are trained to investigate complaints about noise nuisance and abusive neighbours, and act as a witness if required to. They collect evidence of the problem and send a report to the relevant area housing team.

Wandsworth Emergency Control unit

In April 2002 the Estate Services central control unit was merged with the Council’s central control unit to form Wandsworth Emergency Control (WEC) unit, run by nine officers and one manager. It is a 24 hour year round service run by the Estate Services team with access to borough wide CCTV and is located in a purpose built control unit with up to date communications technology.

All estate services officers out on site are in constant radio contact with the control room, so they can seek additional support if required.

The WEC is responsible for:

• handling emergency calls to the Housing Department and out of hours emergency calls to the Council
• handling calls to be dealt with by the Estate Services team, for example: lift breakdowns, entry doors, noise nuisance, ASB, housing repairs
• providing speedy links to police and other emergency services
• providing 2 way radio contact with officers out on estates
• having a central role in the Council’s emergency response
• monitoring WATCH Lifeline (Wandsworth Alarm Telephone Care Helpline) service calls when the emergency wardens are out on site visits
• providing tailored services to Co-ops, Resident Management Organisations, Housing Associations and the Primary Care Trust

On average, WEC takes over 200 calls a day and is able to cope with almost any domestic emergency - from burst pipes to noisy parties.

Estate Services charter

The Estate Services team has three principal service standards which are published in their Estate Services Charter:

• answer 95% of calls to WEC within 2 minutes
• respond to 95% of housing emergencies that require the attendance of an estate services officer within 30 minutes. With a target of 95%.
• respond to any written (or emailed) enquiry within ten working days

They also have a target of post inspecting 50% of all communal repair carried out by their contractors.

Performance is very good with all targets being met each year.

Service Charge costs

The average service charge costs per property for the 2007/08 financial year to provide all of the Council services is £673.21.

They recognise that it is not a cheap service, but with excellent satisfaction results believe it to be value for money for Wandsworth residents. If you'd like further information about the service charge cost for estate services you can contact the Estate Services team on tel: 020 8871 7445.

Charter Mark

The Estate Services team was awarded Charter Mark status in 1999 and successfully retained this award at re-assessments in 2002, 2006 and 2007.

The award recognises excellence in customer service and was made following an inspection carried out by an independent assessor. The award is in line with Estate Services team’s approach to service planning and improvement and the way it delivers its services. The award has made the Estate Services team more customer focused through seeking residents views on all the services provided.

The Charter Mark has since been re-launched by the Cabinet Office under a new name Customer Service Excellence standard.