SLOUGH Borough Council has apologised for ‘failing’ to manage its housing repair contractor that is paid £14m a year properly for providing an “unreliable” and “poor” service.

Councillors at a joint meeting of the customer and community scrutiny panel and the overview and scrutiny committee expressed their dissatisfaction with Osborne Property Service’s performance over the years.

In 2017, the council began a £100m, seven-year contract, with an option to extend for three years, with Osborne to carry out repairs, voids, and caretaking to 4,800 homes.

At the meeting on Wednesday, December 8, councillors highlighted multiple casework that has been unresolved, such as the clearance of mould, roof repairs, and fence maintenance.

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Osborne has been dealing with a “high level” of complaints and has blamed Covid-19 and Brexit for staff and material shortages, residents changing appointments, and the increased costs in materials and fuel.

Vicky Fordham-Lewis, managing director at Osborne, said the contract with the council is “unprofitable” because of the “current operating conditions” they are in.

Councillor Harjinder S. Gahir (Lab: Wexham Lea) said the service was “not acceptable,” adding residents have been “stressed out” by Osborne’s performance.

Cllr Maroof Mohammed said Osborne was providing a poor service to Slough residents

Cllr Maroof Mohammed said Osborne was providing a "poor" service to Slough residents

Meanwhile, Cllr Maroof Mohammed (Lab: Farnham) said: “Osborne is failing to do the job they had been contracted for. They are unreliable as all of the councillors have highlighted and many vulnerable residents are suffering due to the poor quality of service they are providing.”

Cllr Zafar Ajaib (Lab: Langley St Mary’s) said this was meant to be a partnership and the council has “failed” to manage the contract properly.

He said: “The council’s general performance on the management of contracts over the years has been really poor. This was supposed to be one contract where we had additional measures we can enforce, and I think so far, we haven’t done so.”

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According to council data from October 2021, about 75 per cent of repairs are completed within a month – which is just 20 per cent short of its target. Resident satisfaction of the repair is low where 62 per cent of tenants are happy with the work. The target for this is 90 per cent.

A target has also been set of 10 days of offering a resident an appointment within a reasonable timescale. Currently, the average is 18 days.

Jason Newman, group manager of asset management, said breaking the contract with Osborne is “not the solution”, adding by working together and pooling more resources, these issues should largely be resolved.

Jason Newman, group manager of asset management

Jason Newman, group manager of asset management

He said: “To mobilise a contract of this size, it would take between 12 to 18 months. If we broke the contract, we would just sour the relationship, we wouldn’t actually be improving the situation.

“I think it needs to be worked on in terms of a partnership to improve the delivery of service and residents’ expectations being met.

“I apologise that we are not meeting those standards and we are doing our best to put corrected action in place.”

Ms Fordham Lewis said the service “won’t be any different” with another contractor if they and the council don’t work in partnership. She added the service has improved since she joined in 2020 and urged councillors to give the new performance targets a chance.

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It was heard the council’s dire financial situation is not affecting the contract, adding funding from the housing revenue account is not the issue, but the shortage of tradesmen is.

To resolve these issues, Osborne will pool more resources into the contract by employing additional complaint officers and repair operatives as well as seeking to use alternative recruitment companies to reduce vacant posts.

Officers also say communication between officers and Osborne as well as council tenants needs to improve and are looking to address this.

From October 2021, Osborne will be penalised £2,000 out of its own pocket if its performance is not satisfactory.

An audit will be carried out in early 2022 to provide insight and actions points to further improve the service.