Tenants and Leaseholders Annual Report 2023

The 2023 annual report enables you as council tenants or leaseholders to have an informed say about how services are delivered and to allow you to appraise the way services are performing. In addition to this, the report will show the Housing Division’s plans for the coming year and the work being undertaken to improve your services.

Contents

Councillor Cutkelvin's introduction
Information about our council homes
Council home rents and how we spend money
Consumer standards
Tenancy standard
Tenant involvement and empowerment standard
Homes standard
Neighbourhood and community standard
Chris Burgin, Director of Housing, closing comments

Councillor Cutkelvin’s introduction (Assistant Mayor, Housing)

We recognise that this has been a challenging year for everyone. The cost-of-living crisis has made life harder for all households, but particularly those who were already vulnerable. We are aware of this and are working hard to provide you with the support you need to manage your housing costs during this difficult time.

Rising inflation and other economic pressures have also impacted on the money we have available to provide important services. This has been one of the most difficult years for service delivery that the council has ever faced. Despite this, we are doing all we can to respond to this difficult situation to ensure that we maintain our high quality of service and make sure that those in need get the assistance they require.

I’m immensely proud of the way our services have responded, developing new, inventive ways of working to address the challenges they face. In spite of the difficult circumstances, we have seen many significant achievements, including: the innovative way we are addressing anti-social behaviour, the work which has been undertaken to improve our access to services and the environmental works which have helped to make our estates better places to live.

I’m particularly proud of the way we have responded to those in need during this difficult time. We are providing a wide range of support through our income management, tenancy support and tenancy management services to ensure that those who need help most are getting it. The council has also developed a range of cost-of-living help, which is available on its web pages.
You can read about these services and other important work we are undertaking in this report.

I believe that by working together we can meet these challenges and continue to develop the housing services you receive so that they are the best that they can be.

I would like to say a special thank you to the members of the Tenants’ and Leaseholders’ Forum who give their time, experience, and expertise voluntarily to help improve the services for all council tenants and leaseholders.

Why we produce an annual report

This annual report is for you as a council tenant or leaseholder, so that you have information about how our services are delivered and to allow you to have an informed view on the way we’re performing.

In addition to this, the report will tell you about our plans for the coming year and the ways in which we will be improving the services you receive.

Information about our council homes

Leicester Council is one of the country’s largest social landlords, providing homes and services to over 21,000 tenants and leaseholders.

Property types

Across the city we have:

• Houses: 9,703 (9,497 council, 205 HomeCome, 1 leasehold)
• Flats: 6,413 (5,561 council, 14 HomeCome, 838 leasehold)
• Bungalows: 2,762 (2,759 council, 3 HomeCome)
• Maisonettes 1,862 (1,011 council, 851 leasehold)
• Sheltered accommodation: 413 (413 council)
• Bedsits: 196 (171 council, 13 HomeCome, 12 leasehold)

Location of our properties

In the West area of the city (Beaumont Leys, Mowmacre and New Parks) we have 6,492 council homes, 113 HomeCome properties and 254 leasehold properties.

In the South of the city (Eyres Monsell and Saffron) we have 6,212 council homes, 49 HomeCome properties and 171 leasehold properties.

In the East area of the city (Centre, Humberstone and Rowlatts Hill) we have 6,708 council homes, 73 HomeCome properties and 1,277 leasehold properties.

Right to Buy sales

During 2022 / 23 we lost 329 homes through Right to Buy sales, this was up from 311 sales the previous year.

New council homes

Due to the significant demand for council homes from those in need of affordable housing, we are continually looking to increase the stock of properties we have available to meet this need.

In 2022/23:

• we acquired 53 affordable new homes through our acquisitions programme, which includes buying back ex-council homes when these come onto the market for sale.

• we were involved in the building of 17 new affordable homes, both through our own house building programme and in partnership with other social housing providers in the city.

Council home rents and how we spend money

Your rent charge covers the cost of providing you with a home. This includes the provision of tenancy management, property management and repair services. It is important that we collect all the rent that’s due as we use this money to provide these services.

Our core rents increased by 7% this year, which is lower than the inflation rate at the time. Leicester City Council rents remain the lowest of any tenure type in the city and when we compare these with other local authorities, our rents are amongst the lowest in the country.

As an example, when we compare our average rents with averages in the private rented sector, our average rent for a 1-bedroom property is £72.45 per week, compared to £132.92 in the private rented sector. Likewise, when comparing weekly rents for 3-bedroom properties, council rents average £95.86 and those in the private sector average £195.46

Service charges must be set so that they recover the full cost of providing the service. For 2023/24 they have increased by 10.1%, in line with inflation (CPI) (other than for waylighting and district heating).
During 2022/23 we collected 99.7% of the rent that was owed to us. This was above our target for the year.

On 31 March 2023, tenant rent arrears amounted to £1,724,846.

It is your responsibility to ensure your rent is paid on time. We have several ways you can pay your rent. The easiest way is to pay your rent online. If you’re struggling to pay your rent, please contact us as soon as possible on 0116 454 1007 or e mail incomemanagement@leicester.gov.uk.

Find out more about the payment of rent and contact details. Financial advice and support can also be found at Better Off Leicester.

District heating cost increase

Gas prices have increased significantly due to a shortage in the gas supply and the war in Ukraine. This has affected all households using gas, including those on our district heating scheme.

District heating is a system where a number of homes are supplied with heating and hot water from an external location rather than each home having its own boiler. We have approximately 1,900 tenants and 1,000 homeowners who are supplied with heating and hot water through this scheme.

Due to the dramatic increase in gas prices, it is estimated that the cost of running the district heating network in 2023/24 will be £9.2m higher than the previous year.

Tenants and homeowners on the district heating network have benefitted throughout 2022/23 from charges being far below the underlying cost of gas. Unfortunately, this is no longer sustainable, and prices must reflect the costs of providing this service.

However, we have been working hard to keep this increase to an absolute minimum and we have been looking at how we can reduce the costs even further over the coming year:

• Working together with local community representatives, including Jean Williams, the chair of St Matthews TA, Shokat Seedat, chair of St Peter’s TA and the Wycliffe ward councillors, we have capped the rise in bills at 30% lower than originally proposed.

• Charges will reflect the actual cost of service provision, should prices fall. This will ensure that households are only paying the amount they should and that charges can reduce as and when costs stabilise.

• Going forward we are working towards fitting meters in all properties connected to the district heating network at a cost of £2.3m to support tenants in managing the cost impact. The intention is to recover this cost through charges over a ten year period. Meters will enable tenants and leaseholders to pay only for the fuel they use and the cost of running the system. There are some issues around meter fitting in the New Parks properties and further options need to be considered. However, whilst this work was taking place, households in that area will be charged an average cost of all district heating users.

• The Energy Price Guarantee was extended until June 2023. Other government support includes a £900 payment for households on benefits, £300 to pensioner households and £150 for those on disability benefits.

If you find that you are struggling with any of your council housing related payments, please contact our Income Management Team.

How we spend money

Service area	2022/23	2023/24
Management and Landlord Services – this includes, collection rent, dealing with anti-social behaviour complaints and supporting tenants to maintain their tenancies and paying for running services such as District Heating.	£21.8m	£32.4m
Repairs and maintenance – this includes completing day-day repairs reported by tenants	£25.4m	£28.3m
Capital programme – this money is spent on large projects to ensure our properties are up to standard e.g. re-wires and boiler replacements. Also, money to improve the environment of our estates	£17.4m	£11.1m
Interest on borrowing – interested is generally paid on money we have borrowed to build new council homes. We get this money back over time when we start charging rent on our new properties	£9.3m	£11.0m
Charges for support services – this is money we pay for other services such as grounds maintenance and pest control activities	£4.2m	£5.3m

In 2022/23 our staffing costs to deliver services amounted to just over £31.2m.

In addition to income from rents, our capital programme includes money from other sources, such as money from Right to Buy receipts and grants.

Consumer standards

These are the standards set by the Housing Regulator that we must meet when providing services to our tenants. They are: the Tenancy Standard, the Homes Standard, the Tenant Involvement and Engagement Standard, and the Neighbourhood and Community Standard.

You can read more about these standards and the work that we are doing to meet them in this report. Towards the end of this report you can find out more about the Government’s plans to develop these standards.

Person responsible for consumer standards

We are required to nominate a ‘senior person’ in our organisation responsible for ensuring we comply with the consumer standards. This person is Gurjit Kaur Minhas.

Jean Williams – Tenants and Leaseholder Forum member:

"My priority as a Forum member is to do all I can to ensure that those who are facing hardship get the support that they need to maintain their homes during these difficult times. One of my main achievements this year has been to help to reduce the initial proposed increase in district heating charges.

"I have worked with everyone involved, including the Forum, the Director of Housing, the City Mayor, councillors and my local MP, to find ways to reduce the level of these increases. Although the increases are still high, I’m pleased to say that, after much work, we were able to agree a significant 30% reduction in the level of increase compared to what had originally been proposed.

I will work with anyone and everyone to serve the best interests of the tenants I represent. It is often hard work, but it is rewarding."

The Tenancy Standard

This standard requires us to let our homes to tenants in a fair, transparent and efficient way, making best use of the housing we have available to us and ensuring it contributes to strong successful communities.

In addition to this, we are expected to enable our tenants to have the opportunity to exchange their tenancy with that of another tenant through an internet-based mutual exchange service. It is also expected that the terms of our tenancies should be fair and proper.

How we let our homes

We have a limited number of homes available and the demand for them is high, so we must ensure they go to those with the greatest need. We make sure this happens through our Allocations Policy.

Leicester City Council’s housing is allocated from our housing register through a choice-based lettings scheme called HomeChoice. If you are eligible to join the housing register, HomeChoice allows you to choose and bid for the vacant properties you want, that are suitable for your needs.

• On 1 April 2023 6,008 households were on our housing register for re-housing.

• 3,630 households on housing register needed re-housing due to their current overcrowded situation. This is the most common reason for households joining the housing register and accounts for 60% of all households on the register.

• In 2022/23 5,590 households approached the Housing Options service for help – an increase of 9.7% from the previous year.

• In 2022/23 we let 679 council homes to new tenants through the housing register.

Find out more about our housing register and HomeChoice on our apply for housing page.

Leicester City Council is a member of HomeSwapper, a national home swap scheme which has half a million households where exchanges can potentially take place right across the country.

Management of vacant properties

As part of the Tenancy Standard, we are required to minimise the time that properties are empty between each letting.

Properties are advertised as soon as notice is given by the outgoing tenant so we can start the allocation process without delay. We have a dedicated team that undertakes repairs on empty properties to make sure that homes are made available as quickly as possible. We work flexibly to prioritise repair work to empty properties, to help those households most in need, for example, homeless applicants living in temporary accommodation.

For 2022/23, the average time taken to re-let a routine void home was 190 days. During the Covid pandemic, the restrictions placed upon us meant we were not able to carry out repairs as quickly as we would have liked. Since restrictions have been lifted, we have been working hard to reduce the number of properties that we have empty and the time it takes to repair these.

Developing our voids service

We have conducted a review of the way in which we make empty homes available to let to new tenants (our voids service). We are currently putting recommendations into action from this review to support the reduction in our re-let times, including looking at how new technology can help us to work more effectively and piloting a scheme to allow new tenants to move into their homes sooner. Over the course of the coming year, we expect these initiatives to result in a reduction in the length of time homes are empty and the number of homes that are without a tenant, making more properties available for those in housing need.

Repair work after moving in – The Repairs Pledge

As part of our review into the way we let our empty homes, we are currently undertaking a trial to allow tenants to move into their new homes before all minor repair work has been completed. All essential work will have been finished before a tenant moves into a new home to ensure it is safe and let to a good standard. This means that tenants will be able to have their new homes sooner and we will be able to reduce the time properties are left empty.

As part of the trial, we will be offering tenants a Repairs Pledge so that they can be assured the outstanding repairs will be completed within the agreed timescale.

A small selection of properties will also have kitchen refurbishments and rewires carried out after the new tenant has moved into their new home, rather than before they move in.

If the trial is successful in helping tenants get their new homes sooner and reducing the number of empty properties, we will make it available for all of our homes which we are reletting.

Conditions of Tenancy

All new council tenants agree to our Conditions of Tenancy. This document sets out what the tenant and the council’s responsibilities are.

Helping our tenants remain in their homes

As part of the Tenancy Standard, we are required to develop and provide services that will support tenants to maintain their tenancy and prevent unnecessary evictions.
In 2022/23, 96.3% of our new tenancies were sustained for over a year, 0.7% higher than last year.

Last year our STAR tenancy support service assisted 521 vulnerable households to maintain their tenancies

In 2022/23 we managed to reduce evictions from council homes by 50%. There were just 5 evictions for rent arrears and no evictions for antisocial behaviour. We have a low eviction rate compared to other authorities, due to the comprehensive support and income collection work we undertake with tenants.

Peter Hookway – Tenant Leaseholder Forum member:

"I’m committed to providing a voice for those who are struggling to make their needs known, particularly the more vulnerable members of our tenant community. Being a member of the Forum gives me a platform to make sure they are heard by the people who are in a position to provide assistance and support. By using my knowledge and experience I’m also able to provide advice, guidance and help so that people are better able to represent themselves in future.

"It means giving some of my own time voluntarily, but it’s satisfying knowing the difference I’ve made to those in need."

Examples of what we are doing to meet the Tenancy Standard

To continue to offer the high level of services that the Tenancy Standard requires, we have introduced several new initiatives to help make sure your accommodation meets your needs and that your experience of living there is a positive and secure one.

Our Vision - focusing on what’s most important to you and those who are most in need

We have developed a vision and priorities for our tenancy management service based on what tenants have told us is important to them, and to help us address the changing legislative requirements following the Grenfell Tower Fire and the Social Housing White Paper 2022.

Our vision is: A customer focused landlord service that enables tenants to live well and have successful tenancies

The priorities are:

• Enable tenants to live well and access help and support when required, including addressing ASB on estates.

• The development of specialist support and accommodation to meet the needs of tenants with multiple complex issues and setting up a dedicated sheltered housing team.

• Improved online service offer to enable tenants 24/7 access to services.

• Focus on customer care.

• Compliance with new fire safety regulations.

• Make estates places people want to live in by involving tenants and stakeholders in shaping improvements.

You can find out about how we are addressing these priorities throughout this report.

The Overcrowding Reduction Strategy

We intend to push forward with our Overcrowding Reduction Strategy to reduce the number of our tenants who are experiencing significant levels of overcrowding in their current accommodation.

In 2022/23 we made changes to our Allocations Policy to enable those with the most critical examples of overcrowding to be awarded the highest priority, resulting in around 120 much needed moves into bigger accommodation during that year.

In 23/24 we aim to:

• Introduce a scheme called Easy Move, which will provide incentives for those whose homes are too big for them, to enable them to downsize to something smaller, via a mutual exchange. This will enable larger households to move into larger more suitable homes, as well as enable smaller households to live in more manageable size-appropriate homes which could help with the cost-of-living.

• Introduce a case-managed approach to those in the most critical overcrowded circumstances. This means that that an officer will work directly with the household to explore housing options in a creative way, including maximising opportunities to extend homes to resolve needs.

• Maximise the opportunities to develop new social housing which meets the needs of both overcrowded and under-occupying households.

Tenancy support

We are committed to providing support to those who may be struggling with their tenancies because they are vulnerable or experiencing a difficult time in their lives.

We provide an extensive range of support to those in need, which includes:

• The Income Management Team - provides support to tenants to apply for welfare benefits, assistance with maximising their income and developing affordable re-payment plans for those in arrears. The team supports tenants with income maximisation, Discretionary Housing Payments and Household Support Funds. Referrals are made to specialist agencies for tenants who might be facing complex financial or debt issues.

• This year, the Income Management Team has also been working with the government’s Homelessness Prevention Grant to support households who were identified as being at risk of homelessness due to exceptional circumstances.

• Supporting Tenants and Residents (STAR) – provides housing support to council tenants in Leicester. This service provides one-to-one support to people who might otherwise lose their home. Priority support is provided to those at risk of homelessness with multiple disadvantages. This includes tenants who experience severe physical and mental health conditions, substance use issues or learning difficulties.

• The STAR service also includes the STAR AMAL team who provide support for Syrian refugees as part of the government’s resettlement programme.

• Last year a STAR Homes for Ukraine Team was formed. Leicester City Council has a responsibility to support both guests and sponsors, including distributing financial support, helping with language issues, and supporting refugees and hosts to access any support they are entitled to.

• Tenancy Management – our housing officers undertake ‘welfare visits’ to households identified as being potentially vulnerable. This is a preventative measure to help sustain tenancies, ensure people are safe and well, and enables us to act before a crisis point is reached.

• The housing officer role is being developed to provide greater support to our tenants who we know are facing more complex issues.

• We have introduced a Sensitive Lets and Tenancy Support Procedure which helps to identify suitable housing for tenants who are vulnerable and have complex needs. This is to ensure tenants have the right support in place as soon as they move into their new home.

• Enhanced Letting standard - we have introduced an ‘enhanced letting standard’ for tenants who are leaving care or who have been homeless. Eligible new tenants coming through the ‘leaving care’ and ‘homeless’ pathways into our properties will benefit from the higher letting standard, which provides a fully decorated (painted) property and will help to support these people on their journey towards independent living.

• We are working with Adult Social Care to develop more supported housing options for tenants with complex needs, who require long term support.

We have developed ‘trainer’ or ‘stepped’ accommodation for people who are not yet ready for full, independent tenancies. People would be placed with a support worker on site to train them on budgeting, cooking, and life skills to help their journey into independent living. You can find out more about this work below.

Examples of some of our new support initiatives in action

Supported Housing Initiative

We are delighted to announce that our Tenancy Management and Homeless Services have been successful in bidding for funding from the Department of Health to address substance misuse. This award will fund posts for three years and will provide additional support to people with drug and alcohol dependency issues and people who require mental health support.

The funding allows for the provision of a new support team that will consist of an additional seven housing related support workers, one housing related team leader and three homeless prevention officers. The team will provide invaluable support to enable this client group to sustain tenancies and engage with treatment services to aid their recovery.

Trainer accommodation

Some people may not have all the skills needed to manage their new tenancy. To help them gain the required skills and knowledge, this floating support team will also provide pre-tenancy training which will be included as part of the ZIP building project (you can read more about the Zip Building project elsewhere in this report).

This is known as ‘trainer accommodation’. As part of this project, we’re looking to provide a supported environment and pre-tenancy training for tenants with a range of support needs, before they’re allocated a long-term tenancy with the council.

Support will include budgeting, maintaining a home, shopping and cooking, accessing community services, training and education, and keeping healthy.

Ten year accommodation strategy for people with multiple complex needs

We are currently developing a 10-year housing accommodation strategy for people with multiple complex needs to help ensure that they get the support they require. We will be working with partners, including Adult Social Care to develop and implement this strategy. For all Leicester residents we also provide the following support:

• Homelessness prevention and support services.

• The provision of temporary accommodation for those who find themselves homeless.

• A Housing Options Service for those in housing need, including advice and the delivery of a housing register to allocate our homes to those who need them most.

If you feel you are struggling at home, please call us on 0116 454 1007, we are here to help.

Cost of living support

Given the increases in the cost of living, we understand that many people are concerned about managing their finances. To support you we have developed resources which will assist with maximising your income and budgeting.

Cost of Living Crisis Support brings together a range of important advice and support in one place to make it easier for you to access the help that you need quickly and easily. You will be able to apply for benefits, financial support or free school meals, get debt and budgeting advice, manage your council benefits, find warm spaces and guidance on keeping warm, find out about help with fuel costs and learn how to budget. An easy read version of the Cost of Living Support is also available.

BetterOff Leicester is a council web page which will show you the benefits you are entitled to and help you to apply for them online. It also provides information on how to find and apply for jobs.

This year we will be introducing a Low Income Family Tracker (LIFT) dashboard. This will bring together information about people who are vulnerable and those who are in crisis. By bringing this information together in one place we will be able to identify and assist those households who are eligible for welfare support that they are entitled to but not claiming. It will also enable us to plan effective take-up campaigns which will target those areas of the city that are most in need.

The leaseholder team

We currently have just over 1,700 council leaseholders across the city who are valued clients to whom we provide a range of services. You can find out more about leaseholder properties and our Leaseholder Team in this section.

A property is classed as leasehold if Leicester City Council owns the freehold of a building or land that a property is situated on. Our tenants can become a leaseholder once they purchase the lease for the property through the right to buy scheme - they can also buy the lease via the open market when the lease is effectively sold onto another purchaser.

The lease is a temporary right to hold the property for a number of years. It is mainly people buying flats and maisonettes that become leaseholders.

A leaseholder is a homeowner, and responsible for all internal repairs in their home. The exception to this is the district heating system (where this exits) which Leicester City Council will repair and maintain, but the leaseholder has to pay for this service. The council is still responsible for the main fabric of the building and communal areas.

Leaseholders are charged service charges for any services or works carried out to the block. This includes items like electricity for the communal area, communal repairs, cleaning etc. Each leaseholder will receive information on what they are expected to pay for.

Leicester City Council’s leaseholders have their own particular concerns and issues, many of which are different to those of our tenants. We have a dedicated leaseholder team to make sure they receive a service which meets their needs. Our leaseholder officers have specialist knowledge of the guidance and legislation which affects our leaseholders and experience of resolving the kinds of queries that they want addressed.

As well as supporting leaseholders, the work of the leaseholder team also ensures that the stock of homes is protected and maintained, and that we get the correct revenue that’s due to us so that we have the funds to invest in services.

The team also manages the Leaseholder Forum where council leaseholders can have their say on the issues that matter to them. The Forum is held twice a year. You can find more details and a copy of the Leaseholder Handbook on the Leicester City Council leaseholder web page, as well as further information on the kinds of services that are provided by the Leaseholder Team.

Our leaseholder online service

We have now made some of our leaseholder services available to access on-line so that you can register a request with us instantly and at any time, either through My Account Leicester or through the Leicester City Council leaseholder web page. We are also planning to make our leaseholder service available on Housing Online in the coming year.

Leaseholder service charge loans

This year we are looking to introduce leaseholder service charge loans which may be able to help you if you are struggling to pay your service charges. We will provide more information when this service is available.

Tenant involvement and empowerment standard

This standard sets out how we should communicate with and involve you in developing and delivering services. We are required to provide you with information so you can make informed choices about your housing. Also, to enable you to have your say about the services you receive. This includes providing information about how we are performing.

Annual tenant satisfaction survey

Your views are important to us. They help us deliver the services people require and ensure they are accessible to those who need them.

We will shortly begin an annual survey of tenants to find out where we are getting things right and how service delivery could be improved. We encourage you to take part to help make services the best that they can be.

All social landlords will be undertaking similar surveys as part of the new requirement of the Regulator to be able to report on satisfaction with services.
We will be promoting the survey so watch out for information on how you can participate and have your say.

Housing information for tenants and leaseholders

Information about all Leicester City Council services is published on our website. We also use social media to update people on services. One of the ways we do this is through Your Leicester, an email newsletter that keeps you up to date with news, services, and events in Leicester. Find out how you can register for Your Leicester and our other newsletters.

On the Housing pages of the Leicester City Council website, we publish information on a wide range of housing related issues, such as applying for a council home, managing your tenancy, paying your rent, reporting repairs, support for private tenants, landlords and leaseholders, help for homeowners, and our work to tackle homelessness and empty homes. Find out more about our housing services.

Information about how we are performing as your landlord is contained in this annual report. However, we want to improve the information we provide to you about our performance. We will be developing a specific page on our website with key performance information that will be updated regularly.

How you can have your say

We aim to provide the best possible services. To help us achieve this, we will listen and be responsive to what you have to say. Your views play an important role in helping us improve the services that we provide.

There are several ways in which you can become involved in the delivery of services and make your views known to us. We manage two Forums, the Tenants’ and Leaseholders’ Forum and the Leaseholders’ Forum. At these Forums you can monitor our performance and help us to develop our services to ensure they are right for the people who need them.

If we make significant service changes or plan for improvements which will affect your local community, we will consult with you to get your views and let you know the outcome.

You can take part in estate inspections or make your views known when you contact our officers through their day-to-day work.

After we undertake a repair in your home, we ask you to complete a survey to let us know how satisfied you were with our service and the repair work.

In addition to this, we provide you with the opportunity to tell us how satisfied you are by giving us a compliment or making a complaint. Find out more about our complaints procedure.

After your complaint has been fully investigated through our complaints procedure, if you remain unhappy with our response you have right to ask the Housing Ombudsman to carry out an independent investigation.

We believe that working together with our tenants and leaseholders is the best way to achieve our shared goal of better housing conditions and services. To help realise this aim, with the help of the Tenants’ and Leaseholders’ Forum, we are reviewing the way you can have your say on the services we provide.

From this work we will be developing an Involvement Strategy. It will set out a wide range of options as to how you can have your say, and it will explain how you can find out information about our service and performance, how we will consult with you and how we will take account of your views.

Examples of how we have involved tenants and leaseholders

Over the last year we have sought your views on a range of topics. Examples of these include:

• Consulting the Tenants’ and Leaseholders’ Forum on proposals to change rents, service charges and how we intend to spend our money during 2023 / 24. Their views were considered before final decisions were made. The feedback that we received on the proposals for district heating charges and the management of the service played an important role in helping us to reduce costs and improve the delivery of the service.

• We have been working closely with local tenants and leaseholders in the St Peters and St Matthews area of the city to inform the work we are undertaking through our Public Realm Improvement Programme. Feedback from this has informed us that people want to improve play areas, parking, and green spaces. Landscape architects have developed designs for improvements, which takes this feedback into account. Find out more about our Public Realm Improvement.

• We have allocated £200k this year through our Environment and Communal Area Improvement fund, for improvements across all our estates. Work is determined by resolving complaints received by tenants, asking tenants for suggestions through surveys and consulting with our local tenant representatives.

• This year the council carried out a survey of all residents to get a better understanding of the needs of households and communities. From this it was established that generally people were happy with the information on our website, but they wanted improved opportunities to report problems and request services more easily. In response to this, we have developed our online service offer, to include reporting repairs and making repair enquiries. Before implementation we consulted our Tenants’ and Leaseholders’ Forum, who provided feedback that we used to improve the online service prior to it starting. You can read more about this later in the report.

Currently Housing services are provided at key hubs across the city, including face to face reception services at:

• Beaumont Leys Hub
• St Matthews Centre
• New Parks Hub
• St Barnabus Library
• Pork Pie Library

Homes standard

To meet this standard, we must provide a cost-effective repairs and maintenance service to homes and communal areas.

The decent homes standard

The decent homes standard was introduced by the government to ensure social housing is in a reasonable condition in terms of repairs, modern facilities, energy efficiency and is free from serious hazards. Since 2010, all our properties meet the standard. We have an IT system in place to analyse the condition of our properties, which is used to plan when items in your home need replacing, to ensure we continue to meet the standard. The work required each year, such as boiler replacements, rewires and new roofs, is financed through our planned maintenance programme.

The government has stated its intention to review the decent homes standard. It is anticipated that new standards will result from this review, particularly in relation to communal areas around homes and meeting zero carbon targets.

Examples of the work we undertook during 2022/23, to ensure our homes maintain the decent homes standard, included the fitting of:

• 111 new bathrooms
• 209 new kitchens fitted
• 703 new boilers
• 600 properties had an electrical upgrade

You can find information you may need when repairs are required to your home in our Repairs Handbook. The handbook also includes handy hints and tips for looking after your home while you are a tenant.

Responsive repairs

Responsive repairs are those reported by tenants when something breaks or stops working in their home, for which we are responsible for fixing.

During 2022/23 we completed 79,557 repairs. Our highest reported repairs related to:

• Bathrooms – 17,232
• Gas repairs – 14,460
• Window and door repairs – 11,050
• Kitchens – 8,786
• Internal electrics – 7,029
• Drainage – 4,507
• District heating repairs – 3,083
• External work at height – 2,954
• Wet trades – 2,675

In 2022/23, 85.7% of repairs were completed within the target times set.

Wherever possible, our aim is to complete responsive repairs to your home at the first visit. This reduces inconvenience to you, saves time and money and reduces our carbon footprint.

During 2022/23, 76. 2% of repairs were completed at the first visit.

Sometimes we are unable to complete repairs when we first visit because we need to order in specific parts to complete the work.

We conduct satisfaction surveys when we have completed a repair to establish whether our service is meeting your expectations and to help us make improvements where they are needed. Results from our surveys in 2022/23 showed:

• 93.3% of people stated the initial service received to report the repair was a positive experience
• 91.2% of people were satisfied with the repair that was completed
• 90.5% of people were satisfied the repair was completed in a reasonable time

Communal area planned maintenance

During 2022/23 we continued with our programme of planned maintenance across our 1,035 internal communal areas. This programme enables the early identification of works needed and helps reduce the need for tenants to report repairs. This work is on-going by our dedicated communal repairs team.

Repairs reporting

We have been carrying out improvements to increase the ways you can contact us online. Housing Online is what we call the digital access point for many of our services. Through this you can view and download rent statements, receive important messages from us and update your contact and security information.

This year we have expanded the range of enquiries you can report online to include abandoned council homes, council home adaptations and grounds maintenance for our council estates. We are continuing to development our online offer and you will be able to access more Housing services and information this way over the coming months.

As part of the development of our online services, most tenants now report their non-emergency repairs through their Housing Online account. Through Housing Online, tenants can:

• Report a non-emergency repair to their council home.

• Make an appointment for a repair.

• Enquire about an existing repair.

• Report a problem with a completed repair.

Since Housing Online began raising repairs:

• we now have 9,662 tenants signed up to Housing Online, half of all our tenants (as of September 2023)

• a total of 26,000 repairs have been raised online (as of September 2023)

Some of the benefits of using Housing Online to report and enquire about repairs:

• Repairs can be reported 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

• No queueing on the phone to report a repair.

• Repair requests can be made on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones, tablets, and PCs.

• Pictures are available for a wide range of repairs, so it is easy to identify and report what is needed.

• Choices are available for when a repair takes place.

• Repairs progress checks are available.

• We can send you messages via the online system to provide an update on a repair.

• The online system provides a list of all repairs reported in one place. This means you can go in to see what’s been completed and what is still outstanding.

• Tenants only need to sign up for Housing Online once. An individual username and password will be created for people to log onto the system securely.

We appreciate that some tenants may have difficulty initially signing up to the Housing Online service and reporting a repair for the first time. To address this, we have set up a dedicated Housing Online Support telephone line, 0116 454 0990, where officers will help set up your online account and give guidance on how to report repairs.

If you don’t have a device or access to the internet:

For people who don’t have devices, they can use the computers widely available in libraries and community centres. Find out more about our libraries and community centres.

If you can’t use Housing Online

We understand there will be a small proportion of our tenants who are digitally excluded and will not be able to use the online service, perhaps because they do not have access to IT devices or Wi-Fi, a disability or a lack of skills or confidence to use this service. Where we identify that this is the case, we will flag this on our systems and the tenant will be able to continue to report their repairs to the Customer Support telephone line. No tenant will be left in the position where they cannot report a repair.

During 2023/24 we will be rolling out the Housing Online service to enable the reporting of communal repairs and to enable leaseholders to report their repairs online via our Housing Online website.

New initiatives to improve our Repairs Service

Remote assistance

We are looking to increase the use of ‘remote assistance’ technology during the coming year. Remote assistance enables a live video linkup with a tenant in their home with one of our office or home-based staff, using the tenant’s own smart phone. This mobile technology has the potential to allow us to remotely sort reported repairs into priority order and provide advice and guidance to tenants to resolve a reported issue without the need for a visit by one of our repairs staff.

This will enable us to:

• Improve customer satisfaction by resolving issues more quickly.

• Reduce unnecessary visits.

• Resolve more issues a first-time basis.

Further development of this service could enable remote surveying of more significant work where materials may be required to complete the repair on a follow up visit.

Emergency repairs

This year we introduced clearer definitions for what qualifies as an emergency repair to ensure that tenants in real need of an emergency response get the priority attention they deserve.

Drones

A project is currently being undertaken by our roofing team to look at the possibility of using drone technology to enable inspections to our hard-to-reach structures across the city. This will provide our tenants with a quicker service and reduce the amount of scaffolding being used at any given time. The use of drones is also a much safer way for our teams to carry out surveys by reducing the amount of time that they work from heights.

Health and safety

When delivering and developing services, your safety is always our prime consideration. In this section you can find out more about our health and safety responsibilities and what we are doing to keep you and the staff who deliver your services safe.

We are required by the Social Housing (Regulations Bill) to have a named lead officer to oversee our compliance with health and safety regulations. This person is Chris Burgin (Director of Housing)

Gas safety

We have a legal duty to make sure all our gas appliances are checked every year. We will contact you when your gas safety check appointment is due. This will be by letter or a SMS text message appointment. We will suggest an appointment time, which can be rearranged if it is not convenient. Please work with us to arrange an appointment, as we have a legal obligation to carry out an annual gas safety check at your property. (See below for further details)

Over the last year (2022/23) we carried out gas service checks on 19,100 of our properties.

You can report any gas appliance repairs to us by calling us 0116 454 1007. Outside working hours, our emergency repairs number is 0116 254 9439.

If you smell gas, you should immediately call Cadent (formally National Grid). Their freephone number is 0800 111 999. They will deal with any report of a gas escape for free.

Compliance with our gas health and safety obligations

The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 outline our duties as a landlord to make sure all gas appliances, fittings, chimneys and flues are safe and working efficiently. Our three main legal duties are to:

• To carry out an annual gas safety check – to ensure we are 100% compliant.

• Provide a gas safety record of the check to you, the tenant (a copy of the gas safety certificate will now be emailed, or posted to you via Royal mail if you have no email address),

• Make sure that all gas pipework, appliances, chimneys, and flues are kept in safe condition – we comply with this through annual service checks and by responding to reported issues in a timely manner.

We also carry out quality control checks on a percentage of our properties to ensure that the quality of our annual gas safety checks is being maintained.

Fire safety

Fire safety is of paramount importance to us as a landlord. We have policies and procedures in place to reduce the risk of fires. For example, our Assistant Housing Officers carry out regular fire inspections and checks to properties with communal areas, such as flats, maisonettes, and houses in multiple occupation.

All these buildings have their own fire risk assessments and people who may require help getting to safety are provided with a personal evacuation plan in case a fire starts. We have a no tolerance policy on items left in communal areas. These are removed if they are found. Our fire safety work includes implementing recommendations made by the local fire service and adhering to national fire safety regulations.

We have agreed to fit sprinkler systems at our five high story tower blocks. Work installing sprinklers at Maxfield House has been completed and work on the four other blocks has been programmed and are expected to be completed in the coming financial year.

We are also looking to strengthen existing tenancy management working arrangements to ensure that we meet our fire safety responsibilities. Housing Officers will have the Building Responsible Officer role to quality assure fire safety work and take enforcement action. Further enhanced building responsible officer training in residential building settings will be a priority for all staff to ensure we comply with new fire safety legislation which has now come into force. You can find out more about these new regulations via Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and Building Safety Act 2022.

A named District Manager has taken on the role of Fire Safety lead for the service to ensure all work in this area is co-ordinated.

Proposals are being developed to take forward with partners to monitor compliance with changing fire safety regulations and to meet the requirements of the Building Safety Bill.

Electrical safety

We ensure that, through our capital investment programme, all our homes meet the electrical safety standards. All rewires and electrical upgrades are carried out to British Standards. All electrical installations are tested periodically and at 30 years a decision is made whether to carry out a full rewire or a part upgrade of the circuits and smoke detection systems in our properties. During 2023/24 we expect to rewire 580 properties.

The five yearly cyclical programme of electrical testing in communal areas has also continued, with electrical works, including the installation of more energy efficient communal area lighting, taking place.

Water safety

Every three months we test and then treat the water in the district heating network. This is to ensure that the system is running correctly. The treatment is used to ensure that there is no build-up of unwanted properties, such as scale.

Tenants play an important role in helping to ensure water safety in their homes. This includes the cleaning of outlets, such as taps and showers, and reporting repairs, so that the water system can remain in good working order.

Asbestos safety

Asbestos will be found in most properties across the country, particularly those built before the 1980s, as it was a common building material until its harmful nature was identified. If undisturbed, asbestos is perfectly safe to remain in our homes. It is only when asbestos becomes damaged that safety issues arise.

We have an obligation to protect our tenants, employees, and contractors from the harmful effects of asbestos, as far as reasonably possible. To do this, we ensure our properties are surveyed where works are required/planned, these surveys are undertaken by appropriately qualified and trained staff. When we establish there is a need to remove asbestos from a property, we take the necessary safety steps to do this, and replace the item with a non-asbestos product. No new asbestos-based products will be used in future building construction or refurbishment.

Asbestos inspections are also regularly undertaken for all our non-domestic areas, for example communal areas in blocks of flats.

Lift safety

Where our properties have a lift installed, these are inspected monthly by trained lift engineers.
The intercom within the lift is connected to our Lift Engineers Helpdesk, which is operated 24 hours a day. If an unfortunate event happens and a person becomes trapped in a lift, they can immediately notify the lift engineers directly and staff, local to the site, will attend immediately.

The lifts are also subject to a statutory insurance inspection or LOLER inspection (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998). This takes place every six months.

Damp, mould and condensation strategy

As part of our commitment to provide and maintain dry, warm and healthy homes for our tenants and to meet our statutory obligations, we will be introducing a Damp, Mould and Condensation Strategy.
Through this strategy we will work in partnership with our tenants to try to resolve issues of damp and mould in their homes.

The strategy objectives will include improving the advice we give to tenants on ways to reduce condensation and the ways we do this, for example, via links to web pages or text messages, and it will ensure that our responsive repairs team carry out damp related repairs as quickly and efficiently as possible.

In addition to this, we are looking to introduce a dashboard which will help us monitor reports of damp and identify trends. This will help us identify resources and respond more quickly to periods of higher demand, for example, during the winter months.

Preventing rats

During the pandemic there was a notable increase in rats and problems with pests in some areas of the city. One of the main reasons for this is the impact of government restrictions which were introduced to address the pandemic. With many food outlets closed, the rat population sought access to alternative food sources on some of our estates. St Matthews estate was one of the areas that was affected by this migration of the rat population.

Housing officers have been working closely with the Pest Control Team and the Repairs Service to address the problem. A joint service project team has been set up to take immediate action to tackle the issue where we identify hotspots in the city. Information has also gone out to tenants and residents to advise what to do to prevent rats having access to food sources and access to buildings.

It is very important to report repairs, not to feed the birds or leave rubbish out. Rats need warmth, shelter and food, so taking away these essentials will deter them from coming to your neighbourhood.

You can help to remove rats from the neighbourhood by:

• Putting all rubbish inside the bins at all times.

• Not leaving food outside for birds, squirrels, cats, etc.

• Keeping gardens, courtyards and communal areas free of debris and litter.

• Sealing all foods inside your home in tightly sealed glass containers.

• Making sure that you report repairs, like holes in external walls.

If you see evidence of rats, contact the Pest Control Team through the city council website: 

The Building Safety Act 2022

The new Building Safety Act came into force in April 2022. The Act is a significant piece of legislation which overhauls the way residential buildings are constructed and maintained. It is principally concerned with improving safety in higher risk buildings (those at least 18 metres in height or those that have at least seven storeys).

We are currently working towards meeting our obligations in relation to this. We have appointed a Building Safety Manager and are in the process of formally registering the buildings we have in scope of the bill with the Building Safety Regulator.

Other work which contributes to meeting the Homes Standard

Property adaptations

It is important to us that our properties are accessible to the people who live in them. This means people can remain independent and occupy their own home for as long as possible. It is also important that we have a supply of accessible homes for those who might need them in future.

Adaptations strategy

We are in the process of developing an Adaptations Strategy to tackle the current lack of suitable adapted housing available to help tenants to live well. We will continue to use funds to adapt our existing homes. In addition to this we are funding new build adapted properties and bungalows to reduce the gap in provision. This strategy will help us better understand the need for adaptations and how we can best go about meeting this need.

This year (2023/24) we have made £800,000 available for putting adaptations into our council homes, where the Adult Social Care service has identified there is a need for these by a tenant or member of their household. As part of this programme, we will also carry out work on some of our empty properties to fit adaptations needed by people on the housing register to enable new tenants better access to homes, where this is needed.

We currently have 99 fully wheelchair accessible homes, 2,066 partially wheelchair accessible homes and 1,519 ground floor properties.

In 2022/23 we carried out 140 minor adaptations to properties, such as installing ramps and widening doors. We also carried out 402 major adaptations to properties, such as installing level access showers, stair lifts and through floor lifts.

Climate change and decarbonisation

Climate change is one of the most serious threats facing the world. We are committed to tackling this issue. Leicester City Council declared a climate emergency in February 2019. Our ambition is for Leicester to become ‘carbon neutral’ by 2030 or sooner.

We have been working towards improving the environmental impact of our homes for many years and during this time we have significantly reduced the CO2 emissions from our homes. This has been achieved by window replacements, new central heating installations, new energy efficient boilers internal wall, external wall and roof insulation, and solar panels. The homes being built as part of our current housebuilding programme have been designed to maximise energy efficiency.

However, in a climate emergency we must go even further, we are:

• Leading on a bid to the Social Housing Decarbonisation fund in partnership with seven housing associations operating in the city to seek £6.9m funding to improve the energy efficiency of properties in Leicester. If successful this will lead to a programme of further insulation, installing air source heat pumps and triple glazing.

• In addition to this bid, we are already investing £1.8m to install external wall insulations in properties across the city.

• We have undertaken climate change training for our staff this year to help them deliver our climate change commitments.

• Our house building programme has delivered new homes that have improved energy efficiency.

• This year the homes we are starting to build will be our most highly energy efficient council homes. These properties will have EPC energy ratings of A, which will be much better for the climate and more efficient for those living in them.

• We have a programme in our communal areas to replace our light fittings with LED lighting, which is more energy efficient.

• We are encouraging tenants and leaseholders to play their part in helping fight the impacts of climate change. This includes the use of smart meters in their homes so that energy use can be measured.

• Our existing council housing investment programmes continue to deliver loft insulation, A rated Boilers, LED lighting in communal areas and upgrading storage heaters to positively impact the efficiency of council homes.

Find out more about the Leicester Climate Emergency Strategy.

Neighbourhood and community standard

This standard requires us to work together with you to keep your neighbourhood and communal areas clean and safe. It also commits us to working with partner agencies to tackle anti-social behaviour.

To give you a commitment of what we aim to achieve, we have developed a policy to let you know what you can expect from us in terms of maintaining your neighbourhood.

• View Maintaining and Improving Neighbourhoods Policy

Anti-social behaviour

We put in place as many checks as we can to prevent anti-social behaviour from happening. For example, our Conditions of Tenancy has information on what is unacceptable behaviour and the outcomes which will result if this occurs.

Despite this, anti-social behaviour can still happen. When it does, we know that addressing it is a priority for you and your local communities.

Your new anti-social behaviour service

Increasingly, we have seen more complex ASB cases. In recognition of the need to adapt and improve services to meet the changing needs of tenants, we carried out a review of how we deliver this service.

As a result of this review, a new dedicated team has been set up within the Community Safety Service to handle and investigate all cases of council tenant related anti-social behaviour. The new team will have close links to the police, the council’s crime and anti-social behaviour unit and the Housing Division to ensure that the service is as effective as possible. Specialist training will be provided to the new anti-social behaviour officers.

Tenants will still be able to report ASB issues to their housing officer, however all cases will be referred to and investigated by the new team. Housing officers will still deal with conditions of tenancy breaches.

Those in need of support with anti-social behaviour issues will now benefit from being served by a dedicated team with specialist knowledge and expertise who will have the skills and the links with other related services to be able to resolve their issues more effectively. Those raising an ASB concern with the new team will also benefit from having a single named person leading on their case.

Last year our housing officers investigated 992 reports of anti-social behaviour, a reduction of 207 cases on the previous year. Find out more about our approach to addressing anti-social behaviour

Creating safe communities that you can be proud of

Creating communities is about more than housing, it means cleaner, safer, greener neighbourhoods in which people have confidence and pride.

We have an Environmental and Communal Areas Fund which helps to deliver significant environmental improvements on estates, such as landscaping, new security measures, community facilities, pocket parks, fencing and communal area improvements. Tenants and ward councillors help decide where this money should be spent, based on their local needs and priorities. These schemes have made significant contributions to improving the overall image, appearance, and general quality of life within our estates.

Last year we spent £750,000 from this fund improving neighbourhoods across the city in all housing areas. These improvements included:

• Aikman Avenue in New Parks has benefitted from fencing work to help tackle anti–social behaviour.

• In Belgrave, work on Donaldson Road has been carried out to prevent major flooding.

• At Neston Gardens on the Saffron estate, we have installed railings and gates that can be closed to keep children safe and off the roads. We also improved lighting and have realigned the CCTV cameras to improve local safety. These improvements and joint work with CrASBU have helped to reduce ASB in the area.

• Improvements to external lighting to bungalows in Aylestone, Braunstone, Eyres Monsell and Saffron.

Over the last year, an additional £1.9m has been invested as part of the Public Realm Improvement Programme, primarily in the St Matthews and St Peters areas of the city. This increased the amount of money we have spent making improvements to our estates during 2022/23 to £2.65m.

The Public Realm Programme

Two of our neighbourhoods, St Matthews and St Peters, had been identified as needing investment to improve the quality of their shared spaces and the lived experience of their communities. A Public Realm Programme was developed, providing £5m over three years to create neighbourhoods that people can enjoy and feel safe in.

We have worked closely with the local communities, including ward members and representatives from the Tenants and Leaseholders Forum to identify and design improvements for both areas, including open spaces, road safety and the local environment. We have enlisted a Green Team that has focused on sprucing up both estates and has made a real impact on improving the appearance of the estates as well as addressing problems such as litter and pests.

The first phase of this work at Ottawa Road, St Matthews, has been completed, addressing parking, lighting and landscaping issues. Further improvements are planned to be completed by 2024.

Find out more about the Public Realm Programme and Public Realm work on Ottawa Road.

Concrete path renewal

The long-standing programme of works to renew concrete paths was completed in 2022/23.

Joe Carroll – Tenant and Leaseholder Forum member:

"I’m passionate about improving my community. I believe that if we all work together, we can make a real difference to our neighbourhoods and the lives of the people who live in them.

I’ve been able to use my position to work in partnership with the council, using my experience and understanding of what’s important to tenants, to ensure our money is spent wisely and that services are meeting people’s needs. I see to it that high standards continue to be met."

Creating jobs and supporting the local economy

We make a significant contribution to the local economy, placing contracts with local businesses and developing work opportunities for those who need help with employment.

Where service delivery requires us to place external contracts, we aim to work with local businesses, and all contracts have clauses which promote the use of local labour and social value, adding benefits to the local community.

Our Neighbourhood Improvement Scheme continues to help the long-term unemployed by providing pre-employment training and a period of work experience. Their work on our estates includes painting, clearing overgrown areas, tidying unsightly spots, cleaning UPVC windows and removing rubbish.

We provide craft apprenticeship opportunities each year and have the largest apprenticeship programme in the council. This year several existing posts have been converted into apprenticeship opportunities within Housing services.

We offer work experience to school students, graduates, and ex-offenders. During 2022/23 we have also taken up the opportunity to recruit to posts under the Government’s Kickstart Scheme, which provides funding to create jobs for unemployed 16 to 24 year olds.

We are working to deliver improved job opportunities for those facing homelessness. We have worked with partner organisations St Mungo’s and BEAM (charities that support people experiencing homelessness) to develop their skills as a step into work.

Forthcoming changes to the way social housing is regulated

The way that social housing is regulated (managed) is changing in order to drive up standards and learn the lessons from the Grenfell fire tragedy.

The consumer standards that you can see in this report are currently being reviewed as part of the Social Housing Regulation Bill.

The new consumer standards will promote safe homes of a decent standard and quality landlord services. Over the summer of 2023 the Government will consult on what these standards should be. The themes for the standards include safety, quality, neighbourhood, transparency, tenancy, and engagement and accountability between landlords and their tenants.

We are setting up a project board to make sure that we incorporate the standards into our service delivery.

In addition to this, changes to the way social housing is managed include:

• The introduction of Awaab’s Law, which requires social landlords to investigate and fix reported hazards in their homes within a specified time frame or rehouse tenants where a home cannot be made safe.

• A requirement that all social housing managers have a professional qualification. This aims to help to protect residents and raise standards, ensuring residents receive a high level of service and are treated with respect at all times.

Chris Burgin, Director of Housing

I hope you've found this report useful and informative. Your assistance has been invaluable in helping us to deliver high quality services. This year we will be doing even more to allow you to have your say and to publish information which will enable you to appraise our performance. With your help, we can make sure we have the best housing services that can be provided.

I realise that this has been a difficult year for many of you, but looking forward, I remain optimistic about the future and what we can achieve together. Many opportunities are becoming available to deliver our services more effectively, embracing new technology and developing innovative ways of working. We will be using every means at our disposal to save money and develop our services.

The current challenging economic times remind us how important council housing is to those in need and to our local communities. That is why one of our main aims for the year ahead is to increase the availability of affordable homes, including those provided by ourselves and our partners.

There will undoubtedly be many challenges ahead, but I’m confident that with your help we can meet them all.

Finally, I would like to say a special thanks to our Tenants’ and Leaseholders’ Forum who have worked throughout the year to help us make informed decisions.