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Repairs - Maintaining Your Home Service Stand

Repairs - Maintaining Your Home Service Standards

These are the standards you can expect from your day-to-day repairs service from Ascham Homes. More detailed advice about our statutory repair obligations and your repair obligations is available in the ‘Residents Information Pack’.

We work together with our repairs partner Kier Building Maintenance to maintain the council homes in Waltham Forest. And we work with James Stack & Sons, another of our repairs partners, to maintain the council homes in Billericay and Wickford.

Be professional

We will:

maintain the structure and outside of your home and any shared heating systems
maintain fittings for gas, electricity, water, basins, sinks, baths and toilets and individual heating and hot water facilities (this standard applies to tenants), and
minimise costs by charging residents the cost of repairs where disrepair or damage is caused by their own actions or failure to act.

Our repairs partner will:

carry an identity card with a photograph, which they will show you
wait outside while you check with Ascham Direct if you are not sure of their identity
wear clothing suitable to their trade and arrive in a clearly marked vehicles
be polite
behave in a proper and professional way at all times
cause as little disruption and mess in your home as possible
take care of your belongings and protect them from dust, and so on
clear any building material from inside your home at the end of each working day
remove any building material left in the garden or outside the property, and
keep to all booked appointment times.

In an emergency situation (where there is an immediate threat to ‘life and limb’ or threat of damage to the council’s property or the property of others)

We will:

immediately notify our repairs partner of the situation
have our repairs partner respond within a maximum of 2 hours and immediately begin to work to eliminate risks, and
make sure the follow on repairs needed are ordered and completed within 3 weeks.

For more information on non-emergency repairs and Right-to-Repair repairs:

please see the ‘Repairs – Maintaining your home’ section of the ‘Residents Information Pack’.

Be accessible and keep you informed

We will:

offer you the choice of how to report a repair: by phone to Ascham Direct, in person at our office, or by letter or e-mail if it is not urgent
offer a morning or afternoon appointment for repairs
tell you the job number of your repair, the contractor’s telephone number and an estimate of how quickly we will start the job
do what is needed to make things safe until a proper repair can be done, if there is an emergency (something that endangers people or property) outside office hours (to report an emergency repair outside of office hours, please phone 020 8496 3000)
carry out certain repairs within timescales laid down by law
run a statutory Right-to-Repair scheme for certain repairs, and
carry out the majority of minor repairs within 20 days.

Our repairs partner will:

leave a card if the contractor calls at your home and there is no one in. The card will give you a phone number to contact them and make another appointment.

Should a contractor not keep a definite appointment, for a day-to-day repair, you are entitled to compensation of £15.

We will service your gas appliances once every year. Please ensure that you allow us access to your home for this vital maintenance work. For further information see ‘Gas Servicing’ and ‘Forced Entry’.

Learn and improve

We will:

seek customer feedback from 10% of repairs carried out and will use feedback to improve our services. For further information see ‘Surveyor Satisfaction Monitoring’ and ‘Repairs Satisfaction Monitoring’.

Performance targets

Our aims include:

to complete 98.5% of urgent repairs within government time limits (as defined in the Right to Repair regulations) in 2005/06, 99% in 2006/07, and 99.5% in 2007/08
to make and keep 95% of responsive (but not emergency) repairs appointments during the financial year 2005/06, 96% in 2006/07, and 97% in 2007/08
to complete 82% of repairs right first time in 2005/06, 84% in 2006/07, and 86% in 2007/08
to have a 60% / 40% split between expenditure on planned repairs and maintenance of council housing, and responsive maintenance expenditure on council housing
to have a 15% / 85% split between expenditure on emergency and urgent repairs to council housing, and non-urgent repairs expenditure to council housing
to complete non-urgent responsive repairs in 12 calendar days on average in 2005/06, 10 calendar days on average in 2006/07, and 8 calendar days on average in 2007/08
to complete 98.5% of non-Right to Repair repairs in target time in 2005/06, 98.75% in 2006/07, and 99% in 2007/08, and
to carry out 100% of gas checks due each year.

Customer care

We will provide good customer care to all our customers, our staff will be friendly, polite and keen to help you, dealing with your enquiry with sensitivity and discretion.

We will:

wear a visible identity badge
promote and provide equality and fair treatment for everyone
reply to all correspondence within seven working days
provide a contact name, office and e-mail addresses, and a direct dial number in all our letters
deal with all complaints within 28 days and learn from them
write in plain English
answer your phone call within five rings, telling you who we are and asking how we may help you
forward our phone to colleagues when we are out of the office
call you back on the same day if you call before 1pm or call you back by 1pm the following day if you call after 1pm
make sure all our publications are available in the most common community languages, and other formats such as audio tape, Braille and large print
communicate through interpreters and British Sign Language (BSL) signers for residents who have specific needs, and
do our best to give you information and advice about other local services that we do not provide, including services provided by the council and by other agencies.

Further, we agree to:

provide your personal details when we pass your enquiry to a specialist, together with the details of your enquiry so, that you do not have to repeat it to another person
keep the appointment that you have made and tell you beforehand if we have to cancel it
carry out customer satisfaction surveys of at least 10% of our customers, and
keep you informed of how well we are doing in delivering the service.

You can help us by:

treating your home and surroundings and our staff with respect
telling us about any changes in your circumstances so that we can provide you with the best possible service, and
telling us what you think of us.

We will use customer feedback to improve our service. Please tell us if you feel that we have not met any of the service standards.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can make a formal complaint. The leaflet ‘Ascham Homes Complaints Procedure’ gives you information about making a complaint and is available through all of our outlets. Our staff will help you make a complaint if you are not able to do so.

How to contact us

You can access our services in a number of ways.

Telephone Ascham Direct on 020 8496 4197

The lines are open 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday for a full service.

If you live in Billericay or Wickford, you can phone Ascham Direct on 0845 3000 363 (charged at the local rate).

You can write to us at:
Ascham Homes
1 Wood Street
Walthamstow
London E17 3JU.

You can e-mail us at:
direct@aschamhomes.org.uk

Please note that although we check this site regularly during the day, you should not use it to report urgent repairs.

You can visit us at:
Ascham Homes
1 Wood Street
Walthamstow
London E17 3JU.
Open 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday

Ascham Homes (Billericay office)
16 Morris Avenue
Billericay
Essex CM11 2LB.
Open 9am to 11am, Tuesdays and Thursdays

In an emergency outside the normal hours, as mentioned above, contact the joint Ascham Homes and London Borough of Waltham Forest emergency service on:

020 8496 3000

Other useful contacts:

Transco (ring for free if you think you smell gas), phone:

0800 111 999

Waltham Forest Direct, 772-776 High Road, Leyton, London E10 6AE

Waltham Forest Direct is the London Borough of Waltham Forest Council’s contact centre.

For all council services, call them on:
020 8496 3000

Leytonstone Citizens Advice Bureau
Greater London House
547 – 551 High Road
Leytonstone
London E11 4PB
Phone: 020 8988 9620
Fax: 020 8558 7911

Walthamstow Citizens Advice Bureau
167 Hoe Street
Walthamstow
London E17 3AL
Phone: 0870 1264 026
Website: www.walthamforestcab.org.uk/wcab

Ascham Homes's publications

You can get copies of our service standards, information leaflets, Decent Homes programme, Tenants Compact and Residents Information Pack from:

Ascham Homes reception at 1 Wood Street
Waltham Forest Direct Shops, and
Social services public reception areas

If you would like us to post a publication to you, please call Ascham Direct on 020 8496 4197.