The positive update was presented to the Council’s Scrutiny Committee this week (3 December), as part of an overview of the BMD’s approach to delivering services to tenants across 17,000 properties.

Quicker turnaround for empty homes

Councillors heard how a new partnership approach between Housing and BMD had seen the time taken to re-let empty properties fall from over 100 days to an average of just 55 days.

In addition as of October, the number of properties awaiting repairs before being re-let had dropped from 157 to 120 — a 24% reduction.

The division has also made progress in repair response times. Emergency repairs are now completed in an average of just under 3 hours, faster than comparable Councils in Scotland.

Non-emergency repairs were being carried out in an average of 9 and a 1/2 days, down slightly from 10 days last year.

Efforts to tackle backlogs in kitchen and bathroom installations have progressed with last year’s backlog of 856 kitchens awaiting installation cleared, and the number of outstanding bathroom upgrades reduced by 30%, from 344 to 248.

Similarly, the waiting list for disabled adaptations has fallen by 30%, from 151 jobs to 108.

The Council is now exploring a hybrid delivery model for adaptations, involving both in-house staff and external contractors, to further improve its efficiency.

Challenges

The positive performance was set in the context that the national Housing Emergency had forced the Council to suspend non-emergency repairs temporarily to focus on turning around empty properties. This was to enable more families to be housed in suitable accommodation.

Recruitment remains a key issue for the division, with vacancies exacerbated by a national shortage of skilled workers. To address this, BMD are hiring more apprentices than ever before and looking to introduce a new skills package that will make existing tradespeople more adaptable.

This should lead to higher salaries which will help retain and attract new staff from outside Falkirk Council.

Councillor Gary Bouse, spokesperson for Housing said:

"We are encouraged by the improvements made over the past year, particularly in areas such as reducing re-let times for void properties, speeding up repairs, and addressing backlogs for kitchens, bathrooms, and adaptations. These achievements show that we are moving in the right direction. However, we know there is still a lot of work to do, particularly in addressing recruitment and absence challenges that have a direct impact on the services we provide. By continuing to invest in staff training, apprenticeships, and structural improvements, we aim to create a more resilient service that meets the needs of our tenants."