The Housing Service is responsible for delivering high-quality services for all tenants and other customers. The council is required to publish an Annual Assurance Statement in line with Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) guidance to confirm to tenants and the SHR that we are meeting all regulatory requirements, and to also highlight areas for improvement.

The statement is made available to tenants to give them assurance that the council is meeting its responsibilities and providing quality services.

A report asking councillors to approve the Annual Assurance Statement for 2023/24 will be considered at a meeting of the Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee on Wednesday 2nd October.

A report to the committee says that during 2023/24 the council’s Housing Service complied with all but one regulatory requirement as set out by the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) - its legal obligations around tenant and resident safety.

The council did not fully comply with Electrical Inspection Certificate Reports (EICR) for 28 of its properties. This represents 0.35% of its 8,053 homes. This non-compliance was mainly due to the reluctance of some tenants to grant access to their homes so the testing could be carried out, as well as the complex support needs of some tenants. Some properties were also waiting to have an EICR carried out as part of the voids process. 

Overall, the report confirms that the council achieved the standards and outcomes in the Scottish Social Housing Charter for tenants, people who are homeless and others who use its services. Perth & Kinross Council complied with legal obligations relating to housing and homelessness, equality and human rights.

Committee convener, Councillor Tom McEwan, said: “The council’s housing service continues to deliver very high levels of service, with strong performance across all areas despite ongoing challenges such as the cost-of-living crisis. In many areas, we are exceeding the standards required by the SHR. This has been achieved in the context of maintaining our rents at affordable levels, demonstrating our commitment to delivering a value for money service for our tenants.

“To ensure continuous improvement we have an Action Plan in place to build on progress, implement improvement actions and ensure ongoing compliance with regulations. Safety remains a key priority for the Service, and we now have a dedicated Housing Compliance Team to ensure key areas such as gas, electrical, water, fire and asbestos safety are closely monitored, and that appropriate checks and governance arrangements are in place.”