A performance report to the council’s Housing and Property Committee presented quarterly data which charted its continued improvement from 2022/23.

The average time taken to complete emergency repairs for the first quarter of 2024/25 is now 3.4 hours, reduced from 10.5 hours in quarter one of 2022/23.

For non-emergency repairs, the report notes a significant improvement from last quarter by reducing the time to 6.1 days. The Scotland’s Housing Network benchmark for 2022/23 was 8.7 days.

Councillor Glynis Campbell Sinclair, housing and property chair, said: “The great improvements made to the Housing Repairs service are a fantastic example of our ongoing work to deliver excellence to our tenants. It is important that we can address any emergency repairs as quickly as possible with the resources we have available. For Highland, our teams are able to complete emergency repairs in a few hours on average.”

One of the wider priorities of the council is to improve the public’s communication and experience when contacting the local authority. This new approach to customer experience is being delivered by a programme of work within the My Council project.

A good example of the positive impact that better communication practices can have is from the recent success in the Housing Repairs Appointments project, as part of the wider My Council programme.

An analysis of data from the Housing Repairs line found that a large proportion of the high quantity of calls received were from tenants seeking updates. A review then took place which resulted in changes being made which placed the customer at the forefront of the service. These implemented changes brought about better communication with tenants on the progress of works at their homes and significantly reduced the number of missed appointments.

The work of the Housing Repairs Appointment project was recently recognised by being shortlisted at this year’s The Highland Council Staff Recognition Awards.

Councillor Glynis Campbell Sinclair concluded: “There are of course challenges facing the service, one of which is working through the backlog of low priority repairs to gutters, gates and fences. Some of these repairs were delayed because of budget pressures and good progress is being made to complete outstanding jobs.”