'DELUGE of complaints from residents of Accent Housing'

Paul Deach Councillor Surrey Heath

'I am becoming increasingly concerned about the treatment of residents' by housing trust provider Accent Housing.'

Accent Housing are responsible for over 3000 properties in Surrey Heath.

In 2019 the original repairs contractor procured by ARK Consultancy operating across Accent South were replaced.

Since the inception of that contract there had been serious problems with the standard of service and a multitude of complaints from residents that were all simply ignored.

Paul Deach is an active and very capable councillor with Surrey Heath Council. In 2019 Paul Deach set up an online presence on facebook which offered local constituents an easy way of contacting him.

The Old Dean facebook site is informative and reflects tenants views combined with councillor involvement.

Paul Deach described being taken by surprise at; 'the deluge of complaints from residents' of Accent Housing.

These were simply the same complaints residents had previously put to Accent Housing but which had been ignored.

'SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS that urgently need addressing.'

It was only through political pressure that Accent Housing agreed to meet with the Surrey Heath Borough Council External Partnerships Select Committee on 13th November 2019

The original contractors were removed from that contract and replaced with Axis. They have since been replaced with Ian Williams. The problems continue.

That meeting was recorded in the public interest and can be viewed here;

...and the problems continue.

Paul Deach's role as a councilor has now been taken on by Trefor Hogg.The quote below is taken from a blog posted by Stuart Black, someone with a profound interest in social issues.Stuart Black is a director/trustee of a nationl family rights group.

This is Trefor Hoggs own description of Accent Housing;

"entrenched attitudes within the local dominant local social housing provider (Accent Housing)."

"don’t treat social housing tenants with the respect they deserve".

"Do not give tenants the service that they deserve."

Political posturing. Surrey Heath.

On 17th March 2023 Paul Dolan and Julie Wittich were summoned by Michael Gove to a meeting to address longstanding horrific issues residents have endured in Surrey Heath.

Councillor Shaun Garrett; 'it was encouraging that Accent recognised that they have been getting it wrong and are making big changes to rectify the situation.'

There is nothing 'encouraging' at all about Accent's 'recognition of the problem'.

As a former Accent resident I despair at hearing those words. How many times has this rhetoric been propagated? How many times have Accent recognised problems and promised to improve?

• 2017 Accent launch their new repairs and maintenance procurement (RAMP) It 'will provide an improved reactive repairs and planned programme service'
• 2018 Rob Mills Director of Customer experience Accent South: 'The way we deliver our services is about to dramatically change for the better'
• 2019

  New Accent partnership launched. Paul Dolan
  'We need to improve and have plans in place to make sure we do'

• 2019 Clare Stone and Rob Mills meet with Surrey Heath select committee promising great changes to the repair service
• 2020 Tom Miskell chair of the board' our promise is to provide a quality repairs service.'
• 2021 Annual report 'our number one priority to ensure we can guarantee a reliable and high quality customer experience. GRC Consulting undertook an independent review of the repairs service - nothing changed.
• 2022 Julie Wittich Chief Operating Officer 'Our repair service hasn't been at the standard it should be.'
• 2023 Julie Wittich Chief Operating Officer 'Our revamped housing management and leasehold and homeownership service has launched. Thank you for your patience while we continue to work through the changes.'

Residents in Surrey Heath and across all Accent properties have been promised improvements for the last 6 years. This culminated in the latest meeting of the external reviews committee on Tuesday, 6 June, 2023 which was recorded and can be viewed here (skip the first 15 minutes)

There is much talk of new corporate strategies, personalising customer experience, specialised repair hubs etc etc. This is simply a smokescreen.

The ONLY relevant information of any importance passed during that entire meeting was the fact that the reactive repairs service has been changed from a ppp (price per property) to a SOR (schedule of rates) which will 'give better value and control'

Not a single councillor picked up on this. It is the fundamental underlying mechanism on which all repair charges are based. No one questioned why the ppp contract had failed. No one questioned how the repair service operating under a SOR will improve the service. No one questioned which version of the SOR was being employed as Accent like to use older (cheaper) versions of the SOR which puts pressure on the contractor and encourages bad practice. Accent Housing have hoodwinked the committee.

A recent FTT case involving Accent Housing brought to light the fact that not a single invoice presented by the contractor for repairs operating under a SOR was genuine. Charges had been inflated by 81% and had to be refunded.

Not one councillor questioned as to how repairs for tenants operating under a SOR will be paid for. Tenants have fixed charges for services (unlike leaseholders) and therefore there is a specific limit that can be spent on repairs. This is exactly why a ppp contract is drawn up as it reflects that limit on spending. A SOR operates on a fixed price for every individual piece of work. Accent cannot go above the budget covered by tenants payments as they then have to fund those costs themselves.

It is an unworkable system and can only operate in the following ways:

• Repairs will have to be undertaken on the cheapest rate available - this will encourage shoddy workmanship and temporary fixes.
• If repairs costs go above the fixed threshold Accent will have to 'recover' those costs elsewhere. This could involve raising rents for tenants but more than likely they will attempt to put those costs onto leaseholders who have no control over any service charges.

The councillors should have formed an understanding as to how the repairs system works and historically how Accent Housing operate. How contracts for repairs are drawn up, how price per property costs are specifically allocated, how sub contractors charge, how the schedule of rates used for leaseholders is so open to abuse.

Accent Housing will not volunteer information.

It appears their constituents and all residents have not been provided with a single piece of evidence as to how exactly Accent Housing intend to improve their service and when residents will notice changes to the service - if any.

That is not good enough.

Do not forget that Accent Housing ignored all the complaints put in by tenants over a number of years.

It takes a Housing Minister to get any reaction by Accent - a reflection of how little chance the ordinary tenant has of achieving the same.

ARK CONSULTANCY

The problems stem from the original procurement of regional contractors by ARK Consultancy all of which have failed to benefit any resident.

Those contracts included communal cleaning and grounds maintenance as well as reactive repairs. All not without serious problems being reported by residents across the UK.

The procurement never offered benefits to leaseholders either in terms of service or in reducing charges. The process was only motivated by the need to streamline the repairs service for the benefit of Accent Housing by removing local contractors.

All those contracts procured by ARK Consultancy have failed and those contractors replaced.

Accent East had TSG replaced with Mears in 2020. Mears were then exposed as having serious problems. Mears were subsequently replaced with Ian Williams.

Ian Williams now have a monopoly on repairs work with the associated risk of contractor failure. Contractors now travel from as far as Sheffield and Barnsley to undertake minor repairs at estates in York.

Considering the reduction in 'management' of the service, residents never received any reduction in management fees.

There was one beneficiary however.

Gordon Perry the previous Chief Executive of Accent Housing was awarded a place on the board of ARK Consultancy on his retirement a few months after the procurement process was completed.

ARK Consultancy maintained a relationship with Accent Housing through their management consultancy role of CHIC - a 'not for profit' procurement consortium set up by Accent Housing. Interestingly both CHIC and ARK share the same address in Birmingham.

Governance