Bracknell Forest Homes tenants receive a good service - and have a bright future says Audit Commission

Bracknell Forest Homes has been awarded two stars following an Audit Commission inspection which reported that the organisation’s landlord service is ‘good’ and has ‘excellent’ prospects for improvement.

The inspection said that services are customer-focused and homes are being quickly improved to a high standard and gas servicing is done well. Bracknell Forest Homes is good at collecting rent and managing anti-social behaviour and vulnerable residents get strong support to help them continue living in their own homes.

However, the housing association needs to improve its work on external maintenance of homes periodic electrical tests and demonstrating value for money.

Julie Watts, Lead Housing Inspector for the Audit Commission, said: “It is good to see such strong progress from a housing association that only began to manage local housing stock two years ago. There are clear signs that Bracknell Forest Homes has a strong focus on residents and will continue to work to improve services for local people.”

Inspectors found: satisfaction with services is high and improving, homes are being improved faster than was originally envisaged and improvement and repair work is of a high standard, there is effective help available for vulnerable people to help them live in their own homes and there is good quality housing management with action taken to reduce nuisance.

To help the service improve, inspectors made a number of recommendations, including: improve how the housing association tackles access, equality and diversity, improve performance in key areas including some aspects of health and safety and improve value for money for residents.

Copies of the report are available on the Audit Commission website at http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/