The Housing Operations Board of Guildford Council is scheduled to meet on Wednesday 24 September 2025 to discuss a range of housing-related issues. These include an update on the Housing Revenue Account, key performance indicators, the Housing Improvement Plan, voids management, and compliance with Awaab's Law¹.

Preparing for Awaab's Law

The board is scheduled to receive an update on the council's preparedness for Awaab's Law, which comes into force for social landlords on 27 October 2025. The report pack states that the law imposes statutory timeframes for the investigation and resolution of emergency and significant hazards, particularly those related to damp and mould.

The report pack states that Guildford Council has taken several actions to prepare for compliance, including:

• A review of all Damp and Mould policies
• Implementation of a new emergency decant process
• Implementation of a new triage process for damp and mould reports
• Recruitment of an additional resource to expand capacity in the Damp and Mould team
• Reviewing options for providing residents with inspection reports
• Enhanced training for frontline staff and contractors
• Improved communication channels with residents
• Investment in environmental monitoring technology

The report pack states that full compliance is required by 27 October 2025, and that non-compliance may expose the council to legal or regulatory challenge.

Housing Improvement Plan Update

The board is scheduled to receive a progress update on the Housing Improvement Plan (HIP). The report pack states that the update will outline recent achievements, current priorities, and key risks, as well as the approach to the plan refresh in response to resource pressures, regulatory requirements, and local government reorganisation (LGR).

The report pack lists a number of recent achievements since May 2025:

• The launch of a Resident Sounding Board, with 35 residents signed up to test and shape key proposals.
• The launch of You Said, We Did live online, providing visible feedback loops following surveys and engagement.
• The completion of over 100 household visits as part of Keeping in Touch Days.
• The embedding of a governance framework with clear reporting to the Executive, SMT², Assurance Panel and tenants.
• The publication of the Annual Report to Tenants 2025 in July, including Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs), outcomes, and key learning.
• Fire Risk Assessment actions cleared (100% complete for high/medium risks; low-risk actions down to 99 remaining).
• Electrical safety compliance reached 88.8% (on track to hit 90% in September).
• Gas safety sustained at 99.9%.
• TCW Compliance Dashboard fully embedded for gas and electrical asbestos uploads due September.
• Damp and Mould Case Management System (AICO) is shortly to be fully operational and live across teams.
• Orchard Voids Module launched with staff workshops and a September go-live.
• Digital comms and engagement tools improving transparency and insight including new SharePoint pages and enhanced performance reporting.
• Learning & Development Hub launched and now live.
• Two successful all-staff away days delivered (March and August), building culture and shared purpose.

The report pack also lists current priorities and upcoming milestones:

• HIP Refresh: Re-prioritise actions to reflect LGR, capacity, and regulatory dependencies (September 2025)
• Consumer Standards Self-Assessment: Scope, resource and initiate full self-assessment (October - December 2025)
• Repairs Contractor: Emergency procurement under urgency powers; mobilisation of new contractor to add capacity and support (September - October 2025)
• Resident Voice: Deliver further Keeping in Touch visits; embed Sounding Board input into policy design (Ongoing)

Voids Management Update

The board is scheduled to receive a Voids Management Update. The report pack states that the aim of the Housing Improvement Plan is to reduce total void numbers and turnaround times, improve lettings efficiency and resident satisfaction, and improve data quality and reporting through system improvements.

The report pack provides the following data on the current void position as of 31 August 2025:

• Operational Voids (available to let): 185
• Development Voids: 34
• Strategic Voids: 39
• Total All Voids: 258

The report pack states that there is a slight downward trend in total void numbers, and that this is expected to continue with the implementation of new processes and the mobilisation of the new contract from October 2025.

The report pack also states that significant progress has been made in tackling the backlog of very long-term operational voids (pre-2023), which have been reduced from 11 in June to 2 in August 2025.

HRA Business Plan Review 2024/25

The board is scheduled to discuss the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Business Plan Review for 2024/25. The report pack states that the HRA is a ring-fenced account within the council's General Fund, and that it is effectively the 'landlord' account, with rent and service charge income funding the management, maintenance and major repairs of existing stock and delivery of new homes.

The report pack states that the 2024-25 HRA Draft Revenue Outturn is in review, pending Audit sign-off, and that the Guildford Borough Council Annual Report shows there was a total spend of £17.8m for the HRA.

The report pack provides a breakdown of the HRA income and expenditure for 2024-25:

Income - Total £39.8 million

• Dwelling Rents: £36.4m
• Garages & Shops: £1.1m
• Service Charges: £1.7m
• Interest & Other Income: £0.6m

Expenditure - Total £17.8 million

• Responsive & Planned Maintenance: £9.4m
• Tenant & Neighbourhood Services: £3.9m
• Sheltered Housing, Strategic & Community Services: £3.5m
• Debt & Other Items: £1.0m

The report pack states that the 2024-25 total income budget was £38.2m, but that the income received was £39.8m, equating to a 4% (£1.6m) favourable variance against the Budget. It also states that the 2024-25 total revised Expenditure budget was £24.1m, but that the Total Expenditure was £25.0m, equating to an overall 4% (£0.9m) adverse variance against the Budget, primarily due to a high volume of routine repairs undertaken during the year.

KPI Dashboard April-July 2025

The board is scheduled to discuss the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Dashboard for April-July 2025. The report pack states that the report introduces the KPIs for Housing Services from April 2025 to July 2025, and that it highlights progress against targets and identifies areas requiring attention to improve service delivery.

The report pack states that the Housing Service shows strong performance in most compliance checks, high-priority repairs, rent collection, and homelessness prevention. However, there are pressures in responsive repair completion times, void levels, satisfaction with complaint handling, antisocial behaviour case outcomes and maintaining full compliance across all required checks.

The KPIs included in the report cover key areas of Housing Services, including homelessness, allocations, tenancy management, property maintenance and resident satisfaction.