The Scottish Housing Regulator has published the latest data received from Scottish social landlords, including ourselves.
This includes:
This year, the comparison tool has been enhanced to make it more accessible and easier to use for people using different devices and assistive technologies such as laptops, mobile phones, tablets and screen readers.
Are you an Angus Council tenant?
If so, we need your views on the proposed rent increase for 2021/22 and options on how your rent money will be spent.
All three options would keep your rent amongst the lowest in Scotland.
Why are we proposing to increase the rent?
We need to make sure the money we receive from rent is enough to pay for existing services, including repairs, but also to pay for larger improvements needed for tenants’ homes and to help build new homes.
Rent increases allow us to invest in our homes to continue to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard. Rent increases will also allow us to meet the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing.
The rent rise is partly based on the inflation measure of CPI (Consumer Price Index), and in recent years an additional set percentage of 1% had been agreed between us and the Tenant Rent Setting Group. CPI+1% is the minimum rent increase required to allow us to deliver our current plans and manage inflationary rises. We need to increase the rent at least by inflation because that’s what it costs us to deliver existing services. However, following feedback received last year we have considered some alternative options with input from the Tenant Rent Setting Group.
How we decide on the Increase
We’re carrying out a consultation to help tenants consider the rent increase options and clearly see how the rent money will be spent.
The results of this survey will be presented at the Communities Committee in February 2021, where the final decision on a rent increase for 2021/22 will be made.
Rent Increase – the options
The Tenant Rent Setting Group has agreed three options which the members feel will bring benefits to tenants while keeping rents affordable.
The three options are:
|
Option 1 |
Option 2 – Recommended by the Rent Setting Group |
Option 3 |
|
|
Rent Level |
1.75% |
2% |
2.25% |
| Capital spend (this is money invested to buy or upgrade fixed, physical, non-consumable assets, such as buildings and equipment) | Additional borrowing of an estimated £823,000 to maintain capital spend (cumulative position for 4 year period 2021/22 – 2024/25) | £18 million capital spend over the year | Reduced borrowing of an estimated £824,000 to maintain capital spend (cumulative position for 4 year period 2021/22 – 2024/25) which could be used to fund additional stock improvements |
| How many new builds? | Potential reduction in new build homes | 70 new homes over the year | 70 new homes – any additional funds will be used to improve existing stock |
| What stock improvements can tenants expect? | Potential reductions in stock improvements, which could mean delays to completion of the ongoing bathroom replacement programme |
450 Gas & Electric Heating installations; 600 properties receiving external wall insulation & energy efficiency measures; 700 bathrooms. |
In addition to planned improvements listed in Option 2, for example: 40 Gas Heating installations (including loft insulation); 40 Electric Heating installations (including loft insulation); 34 External Wall Insulations; 33 Window & Door Replacements |
The tenant representatives recommend that tenants choose Option 2 which would mean a rent rise of 2%. This option is the minimum rise needed to deliver the current Business Plan without additional borrowing. It, along with Scottish Government grant funding, would enable us to build 70 new homes in 2020-21, as well as these improvements to existing stock: 450 Gas & Electric Heating installations, 600 properties receiving external wall insulation & energy efficiency measures, 700 bathrooms.
The graph below shows the average weekly rents of Angus Council over the past five years compared to other neighbouring local authorities (figures from the Scottish Housing Regulator). Unfortunately, the updated figures for 2019-20 are not yet available.
Angus Council average weekly rents
How the rent increase options would affect average Angus Council weekly rents
To have your say on the rent options,
please complete the survey online by 6 November 2020*.
*Please note this consultation is open to current Angus Council tenants only
Violence against women and girls continues to be perhaps the most widespread and socially tolerated of human rights violations. It has no boundaries in terms of geography, age, wealth, race, religion, disability, or sexual orientation.
The Angus Violence Against Women Partnership (Angus VAWP) is doing a survey of attitudes towards such violence, from people who live or work in Angus, from a wide range of ages and backgrounds. The results will help inform the work we do to combat this unacceptable practice.
Please take the time to complete the survey which is anonymous, and pass onto your circle of contacts.
The survey will close on 14 November 2020.
The Angus Job Search Portal was created in July this year for Angus Employers to advertise their vacancies, but also for Angus clients to register their details, upload their CVs and ask for assistance from the Skills Team. This is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic
The site is free of charge for both Employers and Clients to use.
Clients can apply for jobs directly on the site, and if they do click the box “require assistance from a Skills Adviser,” one of the Skills Team will get in touch and help with;
• CVs
• Applications
• Training and work placements
• Employability Skills
• Job matching
If you haven’t already heard of or seen the site, have a look at the Angus Job Search website.
Our new housing allocation system – Choice-based Lettings – launches next month.
In preparation for this system and as we move services online, we will no longer accept paper housing application forms from Friday 16 October.
Launch date for Angus Homefinder is Monday 2 November.
From that date home seekers will be able to apply for housing online on our new Angus Homefinder website.
For more details, see our News website
Here’s a message from our colleagues in the Waste Team:
Thanks for recycling!
We want to say ‘thank you’ for your efforts to recycle your household waste especially over the last few months. Angus currently recycles almost 55% of its waste, but we can do better.
Why should you keep on recycling?
Putting the Right stuff in the Right bin and recycling as much as you can means less raw materials, and energy, are used to produce new items, which helps protect the environment.
What goes in your recycling bin?
✓ Yes please: paper, cardboard, glass bottles and jars, metal cans (including sweet tins, tinfoil trays and empty aerosols), and plastic containers and bottles (including bottle tops).
✓ Only clean food and drinks containers please. Dirty items cannot be recycled and lead to extra charges for the council.
✓ Only loose items, please. Bagged waste is not recycled and cannot be accepted.
No thanks: textiles, electrical items, gas cylinders, batteries, wood and metal (other than cans etc. as listed above). Please take these items to a recycling centre as they can’t go in your grey bin.
No thanks: plastic bags, polystyrene, bubble wrap, wallpaper, hard plastics e.g. buckets and toys. These items are not accepted for recycling so should go in your general waste (purple) bin.
Find out what happens to the stuff in your grey bin here.
Need more information?
For more information on recycling and getting the Right stuff in the Right bin visit our website or contact us at recycling@angus.gov.uk
Under the Regulatory Framework, we must submit an Annual Assurance Statement to the Scottish Housing Regulator every year. We also must publish it so tenants and service users can see it.
Our statement was approved at Communities Committee on 20 September and states that the Committee, which is our governing body, is assured we meet all statutory requirements.
We’re getting a lot of calls from tenants asking for repairs because of the adverse weather. Our team has been dealing with these calls as quickly as they can, however this has been a challenge, particularly for those requests received outwith normal working hours. We would advise tenants that the out of hours phone number is extremely busy so please only call if the repair is an emergency.
Contractors are dealing with these repairs, within the two hour response time for emergencies, but tenants may still experience delays. This is due to the volume of requests and the requirement to make sure their employees can work in a safe environment during the current conditions. They cannot go onto a roof when it is dark or raining, and any repairs carried out will be to fix the immediate problem and further repairs may be needed as a follow-up.
If tenants are experiencing a roof leak we would ask that they place a container under the leak to catch any excess water until the contractor is able to attend.
Please continue to call 03452 777 778 for emergency, out of hours calls.
We asked tenants in a recent survey:
Would you like to know more about how we spend your rent money?
Would you like to influence how rent levels are spent?
We had a huge response so we are holding our rent setting meeting online this year and our tenants are invited…
The meeting will be friendly and informal and will take place on:
Monday 12th October
at 6:00pm
Tenants can join in by asking questions or can remain quiet and simply type in questions and comments if they prefer, whatever suits.
To find out more and book a place please contact:
Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment.
Today we launched a new Mediation & Conflict Resolution Service in partnership with Relationships Scotland.
One of the five strategic priorities agreed for our Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan is to increase the focus on prevention to stop homelessness in the first place. Relationship breakdown continues to be the most common reason for homeless applications in Angus, supporting the need for an introduction of mediation or conflict resolution intervention.
Relationships Scotland (Family Mediation Tayside & Fife) will deliver the mediation and conflict resolution service in Angus. The key anticipated outcomes of the service are:
Families, young people and individuals will resolve conflict to allow the family to remain together in the family home, where it is safe and agreed to do so.
Where a move is agreed, the family or individual will improve communication and enhance relationships with family members to ensure that the move can be completed in a planned and supported way. Individuals/family members will have increased access to further support from other services in Angus, both in house and externally to further minimise the risk of homelessness.
The family mediation and conflict resolution service will be able to accept referrals from a wide range of agencies and also accept self-referrals. If you feel that you and your family would benefit from the mediation and conflict resolution service, then please get in touch using this form.
After referral, Relationships Scotland will contact the family, couple or individual who has been referred and will arrange to start the mediation process.
Mediators main roles will be:
As well as providing a mediation service, Relationships Scotland will also have a Family Support Worker working in the project. The support worker will actively engage with each referred family to explore any additional support needed. Ongoing meetings will be arranged as appropriate to the family’s circumstances.
The Support Worker will also support the family outside of mediation and will follow up matters after the mediation has finished.
For more information, download the project flyer below.
Angus Council Housing News 