The full inspection report goes into detail about the strengths in the service and some areas that need improvement. The Society in welcoming the report has already drawn up a detailed action plan to tackle the recommendations.

The format of the inspection

Prior to the inspection visit, the Society was required to submit a detailed self assessment of its services.  The on-site inspection lasted six full days and was conducted by a team comprising two full time inspectors and two tenant inspectors. As well as looking at documentation such as our financial accounts, our business strategy, plans for improvement and policies & procedures, the inspectors visited a number of estates, met with tenants and co-op committee members and surveyed residents’ by telephone.

A report is then produced and the service can be graded from 0 to 3 stars and prospects for improvement can be ranked as either poor, uncertain, promising or excellent. 

 What did the inspectors think about the service?

The inspectors found the following strengths:

The inspection team was very positive about the customer services helpdesk, concluding that “Helpdesk staff provide a polite and efficient service”.

The inspectors complement the arrears control team for their recent performance, with the report showing that - “Performance on collection of rent, arrears, service charges and management fees is high”.

Our estate management service is found to be of a high standard, with the Audit Commission finding that “Estates are generally clean and tidy with landscape areas well maintained”

The properties we manage are shown to be well maintained with a high level of performance on gas servicing.

The Society has a clear vision, strong and effective governance arrangements.  Staff morale is high and turnover and sickness rates are low.

The inspectors found the following weaknesses:

·         Although they are comprehensive and challenging, the inspectors felt that customer services standards were not fully or consistently monitored.

·         There is not a complete asset management strategy in place and there is no independent quality assurance for gas servicing.

·         Void procedures and targets for re-letting of void properties are not challenging enough.

·         While CDS Co-operatives carries out regular surveys of resident opinion, the inspectors concluded that we do not always sufficiently test satisfaction with individual services, noting that “The society is not currently testing tenant satisfaction with the complaints service”; “there has been no specific satisfaction monitoring of tenants within the income management service” and “There is no testing of victim satisfaction with the antisocial behaviour service”. To address this point, we have now updated our procedures to ensure that we regularly monitor customer satisfaction for every service.

·         Learning from complaints has not been consistent or systematic.

The Society’s response

The Society welcomes the audit commission’s report and accepts the recommendations contained within it, many of which we were already aware of and had plans in place to address.  A comprehensive action plan to address all of the recommendations contained within the full report has been put in place.

If you are a CDS tenant and would like to comment on the Audit Commission's findings or on CDS's response to the findings please email David Rodgers at enquiries@cds.coop or write to 3 Marshalsea Road, London SE1 1EP.