Councillor Gill Williams, Labour spokesperson for the Housing committee, writes about failings reported in the council housing repairs services and what Labour are doing to address it, in Brighton and Hove News.

“We must address concerns raised by residents about serious failures in the council housing repairs service.”

“And we must acknowledge that more effort needs to go into working in a way that delivers the absolute best service that we can for council tenants.”

“Bringing the service in-house was to bring about much-needed improvements, not only for our tenants but also to provide the workers with better employment conditions and benefits.”

“Upon transfer, this came into immediate effect and once workers became employees of Brighton and Hove City Council, they received better pensions, holidays and sick pay. This is something to be proud of.”

“The repair service itself unfortunately leaves much to be desired and this is where we must now put in our efforts.”

“It is important to emphasise that we are hugely grateful to all our staff who have put themselves at risk to deliver an essential repairs service during the covid crisis.”

“However, it’s very important that we move on to working in a way that delivers the absolute best service that we can for council tenants.”

“We must put all our efforts into achieving our goal of providing a high-quality in-house service so our residents can truly benefit from the transition.”

To read Councillor Williams full article, click here.

Photo credit: Creative Commons.