Homes group shines in snap audit

A SHORT-notice inspection of Great Places Housing Group, which owns and manages 1,000 homes in Oldham, found “more strengths than weaknesses”, according to the Audit Commission.

Inspectors who gave five days notice of their visit looked at three areas — collecting rent, repairs before customers move in, and servicing gas appliances — and found strengths outweighed weaknesses in all areas.

They found that a high proportion of rent is collected, empty properties are repaired and re-let promptly, and that gas servicing is up to date.

Great Places has an office in Union Street in Oldham town centre.

Riza Yassin, the Audit Commission’s lead housing inspector, said: “Some good work has been done to raise performance and make standards consistent across all areas in which the group has homes.

“We have made recommendations to encourage improvement in complaints handling, aspects of equality and diversity and value for money.”

Weaknesses included customer complaints taking a long time to resolve, and improvements to some equality and diversity measures within a good overall structure.

Inspectors recommend resolving customer complaints more quickly, assessing the impact of policies on all sections of the community and taking action to address any disadvantage, plus routinely comparing costs, quality and performance information with other service providers to improve value for money.