Appendix 2- Performance Overview Briefing
Perth and Kinross Council · 30 September 2026
Back to Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee — 30 September 2026 and its agenda
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Appendix 2 Performance Overview Briefing Purpose This briefing provides an overview of Perth and Kinross Council Housing Services’ 2025/26 Annual Return on the Charter (ARC) submission to the Scottish Housing Regulator. It summarises the key areas of performance, provides context around the main results, and outlines improvement activity planned or already underway. Background The Annual Return on the Charter is submitted each year to the Scottish Housing Regulator and sets out how social landlords are performing against the outcomes and standards in the Scottish Social Housing Charter. The return covers a wide range of Housing Service activity, including tenant satisfaction, communication, repairs, complaints, tenancy sustainment, rent collection, voids, adaptations, homelessness-related lets, and housing quality. The 2025/26 return shows that Housing Services continues to deliver strong performance across several key areas, while also recognising the pressures affecting the wider housing sector, including increased demand, rising costs, access issues, complex tenancy needs, homelessness pressures, and the impact of the cost of living on tenants. Key Strengths Repairs and Compliance • Emergency repairs completed in an average of 3.53 hours, based on over 7000 emergency repair work orders, well within the 4-hour target. This ensured that homes remained safe, secure and habitable while minimising disruption for tenants. • Repairs satisfaction remained exceptionally high at 97.71%, demonstrating strong tenant confidence in the repairs service and the quality of work delivered. • 100% gas servicing compliance achieved across the housing stock, providing assurance that all tenants are living in homes that meet essential gas safety requirements. • 99.95% EICR compliance and 99.57% fire safety compliance achieved – full compliance not achieved due to properties being upgraded and tenant access issues. However, high levels of compliance ensured homes remained safe, reducing risk to tenants and supporting ongoing statutory compliance across the housing stock.
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Tenant Engagement and Participation • Overall tenant satisfaction and the number of tenants satisfied with opportunities given to participate in decision making increased to over 80% - representing a 2.70% increase. This demonstrates that tenants feel more informed, listened to and able to influence decisions that affect their homes and communities. • Owner satisfaction with the Factoring Service continued to improve, reaching 91.67% - representing a 26% increase. This reflects greater confidence in the quality, responsiveness and value of service delivered to owners. • 2,782 tenants took part in the annual rent consultation. High levels of participation ensured rent-setting decisions were informed by tenant views, helping to strengthen transparency, accountability and trust. • Perth and Kinross Council was recognised through SHN benchmarking as having one of the strongest levels of tenant engagement in the rent setting process. Adaptations and Tenancy Sustainment • 434 home adaptations completed, an increase of 30 adaptations from the previous year. This meant more residents were able to live independently and safely in their own homes, improving wellbeing and supporting longer-term independence. • Average adaptations completion time reduced from 33.5 days to 19.9 days. Faster delivery of adaptations enabled tenants to access essential support sooner, reducing delays and helping them remain safe and settled at home. • Tenancy sustainment improved to 91.58%, an increase of 0.36% from the previous year. This resulted in more households successfully maintained their tenancies, increasing housing stability and reducing the risk of homelessness and repeat housing need. • 115 properties were purchased through the buyback scheme, significantly exceeding the target of 40. The expansion of the buyback programme substantially increased the supply of affordable housing, helping more households access a permanent home and reducing pressure on temporary accommodation and housing waiting lists. Neighbourhood Management and Anti-Social Behaviour • Satisfaction with neighbourhood management increased from 73.3% to 75.7%. Improved satisfaction indicates that some tenants feel their neighbourhoods are cleaner, safer and better managed, contributing to stronger and more sustainable communities. • ASB case resolution performance improved from 79.60% to 83.21%. More effective resolution of anti-social behaviour helped improve community safety,
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reduce the impact of incidents on residents, and increase confidence in the Council's ability to respond to local concerns. Key Challenges While overall performance remains positive, several areas continue to experience pressure: • Void re-let times increased to 31.31 days, compared with 24.87 days in 2024/25. This was due to changes in the indicator technical guidance. Without the guidance changes, performance would have been broadly comparable with the previous year. Benchmarking data indicates we are among the highest-performing authorities nationally, placing the Service within the top quartile for void turnaround times. • Rent collection reduced to 98.58% from 100.17% in 2023/24, reflecting wider economic pressures on tenants although performance remains strong relative to national benchmarks. The previous year’s performance was also affected by the 53-week accounting year, a factor reflected across all local authorities in Scotland. • Gross rent arrears remained broadly stable at 8.84%, a 0.01% increase from 2023/24. However, more tenants are now in arrears, partly due to the migration from legacy benefits to Universal Credit. • Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) compliance remained broadly stable at 79.73%. However, stock growth through the Buy Back programme, alongside an increase in properties exempt or in abeyance, meant a 100% target is not achievable. • Gypsy/Traveller resident satisfaction reduced from 72.22% to 66.67% during a period of significant investment and improvement across site accommodation. The slight decrease reflects temporary disruption from the live refurbishment programme, while the investment in improved living conditions is expected to deliver lasting benefits. Improvement Priorities for 2026/27 Housing Services has already commenced a range of improvements, including: • The implementation of a new Term Maintenance Framework in July 2026 which will strengthen our ability to respond to tenant needs by increasing contractor capacity, improving service resilience and supporting the continued delivery of high-quality maintenance services. • Enhanced void management arrangements, including daily planning meetings and improved performance reporting, to strengthen the Service's ability to maximise housing stock, bringing homes back into use more quickly and
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helping more households access secure accommodation at the earliest opportunity. • Continued investment in environmental sensors and enhanced damp and mould case management to strengthen prevention and early intervention, improving the quality of homes and supporting better health outcomes for tenants. • Continued investment in the Financial Inclusion Project, Tenancy Sustainment Fund and Welfare Rights services to provide targeted support to tenants facing financial difficulties, helping to maximise household income, sustain tenancies and improve wellbeing outcomes for individuals and families. • Continued investment in kitchens, bathrooms, heating systems and energy efficiency improvements to enhance the quality and energy performance of homes, helping to create warmer, healthier and more affordable homes for tenants while supporting the Council’s net zero ambitions • Expansion of tenant engagement opportunities through locality forums and targeted outreach to underrepresented groups to create more inclusive opportunities for participation, ensuring a broader range of tenant perspectives help shape services, improve outcomes and strengthen communities. • Improved resident satisfaction through meaningful engagement with Gypsy/Traveller residents will ensure their views directly inform service improvements and investment priorities, strengthen relationships, and increase confidence in the services provided. Conclusion The 2025/26 ARC return demonstrates that the Housing Service continues to deliver positive outcomes for tenants and communities across Perth and Kinross. Strong performance across key service areas has helped to ensure tenants live in safe, well-maintained homes, have opportunities to influence decisions, sustain their tenancies, and access the support they need to live independently. The improvement activity identified reflects a continued commitment to putting tenants at the centre of service delivery through investment in homes and communities, strengthened compliance arrangements, improved communication and engagement, and a preventative, person-centred approach that supports better outcomes, increased satisfaction and stronger, more resilient communities.