Council chiefs face a tough backlog of housing repairs they have failed to carry out during the Covid crisis.
Documents prepared for a full meeting of the West Dunbartonshire authority last week revealed the true extent of the outstanding list.
They show 1,857 repairs have still to be actioned from a total of 5,101 logged on the system when coronavirus restrictions eased in April.
But figures from the council’s building services arm show 4,654 current repairs were waiting to be undertaken on September 20 – including the 1,857 already outstanding.
Incredibly, bosses have blamed tenants for putting staff under strain – by calling to enquire when their repairs can be expected.
A Covid-19 update paper presented to the meeting last Wednesday, revealed: “The number of calls from tenants seeking updates on these existing repairs is placing significant additional demands on the telephone service compared to normal periods.
“This call type is lengthy for the tenant whilst we liaise with internal teams scheduling appointments. This type of call also reduces the number of other calls that can be answered in the same time period. A reduction in the number of outstanding repairs will significantly reduce these calls and improve access to other tenants calling the centre .”
And they revealed that they will recruit three more call handlers to meet “the need to urgently deliver a better telephone service” – at a cost of £112,500, set to be funded by cash allocated for pandemic costs from the Scottish Government.
But they have also admitted: “These open repairs will not be completed in the short term”.
They say “further challenges” were experienced at the Housing Repair Contact Centre in August, brought on by challenges presented by Covid absence, holidays and the resignation of a staff member.
The position has been improving since September, they claim, with the recruitment of new staff, a “partial return” to the office to help boost the training of new staff, a move the authority say they are “confident” will help both improve the performance of the contact centre and tenant experience as building services work to make progress on the repairs backlog.
Chief Executive Joyce White also revealed that with Covid cases “so high” in the area in recent months, it was “not surprising” that the trend was being reflected in employees who live and work in the area.
She revealed that “on any day” the authority had been “seeing large numbers of employees having to self-isolate” and said that “the challenge” was that workers on sick leave had not been confined to one particular area of services.
Ms White said the authority’s “focus” had to shift to “ensuring statutory services are maintained”, funding support and educational services were provided, alongside assistance for the vulnerable.
She also said she could “understand the frustrations people feel when a service is not delivered in a set timeframe” but added that her teams are “doing everything they possibly can in the most difficult of circumstances”.
