Gas Contract Re- tendering & the REC Lynne Price & Pat Bidmead

The Aims from the work plan were: To take part in the process for the selection and procurement of the Councils new contractor for Gas Servicing We visited potential applicants for the contract as part of the procurement process Continue to monitor the new contractor at operational and core group meetings

What is an operational meeting? The REC attends operational meetings, and are sent paperwork from core group meetings. These meetings help us to monitor contractors, but what is the difference between them? Operational meetings: These are attended by frontline staff Are based on the ‘day to day’ Pick up any individual complaints or compliments Highlight any issues that are affecting the service on a day to day basis Core meetings: These are attended by Senior Management The meetings are at a more strategic level This is were any decisions on any changes to services or procedures is made

What we’ve done… Selecting the contractor As a requirement, potential applicants have certain standards that they must meet to progress through to the final selection stages. Before the REC met any potential contractors, we met with Council representatives to plan out the process of procurement Site visits – we went out to potential contractors for a question and answer session with them, we also looked at their vans and equipment to grade all applications against set criteria The final stage in the process required us to then meet to discuss the results and findings, following the completion of all of the above Our input and results were included in the final discussions and had an impact on the final result when selecting the existing contractor

What else we’ve done… Pat has been representing Tenants views and monitoring Sure’s service I have attended bi-monthly operational meetings to monitor Sure’s service now that they have been selected This involves reviewing performance information, as well as giving Tenants a voice and raising any issues on their behalf at meetings These meetings and any information disclosed is confidential

Addition of a Tenant Liaison Officer (TLO) The addition of a TLO is a positive change in how Sure arranges gas servicing Dan Butterfield’s role is to arrange access to all homes for servicing, including those who repeatedly do not give access – and he has had some great successes!

Events… The REC are very grateful for the support and donations received from the Sure group during the recent ‘energy awareness’ events which were ran by the Council The REC supported and attended two events in Nuneaton and Bedworth, with the Resident Involvement team Sure Group donated: Lots of sandwiches, cakes and hot drinks for Tenants to enjoy whilst they picked up some tips on energy efficiency! A game of bingo… … and lots of energy efficient kettles as prizes! The Sure group also offered their time in attending, and in supporting both of these events

Here are some more photos from the events!

The future… Unfortunately, there have been a few ‘teething’ issues with the new contract. Customers have experienced problems with communication to Sure However… The Council are working with Sure Group to improve the service received, and we can advise that a new Supervisor has since been introduced to the contract to help to improve communication, along with a staff change in the contact centre - Early indications are that the changes are having the desired effect The REC will continue to monitor any complaints at the operational meetings with a view to improvement

Thanks for listening!!