Throughout the report we have compared our performance with the Scottish and North Ayrshire averages. The North Ayrshire average is based on our own figures and those of Cunninghame Housing Association, Irvine Housing Association and North Ayrshire Council.

We did not carry out a tenant satisfaction survey this year so we have used our figures from early 2023.

The Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) is a benchmark established by the Scottish Government to ensure that homes in Scotland meet a minimum level of quality. Introduced in February 2004, SHQS covers several key areas, including energy efficiency, safety, comfort, and general maintenance. The aim is to provide tenants with homes that are warm, secure, and in good repair, contributing to the overall well-being of communities.

Ancho’s performance in meeting SHQS has remained steady over the past few years, with the current compliance rate at 88.7%. This is closely aligned with the Scottish average of 86.9%. Moving forward, we will continue with our current approach, ensuring that we meet and exceed our targets.

Emergency Repairs
Our emergency repair response times have remained impressively consistent, with only a slight increase from 1.4 hours over the past couple of years to 1.6 hours this year. This is significantly better than the Scottish average of 4 hours and the North Ayrshire average of 2.9 hours.

Non-Emergency Repairs
For non-emergency repairs, our response time is currently 4.5 days, which has remained consistent over recent years. This performance is much better than both the Scottish average of 9 days and the North Ayrshire average of 9.8 days.

Our approach to repairs has proven effective, and we plan to continue delivering these high standards of service, ensuring that our tenants’ homes are well-maintained.

This year, Ancho received 58 cases of antisocial behaviour and successfully resolved 98.3% of these cases on target, reflecting our ongoing commitment to addressing issues effectively.

However, we experienced a drop in our response rate to complaints, which fell from 100% last year to 77.3% this year. This decline was due to system-related issues and a few delays caused by staff absences or holidays. We are reviewing our processes to ensure that we return to our previous high standards in responding to complaints, even in situations where staff availability is limited.

Our Welfare Benefits service is continuing to help our tenants financially. Our adviser helped 118 people claim almost £300,000 in additional income.

We are continuing to work as hard as ever to help those struggling with their finances or worried about their tenancy. If you’d like to chat to a member of our team or want information of other organisations we can signpost you to, please get in touch. We are also regularly sharing important and informative resources over on our social media pages so please give us a follow on Facebook if you haven’t already.

Historically, Ancho’s performance in re-letting properties has been excellent. Last year, the average re-let time increased to 23.5 days due to a couple of lower demand properties taking longer to let, which affected our overall average. This year, our re-let time is slightly improved at 20.7 days, though it’s still higher than we’d like it to be.

The increase is largely due to our reliance on external contractors to carry out cleans, clears and repairs. Despite this, we remain well below the Scottish average of 56.7 days and still slightly under the North Ayrshire average of 22.5 days.

Our rent collection performance has remained strong, with 100.1% of rent collected this year. The reason our collection rate exceeds 100% is that it includes arrears collected from former tenants as well as current ones. This figure is above the Scottish average of 99.4% and the North Ayrshire average of 99.8%, reflecting our continued success in this area.

The percentage of rent lost due to properties being empty has increased slightly over the last few years, from 0.2% in 2022 to 0.6% this year. While this is still well below the Scottish average of 1.4%, it is now slightly above the North Ayrshire average of 0.4%.

We hope you enjoyed our 2024 Annual Report.

We’d love to hear what you think about the report or our performance.

If you’d like to find out more, you can visit the Scottish Housing Regulator website to see how Ancho compares to other housing associations and local authorities.