We have been unable to improve our SQHS by much this year as some of our properties are exempt, and some tenants won’t allow us in to do the necessary work. We will improve this figure when we’re able to. For example, when a tenant moves away.

This is the first year we have had to report on EESSH (Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing). The standard aims to improve the energy efficiency of social housing in Scotland and will reduce energy consumption, fuel poverty and the emission of greenhouse gases.

Although our time to complete repairs has increased since last year, we are still well within our target of 4 hours to complete emergency repairs and 15 days to complete non-emergency repairs.

The number of cases we received of antisocial behaviour has dropped from 247 last year. We recently reviewed our antisocial behaviour procedures and we now try to spot issues earlier and work with tenants before issues escalate further. We are continuing to increase the amount of antisocial behaviour cases we resolve on target, which has been rising steadily from 70% in 2016. It currently compares favourably to the Scottish average of 94.1%

Our Tenancy Sustainment team continues to go from strength to strength. Last year they managed to gain over half a million pounds in additional income for our tenants. A phenomenal achievement. If you would like to find out if your income can be maximised, then please get in touch. Our team would love to help you.

Our performance on the average number of days it takes us to re-let properties has declined in the last two years. This is due to a couple of reasons: to meet local housing need we let some properties that had been ‘out of management’ for a long time which has significantly increased our average figure, and there have been difficulties with a shortage of suitable contractors in the Highland area to carry out major works. We are putting significant focus in this area, particularly since the restrictions Covid-19 has brought has meant increased challenges to us being able to carry out work to our homes.

We collected 103% of the rent due to us and our rent collection remains strong despite a small dip last year. This figure also includes former tenants who were in rent arrears, which is why this figure is above 100%.

We lost a bit more money this year through our properties being empty. This is linked to our performance around the average time taken to re-let properties.

We are continuing to see tenants contact us more digitally. The number of calls to our contact centre has dropped by over 1,000, while the number of webchats has more than tripled. This is a trend we expect will continue to grow over the coming years.

Our Community Fund has funded projects in areas where our tenants live since 2015. In that time, we’ve given over £70,000 to 70 projects.

If you’d like to apply to our Community Fund, go here for more information.

We hope you enjoyed our 2020 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 Cairn compares to other housing associations and local authorities.

You can also find our financial and governance information here (PDF).