How easy is it for people with a housing need to get clear information and advice on their options?

Related housing services are fully accessible through all means appropriate to the locality and enquiries are dealt with efficiently and effectively by knowledgeable and well trained staff. A comprehensive range of information is fully accessible to inform residents of the services available and how the council is responding to housing needs. The council takes a lead and works closely with other agencies to effectively provide a single point of contact (which may be through comprehensive signposting to minimise the need for visits to different places) in the provision of advice, information and assistance to those with all types of housing need, so that customers are able to make informed decisions about addressing their housing need.

Housing services are highly customer focused. The delivery of services has been substantially shaped by customers through their feedback obtained as part of focus groups, surveys and interviews.

Related housing services are accessible to most residents though these are not fully tailored to reflect the locality. Enquiries are dealt with promptly and there is a reasonable range of information on the services available from the council and other agencies.

Advice and information is available from a number of agencies and while some signposting is undertaken this is not comprehensive and residents may need to go to various places to get the information they need, in order to be able to make informed decisions about addressing their housing need.

Housing services are not fully customer focused. Feedback from customers is not comprehensively collected and few examples exist to demonstrate how services have been tailored to customer needs.

How does the organisation respond to the diversity of its community to ensure that housing provision is strategically planned and delivered appropriately to meet local needs?

The council has a comprehensive and up to date understanding of the diverse needs of its community. It has a broad and inclusive definition of diversity to underpin its research and regularly gathers and analyses information so that it is up to date. It makes full use of this information in the delivery and planning of services.

The council has ensured its strategic and operational approach to housing provision and support fully meets the needs of a diverse community. It has fully assessed the potential impact of its strategies, plans and actions to ensure equality of opportunity. It works closely with its community to ensure fair representation and take-up of services to meet the needs of marginalised, vulnerable and hard to reach groups.

The council has used its understanding of the diverse needs of its residents to influence partners and other stakeholders to ensure fair and equal access to service and recognition of need.

The council views diversity too narrowly and consequently its understanding is limited to the main groups of residents. So while it covers issues such as race, gender, age and disability, the council does not fully understand and have research into the diverse needs of other groups, such as travellers, those with HIV/AIDs, or younger people. It does not have effective mechanisms in place to update its information, say through satisfaction surveys, and therefore cannot effectively revise strategic plans and its operational approach.

The council's strategic and operational approach to housing provision and support only partially meets the needs of its diverse residents. Some groups may be excluded or, due to the lack of real understanding, their needs are not fully met or not met in the most effective way. The council does not work closely with all groups in the community and has not fully assessed the impact of its approach. Therefore it is unable to be sure its services are delivered appropriately or equitably to meet local needs.

The council has not proactively sought to influence its partners and other stakeholders to ensure their actions meet the diverse needs of the community.

Does the council have the right research base to understand its housing market and to deliver effective housing services?

Does the council have a clear and robust strategy to deal with the problems highlighted by its research?

How well do different sections within the council work together to understand the housing market and to develop joined-up and coherent strategies?

The council has a thorough understanding of the dynamics of the housing market in its area, sub-region and region. It works closely with its neighbours to understand where there is an imbalance between supply and demand, the scale of this imbalance and the actions necessary to tackle this.

Its understanding is based on robust and up to date information covering the housing market so that it knows the issues, the scale of the problem and the type of corrective action needed. The council's actions are informed by a full understanding of:

the diverse housing needs of all its residents, including support and special needs. This may be through housing needs assessments but also other data sources such as the housing register;

the condition of all housing, social and private, including compliance with the decent homes standard;

contextual information such as house price information and affordability, private renting costs, local wage levels, deprivation, demographics and unemployment statistics, `travel to work' areas and considers the impact of these on the housing market; and

the availability of resources to address areas of imbalance such as availability and capacity of land and the availability of grant funding.

At a strategic and operational level, the council fully understands and can demonstrate the role that existing housing stock plays in meeting housing needs and other corporate objectives. It has a clear and highly effective strategic approach, with partners at a district and sub-regional level, to meeting its objectives that recognises the inter-relationship between housing, health, prosperity and sustainability. Its strategic approach to housing recognises that by making best use of the existing housing stock it will reduce the need for new housing, including new affordable housing.

The council has a high quality and excellent Housing Strategy (which may form part of a sub-regional housing strategy) which is clearly based on extensive stakeholder and service user consultation as well as the research that supports its understanding of the housing market. The strategy makes clear the approach to be taken by all parts of the council to deal with the problems faced and the imbalances in the housing market. The strategy is clear on the inter-relationship between different aspects and how the council will integrate services, internally and externally, to respond and achieve objectives. The council's aims, objectives and priorities for the housing market, described in the strategy, are ambitious and challenging, make clear what it wants to achieve, the outcomes and how it will measure its success.

The council's strategy for housing supports, is supported by, and is consistent with, other key internal documents such as the Community Strategy, Corporate Plan and Medium Term Financial Plan and also strategies that may be external to the council, such as those from the regional housing board/assembly and those for Supporting People and Community Safety. It is clear the council's housing strategies have influenced the strategies and actions of key stakeholders such as PCTs and the Youth Services.

Alongside or as part of the Housing Strategy, the council has the full range of high quality related and interlinked supporting strategies/plans which are based on comprehensive (widespread and innovative) service user and stakeholder consultation as well as the council's research. These describe, in more detail, its intentions and actions in relation to specific issues such as homelessness, regeneration, low demand, energy efficiency and sustainability, private sector housing and older people.

To assist in the delivery of the council's housing strategic aims and objectives it has put in place, with its partners, high quality and robust plans, policies and other tools. These tools are very effective in giving the council the ability to better balance the housing market. The tools in place will depend on circumstances but will almost certainly include a well researched and robust housing element of the local plan or local development framework, supplementary planning guidance (SPG) for housing, clear policy for section 106 agreements, and preferred partner agreements (where appropriate).

The council uses its well developed consultative structures with stakeholders and the public to monitor progress in the delivery of plans and ensure its strategic approach remains relevant and fully up to date.

The council has been innovative and thorough in its assessment of available resources to meet its aims and has aligned these to its priorities. It has strong and effective relationships with stakeholders and this has brought additional resources and/or capacity.

The strategic approach (to working together to tackle the problems set out in the housing and other strategies) where by all sections of the council, neighbouring councils and the council's partner agencies are working together is very effective. For example internally, the housing objectives are a key feature of the actions and service plans for housing, planning, legal, environmental health and benefit staff. The inter-relationship between different housing issues, as well as other corporate issues, is well understood across the council. The resources of the council and partners are deployed to achieve maximum benefit.

Highly effective internal communication and working processes ensure development and delivery of the council's strategic housing objectives. Joint working between services such as housing, planning, legal, finance, benefits, environmental health and economic development shows a clear commitment and focus on strategic housing objectives, is effective, and ensures the best use of staff and financial resources.

The council has a basic understanding of the housing market in its area. It recognises that aspects of the housing market are out of balance but does not have the information to fully understand the scale of the imbalance or the actions necessary to address the problems.

In developing its understanding, the council has some information but does not use this effectively to help determine the actions it needs to take. The council is likely to have:

some analysis of housing needs and market analysis, but make limited use of existing data sources like homelessness, housing advice and housing register trends or of house price and rent level data than it can;

some contextual information about the market, for example house prices, private renting costs, local wage levels, deprivation and unemployment statistics, but has only partially considered the impact of changes on the housing market and what this means for the locality in terms of policy options; and

a reasonable understanding of the condition of housing in the area but not full information about compliance with the decent homes standard across all sectors.

The council has a reasonable quality, fit for purpose housing strategy which draws on recent information and research about the housing market. The aims, objectives and priorities, described in the strategy, set the general direction, but are not comprehensive and are not clear about the longer term sustainable outcomes the council is seeking to achieve. The strategy describes many of the problems faced but is less clear about how the different services, departments or external agencies will work together to achieve outcomes. The strategic approach to meeting objectives is not clear in the strategy or its supporting action plans. The council's strategy for housing links with other key corporate documents, such as the Community Plan, but these do not fully support each other.

Alongside the Housing Strategy, the council has some related and interlinked supporting strategies/plans. These strategies cover some of the issues faced, such as homelessness and private sector housing, and describe in more detail what the council plans to do. These supporting strategies/plans are not of high quality and they do not all fully address the problems faced.

The council has developed some of the tools it needs to deliver its strategic housing objectives. It has a robust local plan (or local development framework) and may have supplementary planning guidance. However, these are not of a high quality and they are not fully effective in enabling the council to address imbalances in the housing market.

The council seeks users' and stakeholders' opinions in developing housing and related strategies and the approach taken, but does not always act on them. Consultation may have been a one-off exercise to complete a strategic document rather than an on-going process.

Within its strategies, the council has described the resources it has available, although this is not necessarily comprehensive, for example the inclusion of its land holdings. It has not fully assessed what resources it needs to deliver its objectives and has not looked at other funding sources or the potential contribution that other stakeholders could make.

A clear strategic approach (to tackling the problems faced) does not exist. The council does not fully understand the inter-relationship between different housing and corporate issues, such as homelessness, private sector housing and health. Consequently service planning is not well integrated and operationally resources are deployed along professional or service lines rather than with comprehensive links to the achievement of objectives.

Internal working arrangements and communication are reasonable. Joint working between services such as housing, planning, legal and benefits is not fully effective in ensuring that strategic housing objectives are achieved.

Has the organisation developed good quality, effective and appropriate housing advice, homelessness prevention and options services?

Is the council using its powers to intervene in the private housing sector to deliver an increasing supply of decent affordable homes?

Where there is an over-supply of housing, is the council intervening to remove unsustainable private sector housing and to remodel the area?

How effective are the council's policies in enabling people to remain in their own homes in suitable and sustainable properties?

The council actively prevents people becoming homelessness and is successful. A broad range of high quality activities are available through either direct provision or the active support of other agencies. Examples of action includes the use of mediation to help resolve disputes between young people, parents and other family members, floating support to help sustain occupancy, rent deposits, fast track benefit arrangements, payments to landlords and advocacy. Joint working, communication and coordination with other statutory agencies like Social Services and Health agencies to prevent homelessness is very strong. The council is able to show, in the context of its operating environment, that homelessness is reducing significantly or that it is taking all reasonable action to tackle the problem.

The council works very closely and has developed effective relationships with stakeholders such as landlords and agents. These relationships have been highly effective in making the best use of existing housing and preventing homelessness. For example through the development of high quality and sustainable temporary accommodation, such as private sector leasing.

The council, with its partners, has in place comprehensive and high quality housing advice services. These are well coordinated across the area and agencies and leave no gaps in support. Among all stakeholders, a clear culture of support for all clients exists irrespective of their rights, needs and circumstances.

The council is making the best of existing housing by proactively targeting its high quality advice, enforcement action, grants and loans to effectively tackle the problems that have led to imbalances in the housing market. Therefore, it is effective at bringing empty homes back into use, effective in ensuring poor conditions in rented housing are resolved and effective in helping people stay in their own homes through the provision of advice, support, adaptations or energy efficiency improvements. It is likely that the council will be working in many ways - for example, regeneration, clearance, and improvement - to ensure that existing housing (social and private) is of a decent standard, sustainable and widely available for people with a diverse range of housing needs.

The council provides incentives for people to move to more suitable accommodation that better meets their needs. The council uses its discretion under the legislation widely to find innovative solutions.

The council focuses on the prevention of homelessness but has had only a minimum level of success. It may have some initiatives in place, such as rent deposit and mediation schemes, but is not innovative and has not matched actions to the key reasons for homelessness occurring. It will have some links with Social Services and Health agencies to work together to prevent homelessness, but these are too ad-hoc, so that sometimes customers fall between agencies and end up as homeless unnecessarily. It does not have an overarching coherent approach to the prevention of homelessness.

It has not developed effective relationships with key stakeholders such as landlord and letting agents. Consequently, it has struggled to develop temporary accommodation, such as private sector leasing, or prevent homelessness through action such as payment of rent arrears or addressing housing benefit problems.

Housing advice services exist across the area though gaps in provision exist and the quality of advice is variable or not known.

The council gives advice, grants, perhaps loans and takes enforcement action to deal with poor private sector housing conditions. These actions are not always proactive and are not focused on addressing imbalances in the housing market. It has not fully exploited the powers available to it or explored other options to secure improvements - for example it may make limited use of clearance and regeneration powers, take little action to improve energy efficiency or return few empty properties back into use as homes.

The council takes limited action to help people move to homes more suitable to their needs. It utilises few of the discretionary powers available and the service is traditional with little innovation.

How effective is the council at enabling the development of social housing either through increasing, consolidating or re-configuring the social housing stock?

How effectively are the council's internal and external partnerships contributing to balancing the housing market?

The council knows the type, tenure, density and affordability of housing it wishes to see developed on allocated sites over the coming years. Its delivery plan is high quality, resourced and ensures the timely release of sites with contingency sites if others do not proceed. In achieving this, it meets its challenging development targets for the number of homes built, including the number of affordable or special needs housing, and this improves the balance of the housing market.

The council has well developed policies and procedures to enable the development of affordable housing. This includes effective arrangements for rural housing (where relevant), for example through exception sites and maximising affordable housing on windfall sites. It has maximised the amount of affordable housing provided through all means (land, the use of its own resources, Housing Corporation's National Affordable Housing Programme and planning gain) and this meets a range of needs - rented, shared ownership, below market price, and key worker housing- in line with demand for homes.

New affordable housing sites are developed to a high standard, are well integrated and sustainable. Housing is flexible and can be adapted over time as residents' needs change. The affordable development programme includes a broad range of housing (or sites for travelling communities) to meet a wide variety of needs including supported housing, different sizes, tenures, costs and locations (rural and urban). Results from residents' surveys indicate high levels of satisfaction. Feedback from these surveys is used to inform the planning of future housing development.

The council works very effectively in partnership with others. It has excellent relationships with stakeholders such as the Housing Corporation, developers and housing associations (including zone agents) are effective in maximising resources and the amount of affordable housing provided through joint commissioning and/or procurement. Its strong and close working with neighbouring councils and parish councils has enabled the provision of high quality affordable and/or specialist housing across boundaries that meets needs locally and sub-regionally.

The council has taken difficult decisions to enable housing developments that meet needs located in the most appropriate places. This may have been in the face of local resistance or opposition from developers over pepper potting of affordable housing with housing for sale. The council takes a proactive approach to site development and matches developers with landlords. Its planning services are high quality. It is very effective in its negotiations for section 106 agreements and development briefs make clear its expectations.

The council has a basic idea of the type of housing it wishes to see developed. It does not have a well developed plan to support this, but does have housing sites allocated through the local plan and for some of these has development briefs in place. The council's plans do not demonstrate how affordable housing targets will be met nor do they ensure the timely release of land for development. The council is not clear about where the resources will come from to meet affordable housing developments. It has not met its targets for the number of all homes built and has not had a significant impact on balancing the housing market.

The council is reactive to the development of many sites and so resources are not consistently targeted towards schemes that meet priority needs. It is not working effectively to match developers with landlords and ensure affordable housing is well integrated or that a wide range of housing is developed to meet needs.

The council has a basic range of policies and procedures in place to enable the development of affordable housing. Most sites are funded through the National Affordable Housing Programme and the council has added little other resources. Developments do not consistently meet a range of needs and gaps in provision mean imbalances in the market remain with little change over time.

New affordable housing is developed to the Housing Corporation design standards. The council has not sought to enhance the quality, improve sustainability or use the results of satisfaction surveys to improve future developments.

The council works in partnership with others such as the Housing Corporation, developers and housing associations. These partnerships are not particularly effective and have delivered the minimum level of housing expected. While the council works with its neighbours to improve understanding of sub-regional needs there are few examples of affordable housing provision across boundaries.

Partnerships tend to be based on old alliances with traditional, safe partners, which are in some cases the wrong partners to achieve the current strategic housing aims of the council.

The council cannot evidence a consistent track record of taking difficult decisions in relation to the development of affordable housing. For example, housing is not always well integrated or commuted sums are taken where on-site provision may have been better.

The council's planning service is adequate and the council does not have a good track record in negotiating section 106 agreements. The council has not made clear its priorities for planning gain.

How does the council demonstrate that its work to balance the housing market represents value for money?

The council has systematically assessed the value for money provided by all elements of its housing and related services. Its costs and performance compare very well with other organisations and place it among other best performers.

The council is highly effective in continuously managing value for money. It uses its performance management and cost information to explore opportunities for efficiencies and this is demonstrated by its comparative data.

The council is able to demonstrate significant efficiencies and/or quality improvements through partnerships and has investigated partnerships with other organisations wishing to procure similar services such as neighbouring councils, home improvement agencies and housing associations. Partners make good use of modern construction and procurement methods to keep development costs down.

The council makes optimum use of all available external funding to help improve the housing stock. For example the council draws in energy efficiency grants to deliver an investment programme to counter fuel poverty. Minor disabled works grants are used as an effective way of enabling older people to remain in their own homes. Clear evidence that external funding bids mirror the council's priorities or free up funding to invest in higher housing priority areas.

The council has assessed the value for money of the service at a high level. Only parts of the service are assessed at a more detailed level. The council is able to demonstrate that some aspects do deliver value for money where cost and performance is shown to compare favourably with other organisations. Costs are generally average but reasons for differences in cost and performance are not well understood or explored.

The council may have examples in place of effective partnerships, but is unable to demonstrate that these are the most cost-effective and beneficial partnerships available locally.

The council is drawing in some external funding such as energy efficiency grants but this is not being maximised.