St Albans council: Few tenants claiming compensation vouchers

Residents of properties owned by St Albans City & District Council can receive a £20 voucher for any appointments missed by the authority’s contractor, Morgan Sindall.

But the contract between the council and Morgan Sindall means that the voucher is only available to residents who request it.

Ahead of a housing committee meeting on Monday (November 10), Cllr Mike Hobday (Lab, London Colney) asked how many missed appointments took place in quarter two of this year, and how many residents had received the compensation.

He was told by Cllr Simon Johns, lead councillor for housing, that there were 199 missed appointments and £240 was paid out in vouchers during the quarter.

Cllr Johns added that the number of appointments made and kept is a “key performance indicator” in the contract between the council and Morgan Sindall.

At Monday’s meeting, Cllr Hobday said the figures showed that only 6 per cent of eligible residents were claiming vouchers they are entitled to.

He continued: “In the last couple of months, two London Colney residents have said to me that they took time off their paid work in order to stay at home and wait for Morgan Sindall to arrive, only to be disappointed.

“£20 is little compensation, but in the current climate, everything helps.”

Cllr Hobday asked Simon Smith, the council’s assistant director for housing, whether he agreed that the council should “always tell tenants that they have the ability to request and receive compensation” for missed appointments.

Mr Smith said: “Fundamentally, yes. But we just want to make sure we’ve thought of everything.

“I think we need to think of a mechanism to do that.

“It certainly needs consideration, and I’d like to come back once we’ve thought of options on this and discussed it with Morgan Sindall as well.”