Tackling maverick spending in social housing repairs

Housing organisations have responded with new approaches to improve efficiencies. Some restock operatives’ vans overnight to control materials, and others organise local drop boxes where repair staff pick up prearranged products.

But that pull of visiting a builders’ merchant at the start of the day, face-to-face interactions and peer advice often wins out among operatives. It takes time and effort to shift ingrained habits.

So, what steps can housing organisations take to combat unpredictable repairs spending?

First, engage meaningfully with staff by speaking to operatives and understanding what drives their behaviour. Have they had negative experiences with certain brands? Is a particular merchant difficult to get to? Do they often run out of certain materials?

This approach aligns with recommendations from Rethinking Repairs and Maintenance (RERAM), a Chartered Institute if Housing and National Housing Federation initiative providing 12 principles for enhancing repairs and maintenance.

“From personal experience, when recently speaking to a housing association about its materials contract, it asked how it can encourage its operatives to comply. My response was clear: culture change”

One of these is the importance of involving staff with the RERAM project, offering strategies for engaging operatives in the process of reviewing and improving repair services. 

Another point is changing frontline culture. From personal experience, when recently speaking to a housing association about its materials contract, it asked how it can encourage its operatives to comply. My response was clear: culture change.

Shifting culture requires time and resources, so it must be an integral part of the materials procurement plan and timeline. Use the insights garnered from staff engagement to inform, inspire and mobilise the workforce, so they adopt new purchasing processes.
This can be achieved in various ways such as peer-to-peer mentoring, demonstrations, internal communications, training, team building and much more. Just don’t overlook this softer side of challenging rogue spending.

The harder side of tackling this issue is equally important. Spend data can throw light on behavioural patterns, for example through van stock management technology or account cards that provide a link between operatives, transactions and products.

But gaining access to information is often a stumbling block. A repairs manager might pull data from a builders’ merchant and share it with planned maintenance and housing colleagues, but those records aren’t routinely available to other departments that might use other systems. Procurement and finance managers frequently express how useful it would be to access line-level data to track materials purchases against contracts and invoices, but they are unable to do so.

Don’t accept the siloed systems that are so commonplace in local authorities and housing associations. Actively explore ways to align data, be that through an interface, platform or joined-up reporting that gives visibility to all parties.

“A record £8.8bn was spent on repairs and maintenance in 2023-24. This was a 13% increase on the previous year and 55% above pre-COVID levels”

When a social landlord first procures a repairs contract, they set up a basket of goods. These are products most commonly bought by operatives, and discounts are secured against them.

However, maintenance contracts can run for years and the staff that initially agreed on core items move on. An understanding of the basket is lost, and no one may know what the items are or why they were chosen in the first place.

It’s surprising how often this happens, and so the advice would be to check the repairs basket regularly, so it still represents around 70% of what operatives buy. Look at the volume and value of purchases outside this basket and adjust so discounts still apply.

A record £8.8bn was spent on repairs and maintenance in 2023-24. This was a 13% increase on the previous year and 55% above pre-COVID levels. With rocketing repairs driving a weaker financial performance and reducing development, getting on top of inefficient maverick spend is more important than ever.

Rebecca Day, senior product manager, Procurement for Housing