Assessing service quality and its link with vaule for money in a UK local authority's housing repairs service using the SERVQUAL approach

The environments within which UK local authority housing services operate are undergoing significant externally driven change. As with the rest of society, the expectations of council tenants, like citizens generally, are continually shifting upwards, with a greater emphasis placed on the quality of service. Levels of service which may have been tolerated only a generation ago are now regarded as unacceptable by many tenants and professionals alike. At the same time, the new Labour Government's best value regime is demanding a cultural change within local authorities, placing the citizen centre-stage. In future, councils must be able to show the quality of service being delivered across the full range of services provided and demonstrate the participation or involvement of customers in service design, review and evaluation. Moreover, the continuing legacy of the previous Conservative Government's 'right-to-buy' legislation which reduced the size of the revenue base for financing housing services has perversely increased the proportion of poorer housing stock in most local authorities. Perversely, since it is precisely these houses which require the biggest investment in recurrent repairs and maintenance. In the Falkirk area of Scotland in particular there has been a fragmentation of household formation, resulting in a larger number of household units in spite of a reducing total population. The April 1998 waiting list (including transfer requests) figure of around 10 250 reflects a 20% reduction on the 1990 level. One might speculate that Falkirk, with lower than (national UK) average house prices, has experienced considerable activity in house purchases in the area which has led to a reduction in the total number of people actively seeking council accommodation. In more recent times, there has been a modest recovery in the private rented sector and this trend is predicted to continue into the near future. Thus, a buoyant private rented sector along with increased home ownership have combined to ease marginally the pressure on Falkirk Council's housing stock. Finally, the findings of recent local house condition surveys, which drive the improvement and investment maintenance programmes, have led to decisions by the council resulting in extensive central heating installation and window replacement programmes in council-owned stock in the last 8 years. This investment should have a positive impact on future levels of unplanned repairs and associated expenditure by the council on its stock