REPORTS setting out how Cambridge City Council performed during 2023-24 have been published.

The Annual Report and Annual Customer Feedback reports were considered by councillors at Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Committee.

Together, they provide an update on progress against the council’s Corporate Plan, which sets out what the council is working to achieve for residents, businesses and visitors over the years 2022-27.

Context

The context for the council is one of significant financial challenges from a combination of rising costs, years of reduced government funding, increased demand from Cambridge’s growing population and the legacy of the pandemic.

The council’s General Fund Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), which was approved by councillors in November of last year, sets out how the council needs to reduce revenue spending from its £73m General Fund budget by £6m per annum within the next three years and £11m per annum within five years.

To help manage these pressures the council continues to implement its transformation programme, Our Cambridge, which is creating a more modern and community-focused council delivering services through better use of technology and new ways of working.

Annual Report

The Annual Report reflects on the past twelve months which have been a period of further change in Cambridge, with the legacy of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine causing instability and continued economic uncertainty.

The Annual Report highlights how the council responded to these challenges and continued to take action on its priorities, including:

• Addressing the biodiversity and climate crises;
• Tackling poverty and inequality;
• Building new council homes to provide more affordable housing and ending homelessness;
• Supporting the city in its recovery from the pandemic;
• Modernising the way the council itself works through its Our Cambridge transformation programme.

Some notable achievements from the past year include:

• 7,247 households received Council Tax reductions and £28m of housing support was given to more than 4,000 households from the Housing Support Fund;
• 240 low income households had their homes improved with home energy interventions;
• 84 new council house builds started;
• 118 new affordable homes were built on strategic growth sites (non-council) and 248 were built as part of the council’s own house building programme;
• 410 households were prevented or relieved from homelessness;
• 332 private sector homes were improved for health and safety and energy standards;
• There were 58,256 entries to council leisure facilities by people holding concession memberships;
• 847.33 tonnes of public waste was collected from city streets and open spaces;
• 381 refugees were settled and supported;
• 519 trees were planted and 194 trees were given away as part of the Trees for Babies scheme;
• 97.19% of food businesses were rated as broadly compliant (FSA rating system).

Annual Complaints and Feedback Report

The council’s Annual Complaints and Feedback Report details how many complaints the council received during 2023-24, the cause of those complaints and what action has been taken. 

In 2023-24, the total number of complaints received was 953, which is an increase of 67 cases from the previous year’s total of 886. This works out as roughly 6.4 complaints per 10,000 residents.

When put in context of the amount of service requests and contacts made to the council this accounts for less than 0.1% of contact received resulting in a formal complaint.

264 (28%) of all complaints received by the council were for the Housing Assets and Maintenance service, with the majority relating to responsive repairs (184). This is a slight decrease from 288 complaints overall in the previous year, but an increase of five for responsive repairs areas.

The main contributor to this was an increase in complaints relating to damp, condensation and mould. A team has been put together to inspect properties and ensure any issues are identified and resolved. A Damp, Condensation and Mould Policy was put in place last year setting out clear timescales to address problems.

In previous years, complaints for Waste Services have been the highest volume, however this year complaints for Waste Services only increased by two. This is notable as the service implemented a considerable change to the collection routes in the second half of the year.

Planned Works and Compliance service complaints saw a reduction of 35 complaints. Commercial Services and Cultural Services also saw small reductions in complaints compared to the previous year.

In 2023-24 the council received 85 compliments across all services via Complaints Tracker, which is a small increase of three (4%) compared to 2022-23. However, some frontline services found that compliments were received directly to operatives or officers from residents.

Cllr Mike Davey, Leader of the Council, said: “It is clear from these reports that the council continues to work hard to maintain high standards. It’s important to remember the context that we’re working in, with significant financial challenges from government cuts, inflation and growing demand.

“Our staff work hard to provide quality services to residents, tenants, businesses and everyone in the city and, given the pressures on the council, that’s no easy task. 

“As the Annual Report shows, there are many things the council has done in the past year towards our priorities that we can be very proud of and I am grateful to our staff for their efforts.

“I’m looking forward to a further year delivering for our residents and we will continue to learn from where we haven’t got things right in order to improve for the future.”

The Annual Report, Annual Complaints and Feedback Report and key performance indicators information are available on the council’s website.  The council welcomes feedback on these reports.