Bristol Churches tops new efficiency league

The registered social landlord, which owns or manages almost 3500 homes, was top of the Housing Corporation’s first efficiency league, Comparative Efficiency of Housing Associations (see link below). Bournville Village Trust came bottom.

The RSL, which is part of the Places for People Group, was rated on its operating costs for 2002/3 as part of the corporation’s first live run of its new model for assessing efficiency. The corporation plans to publish its first full index of performance efficiency in October, based on 2003/4 cost data.

Managing director David Squires said Bristol Churches’ approach to procurement and cost control was behind its success. “We gain economic advantages through our membership of Places for People, which allows us to get better procurement deals with national power organisations and contractors."

The corporation compiled the table by comparing expected costs for a hypothetical association, taking into account factors such as size and level of service offered, and each RSL’s actual costs. The complex model that allowed the comparison to take place was devised for the corporation earlier this year by consultant Indepen.

Housing Corporation chief executive Jon Rouse said: ‘This methodology offers the prospect of a much more sophisticated analysis of operating efficiencies than we have been able to undertake previously.

‘As we develop this approach, we expect it will help to inform our regulatory engagement with associations. But the most significant impact will be in helping associations to ask themselves the right questions, particularly as most are seeking improvements in their performance via bench-marking and peer review, amongst other methods.”

The corporation has published a discussion paper (see link below) outlining its approach to the league table and how it can be used to improve performance within the sector. Responses are due in by 20 September.

However, the efficiency league table got only a cautious welcome from some within the sector. In a paper published on Wednesday, the National Housing Federation questioned the reliability of the data used in the corporation’s model.