Warmer Homes Scotland: annual review 2017 to 2018

Part 4: Objective 3 - Housing Stock

The third stated objective of Warmer Homes Scotland is to improve Scotland's housing stock. One of the key guiding principles is that the impacts of the scheme should be both sustainable and long-term. The scheme therefore aims to ensure that any measures installed in properties are appropriate and will deliver benefits for current and future inhabitants.

Table 5 shows the most and least frequently installed measures during 2017/18.

The two most frequently installed measures were smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors both of which are mandatory measures under the scheme. The most common type of measures installed were heating and hot water systems followed by boilers.

Of those measures installed during 2017/18, the least frequently installed were Solar Thermal, Hybrid Wall Insulation, Solar PV and Biomass Boilers and there were 15 measures available under the scheme that were not installed in any properties. This is an increase in 2 from 2016 with no Flue Gas Recovery Devices being installed in 2017/18 compared to 57 in 2016/17 and no Hybrid Wall Insulation installed in 2017/18 compared to 2 in 2016/17. This likely reflects the make-up of the domestic property archetypes in Scotland and the relatively new technology these measures offer, although cost may also play a part.

Survey

The first contact a customer has with Warmworks is when a surveyor carries out the initial survey of the property to establish which measures available under the scheme are most appropriate for the property. The in-home survey takes into account the property type, location and the fuel type used in the property. In addition the surveyor will take into account the heating and hot water systems currently in use and what insulation measures are in the property. The survey is carried out using rdSAP software and the surveyor uses this to establish the most appropriate suite of measures for each property, including recommendations specified by the Warmer Homes Scotland contract that are not included in the rdSAP software.

In October 2017 a workshop was held with Warmworks surveyors and the findings and recommendations from this workshop were reported in the 2016/17 Annual Review. Since then Warmworks has taken forward a number of these recommendations with the overall aim of improving the initial survey process and the offer that can be made to Warmer Homes Scotland customers. In addition Warmworks surveyors are now provided with an additional level of support and the provision of ongoing professional training. The outcome of these recommendations are reported at Section 7 of this review.

Under the terms of the contract, a 5% sample of surveys are independently audited on a monthly basis. Pennington Choices LLP were appointed as the Scottish Government's independent monitoring and inspection agent to undertake inspection audits, assessing them against the criteria set out in the contract and technical specification.

Table 6 summarises the result of the pre-installation audits carried out during 2017/18. During this period only 1 pre-installation audit failed and no surveys were given a Pass Advisory, in comparison to 2016/17 when 2.5% of the overall number of surveys audited received a Pass Advisory and there were no recorded failed surveys.

The results of the pre-installation audits carried out during 2017/18 indicates that surveys continue to be carried out in line with the contractual requirements and surveyors are recommending appropriate measures to be installed.

Table 6 - Results of Pennington Choices audit of Warmer Homes Scotland surveys 2017/18

Month	Total Number of Audit	Pass		Pass: Advisory	Pass: Remedial	Fail
		No.	% of total completed
April	32	32	100	0	0	0
May	27	27	100	0	0	0
June	40	40	100	0	0	0
July	41	41	100	0	0	0
August	12	12	100	0	0	0
September	26	26	100	0	0	0
October	33	33	100	0	0	0
November	40	39	97.5	0	0	1
December	35	35	100	0	0	0
January	17	17	100	0	0	0
February	20	20	100	0	0	0
March	25	25	100	0	0	0
Total	348	347	99.7	0	0	1

Recommendation 6 - Given the overall high percentage of total completed surveys that pass the Pennington Choices audit process, consideration should be given during 2018/19 to reducing the number of pre-installation surveys for audit, and increasing the number Work in Progress surveys during 2019/20. Although the number of Work In Progress jobs requiring remedial work fell from 11 in 2016/17 to 9 in 2017/18, representing an overall 10% decrease in percentage terms, additional surveys will enable Warmworks to establish if there are any actions that can be taken to further reduce this figure.

Installation & Inspection

All Warmer Homes Scotland installations are subcontracted by Warmworks to a supply chain of 29 companies (correct for period covered by the review). The majority of these are SMEs and they operate across Scotland to ensure Warmer Homes Scotland customers receive the same level of service regardless of where they live

Everwarm, one of the partners in Warmworks Scotland LLP has the capacity to undertake up to 50% of the scheme's installations and is contracted to undertake work when other installers are unable to carry out the work required. All installers working on the Warmer Homes Scotland contract must have, or be working towards PAS 2030 certification and must meet the other industry standard certifications as set out in the Warmer Homes Scotland contract including MCS, Oftec and Gas Safe to enable them to install measures available under the scheme.

In addition, to ensure that all measures installed into homes under the scheme meet the requirements of the contract, the contract requires Warmworks to inspect every installation within 5 days of the works being completed.

Warmworks also ensure that all installations are carried out in line with the technical, health and safety and customer care standards as set out in the Warmer Homes Scotland contract. In addition, all staff undertaking work on the scheme must be in possession of a Disclosure Scotland Certificate.

To help monitor the quality of installation work being carried out under the Warmer Homes Scotland contract, Pennington Choices also carry out a minimum of 2 Work in Progress (WIP) audits per month and a random 20% sample (with no fewer than 65 jobs per month) of completed installations. These audits consist of both on-site and desk-based audits. A summary of the overall findings of these audits (including survey, WIP, and post-installation) for 2016/17 versus 2017/18 is at Table 7.

Table 7 - Results of Pennington Choices on-site inspections of a 10% sample of Warmer Homes Scotland jobs

Inspection Outcome	Overall Result in 2016/17	Overall Result in 2017/18
Pass	79%	91%
Pass Advisory	11%	4%
Remedial	9%	3%
Fail	2%	2%
At Risk	0	0

Figure 13 - Percentage comparison of the results of the QA audits in 2016/17 and 2017/18

A comparison of the outcome of the QA audits carried out by Pennington Choices during both 2016/17 and 2017/18 demonstrates that the total number of installations that passed inspection during the audit process has increased by 12%.

Although there was an overall reduction of 3.6% in the numbers of monthly installations during this period the increase in the number of installations that passed inspection indicates that existing quality assurance measures are being applied consistently and effectively under the scheme and that these remain robust. This also indicates an increase in the overall quality of installations being carried out under Warmer Home Scotland.

During 2017/18, overall 348 pre-installation surveys were undertaken with only one job being marked as a "fail" at inspection, in percentage terms this represents 0.2% of pre-installation surveys "failed" at inspection.

The number identified "at risk" remains constant with no jobs identified in either 2016/17 or 2017/18.

A comparison of remedial work between 2016/17 and 2017/18 has been carried out and the results are shown at Table 8. This shows that the number of Work In Progress jobs requiring remedial work, including those jobs recorded at audit as a "pass advisory", "pass remedial" or "fail", fell from 11 jobs from an overall total of 24 inspections in 2016/17 to 9 jobs from an overall total of 25 inspections in 2017/18. This represents in percentage terms a reduction of 10%.

The number of Post-Installation jobs requiring remedial work decreased from 229 jobs from a total of 791 inspections (29%) in 2016/17 to 98 jobs from a total of 859 inspections (11%) in 2017/18. This represents in percentage terms an overall reduction of 18%.

The 18% decrease in the percentage of Post-Installation jobs requiring remedial work, in addition to the 10% reduction in the number of WIP jobs requiring remedial works, suggests that while some sub-contractors are continuing to make some errors during the installation process (WIP), the quality assurance protocols that Warmworks' have in place, when the contractor has completed the installation are effective.

The continuing improvement in the quality of installations evidenced in Table 8 below should help to increase confidence amongst Warmer Homes Scotland customers that the work carried out in their properties is of a high standard. In addition, over the longer term, this trend in quality improvement may translate into greater economic efficiency in delivery of the scheme and workload benefits for Warmworks sub-contractors.

Table 8 - Number of installations requiring remedial work identified by the QA process in 2016/17 and 2017/18

Inspection Category	Review Year	Total No. of Inspections	Total No. Requiring Remedial Work*	% Requiring Remedial Work
WIP*	2016/17	24	11	46
	2017/18	25	9	36
Post-Installation	2016/17	791	229	29
	2017/18	859	98	11

*This includes all jobs audited at post-installation phase that have been recorded as "pass advisory", "pass remedial" or "fail".

Right First Time KPI Adjusted Target Level

The 2015/16 review of the scheme considered the impact that operational delivery and the behaviours that subcontractors had on the contractual Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), in particular the Right First Time KPI (RFT). This identified that, while the inspection process was pushing up standards, it was also impeding Warmworks' ability to meet the RFT KPI target of 98% in areas with low customer volumes. Due to a statistical anomaly, the target in these areas effectively became a 100% target. The Scottish Government pays Warmworks a service provider fee to deliver the scheme. The amount paid to Warmworks for each installation is dependent on the regional performance targets achieved and the statistical anomaly was identified as creating an artificial target of 100% in regions where the number of installs was low.

As a result, a 3 month trial period to adjust the RFT KPI was implemented and the adjusted RFT KPI allowed for one failed job in areas with low volumes. In this context, low volume is defined as under 25 jobs per month.

The trial was reviewed in December 2016 and it was agreed to extend the trial by a further 3 months to the end of March 2017 as the numbers installed in the initial 3 month period did not allow the trial amendment to be sufficiently tested. In September 2017 it was agreed by means of a CVN to extend the trial period for a further 12 month period.

At the end of this extended trial period the outcome of the trial would be reviewed and consideration given to whether this KPI should be amended on a permanent basis. The outcome will be reported in the 2018/19 review.