Sheffield Council estimates 40,000 housing repair backlog by the end of lockdown

Sheffield Council has battled a repairs backlog for months and in a report said it was looking at an outstanding number of around 24,000 this year.

But since the latest lockdown was announced, Mark Freeth, head of the service, said in a council meeting it is now going to be more like 40,000.

In a report he said: “The Covid pandemic significantly impacted the repairs service throughout 2020 and is likely to continue to have a significant impact into 2021.”

Adding: “Following the Prime Ministers announcement on the 4th January 2021 putting the country into a third lockdown the repairs service are working with the council’s incident management group and implement our business continuity plan which will at the very least prioritise the safety of our staff and the general public, respond to critical activities including emergency and urgent repairs, gas servicing and work in void properties.”

The repairs and maintenance service employs around 640 staff to look after the 38,912 homes in its stock.

But during the earlier lockdowns, there were around 190 employees shielding or on rotas to minimise contact.

Staff were also restricted to just carrying out emergency repairs, which has caused a substantial list of outstanding jobs.

The service has also been undergoing a number of changes and is currently in the process of implementing a new target operating model following a review.

This aims to modernise and improve operations through several initiatives including shifting the balance to more cyclical maintenance rather than reactive repairs and becoming less reliant on subcontractors.

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