The impetus for councils to pursue arm's length management is the need to meet the Government's Public Services Agreement (PSA) target for decent homes. The Government expects all local authorities to have a stock option appraisal for delivery of decent homes completed and signed off by July 2005. Where the stock retention option does not provide sufficient investment to meet the decent homes target, authorities must pursue alternative stock options, such as stock transfer, Private Finance Initiative (PFI) or arm's length management. All of these stock options, which provide additional funding for housing, separate the strategic role of the local authority from the housing management service delivery role.
This report sets out the current learning from the first round of Audit Commission inspections of ALMOs of council housing, which took place during the Autumn of 2002. It is aimed mainly at local authority officers, councillors and ALMO board members and staff. It is relevant to existing ALMOs and their corresponding local authorities, as well as to local authorities that may consider forming an ALMO in future. It is intended to highlight areas that have been commented on by housing inspectors and local auditors, as well as issues raised by staff and board members at local authorities and ALMOs, in order to:
- inform the ongoing development of ALMOs
- help local authorities and ALMOs to improve
- raise issues that could be relevant for the future development of ALMOs