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SARTH update

Published: 15/01/2018

Flintshire County Council’s Community and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be asked to review a report on the audit of SARTH (Single Access Route to Housing) when it meets next week. The audit focussed on the new processes arising from the introduction of SARTH, and recommended a number of actions for improvement, two of which were identified as requiring urgent system review. Immediate action has been taken in response to this to implement revised processes and it was noted that actions from the team following the review have been prompt in implementing control measures to mitigate the risks identified. Flintshire County Council’s Chief Officer for Community and Enterprise, Clare Budden, said: “The demand for social housing has significantly increased with 2016/17 recording more than double the number of applications previously received and managed by the service. The service does not have the capacity to continue to manage current demand levels with existing resources. The service plans to address this in a number of ways, including increase automation and system integration, merging of the Housing Contact Centre and the Housing Solutions Contact Centre into one and increasing the digital offer as part of the Council’s on-going digital strategy. “As a result of the actions implemented, we are confident that any area of high risk identified in this audit has now got the appropriate control measures in place. The service intends to invite audit back to review these areas ahead of any planned schedule.”