The Head of Housing Services has submitted a reportto seek authority to procure and delegation to award a contract to deliver the Council’s Furnished Tenancy Scheme. 

Cabinet is recommended to:

1.    Approve the procurement of a contract at a value of £4,300,000 over a 5-year period for a supplier or suppliers to provide household furniture, white goods, and carpets as part of a Furnished Tenancy Scheme.?

2.    Delegate to the Interim Executive Director for Communities and People in consultation with the Section 151 Officer, authority to award a Furnished Tenancy Scheme contract to a supplier or suppliers, selected by an evaluation panel, following a fully compliant procurement process.??

The Head of Housing Services had submitted a reportto seek authority to procure and delegation to award a contract to deliver the Council’s Furnished Tenancy Scheme. 

Councillor Linda Smith said that the recommendations from Scrutiny were very helpful, and she was glad to accept them. She added that the scheme does go to great lengths to reuse items, wherever possible. She welcomes the recommendation from Scrutiny, as it will allow them to see how they can further develop the reuse and recycling of goods in this scheme.

Councillor Linda Smith presented the report and said that she is pleased that the council is providing this area of support to citizens. She said that over a quarter of their tenancies involve the furnished tenancy scheme, which demonstrates the reach of this scheme and how crucial it is to help tenants make properties into a home. She thanked the OCC Officers for their work on this report and for their effective running of the scheme.

Councillor Brown said that she remembers when the scheme was first set up and she believes it is a very important scheme for the Council. She added that it was set up because people were facing significant difficulties as they came into a new tenancy and tried to afford furnishings for their homes. She stated that this is a great scheme, and she is happy that they are still able to keep it going.

Councillor Arshad agreed with Councillor Brown. She also thanked the OCC team for their hard work on the scheme and this report. She asked if the furniture in the scheme is broken, is it replaced, or if is there an opportunity to do so.

Carolyn Devenney, Senior Furnished Tenancy Officer, responded that if things break in a tenant’s five years, then at no cost to them, the items would be repaired or replaced. That would be done using already recycled stock within their compound. The majority of the furniture is under a warranty of some form, so we can send it back to the contractor and replace the item if it is still under warranty. The Senior Furnished Tenancy Officer said that by recouping pre used stock, they try to get that back out to clients, or they will replace as new within the five-year period. After that five-year period, there are some items they would not want to replace. However, they take every case, on a case-by-case basis and in most instances, they would replace everything that needed to be.

Councillor Upton commented on the life changing nature of this scheme. She said that this scheme can make the difference between a space being just four walls, to being a cozy home that people enjoy. She added that she was happy to see this report come forward and thanked the OCC Officers for their work in this area.

Cabinet agreed to:

1.    Approve the procurement of a contract at a value of £4,300,000 over a 5-year period for a supplier or suppliers to provide household furniture, white goods, and carpets as part of a Furnished Tenancy Scheme.?

2.    Delegate to the Interim Executive Director for Communities and People in consultation with the Section 151 Officer, authority to award a Furnished Tenancy Scheme contract to a supplier or suppliers, selected by an evaluation panel, following a fully compliant procurement process.??