Wales: More questions on Rent Smart Wales raised in the Senedd
Rent Smart Wales’ full telephone service will return ‘as soon as possible’, the Minister for Climate Change Julie James MS has stated. The licensing authority’s landlord phoneline has been temporarily closed for several weeks.
The Minister’s comments were made in response to two questions tabled by the Member of Senedd for Monmouth, Peter Fox MS.
The MS for Monmouth tabled the questions in the Senedd on the 24 August -
“What action is the Welsh Government taking to increase the staffing capacity of Rent Smart Wales?” and “What steps is the Welsh Government taking to re-open the landlord’s helpline operated by Rent Smart Wales?”
The Minister for Climate Change Julie James MS later responded to these questions on the 1 September , saying:
“Rent Smart Wales (RSW) is not a function of Welsh Government. RSW is the Lead Authority designated to deliver Part 1 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 across Wales and are based at Cardiff Council.
RSW are not closed for business and are still processing licence applications, as well as working through a backlog of correspondence from landlords and agents.
I understand that Rent Smart Wales (RSW), in common with many other organisations, has struggled to recruit staff over the past two and a half years, resulting in a shortage of front-line contact centre staff. I have been informed that due to a significant backlog of work they took the decision to close the phone line for August in order to prioritise responding to emails and processing licence applications.
RSW have recently recruited a new cohort of seven staff who will be operational in September. In the meantime, I understand RSW are offering overtime to existing staff to help to clear the backlog, as well as utilising staff resources within local authority partners.
RSW has informed my officials that access to a telephone service will be increased incrementally, focusing initially on people who have accessibility issues who cannot contact RSW in any other way. There will be a return to a full telephone service as soon as possible.”
Last month, the NRLA contacted Rent Smart Wales to ask why the phoneline for landlords was closed, and Rent Smart Wales confirmed to the NRLA the reason for closing the landlord phoneline was due to a backlog of work, recruitment issues and a high level of staff sickness.
The NRLA continues to engage with RSW over the reopening of the phoneline service. RSW have provided assurances to the NRLA that the phonelines will be reopening as soon as possible.
