blog
Delayed Repairs Are Wrecking Housing KPIs - The Open Framework Ends It
2026 data shows delayed repairs are driving down TSMs, first-time fix rates and regulatory grades. See how the Open Framework, powered by Plentific, ends the cycle.
:format(avif))
A delayed repair is never just a delayed repair. It affects resident trust, drags down Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs), increases the risk of Ombudsman complaints, and ultimately drives up costs. In 2026, one slow repair can move three different KPIs at once: regulatory, operational and financial and most providers are still procuring contractor capacity through processes too slow to stop it. The Open Framework, powered by Plentific and sponsored by CDS, was built to close exactly that gap.
Key takeaways
Delayed repairs hit three KPI categories at once:
regulatory (TSMs and consumer standard gradings)
operational (first-time fix rate, re-let times, complaint response times), and
financial (repairs cost per home, cost of capital).
Social landlords spent a record £8.8bn on repairs and maintenance last year, up 13% year-on-year, yet 2,499 of 16,224 published Housing Ombudsman determinations to date still carry a finding of severe maladministration.
The Open Framework combines PA23-compliant procurement and work order management on one platform, managed end-to-end by Plentific as Managing Agent and sponsored by CDS.
It gives providers direct award or mini-competition access to a verified pool of contractors, from local SMEs to Tier 1 providers. across more than 100 housing providers, closing the gap between a slipping KPI and a fixed repair.
The KPI damage, in numbers
The impact is clear in the data. Across the sector, providers are spending more, facing greater scrutiny and still struggling to keep repairs moving. The figures below show why delayed repairs have become far more than an operational issue.
£8.8 billion. That's what social landlords spent on repairs and maintenance last year. A record, up 13% year-on-year and 55% above pre-pandemic levels, according to the Regulator of Social Housing's Value for Money report. The median cost per home rose 11% to £5,690. The financial KPI moving the wrong way even as spend goes up.
2,499 of 16,224. That's how many published Housing Ombudsman determinations to date carry a finding of severe maladministration, with £7.6 million in compensation ordered so far. Repairs delay is still the single most common driver of complaints reaching the Ombudsman's desk. The exact failure point that operational KPIs like first-time fix rate and re-let time are meant to catch first.
As the Chartered Institute of Housing's Better Social Housing Review puts it, plainly: "What gets measured gets done." Richard Blakeway, the Housing Ombudsman, makes the same point from the resident's side: "Repairs are the single biggest driver of complaints and determining factor of resident trust."
Why the delay happens
The damage to these KPIs rarely starts with a shortage of capable contractors. More often, it begins with how long it takes to engage a compliant contractor and get them on site. Traditional closed frameworks mean re-procurement cycles, limited supplier pools and rigid contract terms. All adding delay at the exact point providers can least afford it. Skills shortages and fluctuating demand make it worse: the contractor capacity might exist, but the compliant route to it under the Procurement Act 2023 is often too slow to use it.
The Open Framework closes that gap
Unlike a traditional closed framework, the Open Framework gives housing providers a flexible, future-ready way to procure and manage contractor supply under the Procurement Act 2023. It's the first PA23-compliant solution in UK housing to combine compliant procurement and work order management on a single connected platform, already live with more than 100 housing providers. Plentific acts as Managing Agent handling framework management, supplier assurance, performance optimisation and continuous improvement, sponsored by CDS, which appointed Plentific to run it.
Hasan Bayraktar, Senior VP Commercial at Plentific, put the problem it solves plainly:
Housing providers are facing ongoing supply chain challenges, from skills shortages to fluctuating demand. This Open Framework gives providers the flexibility they need to respond quickly, whilst remaining fully compliant and in control.
Tom Bremner, Chief Executive of CDS, framed the scale of it:
Having appointed Plentific as the managing agent, CDS is proud to be sponsoring this ground-breaking Open Framework that creates a new compliant procurement option for all housing providers: large and small, local and national, council and housing association. Housing providers will benefit from an agile, digital, PA23 compliant solution that will drive better quality and wider value at the touch of a screen.
What Monday morning could look like instead
Picture a repairs manager staring down the week ahead: forty voids need turning around, and a cluster of urgent repairs has just landed across three estates. The old way means forty separate requests, forty phone calls chasing quotes, and days of waiting before a single contractor sets foot on site.
With the Open Framework, that process looks very different. Instead, the manager bundles the work into one package of work orders and set the scope once. The trade, the volume they need covered, the quality bar the job demands, the window it has to happen in. No spreadsheet, no email chain.
Within minutes, the framework surfaces contractors who are already verified, already compliant, and already available at the right capacity. Not a shortlist to chase up, but a live view of who can take the volume, who meets the quality threshold, and who's free this week. The manager awards by direct instant award, or runs a quick mini-competition if it's worth comparing offers, after a service level agreement the work can start and the job goes out with pricing, scope and compliance already locked in.
From that point on, visibility doesn't disappear. As each job moves, the data moves with it: completion status, first-time fix, cost against the pre-agreed rate, visible in real time to everyone who needs it, not buried in forty separate threads. No guessing which contractor is behind. No end-of-month scramble to reconcile invoices. No gap between what happened on site and what the system says happened. The repairs manager's satisfaction score, first-time fix rate and budget feel the difference before the Ombudsman or the regulator ever do.
How it closes the gap on each KPI:
Faster access to capacity protects first-time fix rate and re-let time: pre-vetted, ready-to-work contractors can be mobilised through direct award or mini-competition, with no fresh tender needed for every scope of work. Centralised performance monitoring across every supplier protects TSM scores and regulatory grading, flagging a slipping metric before it becomes a finding. And pre-agreed commercial models with standardised service agreement rules protect the financial KPIs, cost per repair is settled before work starts, not negotiated mid-job, while full audit trails keep governance intact.
Cem Savas, Co-Founder and CEO of Plentific, has described the priority behind it:
Of paramount priority is bringing a property's condition and safety in line with regulations and meeting resident expectations. This has the potential to reduce the volume of responsive repairs, help organisations meet regulatory requirements to safeguard residents and enhance overall operational resilience.
