SOUTH
APRIL 2017
Andrew Kidds
A look at the many ways you can contact us…
Director of Customer Contact @Andkidds_Accent
We’re always looking at ways to improve how you can communicate with us. In the last two years we’ve launched our ‘Customer Portal’, introduced our new single contact centre in Shipley and introduced ‘online chat’ to our website www.accentgroup.org. We add to our online services all the time so it’s a good idea to log into your account often to see what’s new…
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Customers with active accounts who regularly use the ‘Accent Customer Portal’
Customer service advisors who have been trained in all matters of housing services
Online chats with our website visitors and customers since launching the service in 2016
The Accent Customer Portal Visit: https://login.accentgroup.org 24 hours a day | 7 days a week
Pay your rent or service charge
Report a repair
Report anti-social behaviour
Customer Portal
If English is not your first language
Andrew Williams Customer Services Director @accentgroupltd
On our website, we publish leaflets and information you might find useful. This information can be downloaded, but we can also print out and send you copies of leaflets and documents on request. By using the tab at the bottom of every page of our website, you can translate the content of the pages and leaflets into a number of different languages. Simply click on the ‘BrowseAloud’ link, to launch the toolbar (see below) which has a variety of features, including reading the page out loud and translating the page – you can even create an mp3 file! If you visit our customer publications section, (where our leaflets are), you can translate this newsletter into many languages in just a couple of clicks. We can also provide translation and interpretation services on request when you telephone or visit us. The BrowseAloud Toolbar…
Introducing the Hub ○ www.accentgroup.org/residents The Hub offers you the chance to give us your views on your home and neighbourhood and the services we provide. Your comments will help us to better understand your needs and priorities, and help to influence our decision-making. The Hub hosts regular surveys and polls which you can take part in and view the results in real time, and we can show how your views are improving our services. Your feedback is valuable to us so please visit The Hub and give us your views.
ACCENT NEWS SOUTH
you said
we did
Former Tenant Survey We asked more than 800 residents who had moved home in the last year why they did. We wanted to better understand the reasons why residents move and if there is anything we can do to stop our future residents from leaving us. We had a good response. In some cases, residents had left because their homes were not suited to their long-term needs.
Anti-social behaviour could also make someone move which shows us how important it is we tackle issues swiftly. We will use the information to try and reduce the number of people who leave their homes in future. You might ask why this would benefit you, but it does. We can spend a lot of money on bringing empty homes back into use. What we save can be reinvested into improving your homes and services. If you are thinking of moving out because you are not happy with us, or your needs have changed, please talk to us first. We may be able to help, or deal with any issues you have. We really would like to sort things out if we can and for you stay as our resident.
ring uR roTcO p y s u b n e e b C A e R ’v T e N W NEW CO r 2017 orEsNfo TS acEtM ntUrR oC wRcO neP Cleaning and Grounds Maintenance We are procuring a new regional contractor to carry out cleaning, window cleaning and grounds maintenance across all our schemes. We have a number of national, regional and local contractors who are bidding for this work. The tender closed on 17 March, and a new contractor will be in place in each region by the end of July 2017 (or July 2018 depending on when the current contracts end). We have looked at how we deliver these services across our schemes and have agreed a standard for at least weekly cleaning @ CONTACT US SEE PAGE 8
services that will ensure our schemes are well maintained, whilst still remaining affordable. We have included window cleaning on some schemes where it has been requested.
Repairs and Maintenance We are currently appointing new contractors across all our regions to carry out repair, maintenance and planned work. Our current contracts end in September, but we expect to have new contractors in place by July so we can make sure there is a smooth changeover. We will announce the successful contractors in June and we should be able to let you know who they are in our next issue in July. For more information, please contact us.
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The Benefit Cap Does it affect you?
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There is now a limit on the total amount of welfare benefits a person or family of working age can claim. It is called the benefit cap. It may affect you if you receive certain benefits. • Housing Benefit, Income Support, Jobseekers Allowance • Employment and Support Allowance, Universal Credit • Child Benefit, Child Tax Credit, Widowed Parents Allowance The cap limit is £384 a week for lone parents and couples with or without children, and £257 a week for single people. Some disability and war benefits are exempt from the cap. For more details about these, please visit www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/the-benefit-cap Housing benefit is the benefit which is reduced first. If you are affected, you remain responsible for paying any shortfall between your housing benefit and your rent.
We can help by checking if you are going to be affected, and we can refer you to our tenancy support team for help with benefits and budgeting advice. You may also find our ‘Help with Benefits and Debt’ leaflet on our website useful.
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ACCENT NEWS SOUTH
INDEPENDENT LIVING
A safe and welcoming place to call home
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I have always enjoyed my independence but, as I got older, it was nice to have the reassurance of knowing that help is on hand in an emergency.
ur independent living schemes O provide a welcoming and safe place to live. You have your own home in a secure environment. Each flat is ‘self-contained’ with its own living and kitchen area, bathroom and bedroom. On top of great living accommodation there are a wide range of benefits on offer including on-site scheme managers, communal facilities and social gatherings.
@ CONTACT US SEE PAGE 8
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If you think the time is right for you to move to something smaller, and you like the idea of this extra reassurance, or if you have relatives or friends who might benefit, why not contact us? We’re happy to discuss an application or answer any questions you might have. We can also arrange for you to have a look round one of our schemes.
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Office Opening Hours – we need your feedback
As most of you now contact us via our national customer contact centre, or access your details on-line through our customer portal, hardly any of you call into our office. Because so few of you visit, we are reviewing our office opening times, and we may close our office to visitors completely. Before doing that, however, we asked those of you who still visit why you do. In most cases, it isn’t really necessary, as most things can be done elsewhere or in other ways. If we do close the office, we will let you know. Don’t worry, you can still contact us. Our national contact centre is open between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday, and between 8am to 12pm on Saturday.
Our customer portal is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and, because of mobile working, our housing officers and surveyors are out and about much more. They can arrange to visit you in your home. Even if the office closes, you can still visit us, you just need to make an appointment. We’ll keep you updated if anything changes.
Dealing with Noise Nuisance – it’s no laughing matter As our resident, you are not just responsible for your own behaviour, you are responsible for the behaviour of every person, living in, or visiting your home. This includes what they do in your home, in the communal areas and in the local area. Anti-social behaviour resulting from noise nuisance is one of the main issues reported. If you want to report noise nuisance, you need to complete diary sheets as evidence. We need to know when the noise happens, what it is, how it affects you and who is causing it. If we do not have diary sheets, we cannot take action. With diary sheets, we will investigate and take action. Mediation is one way that can help, and we also work closely with local councils, environmental health teams and the police. Day-to-day noise, such as washing machines and children laughing and playing are not classed as noise nuisance, and we will not take action on this.
If you are experiencing noise nuisance, you could try talking to the person who is causing it. They might not realise the noise is affecting you. If that doesn’t work, log all the noise you experience and report it to us and the environmental health team. You have the right to the peaceful enjoyment of your home, so please contact us if you have a problem.
Reviewing our Communications Our compliance and scrutiny committee, (CSC), is made up of residents and ‘independent’ (or non-resident) members. They carry out scrutiny exercises to test whether we are delivering good quality, value for money, services. Exercises range from simple surveys to a number of residents about a service, to ‘reality checking’ (where we test whether a cleaning contractor is delivering the standards they should for example). They can also be a detailed review of a particular service. So far this year, we have carried out two Accent reviews on how we manage complaints, and how we deal with reports of noise nuisance. Each review identified ideas for improving service and we are currently working on those. Locally, our CSC has carried out a review of our written publications. We wanted to make sure they are informative and interesting. We also held a residents’ focus group in which our publications and our website were examined in close detail. Some residents felt our newsletter wasn’t really relevant to them, so we hope to put this right by featuring news better matched to their interests in the future. The survey did not show any real problems with written communications, but the responses did tell us that need to make improvements to our repairs service, particularly around listening to you, keeping you informed on the progress of repairs and complaints, and the lack of communication between staff and contractors. As such, our verbal communications may become a topic of future scrutiny. We are always on the lookout for volunteers to help us carry out scrutiny (or to join our CSC). If you can spare some time, even a little, we’d love to hear from you.
Improving our schemes Over the past few months, our housing officers have been carrying out estate inspections and speaking to you about the improvements you would like to see. In Stonehouse Rise, Frimley, we tidied up the drying area. The work was quite detailed and involved treating the moss and repairing the hard standing areas. In Bloomsbury Way, Ashford, the allotment was completed. Residents have access and a number of them are already talking about planting flowers and growing vegetables. There are even ideas for a small fruit orchard, so watch this space! In Bracknell Road and Wimbledon Road, residents told us about the growing problem of fly tipping. After meeting with them to talk about tackling the problem, we are now looking to install CCTV. If it is a success, we will work with Surrey Heath Borough Council who can prosecute offenders. At Connaught Court, Poppyhills and Moorlands Road, we have completed tree work. Our St Michael’s scheme (Avenue Sucy, Surrey Avenue and Southway) in Camberley, is somewhere which could benefit from improvements to the outdoor communal areas. We are talking to residents to find out what they would like. Everyone’s views will be taken into account before any improvements are made. All this work has been done as a result of our estate inspections and from speaking with you. If you have any ideas to improve the area you live in, please contact us.
Right to Buy
UPDATE
From last year, you may remember the Government’s announcement to extend the Right to Buy Scheme to 1.3 million housing association tenants. What has happened since? Well, the Government has put back the start date until at least 2018 so more ‘pilot exercises’ can be done in certain areas to test how the scheme might work. Although we still do not know the exact details of how the scheme will work, we understand, from the information we do have, is that there are likely to be certain qualifying conditions.
While the scheme is still being planned, and even though it is unlikely to get underway for some time, you can still contact us if you think you might like to buy a home either now or in the future. We are keeping a list of residents who are interested, and we will also be selling some new shared ownership homes over the next couple of years. We will update our website when there is any further news or when new properties are available for sale.
The National Housing Federation have published a question and answer guide which can be downloaded from our website: www.accentgroup.org/media/160004/voluntary-right-to-buy.pdf
Your new Gas Servicing & Repairs Contractor Neil Cox, Director of Repairs and Maintenance @neilcox84
Following a recent procurement process to test the market and find suitable new contractors, we have appointed Liberty Gas to carry out gas servicing and repairs in your area. Their contract started on 3 April 2017. You will notice new vans and operatives attending to repairs and carrying out servicing. They will continue to provide the same high level of customer service.
Liberty Gas engineers will always show you identification when they call and be courteous and polite when visiting you. They will explain what they are going to do and take care whilst they are in your home. If you have any doubts about anyone calling at your home, please contact us.
STAY IN TOUCH! Address: 1 Pembroke Broadway Camberley, Surrey GU15 3XD
Social media: Telephone: @accentcmy 0345 678 0555 /accentcmy Email: customerservices@accentgroup.org
www.accentgroup.org
Our contact centre is open from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, and from 8am – 12pm on Saturday