Autumn 2015 Bron Afon Community Housing Edition 23
Community News Bin it or box it? Free wheel inside tells you what you can recycle
The feeling is mutual! Together, we can make changes, so get involved! Our planned maintenance service Your frequently asked questions answered
Super Surgery, 12 September Tell us the things that matter the most to you
How well are we doing? Keeping you updated
If you would prefer to be sent Community News in an email, large print, braille, audio, Welsh or any other language, then please let us know. The magazine for tenants, leaseholders and Members of Bron Afon Community Housing
Autumn 2015 Bron Afon Community Housing Edition 23
Community News I hope that you had a great summer and enjoyed what little sunshine we had! In the last edition of Community News, we explained how we were changing our repairs and planned maintenance programme so that we give you the best possible service to keep your homes in good condition. On pages 4 and 5, we have answered the top five questions you ask us about repairs and maintenance. Alongside our Membership Committee, we have been looking at new ways to involve people in everything we do. Working together to make certain that local people have a voice at Bron Afon is a key part of what we mean by being a “community mutual” organisation. It was one of the commitments we made when we started back in 2008 and something we are keen to develop further. Have a look at pages 8 and 9 to find out how you can help us make involvement the best it can be. You’ll also find details of our next Super Surgery, which is happening on Saturday 12 September at Pontypool College from 12 noon to 3pm, just after the Annual Members' Meeting. It’s your chance to talk to us about anything that concerns you. We like to reward tenants who make moving out quick and easy so that a family can move in on the same day. If you are thinking of moving, have a look at page 13 for the nine steps you need to take to get £100 from us. Keeping you updated on how well we are doing is very important. On page 15, we tell you how we will give you this information from now on, so that you can see what we need to improve and how we are going to do it. Duncan Forbes chief executive
Got a story?
A taster of
what’s inside Looking after your your home pgs 4-5 Get involved!
pgs 8-9
Just for leaseholders
p16
If you have a story or photo for this magazine please let us know. Maybe you have a tip you want to share or a letter on an interesting subject? You can tell us your news in lots of ways. Call Vicki Morgan-Curtis on 01633 620 110 Email communitynews@bronafon.org.uk Write Bron Afon Community Housing Limited, Tˆy Bron Afon, William Brown Close, Llantarnam Industrial Park, Cwmbran, Torfaen NP44 3AB
A fyddech cystal a gofyn os hoffech unrhyw ran o’n gwybodaeth yn Gymraeg, Gallwch wneud hynny drwy ymweld â ni neu ysgrifennu atom yn y cyfeiriad isod neu drwy ffonio 01633 620 111. Os yw’n well gennych siarad â ni drwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg gallwn drefnu i siaradwr Cymraeg fod yn bresennol mewn apwyntiad. Page 2
/bronafon /bronafon /bronafonvideos Cover stars: tenants, residents and staff working together
In my own words...
“I felt I could breathe again” Jaimie-Leigh is 25. She is a Go Girl, mum to one - and a former victim of domestic abuse. “It started off with “little things” like name calling. My partner used to laugh when I was upset, was jealous of my relationships and kept making fun of me, telling me I looked awful. I started to believe him and kept questioning myself. I made excuses for him like, “oh, that’s just the way he is.” Looking back, he had total control over for me for years. “I put up with this behaviour and then he threw me out and I ended up in a homeless hostel. That was my lowest point. I was pregnant, thought no-one would listen to me anyway and I was ashamed - I didn’t want to be looked at like a “typical” single mum. “It all changed when I became a tenant of Charter Housing. That’s when I heard about the Go Girls project, which they run with Bron Afon. This was a turning point for me. I felt I could breathe again and I now have a completely different view of what we should expect for ourselves. “It took me a long time to realise that just because you’re not being hurt physically, if your partner is always on at you and wearing you down mentally, that can be just as bad. “I want to get the message across to anyone going through any kind of domestic violence, you don’t have to suffer in silence. Help is out there. “I’m proof that you can turn your life around. I’m doing a college course and am hoping to start a career in beauty therapy. My little girl is my world and I’m now thinking a lot more positively about our future.” As Jaimie-Leigh says, if you are a victim of domestic abuse and don’t know where to turn, you can get help. Here's one organisation that can offer support and advice:
• Torfaen Women’s Aid
open Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm The Chrysalis Centre, 3 Town Bridge Buildings, Park Road, Pontypool NP4 6JE Tel: 01495 742052 (24 hrs) Email: info@torfaenwomensaid.org.uk www.torfaenwomensaid.org.uk
If you are interested in becoming a Go Girl, please contact Maria Jones, youth projects development manager, on 01633 620 111/0800 111 42 42 or email: maria.jones@bronafon.org.uk.
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Looking after your home In the last edition of Community News, we told you how we are spending millions of pounds on tenants’ homes and the areas around them to keep them up to date, safe and in good condition. We also included information on our new planned maintenance service. We have noticed that there are certain questions that tenants ask us when they call about this type of work. Here are the top five ones we get asked a lot: What is the difference between planned maintenance and repairs? Repairs are the day to day smaller jobs we do. Our planned maintenance team carries out bigger jobs such as painting, plastering and fencing as well as service inspections such as boiler servicing. How can I find out if there will be work done to my home? We will give you regular, up to date information on the current planned maintenance programme on our website and in Community News. Why are you doing work on my neighbour’s home but not on mine? The planned work we carry out in your home may be different to the work we do to your neighbours’ homes. This is because work has been carried out at different homes at different times in the past. If my work goes into the planned programme, when will it be done? You can check out our website (www.bronafon.org.uk/planned-maintenance/) for details of when we will carry out certain types of work. If your home is on one of our lists, we will be in touch with you well before the work is due to start to let you know what’s involved.
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• H ow does Bron Afon decide
what work will go into the planned programme? We base the work to be done on information we get from our surveys of the condition of our homes. The amount of work we do will depend on how much money is available each year. We prioritise the work by considering: - replacing parts, which will cost more to keep repairing in the long term. - replacing parts that may cause concerns around your health and safety. - the opportunity to use grants to pay for the work. - making sure we meet our legal and statutory obligations for Our service the repair and safety of your home. standards for day to day repairs: Some work will link with other area improvements, for example, Emergency repair: fencing with environmental projects. within 24 hours Urgent repair: within 3 working days Non-urgent repair: Check out our website for a summary of repair responsibilities: within 30 working www.bronafon.org.uk/repairs/ days
House MOTs - the story so far Earlier this year, we started our house MOT programme. The idea is to make sure we pick up any minor repairs or defects before they become a big issue for you. The information we have been collecting about the condition of our housing stock is really valuable as it will help us plan our work in future years. What you have told us about our house MOTs
• 9 4.12% of tenants who responded to our satisfaction
survey stated they were ‘very satisfied’ with the overall quality of work.
• I n the same survey, 100% of tenants stated that they viewed the scheme as beneficial.
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How we are doing Customer Services
April - June 2015
Community Housing We provided 180 homes to families and people looking for accommodation in Torfaen.
Our Customer Services team dealt with 24,143 calls and on average, 76% of these enquiries were dealt with at that first point of contact.
Money Solutions
Community Environmental Team
+ £5,700
Bedroom tax arrears were reduced by £25,603 since this time last year.
A total of 534 cases of things like fly-tipping were reported to the team and 404 were solved by Community Caretakers saving nearly £5,700.
Investment and Inclusion
Community Safety
Our Investment and Inclusion Team supported 704 individuals into employment, training, volunteering, youth projects as well as family and decluttering services.
199 cases of anti social behaviour were managed through our newly implemented system.
Involvement
Tenancy Support Service
2s8sm9ents s as e
We carried out 289 pre-tenancy assessments to support people into their new tenancy with us.
We have helped community groups access £9,659 worth of grants.
Housing Solutions We supported leaseholders to pay off £64,000 of the major work bills.
Rents
£251 £913
• The average amount of rent arrears was • The average amount of rent arrears owed to us by former tenants was Page 6
£ £ £ ££££ ££ ££ £
£9,659
Re-letting homes The average time we took to re-let a home was 35.95 days.
35.95 days
Could you afford to replace everything you own in your home? What would happen if your belongings were damaged by a fire? Contents insurance gives you peace of mind. Get £9,000 of cover from 86p per week.
86p per week
£9,000
If you’re over 60 you can get cover for 57p per week for £6,000.
Email us on enquiries@bronafon.org.uk or call 01633 620 111 / 0800 111 42 42 to get an application pack. /bronafon /bronafon
Do you use e-cigarettes? E-cigarettes have become a popular way to help people quit or cut down on smoking but they can be dangerous. There have been recent reports of incidents of chargers becoming overheated and causing fires in homes. The Fire Service’s advice is that if you use one of these devices, you should not leave it to charge for a long periods of time or leave it unattended.
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The feeling is mutual! How working together with you can build better communities and better lives.
When Bron Afon was set up in 2008, we became a “community mutual” housing organisation. This means that Bron Afon has made a commitment to being more than just a social landlord, renting out homes to people. It also means:
• Bron Afon is owned by and run for the benefit of its members, who are made up of tenants and Torfaen residents. • Members have a big say in the decisions we make and how we improve services to make our communities better places to live. • We offer tenants and residents support such as help to find jobs, benefits and money advice.
What do you want? During the summer, you may have seen or even popped along to our colourful Community Van, which we took on the road to visit communities throughout Torfaen. We are very grateful to everyone who took the trouble to talk to us about what really matters to them about where they live. We wanted to speak to as many tenants and residents as possible to ask them questions like: What is important to you? What would you like to see improved in your area? How would you like to get involved in Bron Afon? This is all part of our ongoing plan to look at how we can give you new ways to get involved and have a big say in what goes on in your community. If you are not involved already, now is a great time to join us.
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Annual Members’ Meeting The Annual Members Meeting (AMM) will take place on Saturday 12 September at Pontypool College, from 11am-12noon, just before the Super Surgery. Only members are allowed to vote at the AMM but you can still have your say at the Super Surgery, where you can sign up to become a member. Keep an eye on our website: www.bronafon.org.uk or you can check out our Facebook page or Twitter account for more information about the AMM. /bronafon We will also be holding a live Facebook chat on Tuesday 15 September from 4pm-6pm. It’s a chance to ask questions about becoming a member and to give us your ideas about how we can involve you in everything we do!
Super surgery ? Another chance to give us your views, find out more about our services and how you can play a part.
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Saturday 12 September from 12noon - 3pm
(just after the Annual Members’ Meeting) at Coleg Gwent, Pontypool Campus, Blaendare Road, Pontypool You can talk to us about things like:
• Getting involved and volunteering with us • How to manage your money • Reporting and sorting out anti social behaviour
We want to make sure you get the best from us... so come along and see how we can help.
• Becoming a member • Repairs • Our support services
There will be a children’s activity corner and we can offer transport. If you would like to use either or both of these, or if you want further details about the event, please call the Community Involvement Team, on 01633 620 140 / 0800 111 42 42 or email community.involvement@bronafon.org.uk Can’t be with us in person? Then reach us on Facebook or Twitter. You’ll find us at /bronafon Page 9
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chaos! Kick out the
Is your home jam packed with stuff you no longer need or didn’t know you had? We have a team of experts who can give you a hand to cut the clutter - and help others into the bargain.
Our Homes That Work decluttering service has been set up to help sort out homes which have become difficult to live in because of lack of space due to clutter. The team offers all-round, individual support to tenants who may be going through things like emotional well-being, alcohol problems, threats of eviction or down-sizing to a smaller home. They work with organisations like the Fire Service and charities like TRAC2 in Trevethin. It means they can recycle and relocate items, which in turn helps lots more vulnerable families. If you would like to find out more about our Homes That Work decluttering service, please contact Alex Bagnall, project officer, on 01633 620 111 / 0800 111 42 42 or email alex.bagnall@bronafon.org.uk.
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What to do if you have a complaint our free service can help
We hope that you never have cause to complain to us but we know that there are times when things don’t go as well as expected. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to tell us when something goes wrong so that we can sort it out for you quickly and make sure that you are satisfied with our response. Above all, we want you to be happy with our services. There are lots of ways to contact us if you have a complaint: us on 01633 620 111 or • Call 0800 111 42 42 • In person • Via our Facebook page or Twitter /bronafon
writing to Mandie Adams, liaison • Inofficer at the address on page 2 • Email Mandie.adams@bronafon.org.uk
Unhappy with Bron Afon? We investigate every complaint and work hard to resolve your problem at the first stage. From April to May this year only one complaint went to stage two where someone was unhappy with our response to their complaint. Visit www.bronafon.org/complaints/
Complaints solved at the first stage:
9
in April
13
in May
15
in June
....News in brief...News in brief...News in brief...News in brief...News in brief...
News in brief
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Is your total household income £12,500 or less? You may be entitled to Welsh Water’s HelpU tariff. It can save you up to 55% or an average £250 off your water and sewerage bill. You can find an application form on Welsh Water’s website or staff from our Income Team will be happy to help if you want to apply. More information on the scheme is available at: www.dwrcymru.co.uk/en/My-Account/Helpu Fancy getting fit for free? The Power Station on Blenheim Road is offering circuit classes for men only on Wednesdays from 12.30pm-1.30pm. For more information (and to find out about classes for women), call Kay Marsh on 07980 277 157. Gypsy, Traveller and Showpeople sites: the Council wants to speak with Gypsy and Traveller families living in or visiting Torfaen to find out their accommodation needs. Call 01495 742 302 or or email equality@torfaen.gov.uk. For more information, you can also watch this short video: http://travellerstimes.org.uk/GTAA Looking for a job? Need some help to apply? Bron Afon’s Job Club offers support with applications, form filling, online job searches and more. It’s every Wednesday, 1pm-3pm at our office in Llantarnam. Call Dafydd Hellard or Ryan Parry in our Employability Team on 01633 620 111 / 0800 111 42 42 for more details.
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Get your gas checked! As your landlord, Bron Afon has a legal duty to carry out an annual safety check on your gas appliances. This includes checking your central heating boiler and any of our fires. We also check for any gas leaks and will look over any gas cooking appliances you may own. We’ll send you an appointment card with details of when we will visit you. If we have an up to date mobile number for you, we will send you a text to remind you a couple of days before we are due to visit. If you can’t be at home on the date we’ve arranged, just give us a ring and we will be happy to arrange another time and date. If we can’t get access, we’ll leave a calling card. It will ask you to contact us within seven days to arrange a new appointment that is convenient for you. It is very important that you contact us within this time period as legal action could be taken if you don’t. You can help us make our service more efficient by giving us access to your home to check your gas. Your safety and the safety of your family comes first, so please get your gas checked! Page 11
We did it, Byways! Local resident, Dave Sinderby (centre) with Scott Walker and Roy Jones, community caretakers. (no, Dave and Roy are not related!)
Our new fencing near Mere Path in Greenmeadow is already proving popular with residents, who had become fed up with the ongoing problem of fly tipping in the area. Since the fence has gone up, the area has already seen a difference. Dave Sinderby, a tenant in the area, certainly approves. He said: “The new fence will significantly reduce fly tipping in this area and improve the appearance of the woodland.”
How we can help you love where you live more We want to improve the area outside your home and places that we manage - but we need your help. If you would like to make a difference to where you live, tell us! You can talk to any of our staff out and about in the community, call us on 01633 620 111/0800 111 42 42, email us at enquiries@bronafon.org.uk or get in touch via Facebook or Twitter
Look out for your new ‘skinny’ black bin They will be delivered to homes between September and November. Most of you will have your black wheelie bin replaced by a smaller, purple-lidded bin, which is being introduced to help the Council meet Welsh Government targets for recycling. The old bins will be collected and replaced with the new ones on the same day. You can use the wheel which came with this magazine to see exactly what you can recycle and what container to place it in.
Other waste and recycling collections Black recycling box and brown food caddy recycling collections will stay as weekly. The green waste bin and blue bag collections will stay fortnightly. There will be no changes for residents who receive medical collections. There will be no changes for residents who live in flats, or who do not get a full recycling service at the moment. Residents with assisted collections will still get them. A fortnightly nappy collection service will be introduced. Call the Council on 01495 762 200 if you would like this service.
What do I need to do? You should carry on putting out your black wheelie bin on your normal collection day. If your bin has not been replaced by the end of November, or if you have missed the swap for any reason, please call the Council on 01495 762 200.
/bronafon
We have the questions - do you have the answers?
Receive £100 when you move out This is how we reward tenants who make moving out quick and easy so a new family can move in on the same day.
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Have a clear rent account.
Give us four weeks written notice. While you’re still living there, allow us to show potential new tenants around your home and let us carry out an inspection.
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Make sure the property is decorated to a good standard. Deal with all repairs that are your responsibility and let us in your home to complete any minor repairs while you are there.
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Leave the property clean and tidy and free from rubbish. Return the keys to Bron Afon in Llantarnam by 9am on the date your tenancy ends. Provide us with a forwarding address. nswer the questions in our exit A survey.
Help us to give you a better service and to keep your details secure. You may have noticed that when you have contacted us over the past few months, we have asked you to register two security questions. We’ve done this to make sure that we hold answers that are relevant to you. It helps us to quickly identify you the next time you contact us so that we are sure we are speaking to the right person. Now we want to learn more about you and your circumstances to help us shape how we deliver our services to you personally and to our tenants as a whole. We realise that some information changes a lot, so each time you contact us, we will try to update our records about one of the following: • How you would prefer us to contact you. • Your access to internet. • Your employment. • Your personal needs or any medical conditions that could affect the service. you receive.
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What’s occurring
Membership Committee news
on the Board?
Hello everyone
David Michael, chair, Audit and Ethics Committee
As someone with family ties to the South Wales valleys, I always feel close to the area when I return and I was very pleased to be selected for membership of the Board at Bron Afon. Good housing is such an important aspect of people’s lives and it’s really pleasing to see the progress the organisation is making, as well as its contribution to the wider community.
I joined Bron Afon at the end of 2014 and since then, I’ve been really impressed with the determination of staff and members to make a difference to people’s lives and to provide good quality services. It’s important that the organisation is well governed, and our Audit and Ethics Committee has a crucial role to play in this. As chair of the Committee, there is a great deal of responsibility to make sure this happens. In the current economic climate, every penny will count and the pressures on services will increase. There are a lot of challenges ahead and we need to be prepared for them. I am a qualified accountant, married with two boys, who are currently going through GSCEs and A levels. I’ve worked in the public sector and not-for-profit organisations for many years and I’m really looking forward to making a positive contribution to Bron Afon and the Audit and Ethics Committee. Best wishes David
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with Dorothy Morland, member As usual there were no Membership Committee meetings in August but the Committee continued to be busy attending community events to meet the residents of Torfaen. This proved to be a great opportunity to hear what residents would like to see in their communities and how Bron Afon can help in the future. Bron Afon came into being in 2008 and staff and members felt it was time to look at new ways of how people can be involved to help design and improve what we deliver and how our tenants and residents would like our services to be delivered. One of the things we looked at was how we get more people to become involved members. Workshops and discussions took place alongside a series of visits to local communities with a ‘Community Van’ so that we could talk to local people face to face and get their views of Bron Afon, its services and its future and how they would like to be involved in the change process. With everyone’s views and ideas, we will be developing involvement sessions and will put together the Bron Afon the local people want. Our next BIG event is the Annual Members’ Meeting on 12 September 2015 and it is being held at Pontypool College this year. After the AMM, there will be a Super Surgery, where staff from across Bron Afon will be available to hear your views and answer any questions you may have. There will also be an opportunity to find out how YOU can become involved in shaping the future Bron Afon. If you missed the Community Van or can’t attend the Super Surgery, we still want to hear your views, which you can put forward either in person (we would love to meet you), by telephone 01633 620 111 / 0800 111 42 42 and ask for Community Involvement, by email community.involvement@bronafon.org.uk or via Facebook.
Keeping you updated and giving you more information on how well we are doing We are committed to improving our services to you and a key part of this is to review our performance on a regular basis. It’s something the Welsh Government also requires us to do. In every Community News from now on, we will give you updates on the key areas where we are doing well and the difference we have made. Most importantly, we will also let you know what we need to improve and how we are going to do it. You can also find information on how well we are doing on our website: www.bronafon.org.uk. Jill Jones, head of corporate services, will be happy to answer any questions you may have. You can contact Jill on 01633 620 111/0800 111 42 42 or email her at jill.jones@bronafon.org.uk.
Tenant satisfaction survey - we value your opinions We’ve been listening to what you’ve told us about how we’re doing and taking note of the valuable feedback you’ve given to us in the tenant satisfaction survey, which was carried out on our behalf last year. This information is important as it lets us know what you think of our services the good as well as the bad. It also means we can shape our services to meet the needs of individual tenants. Soon, we’ll be telling you what we’re doing now to make improvements in the areas you told us are not so good. We’ll publish our commitments to you on our website, via Facebook and Twitter, so keep an eye out in the coming months for this information.
Competition:
Win £50 worth of vouchers!
To be in with a chance of winning, just answer this question:
? ?
!
??
Where is our Super Surgery being held this September? • Pontypool Park • Pontypool College • Pontypool Active Living Centre Send your entries to Vicki Morgan-Curtis, communications and marketing officer, at the address on page 2 or email vicki.morgan-curtis@bronafon.org.uk. Closing date: Friday 16 October. Good luck!
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Just for leaseholders Tell us how you’d like to get involved Leaseholders decided in March that the quarterly forum was not the best way for us to consult and communicate with you. We want you to have your say in shaping the service, so please look out for a form in the post asking how you would like to get involved. We’d be grateful if you could fill it in and send it back to us.
Leasehold Review Panel This has been set up to make sure we are consistently charging leaseholders fairly for ‘major work’ carried out at their blocks. The Panel is made up of senior Bron Afon staff and their role is to:
• Check that we comply with all legislation around the consultation process. • Make sure we have all the surveys, studies and historical information to decide if work is •
needed. Suggest if each part of the work is a repair or an improvement.
Leasehold Management Service’s first internal audit In July, our leasehold management service was audited by Barcud Shared Services, a partnership between Bron Afon, Valleys to Coast Housing, Neath Port Talbot Homes and Merthyr Valley Homes. The service is overseen by a consortium committee, made up of representatives from each of the organisations. We’ll let you know the outcome of the audit in the next Community News.
Service and Policy review We have invited some leaseholders to tell us how we should go forward with certain actions recommended by the internal audit and a recent process review. They will also help us to identify any gaps in our service reviews and to shape the Leasehold Management Policy.
Team change Joanna Grenfell returns to the Leasehold Team on 12 October this year. Joanna will cover Blaenavon, Varteg, Garndiffaith, Talywain, Abersychan, Pontnewynydd, Croesyceiliog, Llanyravon, Northville, Southville, Upper Cwmbran, Thornhill, Oakfield, Pontnewydd and Ponthir. You can contact her on 01633 620 360 or email joanna.grenfell@bronafon.org.uk. We’d like to say a big thank you to, Wendie Smith, who has been a real asset during her time with us. Wendie will return to her post in our Finance Team. Autumn 2015 Bron Afon Community Housing Edition 23