FEBRUARY 2014
w e n y y e p a p r a h JOHN’S BRIEFINGS COMPLIMENTS SPOTLIGHTS PRESS COVERAGE NEW STARTERS LIFE & SOUL
TITIO E P
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PICKLES
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D • HAPPY B N I M Y ODY A PP
A WIN E OF TL BOT SKEY! I WH page 7 See
HEALTH & WELLBEING
WINTER B R U O Y H LUES IS N A B
Y H A A T P S PY! D N A
In the depths of January and February, we could all do with remembering the things we can do to cheer the spirit and shake off the cold. Here are our top tips for staying happy and fighting those winter blues!
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1. EXERCISE Whether you love it or hate it, there is no denying that exercise helps to cheer you up. You don’t have to join a gym to feel the benefits, just going for a walk and getting some air can really help to improve your mood.
2. Discover a new band or artist New year, new musical interest? Finding a new music love is a really simple way of revitalising the soul and can also have a huge impact on your mood.
HEALTH & WELLBEING
3. Do something creative Using the creative part of your brain is a great way of feeling accomplished and lifting your mood. Some great ways of exercising your creativity are: finding a new hobby, decorating a room in your house or baking.
4. Spend some quality time with family and friends Sometimes all it takes to bring you back to your happy state is simply by spending some time with the people you love. Laughing, talking and enjoying the company of others can do wonders.
6. Laugh more A wise person once said that ‘laughter is the best medicine’. Everyone has different laughter triggers and whatever yours is, make sure you do it! Whether it’s a funny TV show or spending time with friends, laughter is a proven way of improving mental wellbeing.
7. Take some time for YOU Sometimes we all need to listen to our bodies, take a break and do things that help us to relax. Whatever it is that makes you tick; having a bubble bath, going for a walk or watching your favourite TV programme, make sure you give yourself time to enjoy these things.
5. Make someone else happy today Giving and thinking about the happiness of others can be so effective in making you feel happier in yourself.
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JOHN’S BRIEFINGS
New Regulatory Approach Changing emphasis in the new approach, with less attention to detail and more on strategy, finance and risk. It ensures that housing associations are spending their money responsibly.
Housemark Benchmarking We use Housemark to benchmark our performance against other housing associations and it allows us to track our performance against competitors. We have work to do on improving bids for contracts, so benchmarking should allow us to increase our competitive edge. Over the past three years our trends on performance have been very good and now with one or two exceptions, as compared to others in Wales, we are in the high performance good cost category. Still quite a bit to do to match some English Associations but generally compare quite well with them as well.
Regulatory Outcomes 1 and 9 These two reports went to Board, the first was showing how ‘we place the people who want to use our services at the heart of our work – putting the citizen first’. We are good at putting people at the heart of what we do. There are lots of consultation exercises taking place across the organisation at the moment, such as Tenant Insight which provides invaluable data for us to target our services and meet customer needs more effectively. The second report asked us to demonstrate that “We repair homes in an efficient, timely and effective manner”. There has been a significant
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change in emphasis in how we do this work. Until last year we put significant effort into completion of works as quickly as possible. This was based on an assumption rather than evidence. We now know that tenants place a real value on doing work via appointment, turning up on time and completing in one go. We now do almost 95% via appointment and our right first time figures are also over 90%, this coupled with trade days has given us potential efficiencies and no complaints.
Training Plan MHA is committed to providing effective training to staff and receives lots of grants to enable us to offer a variety of courses. As customer care is so imperative in the commercial market, there will be a need to provide refresher training to staff just to be confident that everyone is at the same level going forward into a more commercial way of thinking. A significant part of the training will emphasise how we deal with complaints, this, along with our use of phones has caused us some concern.
Online Lettings Agency Looking at new ways of generating income for Capsel, an idea that is being explored is potential to create an online lettings agency with a database of local landlords and properties. Michele Morgan will be looking at the potential in this area.
Welsh Language Scheme This report went to Board to present MHA’s approach and action plan to making services accessible to Welsh speakers, both current and
JOHN’S BRIEFINGS REMEMBER Ebuzz is put together following John’s briefings every other month. This is your newsletter and it would be great to hear some of your stories! If you have anything you want to share, please get in touch with Sarah Kersley via InHouse, 01495 761103 or her email: sarah. kersley@monmouthshirehousing.co.uk We look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy this edition.
future. Although we have only had one Welsh request in the past, it is important for MHA to train staff to speak Welsh as in the future, we may have more requests, it’s a legal requirement and MHA are happy to find staff who wish to do it.
IT Strategy MHA has reached the stage where it needs to review its Housing Management software to see if it’s fit for purpose moving forward. A number of Customer Relationship Management systems are being considered. This work will require significant financial and staff resource so will not be undertook lightly. There is some provision in the budgets to tackle this work.
Grounds Maintenance SLA Since transfer, MCC has been responsible for cutting grass all over Monmouthshire including maintaining MHA estates. As we are unsure of the exact parameters and quantity of land, it has been difficult to judge the value of maintaining the contract. We are, however, confident that it is providing value. Going forward, we are looking at new IT kit that will allow us to measure the specific areas of land. On completion MHA then intends to put the work out to tender with an accurate specification and test the market, although simultaneously MHA will continue to see if MCC will consider setting up a cost sharing group.
Environmental WHQS This report informed Board members of the WHQS Environmental Standard and advised them of
how MHA has developed a programme to meet this standard and progress to date. It also showed what the plans and budgets are going forward. There have been some underspends as MHA underestimated how much work was required and the length of time required to carry out the necessary consultations in addition to the extra work we have found to be required once we have been on site.
Management Accounts The Management Accounts from 1st April 201331st December 2013 were taken to Board, detailing the results for individual departments and contracts. This year, the budget for photovoltaics will be spent. We have already done 1100 installations to date. This was a concern over the last few years as we had to continually roll the money forward. Tariffs go down again in May so after that date the work will not stack up.
Draft Corporate Plan This details what MHA wants to achieve over the next year, there is a huge amount of work to be done. The directorate away days have fed important information and ideas from staff into this plan.
Other Stuff Catrin Lewis – Shortlisting! A huge well done to Catrin Lewis for being shortlisted for CIH’s Rising Star Cymru award. This is a huge achievement and Catrin will now commence her journey into the Rising Star process. Cheryl Tracy won this last year and exemplifies the high calibre of staff that MHA has.
NEWPORT HOUSING TRUST Unfortunately, the NHT maintenance contract has been lost. Negotiations are underway with NHT as MHA will now receive £300k less income. Over £200k related to staffing costs and MHA must seek to ensure these costs are passed on to the new contractor. As usual there will be discussions as to whether or not TUPE will apply. MHA’s priority is to ensure that people stay in work and will argue this point strongly with the Seren Group. John will keep staff informed of progress on the negotiations.
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LATEST NEWS Changes to Local Government Pension Scheme The Local Government Pension Scheme is changing from 1st April 2014. Further information on the changes can be found on the website www. lgps2014.org The Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension department will be providing presentations on the changes here at Mamhilad at 9am on Wed 12th and Tue 18th February 2014. Please book places on the Library at M:\Library\LGPS 2014 Presentation.xlsx. Please contact HR if you cannot attend either of those dates as there might be available places at other venues in the Gwent area.
Catrin Lewis – Tenant and Resident Involvement Support Officer has been shortlisted for Rising Star Cymru 2014 Catrin Lewis is the Tenant and Resident Involvement Support Officer. Catrin joined MHA after graduating from Swansea University with a social policy degree last year. She was originally taken on as part of the Job Growth Wales Programme and she has recently had her contract extended for 12 months as she looks to take forward Youth and Disability Engagement. Catrin is determined to make her career in housing, and she is loving her time at MHA. Catrin is positive in everything she does and is committed to making the lives of MHA tenants better. She is without doubt a rising star and is a very worthy contender. I am sure she will do both herself and MHA proud in the competition and we would like to wish her all the best luck in the world. The final will take place during the CIH conference TAI 2014 (25-27th March)
Follow Catrin on Twitter @catrinplewis 6
POLICY UPDATES A Safeguarding Policy has been created to help protect the welfare of children and vulnerable adults. MHA has an important part to play in safeguarding as our work activities mean staff will regularly encounter both children and vulnerable adults. All staff have a duty of care to report any cases were they have a concern; successful safeguarding depends on a multiagency approach. The policy can be found on
COMPETITION Thank You to Staff MHA’s HQ and DLO has had a variety of new faces in and out of its teams; these are some of the young people we have been working with on the Way into Work project. The success of the project relies heavily on the work placements, to give the volunteers new experiences and get them back into a working environment and routine. We have received fantastic feedback from each and every young person that we have had here in MHA and one thing they all commented on was how they were welcomed so kindly into the organisation and treated as any other member of staff. I just wanted to say a thank you to each department that was involved in taking on a Way into Work placement, as well as everyone who welcomed these young people into the organisation with such consideration and kindness. They have all come back from their placements with such positive experiences and a huge gain in confidence and you should all know how the time you have invested in them has contributed incredibly towards this. We held a ‘Way into Work Celebration Event’ which was a real success and will be launching a ‘Monmouthshire Volunteering Commitment Pledge’ to try and get other businesses as open to volunteering as MHA has been. Thank you from the Way into Work delivery team and young people themselves! By Cath Murray - Work and Skills Support Officer
To be in with a chance of winning a bottle of whiskey just identify the member of staff described below: I work in Housing & Communities I weigh in at 11 stone 9 and a half lbs My father and father-in-law both played first class rugby for Saracens and Orrell My father was a body builder who won his class in a Mr Universe contest I removed my tee shirt in St Davids Centre to show my pecs alongside two ‘male models’ advertising a clotheswear store (Hollister). I sang ‘Islands in the stream’ at my daughter’s wedding
Please submit your answers to Sarah Kersley by Friday 28th February 2014
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THE 3C’s SERVICE
Mrs Warner would like to thank Gavin Plumley for ... “Attending to repair the sink. He is a very, very nice man. She hopes she doesn’t have any more problems but if she does she would like him to call.”
Councillor Marshall would like to thank MHA for ... “The tremendous work they have done recently in the West End of Caldicot. Recent work carried out on both the houses and particularly the flats have in my opinion made a significant impact of the aesthetics of the area.”
Mrs Lawrence would like to thank Martyn Lynch for ... “Attending a repair to a loose aerial over the Christmas period. He did an excellent job and she was very pleased with the way he went about it. She is very grateful.”
Mrs Heath would like to thank Chanelle Baker for ... “Being very helpful and cheerful. It’s as if she has a smile in her voice. Chanelle was so helpful in arranging a time that suited me. It is lovely to speak to someone who is so helpful and puts the customers needs first.”
Russell Thomas from SSE would like to thank Sarah Jones for ... “All of the support and help she has displayed over the last six months. You really have been a great ambassador for MHA and they should be very proud to have you in their employ, they have a great asset in you.”
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PICKLES
Katrina Surtees has “pickled” Gareth Park for .... “Being so organised and using excellent communication skills informing the team and out of hours officers of standby alterations. Thanks :)”
Tania O’Neil has “pickled” Cheryl Tracy, Tanya Brannigan and Julie McKim for .... “Organising an amazing away day! Thank you!”
Domini Barnes has “pickled” Scott Collier for .... “Helping out when he is REALLY busy – A big thank you.”
Katrina Surtees has “pickled” Chanelle Baker for ....”Having excellent customer service and receiving a compliment from one of our tenants daughters for her helpfulness.”
Do you think your colleagues should be recognised for their additional work efforts? Going above and beyond customer expectation and showing a good service. Then award them a pickle via InHouse. A prize will be awarded to the employee with the most pickles during the quarter.
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TEAM SPOTLIGHT
NEIGHBOURHOOD OFFICERS SPOTLIGHT
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TEAM SPOTLIGHT The Neighbourhood Officers are split across North and South. Clayton Charles is Senior Neighbourhood Officer for the North and in his team are Lauren, Geraint, Terry, Kerris & Julie. Andrea James is Senior Neighbourhood Officer for the South and in her team are Angela, Jane, Helen, Mandy, Caro, Tina & Nic Supported by Charlie and Heather who carry out an administration role... The Neighbourhood Team deal mainly with independent and self sufficient tenants but we also deal with some of the most vulnerable tenants. Our role is to help all tenants live together in cohesive & sustainable communities. Our functions include:-
Viewings & Sign Ups We carry out viewing and sign ups of properties, signing tenancy agreements, associated paperwork and identifying any support needs. We carry out new tenant visits within 6 weeks to discuss what their responsibilities are and what they can expect from MHA as a landlord. This is when we start to build a good working relationship with our tenants.
Did you know?
We signed up 327 new tenants last year.
Support Whether it’s at sign up, an arrears visit or an ASB visit, Neighbourhood Officers are trained to recognise varying support needs. Often, there can be a host of support issues identified so it’s at this stage we make referrals to both internal and external support agencies. This is essential in supporting tenants and their family members in addressing any needs they may have to help them remain in their home.
Did you know?
We currently work with over 25 internal and external support agencies.
Rent Collection One of the primary roles of the Neighbourhood Officer is rent collection. We communicate with our tenants using whatever method is best for them, including letters, texts, telephone contact and home visits. We aim to intervene as early as possible when a payment is missed to find out why that often referring tenants to our Moneywise service for further budgeting and debt advice.
Did you know?
We successfully collect 98.34% of the current rent due. This means last year we collected £8 million in rent.
Legal Action for Rent Arrears At times, despite our best efforts to make contact, tenants do not engage with us or pay their rent.. This eventually means we have to take court action. Neighbourhood Officers attend court where we have to swear on Oath and represent MHA by presenting the District Judge with our evidence of the case. We encourage all tenants we have had to take legal action against to seek legal advice and attend the court hearing. In most instances the judge listens to all evidence submitted and if they feel it’s appropriate will award MHA a Possession Order. This is suspended as long as the tenant pays their rent plus an extra amount per week in order to reduce arrears. If they keep to this arrangement, no further action is taken. If this order isn’t kept and we have made numerous attempts to contact the tenant (including out of hours calls), the only action left is to apply for an eviction. A date will be set and a bailiff, carpenter, Senior and Neighbourhood Officer will attend the property and change the locks. Photos are taken of any items left at the property and the tenant is given 28 days to reclaim their items. Whilst this is a very unpleasant part of our job, we know that we have done our very best in trying to help the tenant(s) remain in their home.
Did you know?
Neighbourhood Officers secured 40 Court Orders and carried out 12 evictions in the last year.
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TEAM SPOTLIGHT
Welfare Reform
Concern Cards
The Neighbourhood Officers have had to work even harder since 1st April 2013 to support tenants affected by Welfare Reform. We are currently supporting 319 tenants affected by the Bedroom Tax - helping them complete Discretionary Housing Payment applications to MCC to secure financial help to meet part of the shortfall, identifying those who want to downsize or mutually exchange and keeping regular contact with them to ensure they keep paying their rent. We have 8 families affected by the Benefit Cap and 119 tenants affected by Non Dependant Deductions.
From the 1st December 2013 we relaunched our Concern Cards; these are so staff outside of the Neighbourhood Team can raise concerns they may have about a tenant. Concerns include: someone not using their heating, no food in the house, wilful damage of the property and signs of a tenant not coping. Staff can call the Community Services Team who will raise it with the appropriate Neighbourhood Officer. The Neighbourhood Officer will investigate the concern and then give feedback to the person who raised it.
Did you know?
Due to a recent loophole identified 47 of our tenants have been found exempt from Bedroom Tax and have been refunded the shortfall in Housing Benefit.
Anti-Social Behaviour Neighbourhood Officers deal with every instance of ASB except where violence or domestic abuse is involved. ASB cases that we have dealt with in the past year include complaints about verbal abuse, vandalism, pets and animals, drugs and alcohol, criminal behaviour, harassment, intimidation and threatening behaviour. Our emphasis is on early prevention, identifying any risk and providing support to both the complainant and the perpetrator. As part of this support we keep in fortnightly contact with the complainant throughout the case. When all early interventions and non legal remedies have been exhausted, we work closely with the Community Safety Team and refer cases to them to consider the appropriate legal action.
Did you know?
MHA are only the 2nd Registered Social Landlord in Wales to achieve the Housemark Accreditation Standard for dealing with ASB.
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Estate Management Part of our role is ensuring the communities our tenants and residents live in are clean, safe and tidy. Issues include dumped rubbish, abandoned cars, trees and unkempt communal areas. These are identified by community staff whilst on site and via regular walkabouts in our neighbourhoods. These involve local councillors, police, tenants and residents who work in partnership and agree what needs doing, who’s responsible and when it will be done.
Did you know?
We are currently working on a number of projects including working with the Youth Offending Team on a pilot project called Community Payback, where young offenders help to clean and improve a number of our communal areas.
All the above are the core functions of the Neighbourhood Team; however we carry out many other tasks including Mutual Exchanges, Successions, Assignments, and much more. If you would like to job shadow the Neighbourhood Team, please discuss with your line manager for permission and contact Clayton Charles or Andrea James.
Look out for a Spotlight on ‘Maintenance’ in the next edition.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
GOT AN IDEA?
FILL OUT A FORM ON INHOUSE
EXPLORE OPTIONS
GET IT DESIGNED
Please contact Graham Harvey on 2091 or email graham.harvey@monmouthshirehousing.co.uk
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STARTERS & LEAVERS
Graham Harvey Graphic Designer I joined MHA on 13th January. Since graduating from Liverpool John Moores Uni in 2001, I’ve worked as a Graphic Designer at several companies. These include Caerphilly County Borough Council and most recently at the University of Wales, Newport, where I worked for 7 years in the Marketing department. I live in Pontypridd with my partner and our one year old daughter (+2 cats). My passions in life include music (creating and listening to), art and Liverpool Football Club, who I try to go and see as much as I can.
Who would you like to be stuck in a lift with and why? Preferably a lift engineer, but Charlie Brooker would be my second choice.
Katie Perry Community Services Advisor Hi my name is Katie Perry, not to be confused with that very plain looking American singer! This is a complete change of career for me as prior to redundancy last year I worked with the Crown Prosecution Service for 14 years as a Paralegal Officer . I am married with 4 grown up (I use that term very loosely) sons. My youngest son James also works at MHA. I have been with MHA for just about a month and have been made to feel very welcome.
Who would you like to be stuck in a lift with and why? It would have to be the engineer! It makes me panic to think about being stuck in a lift! If the engineer had a passing resemblance to Brad Pitt I wouldn’t complain.
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Why not say hello to all the new starters on
STARTERS & LEAVERS
Paul West Community Services Advisor Work wise I have worked for Torfaen Council for 25 years in the Reprographics Dept and then Bron Afon for 5 years in the Control Centre. Hobby wise, my passion is Landscape Photography as I love being on top of mountains and being along the coast. I ventured up to the NW Highlands last year which was quite an adventure. My photo’s can be viewed by googling - flickr pfwest48 photostream. I’m hoping to set up a website soon. I hope to plan a trip back up to the Highlands this Spring time.
Who would you like to be stuck in a lift with and why? I would say David Jason as Del boy for a laugh or for his passion for physics and astronomy Brian Cox.
VOLUNTEERING
Give & Gain Day Give and Gain day is a National day of employee volunteering and will be held on 16th May 2014. We are looking for staff to be involved and make suggestions of what you think would be a good community project and even get involved with the project on the day.
This could be working with, young or older people, indoors or outdoor, benefiting MHA tenants and communities. 3 ways to get involved: • Put forward suggestions for Community Projects • Join the staff working group • Get involved on the Day! Look out for further information coming soon from Cheryl Tracy, however if you would like to express an interest or have any suggestions in the meantime please contact Cheryl.
For more information about Give and Gain day please see http://www.bitc.org.uk/programmes/give-gain-day
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HEALTH & WELLBEING
Cycle Challenge As you may already be aware, a number of individuals from the housing sector are undertaking a cycling challenge from North to South Wales to raise funds for a former housing association member of staff who has two young children and a rare form of cancer. Nik needs financial support to receive specialist treatment and care. The cycling ride will take place from 28th February until 2nd March. Two of our staff members Tony Clark and Gareth Pope will be taking part in the cycling challenge. If you would like to donate, please go to www.gofundme.com/hope4nikkicycle. You can follow the progress of the cycling team on the group’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook. com/cycle4nik
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As part of the fundraising activity, members of staff from across the housing sector are being encouraged to wear red on Friday 21st February in support of Nik’s cause. Wales will be playing against France in Cardiff on the evening of the 21st, so it’s a good opportunity to show your support for Wales as well as for the ‘Cycle for Nik’ campaign.
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT AND WEAR RED ON 21ST FEBRUARY AND DONATE £1 TO THE CAUSE. THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR SUPPORT.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT
MY TYPICAL DAY 7:00am
Alarm goes off, dog jumps on me, I push dog off the bed and get dressed for walkies. Carry dog down the stairs because he won’t go down them. Leave house for a stroll around the block.
7:30am
Get back to house and feed Barnii. Jump in the shower and get dressed for work. Cook scrambled eggs on toast and watch some breakfast tele whilst eating.
8:45am
I leave for work.
9:00am
HELLO! I’m Dafydd Evans, MHA’s Lettings Officer
IN THREE-WORDS Shy, retiring, fibber
Arrive in work. First thing I do is check for any LCHO applications that need verifying. The Lettings Department is quite varied from day to day and rotates weekly from advertising to allocating. Duties include verifying applications, seeking proofs, applicant visits, advertising voids, allocating properties and a hundred other things in between. I’m also overlooking the intermediate rents/market rents section and would love to help expand this further as this is my background and something which I enjoy doing. I’m still new to MHA and the team have been really patient with all my question asking. However, I repay them with non stop coffee. Sometimes I feel like the most expensive tea boy in Monmouthshire.
5:00 pm
Finish work and head home. Get licked to within an inch of my life by dog, change into walkies attire and take him for a good long walk. Get back and feed him. I spend a lot of my evenings visiting family and friends or whoever will provide a free meal for me. Barnii usually comes too.
10:00pm SAY HELLO TO Dafydd...
Anytime from 10.00 pm to silly o’clock I retire to bed, excited in the fact that when I wake up, I will be returning to MHA.
via
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LIFE & SOUL
DRY JANUARY Following the overindulgences of the Christmas and New Year part season, Alcohol Concern campaigned again during January to encourage people to reduce their alcohol consumption. Karen Williams, Peter Thomas and John Keegan took up the challenge for the month.
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John Keegan “As the son of a publican and having worked in pubs for 20 years, as a family we were fundamentally opposed to anyone else having a dry January. But the pub has since been sold, we’ve rejoined “normal” society and my take is a little different. I have taken up the challenge over the last two years as a way of repaying my body for the over-indulgence (food and drink) in the lead up to and including Christmas period. Looking at the simple maths, if I exclude even normal intake over January my whole year alcohol consumption will go down a whopping 8.5%. I’ve got to admit I find it quite easy – there isn’t much going on in January anyway so I don’t miss out on many occasions where there is an opportunity to drink. Even when going to matches in January, where with a few friends we would normally have a few drinks, I go later and leave for home immediately, the more enjoyable matches are in February anyway. I miss the social interaction part but like most people I will just drink with a meal at home and the same company is there regardless of whether there is alcohol or not and I enjoy their company as much, with or without a glass of Spain’s finest. So although no real highs, no lows either.
OUR INTRANET
NO SMOKING DAY
12TH MARCH 2014
STAFF MESSAGE TO: EVERYONE
I’ve got to admit I feel great, I’ve been lucky as regards health anyway, as I rarely if ever feel unwell. So the main difference is feeling slightly less groggy on weekend mornings as I rarely, if ever, drink mid-week anyway so no difference there. I’m pretty much of the opinion that I can’t do anything that might affect work performance, so only ever have a drink at the weekend. I think the main difference interestingly is that January doesn’t seem as long when there is no alcohol. Because I get up feeling great I tend to do more which in turn makes me feel even better, so instead of lounging around at home I’m out on the bike with my youngest, he’s 8 and we cycle about 20-25 km every Saturday regardless of the weather, play rugby – weather permitting on a Sunday and back out on the bikes for another 20-25km if we are feeling up to it. I would highly recommend cycling at this time of the year – my son and I regularly have the much vaunted and publicised Taff Trail to ourselves at the weekend and its great. We stop off for a drink (coffee and hot chocolate) at a riverside cafe and enjoy each other’s company – it all adds to the sense of health and well being. As regards changes after January, I’m still not sure, but will probably change habit a bit, a little less wine and maybe a beer instead, I also think I’ll try and go out more and meet friends, it’s too easy to stay at home these days. Meeting up with friends over a couple of drinks is probably healthier all round as we need to keep ourselves emotionally as well as physically fit to fully enjoy life.”
The Car Wash spreadsheet is now available on InHouse for you to book your car in for it’s monthly clean.
STAFF MESSAGE TO: EVERYONE
We are shortly looking to upgrade InHouse and relaunch with a new look. We will be sending out a short survey about how it is now, if you use it and what you would like to see on it. Look out for the survey in the next few weeks and let us know what you think.
This and much, MUCH more can be found on 19
AWAY DAYS
Property Services The theme throughout the day was “Value for Money”. Discussed how far we have progressed with WHQS. Looked back at what the DSO has completed over the past 12 months and what we will be working towards in the next 12 months. Discussed CAPSEL and how we will move forward with it. The day started with an ice breaker game where Karena Sainsbury and Kelvin Mustow came head to head in the final but Karena made the winning move and Kelvin was defeated. Sue Kidd provided some rather foolish Health & Safety disaster pictures for everyone to browse throughout the day. Each team had to provide a “caption”. The winning team was (Greg Jones, Katrina Surtees, Derek Bearcroft, Simon Saunders, Nico Edwards, Dave Maloney and Eva Attfield) with ‘I’m not using it because I’m not picking cherries’. Before lunch Katrina Surtees held “The price is right quiz” where teams had to guess costs of various things from the annual cost of
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providing the Repairs Maintenance budget to the cost of a full breakfast roll from the Burger van at ‘The Bryn’. The winning team was (Becky Hoggins, Jane Williams, Nick Brown, Mike Metters, Selwyn Monk, David Rees, Lester Parry, Adrian Evans). Following lunch we continued with the “Value for Money” theme and had a workshop session where each team was a Consultancy for a recently new Housing Association that needed to make improvements on budget expenditure, performance, tenant satisfaction etc. Each team made a presentation board for their consultancies recommendations and all teams had to place a vote on the most creative presentation and another for the most innovative ideas. The winners for the most creative presentation was (Kim Fielding, Chanelle Baker, Gary Park, Shane Kavanagh, Daniel Yandle, Craig Falconer, Owain Israel and Levi Mineur). The winners for the most innovative ideas was (Katrina Surtees, Richard Bell, Clare Thomas-Parr, Stacey Edwards, Tim Redwood, Hayni John, Patricia Jones, Marc Weaving and Stella Strongman). The day was enjoyed by all and plenty of fresh ideas were discussed to consider for future growth and development of the Property Services Department.
AWAY DAYS
Resources and Corporate Services The day kicked off with an introduction from John Keegan who gave an overview of the last years achievements and some of the challenges we have coming up this year.
Time seemed to run away with us as teams had a lot of discussion around their feedback, therefore we didn’t have time to do the competition, so there was no winner and everyone was ready for their lunch.
David and Ian presented us with the challenges they see their Directorates facing particularly some of the areas Resources and Corporate can support in and what they see as their priorities for the future.
• Methods of Communication
We split into workshops and concentrated on 2 challenges from each directorate and how we felt we can support their objectives, we also concentrated on one area for improvement which the Directorates thought we could improve. Each team then fed back to David and Ian.
• Getting People Interested in Finance and Budgeting Issues
The afternoon workshop we split into different groups and was presented with a problem solving exercise from Resources and Corporate Services Team these were;
• Improve the return of paperwork to HR • Software Training
We then had some fun and games, playing Catchphrase, Family Fortunes, pub quizzes and Wii tennis.
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AWAY DAYS with the Corporate Planning process, as well as the wider context that housing is currently working in. David’s last message was to encourage staff to participate and enjoy the day!
Housing and Communities Directorate This year the Housing and Communities Directorate held its first ‘Staff-Fest’ which gave staff the opportunity to come together to build relationships, celebrate achievements and plan for the year ahead. As the name suggests ‘Staff-Fest’ had a festival theme with bunting, music and tables decorated with wellies!! Staff were welcomed through the door with a coloured wristband and given their ‘Line Up’ for the day. They were also encouraged to come in festival/casual dress and were assisted throughout the day by stewards! The day kicked off with an introduction from David who provided the day’s context and how it fits in
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After David had set the scene, staff split into their departments and wrote down how other departments make their jobs easier and what other teams should be proud of in the past year. These were then fed back to the wider room with lots of clapping and cheering! It was amazing to see quite how much each team had achieved in the previous year and it was a good opportunity for staff to say thank you to their colleagues who make their jobs easier or possible. A special mention must go to the most helpful person in the Directorate – Nigel Casson who had his very own cheer! After recognising the Directorate’s achievements we got everyone up on their feet as Karen introduced MHA’s version of ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’. Our lucky winners were Alyn Weaver and Alan Webber. (It must have been something in the name!). Once everyone had relaxed and settled into the day we got cracking on the important stuff and split into individual workshops. The theme for the morning workshops was ‘Taking Stock’ and the 6 groups looked at 3 different themes. These were: • Digital Inclusion • Value for Money • Staff Engagement and Team Working Staff were provided with information packs and 3-4 key questions which they considered as a group. All staff contributed to the workshops and there were some really great ideas which stemmed from them. On completion of the workshop everyone came back into the main room to take part in a short but fun welly decorating exercise, with every table being given a mystery box full of materials to jazz up their festival boots! After what was a full, jam packed morning we then headed off to lunch! The afternoon began with a round-up of the morning, which included feedback on the main themes and ideas from the morning workshops, as well as the all important welly competition winners, which were a welly version of Cher and Sonny! Staff then split into their workshop groups which had a theme of ‘Moving On’. The 6 groups
SOCIAL EVENT considered the following: • Managing Resource Intensive Neighbourhoods • Marketing and Managing our Assets • Older People and Future Proofing Again each group considered and discussed 3-4 key questions and focused on our service delivery into the future and whether what we were doing now was ‘fit for purpose’. Again each room was buzzing with ideas and conversation and staff fed back via their sheets. The day ended with a MYSTERY activity and by 2.30pm staff were trying to guess what this might be. There was a lot of nervous excitement and apprehension in the room when they found out they’d be singing!! We started the activity with some warm up exercises and then the men separated from the women and we spent the next hour learning a well known song. Once each group had learnt their part of the song we came back into the same hall and sang ‘Walking on Sunshine’ together, which sounded much better than we imagined it would! The end of the song marked the end of our first H & C Staff-Fest and a lot of car journey’s home with the drivers singing ‘Walking on Sunshine WoooaH!!’ We’re already looking forward to next year... PS. Throughout the day we also held a ‘Big Idea 2014’ Competition which encouraged staff to write down and enter their big idea for the year. The winners of the competition were Bill Fitzpatrick and Claire Howells with their Induction for new tenant’s idea! Well done both!
A L L I C S PRI ESERT D E H T OF QUEEN usical the m
Having something to give us a laugh in January was the aim of this Social Trip, and didn’t we laugh! A mix of 20 MHA staff and some family members came to the show which follows the story of two drag queens and a transsexual on a bus trip across Australia, and starred Jason Donovan. Full of crude jokes, fabulous costumes and singalong songs such as Go West, Don’t Leave Me This Way and I Will Survive, it was a perfect pick-me-up after Christmas. Some memorable characters include the drunk in the bar with the droopy appendages and the Thai bride doing unspeakable things with ping-pong balls.
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Tweet (@mon_housing) If you are an MHA tenant please complete our ‘It’s All About You’ survey for a chance to win £250 http://goo.gl/2MWusC
Tweet (@mon_housing) If you want to know more about our Disabled Tenants’ Communications Group call Catrin on 01495 761007. We have events in the next 2 weeks.
Tweet (@MelinHomesJan 10) Joining forces with @MonmouthshireCC @CitizensAdvice @ Mon_Housing @CharterHousing to ‘Get Monmouthshire OnLine’. pic.twitter.com/SZrBCS3VvG
Tweet (@AsbriPlanningJan 8) News: consent secured for 16 units in #Chepstow on behalf of @Mon_Housing comprising a mix of houses and flats. #planning
The Salvation Army and Dads Can retweeted you Dec 23: Our staff have worn some very festive Christmas Jumpers today to raise money for @salvationarmyuk pic. twitter.com/M7E0ghViCp
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Save Energy Don’t leave your mobile on charge through the night, it only needs a couple of hours. A lot of people use their tumble dryer this time of year, de-fluff your dryer. Make sure your tumble dryer’s filters are fluff free. It will help it to dry efficiently and don’t dry longer than needed.
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