East Thames Annual Review 2009

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THAMES

30 ES YE

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BUILDING A BRIGHTER FUTURE TOGETHER

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ANNUAL REVIEW: 2008-09

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THAMES

30 ES YE

EBRAT EL

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About East Thames Group

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We are a registered social landlord and social regeneration charity, this year celebrating our 30th year. We are the largest housing association operating solely in east London and Essex and are among London’s top 15.

Our mission is ‘to make a positive and lasting contribution to the neighbourhoods in which we work’.

We own and manage more than 13,500 homes, as well as providing a broad range of services to improve opportunity and quality of life, care for people with particular needs, create better neighbourhoods, and bring communities together.

We are driven by our four core values: customer focus, ambition, professionalism and leadership.

We are a parent organisation with three main operational subsidiaries:

– A resident-focused organisation that offers a wide range of affordable housing options in high quality developments, including low-cost rented homes and schemes to help ¿rst-time buyers get the home for them.

– Runs more than 80 care schemes across east London and (sse[, providing residential and respite accommodation and Àoating support to about 2,000 people with particular needs, including older people, people with mental health needs, and women and children seeking refuge.

– Our social regeneration arm, working to raise aspirations, promote community cohesion, and give people a chance to succeed. It does this through foyer accommodation for young people, employment and training services, arts programmes, children’s centres, and health and sustainable living projects.

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Contents

click: jumps to the page

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................ 04 Our work, borough by borough .............................................................................................................. 06 Serving our customers ......................................................................................................................................... 08 Engaging residents and communities ......................................................................................... 12 Tackling homelessness ....................................................................................................................................... 18 Helping people get the job for them ............................................................................................... 22 Empowering people to achieve .............................................................................................................. 24 Meeting support needs ......................................................................................................................................... 26 Bringing families together .............................................................................................................................. 30 Raising standards of homes and neighbourhoods ................................................ 34 Regenerating east London and Essex ........................................................................................ 38 Promoting sustainable living ..................................................................................................................... 44 Strengthening the organisation ............................................................................................................. 48 Performance overview ........................................................................................................................................... 52 Governance ............................................................................................................................................................................. 54

Rising to challenges Bob Chilton, Chair, East Thames Group 04 Celebrating our 30th anniversary this year caused me to reÀect back to ¿ve years ago, when I had ¿rst joined the East Thames board, and we were in the midst of celebrating the Group’s 25th year. At that time, I used a phrase to describe East Thames that still rings true today – “head in the clouds, feet on the ground”.

What I meant by this was that East Thames was an organisation with vision and ambition, an organisation committed to leading the way and achieving great things for the communities it serves. %ut at the same time, East Thames is an organisation with its feet ¿rmly planted on the ground and its roots ¿rmly established in east London and Esse[. Our focus on this – very exciting and rapidly changing – part of the country means that we have been able to develop real expertise and understanding of the landscape we’re operating in: the needs of local people and how best to work with them to raise aspirations, improve quality of life, and release potential.

And because our feet are on the ground, we are able to respond to the challenges in our operating environment. Apart from impacting on our income from fewer house sales, the recession has meant there is even more need for our vital services to support residents in ¿nancial dif¿culty, to prevent anti-social behaviour, to boost opportunity and get people back into work, and to tackle homelessness.

What stands out for me in the past year is our ability to adapt and respond to these challenges – from introducing our innovative Rent Now, Buy Later scheme for aspiring home owners (see page 41), to launching our ¿rst strategy for tackling homelessness (see page 18), to engaging all our staff in a drive to provide better value for money (see page 51).

Of course, vital to our ongoing success as a provider of high-quality housing, care and support, and social regeneration services, is the passion and dedication of our staff and board members, and the support and commitment of our partners. My thanks to you all.

A year of transformation June Barnes, Chief Executive, East Thames Group 05 2008-09 has been an exciting year for us.

We’re now in our 30th year of operation, and in celebrating this milestone we’ve been reÀecting on both the past and our future direction of travel.

When we were founded in 1979, under the name East London Housing Association, The Village People were storming the charts with YMCA, Mad Max was showing at the cinema, and social housing was about to undergo a massive transformation, with right to buy legislation coming in and responsibility for developing new social housing shifting to housing associations. We owned 2,000 homes and employed 83 staff.

Today, we own and manage more than 13,500 homes and employ about 800 staff. We have become much more than a housing association – offering care and support services and social and economic regeneration programmes alongside high quality affordable housing. We have grown not just in size, but become a major part of the social capital of east London and Essex.

We have come to be recognised as leaders in many respects – in developing successful, high density housing, delivering foyer services for young people, and in the provision of a broad range of social regeneration initiatives to tackle social exclusion and give people a chance to succeed.

In 2008-09 our achievements include opening seven children’s centres in Essex, which are going from strength to strength (see page 30) welcoming the ¿rst residents into our new foyer in Barking, which will be a hub for young people’s services (see page 21); and completing Grand Union Place, a 500-home canal-side development in an overcrowded part of Tower Hamlets (see page 42). We are also proud to have signed a contract to deliver 1,379 affordable homes in the Athletes’ Village as part of Triathlon Homes, alongside our partners Southern Housing Group and First Base (see page 43). You can read about all of these and more in this review.

Essential to all of these achievements is great partnership working, so I want to thank all those organisations that have worked with us in the past year. We look forward to working with you for many years to come.

Our work, borough by borough

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260 1310

%

%

313 695 170 Redbridge

155 214 Waltham Forest

%

%

539 1183 31

785 3688 132 687 88

Tower Hamlets

Newham

Stock owned and/or managed, 31 March 2009

3,162 Shared ownership General needs & keyworker 7,639 574 % Temporary accommodation 1,626 Supported housing 444 Other usage 13,445 TOTAL

416 180

% 4

69

Havering

311 434

% 0

162

Barking & Dagenham

Other usage and elsewhere in UK: 181

%

359 147 82 222 Essex

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08

Š Matt Chisnall 2008

Serving our customers

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Serving our customers At the heart of delivering our mission is SURYLGLQJ ¿UVW UDWH VHUYLFHV WKDW DUH LQ WXQH ZLWK our customers’ needs and interests.

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RESIDENTS INVOLVED

In 2008-09 we made some fundamental changes to the way we serve residents and the wider community, already resulting in an improved experience for our customers.

East Thames Calendar Annual performance report for residents 2007-08

UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMERS BETTER

Our promises, your services

A guide to the service standards you can expect

We carried out a major resident proÂżling exercise, so we can tailor our services to meet their needs. We collected data such as languages spoken, disabilities and preferences for getting in touch. :H QRZ KDYH SURÂżOH GDWD RQ more than 90% of residents.

Donna Poulton, resident of 27 years

We started to use this to provide more intelligent services, such as: ‡ telling repairs staff about support needs before a visit; ‡ providing rent statements in different formats like Braille; ‡ offering Àoating support to residents with vulnerabilities.

We plan to continually update the data, and use it to adapt our services whenever possible.

We also improved the way we monitor customer satisfaction, introducing ‘post-experience surveys’ so that after using a service customers can tell us what

worked well and what could have been better. In 2008-09, 3,250 customers responded to these.

We introduced a more consistent approach to handling enquiries, compliments and complaints, and have been working to ensure that we make good use of this valuable feedback to shape our services. In 2009-10 we will be encouraging feedback from groups that we have identiÂżed as being less likely to give us their comments.

76.2

%

of residents are satisÂżed with our overall service

A FRESH APPROACH TO VISITOR ENQUIRIES We have ensured that our customers beneÂżt from our new head ofÂżce as much as

97

%

of visitor enquiries between September 2008 and April 2009 were resolved there and then by our front of house team....

our staff. The open, colourful reception area is a shared space designed to welcome all the community. As well as an arts exhibition and public café, it hosts our new front of house service, providing a onestop-shop for visitor enquiries.

This has been a resounding success, praised by Quality Housing Services’ inspectors, and most importantly our customers, for the convenient and helpful service it offers.

commended in the 2009 Civic Trust Awards. Judges said: “It is inspiring to see a social landlord investing in a high quality building.”

7KH ¿OP FOLS EHORZ VKRZV D member of our front of house team being nominated for our VWDII DZDUGV

changed the way we deliver repairs and maintenance.

Residents had told us that they wanted the process of reporting repairs to be easier, to be given a speci¿c appointment time, and repairs consistently carried out to a high standard, if possible in one visit.

In April 2008 we took on new contractors, and introduced higher service standards (see page 36).

We have already had some great feedback from residents:

On average visitors have to wait just two and a half minutes to see an advisor.

“I want to express my appreciation for what I consider to be outstanding customer service.”

- JL, Newham

Our head of¿ce has also been used for community events, including a WellBeing Day for care scheme residents and the launch of a YouthBank project led by young people.

RESHAPING OUR REPAIRS SERVICE

East Thames head of¿ce was

At the start of 2008-09, we

“The grounds team have done an excellent job. The residents are so pleased.”

- PN, Newham © Matt Chisnall 2008

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Engag

12

ging residents and communities

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14

Engaging

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72.5

%

residents satisÂżed with views being taken into account

RESIDENT PANELS SURVEYS MYSTERY SHOPPING LOCAL RESIDENT MEETINGS FOCUS GROUPS

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We understand that building communities is about more than bricks and mortar; it is about creating a place where residents want to live.

Understanding what our residents need and want is extremely important to us – we can only make a real difference to the neighbourhoods in which we work if we listen to residents and give something back in response.

Therefore we have a range of ways of collecting residents’ feedback (see below) to shape our services around them.

We also use this feedback, along with customer proÂżling information, to ensure we are offering community activities that meet their diverse needs.

RESIDENT FEEDBACK We have many different ways for residents to engage with us and give their feedback, so they can Âżnd a way that suits them.

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COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

CUSTOMER PANELS

Creating a feeling of community can help to overcome social problems such as cultural barriers and anti-social behaviour, and means our estates are safer, cleaner, happier places for our residents to live.

Our community involvement team coordinates several resident consultation panels, including the East Living Customer Panel. This gives East Living customers the chance to meet with Board members and give their ideas and feedback on our care and support services at a strategic level. It currently has 12 members. This panel has been so successful that we have recently started Customer Panels for every operational area of the Group.

We offer plenty of chances for our residents and others living locally to get involved in community activities. For example, our community centres hold regular family fun days and events for children in the summer (see page 32). Our dedicated community involvement team works with our residents and the local community to promote engagement opportunities, such as being involved in a resident panel, and run a number of projects to promote social inclusion.

continued >>

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Engaging residents and communities continued VOLUNTEERING PROJECT In 2008-09 we celebrated a successful year of volunteering with our Âżrst Volunteer Recognition Awards. Our fantastic volunteers include residents, staff from East Thames and partner organisations, and local community members.

Projects include gardening in our care schemes, painting and decorating residents’ homes and a befriending group. The befriending group is made up of elderly residents from our care schemes. They meet regularly and take part in free activities, such as the Mayor’s festival and a tour of Hyde Park.

2,500 hours have been dedicated to community projects by 42 volunteers since the start of our volunteering programme in April 2007.

One volunteer, Jane, found out about volunteering from her neighbourhood manager. Jane says: “I have really enjoyed being a volunteer. I’ve picked up lots of new skills and it’s made me feel conÂżdent about job hunting. I’m hoping it is the Âżrst step back into employment. I particularly enjoyed putting together a newsletter for residents at one of the East Living schemes.â€?

ARTS AND CULTURE PROGRAMMES East Potential’s arts programmes give our residents and other local people the chance to express themselves creatively while gaining skills and improving their employability.

As part of our dedication to arts and culture we have created a gallery space in the reception area of our head ofÂżce. This provides a focal point for our arts and culture activities, enabling us to showcase artwork to the local community and our visitors. ,Q LWV ÂżUVW \HDU (DVW *DOOHU\ KDG four exhibitions, open for free to the public six days a week.

451

people got involved in our arts programmes in 2008-09. Of these, 70% were East Thames residents.

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Young people living in our foyers have also been given the opportunity to gain quali¿cations through our arts programmes for the ¿rst time this year. Funding from external partners has allowed us to use the media suite at our Focus E15 Foyer to deliver courses including ¿lm production, music production and digital animation. Along with our life-skills courses, these programmes build young people’s con¿dence and develop creative skills that can bene¿t them and the wider community.

In 2009-10 £100,000 of funding from the LDA, London Councils,

Barclays and Merchant Taylors will allow us to deliver media courses to young people across six east London %RURXJKV FXOPLQDWLQJ LQ D ¿OP festival led by young people.

It’s not just our foyer residents who benefit from our arts and culture programmes. Family fun days offering parents and children the chance to take part in workshops with professional artists are an important part of our East Gallery exhibitions, while partnerships with Free Form Arts Trust and the Victoria and Albert Museum have enabled us to run arts courses at our community centres.

A course at Winsor Park in 2008 gave young residents the chance to learn music production skills. Following this, some residents were inspired to apply for funding for new recording equipment for their community centre (see page 32).

SHIFT:

These included Shift, an exhibition by foyer residents past and present. This included portraits representing the daily lives of foyer residents around the UK, put together by former Redbridge foyer resident and photographer Simon Montgomery. 6HH ERWWRP ULJKW

Tackling ,Q ZH ODXQFKHG RXU ÂżUVW GHGLFDWHG strategy for tackling homelessness.

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This brought together our approach to helping residents maintain their tenures, increasing economic opportunity, and supporting those in housing need in the wider community to secure stable, longterm accommodation – goals that became increasing important as the year went on.

97

residents used our debt advice service between November 2008 (when it was launched) and April 2009.

HELPING PEOPLE HOLD ON TO THEIR HOMES East Thames has always played an active role in helping people sustain independent living and reducing homelessness within local neighbourhoods. But these are increasingly important parts of what we do.

In 2008-09 we introduced a dedicated support service for residents offering advice on dealing with debt, claiming beneÂżts and managing money.

We ran a campaign to raise awareness of this and improved the guidance on our website. We also began to look at speciÂżc support for shared owners in arrears, helping them to restructure their debts and reduce the equity they own in their home.

In cases where some mortgage lenders have regrettably taken

steps to repossess homes, we have worked with them to ‘buy back’ these properties for other people in housing need.

One resident who used our debt advice service had built up several months’ rent arrears.

Our advisor carried out a Âżnancial health check and worked out that the resident was eligible for an increase in child tax credit.

The resident said: “We couldn’t see what else we could do and our arrears just kept going up. There is now ÂŁ40 a week more coming in and our Âżnances are a lot healthier – I feel back in control and we can pay any debts we still have.â€?

continued >>

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Tackling homelessness continued HELPING PEOPLE GET INTO WORK Helping people to access long-term employment is one of the crucial ways that we work to prevent homelessness. 6HH SDJH to read about our work in this area.

SUPPORTING THOSE IN HOUSING NEED As well as helping to prevent people from entering the ‘no home, no job cycle’, we work with hundreds of young people each year to help them into

work or education.

Our Âżve foyers and assessment centre between them accommodate more than 600 young y g people p p who were

homeless or in need of housing and support. The foyers deliver a tailored support programme to each young person during their stay of up to two years, helping them develop their skills, con¿dence and ability to live independently and contribute to their community.

Of the 231 residents who moved on from our foyers last year, 33% had gained a TXDOL¿FDWLRQ DQG KDG gained employment In 2008-09 we opened our new Barking & Dagenham Foyer, which will not only accommodate 116 young people, but also provide a hub for young people in the community – a one-stopshop for services promoting wellbeing, improving access to training and employment, and developing community interaction. 7KH ¿OP FOLS EHORZ shows an interview with two of WKH )R\HU¶V ¿UVW UHVLGHQWV

Our foyers rely on good partnership working with other service providers. In Harlow, a joint referral panel has been established by Harlow Foyer, Harlow Council and Nacro

Housing, so that housing, education and employment services are easily accessible to young people without them having to approach lots of different organisations.

The panel was named as an example of best practice in tackling homelessness among young people by the Regional Centre of Excellence for the East of England.

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WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP In 2008 East Thames worked with its g15 partners (a group of London’s biggest housing associations) to develop an Offer to London on Tackling Homelessness. This included proposals for housing associations and local authorities to work more effectively together to reduce homelessness, and set an objective for g15 members to increase the proportion of nominations going to homeless households to 35% in the next two years. This will help house a further 2,700 statutorily homeless people across London.

The Offer was disseminated to housing associations, local authorities and other organisations across London, and East Thames has been leading on its delivery, such as setting up relationship managers for each London borough.

To read the g15’s Offer to London on Tackling Homelessness go to www.g15.org.uk/publications

Speakers at our homelessness Selena Hall, youth builder of the year, with then Housing conference (click for link).Minister Caroline Flint during a visit to Focus E15 Foyer.

LEADING THE WAY As well as encouraging more effective joined-up working between housing associations and local authorities, we have been working to share best practice in tackling homelessness. As part of our remit as the ¿rst housing association to be appointed regional homelessness champions for London by Communities and Local Government, we coordinated a successful conference for housing professionals.

7DFNOLQJ +RPHOHVVQHVV LQ /RQGRQ attracted more than 100 delegates from housing associations, local government and other organisations.

Speakers such as the Mayor’s housing director outlined their vision for London, while practitioners gave case studies of initiatives that have achieved results. We are planning to run further events to engender joined-up working and innovation in preventing and reducing homelessness.

Helping

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We work in some of the most deprived areas of London, where many people VWUXJJOH WR ÂżQG ORQJ WHUP PHDQLQJIXO HPSOR\PHQW ,Q XQHPSOR\PHQW rose rapidly throughout the UK, making our commitment to helping people GHYHORS WKHLU VNLOOV FRQÂżGHQFH DQG HPSOR\DELOLW\ HYHQ PRUH LPSRUWDQW

to provide support on making the step into the world of work.

MEETING OUR CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS East Potential’s training and employment programmes are tailored to meet the diverse needs of the communities in which we work. In 2008-09 we published research into the barriers to employment faced by young black men in east London. It highlighted low self-esteem and low expectations of gaining employment among this group.

We responded by launching

7KH ÂżOP FOLS RQ WKH OHIW was created to launch the PHQWRULQJ SURJUDPPH

a mentoring programme to pair young black men with successful black mentors

By tailoring our programmes to meet the needs of local communities in we are able to make a real difference to people’s lives. In 2008-09 our education, training and employment programmes enabled hundreds of people

651

people took part in our employment and training programmes in 2008-09

56

who completed % ofonethose of our employment

and training programmes moved on to employment or further education.

23

(including our residents and other members of the community) to develop skills, boost their con¿dence, gain a quali¿cation, get work experience, and explore career options. 89% of participants were satis¿ed with the service.

Our full suite of employment and training programmes is: Community Champions Construct Your Career Open Doors Routes to Work Workwise Young Black Men’s Mentoring For more information on each of these programmes, scroll over the case study photos on the right.

A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS Funding and support from our partners is vital for us to continue providing the best employment and training programmes. In 2008-09 we secured £2.7million worth of external funding.

Barclays awarded £20,000 to our Routes to Work programme, helping us to continue offering people of all ages and backgrounds the chance to try new career opportunities through work placements. Volunteers from Barclays’ HR department have also been on hand to provide training in CV and interview techniques to Routes to Work participants.

Empowering people to achieve :H EHOLHYH WKDW RQH RI WKH EHVW ZD\V WR EHQHÂżW FRPPXQLWLHV is to empower passionate individuals to make a difference to those around them.

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STARTING POINT In 2008-09 we of¿cially launched Starting Point, our unique, purpose built-facility that helps community groups and organisations Àourish and deliver bene¿ts to the local area. It is located in an area of major regeneration in Barking town centre, close to Tanner Street, an East Thames housing development completed in 2006.

Funded by the London Development Agency, Starting Point supports community groups, social enterprises and voluntary organisations by providing ofÂżce, meeting and storage space, business training and wide range of support services. Organisations applying to use Starting Point are set business targets. Meeting these allows them access to the facilities at a subsidised rate, or in some cases for free.

One of those to beneÂżt from (L-R): Corrine Hutcheson, Starting Point manager; Peter Rogers, LDA chief executive; Afua Mpensah, Starting Point user, and June Barnes, East Thames chief executive.

64

“Small and voluntary groups make a valuable contribution – and the support at Starting Point can help set them on the right track. Starting Point is an example of what can be achieved when organisations work together for the beneÂżt of the community.â€? – Peter Rogers, Chief Executive of the London Development Agency Starting Point is Afua Mpensah from Havering SLFWXUHG OHIW

who runs a dance and drama organisation called Fantazia.

Fantazia works with young people in schools and with local job centres to offer conÂżdence boosting workshops for people seeking employment. Afua has been running her organisation from Starting Point since August 2008 and has beneÂżtted from training in business planning and marketing.

community groups and organisations have already bene¿tted from Starting Point’s services.....

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BUSINESS PLACE

YOUTH4YOUTH

Business Place is a facility in Stratford managed by East Potential in partnership with East London Small Business Centres. It aims to give Àedgling businesses a boost by providing low-cost of¿ce space and business support. It is particularly targeted at startup businesses run by young people, including those hoping to bene¿t from the Olympics.

Part of the UK-wide ‘YouthBank’ initiative, Youth4Youth is an innovative project led by young people and co-ordinated by East Potential working in partnership with Barclays.

Launched in February 2009, the project involves 20 young people who make up the Youth4Youth panel. Working with mentors from local Barclays branches, the panel awards small grants to local community projects that aim to bene¿t other young people.

This includes inviting bids from the community, deciding how to allocate funding, and running fundraising initiatives to keep the ‘bank’ topped up.

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Meeting

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East Living and its partners provide care and support for more than 2,000 people, with more than 80 residential and respite schemes across east London and Essex.

We provide support for people with a learning disability, mental health needs, young people, older people, and women and their children who have experienced abuse.

This range of service users makes it vital that our support services are tailored to:

offer choice, dignity and respect ¿t the needs of our customers be consistently high quality deliver value for money.

INDUSTRY RECOGNITION FOR OUR SERVICES Our care and support services received the Customer Service

Excellence award, a government standard formerly called Chartermark. CSE assessors said our scheme and foyer services have “a deep understanding and commitment to customer service.”

In 2008-09, Mollands Lane in Essex and Laburnums in Westcliff-on-Sea were each awarded three star excellent by the Commission for Social Care Inspectorate. Brook Haven Women’s Refuge and Evelyn Road in Waltham Forest were each awarded six A grades by Supporting People.

FLOATING SUPPORT Our Àoating support team visits people in their homes to help them to continue living independently. The people who receive Àoating support tell us how we can support them best so that the service can be tailored to individual needs.

It might include helping them to maximise their income, access local services or engage with their community.

200

residents were supported by our Àoating support team in 2008-09, helping them to live independently.

continued >>

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Meeting support needs continued CELEBRATING RESIDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENTS Supporting people to live independently is a focus for all of our support services, but for the

50

women and 72 children were supported at our women’s refuges last year. One woman said she probably wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for the refuge.

women Àeeing domestic violence who come to our refuges this is a daunting prospect.

We celebrated the bravery of these women and their children at a Women’s 7KH ¿OP FOLS DERYH VKRZV RQH RI RXU ZRPHQ¶V refuge teams being nominated for our staff Achievement Day. DZDUGV One former resident spoke about the Our mental health and learning support she received at one of disability schemes in Waltham our refuges, saying it was like Forest also celebrated the “one big family” with everyone achievements of residents in taking care of each other during December with a day of creative “the most dif¿cult period of our activities, learning and personal lives.” accounts given by service users.

29

EXPANDING OUR SERVICES To continue providing high quality support to our customers, we are continually reviewing our service provision. Last year we opened two new schemes – Harold Wood Hall in Havering for people with learning disabilities and Liberty House (pictured left) for women with mental health needs.

2XU QHZ /LEHUW\ +RXVH VFKHPH IRU women with mental health needs VKRZQ EHIRUH DQG DIWHU UHQRYDWLRQ

In the coming year we will be opening learning disability and mental health units in Leyton Orient, as well as remodelling some of our existing schemes to ensure their design fully meets the needs of our service users.

85

%

of our schemes inspected by CQC obtained a two star rating or better

30

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Bringing families together

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Bringing families together We run a range of programmes that empower families to create a better future for themselves.

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,Q ZH RSHQHG RXU ¿UVW FKLOGUHQ¶V FHQWUHV LQ partnership with Sure Start and Essex County Council, a new area of work for us that has been a huge success.

OUR CHILDREN’S CENTRES East Potential’s seven children’s centres provide a complete service for parents, carers and children under ¿ve in Epping Forest — ranging from stay and play sessions to information on local services for families.

Promoting the parent’s role as facilitators of their children’s learning and development is backed up by training opportunities and other services for the parents and carers themselves.

Each centre tailors their services to families in their area. So when some of the mums at our centre in Hazelwood told us that there weren’t enough opportunities for dads to spend time with their children, we organised a Dad’s Day for dads to help their children make gifts for Mother’s Day. The sun shone as dads and children played in

1,853

the garden, before making cards and biscuits as gifts.

FAMILIES TOGETHER Earlier this year London Councils recognised our commitment to bene¿ting families in some of the most deprived parts of the UK with a grant of £800,000. This will fund Families Together, a four-year East Potential project for families to address the root causes of child poverty.

Through con¿dence building and motivation, work placements, interview skills training, and mentoring we will aim to break down barriers to employment for parents. Young people will be engaged through projects in local schools to improve their academic performance. The project will be evaluated by the Institute of Public Policy Research and we hope the ¿ndings will be of national signi¿cance.

parents and carers registered with our children’s centres by the end of 2008-09.

33

Above: Parachute game at Hazelwood children’s centre.

COMMUNITY CENTRES AND PROJECTS FOR CHILDREN The impact that our work with children can have on the whole community was demonstrated when we ran a summer play scheme at Britannia Village community centre in West Silvertown. Residents got to know their neighbours in a fun and informal setting and, as a result, their neighbourhood became a happier place.

After a summer of sports activities, music and dance workshops attended by more than 100 local children, local police said anti-social behaviour on the estate had µVLJQL¿FDQWO\ UHGXFHG ¶

Another one of our community centres at Winsor Park in Beckton has been transformed after young people on the estate worked with East Thames to improve it.

The young residents took responsibility for applying to Newham Council for funding to revamp the building.

With the help of our community involvement and development teams, they decided on everything from equipment for the computer suite to the carpet for the entrance hall. Their hard work paid off and they received £150,000 to make the centre more appealing.

The new centre at Winsor Park, one of the estates where we rolled out our Better Neighbourhoods programme, adds to the facilities for young people on the estate. In 2008 a new ‘adiZone’ sports zone, with a climbing wall, outdoor gym and area for dance and aerobics was opened by players from the British Paralympic basketball team.

Raising standard

34

ds in homes and neighbourhoods

35

Raising 36

NEW REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE SERVICE In April 2008, after extensive consultation with our residents, we introduced our new repairs and maintenance contractors to help us improve our service, replacing our in-house maintenance team: Axis: carry out repairs to the internal areas of our schemes and estates.

K&T Heating: service and repair gas central heating systems.

70.8

%

residents satis¿ed with our repairs and maintenance service

Connaught Environmental and Pinnacle PSG: carry out grounds maintenance and cleaning work within the grounds of estates and supported living schemes.

At the same time as introducing our new contractors, we put in place much higher standards of service. Residents have been involved in the ongoing monitoring of the service, helping

to ensure that we: make it easier for residents to order a repair offer a speci¿c appointment time for repairs make sure maintenance staff wear and show their ID get the repair done in one visit wherever possible clean up properly after the work is ¿nished Throughout this time we have carried out independent surveys to ¿nd out what residents thought about the service and what we could do better.

In June 2008 only 64% of residents were satisfied with repairs and maintenance.

By March 2009, satisfaction was 74%.

In 2009-10 we will continue working with residents to improve the service even more.

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96.7

%

of our homes meet the Decent Homes standard

37

We are committed to improving and maintaining our properties and neighbourhoods to ensure they meet the individual needs of our UHVLGHQWV DQG DUH ¿W IRU WKH IXWXUH

IMPROVEMENT WORKS As well as general maintenance our contractors carry out improvement works on our schemes and estates to make sure the neighbourhoods we work in are places our residents want to live. We invested £12.97m in improvement projects on our schemes and estates in 2008-09. These included: BETTER NEIGHBOURHOODS Better Neighbourhoods involves a consultation exercise to ¿nd out improvements our residents would like in their neighbourhood. Once we have heard residents’ views and ideas, we work with them and local partners to make the area a better place to live. We ran this project across ¿ve of our estates, consulted with most residents on each estate, and carried out £189k worth of improvements.

DECENT HOMES This is a Government standard to ensure all housing association

residents have a warm and weatherproof home with reasonably modern facilities by December 2010. Since 2004 we have brought 2,000 homes up to this standard for our residents, meaning 97% of our homes meet Decent Homes standard. We are therefore well on track to meet the Government’s 2010 target.

CYCLICAL DECORATIONS Every six years we paint the outside and communal areas of our housing. We paint and repair all painted surfaces such as windows and doors, and undertake associated repairs such as roo¿ng and renewing communal Àoor coverings. In 2008-09 almost 900 homes were externally decorated by our repairs contractor Axis. In March 2009, 470 residents took part in a survey rating the quality of work, clarity of communication, and the conduct of the repairs team. 100% of residents were VDWLV¿HG ZLWK WKH VHUYLFH

Joe Ibrahim, Axis Divisional Director, said: “We’re really happy with this feedback. The experience of each resident is extremely important to Axis, and listening to residents helps us tailor the way we work to ¿t them. We continue to look for ways to deliver the best service.”

AIDS AND ADAPTATIONS To help ensure our homes meet individual needs, we often make adaptations for residents who are ¿nding some day-to-day tasks dif¿cult.

In 2008-09, we carried out 80 major adaptations, which included installing 36 level DFFHVV VKRZHUV DQG ¿YH stairlifts.

We also made 164 minor adaptations, including putting in stair rails, grab rails and lever taps.

38

Regener

rating east London and Essex

39

Regenerating 40

Previous page: 5R\ 6PLWK RQ KLV EDOFRQ\ DW 0HULGLD &RXUW

41

With construction at the Olympic Park well under way, the landscape of east London and Essex is rapidly changing. East Thames continues to be a driving force for regeneration across the region, always putting people at the heart of our work to deliver vibrant new homes and neighbourhoods.

Below: Potential customers on our 6KRZ +RPH &UXLVH WRXU

HELPING FIRST-TIME BUYERS Faced with a recession and declining housing market, we have had to be innovative in helping ¿rst time buyers get onto the property ladder. In October 2008 we introduced 5HQW 1RZ %X\ /DWHU, aimed at ¿rst-time buyers who need to save up a deposit to buy their ¿rst home, or who would prefer to rent for the next few years given the current market. We were one of the ¿rst housing associations to launch the scheme under the Government’s 5HQW WR +RPH%X\ initiative and one of the most successful in signing up customers.

260

customers signed up to Rent Now, Buy Later in the Âżrst seven months.

To make it easy for Âżrst time buyers to look round our new developments, we ran our Âżrst Show Home Cruises ULJKW

These were hop-on, hop-off bus tours that allowed prospective buyers to spend time at each development and Âżnd out about different options, such as 3DUW %X\ 3DUW 5HQW and Rent 1RZ %X\ /DWHU. They proved a great innovation in a changing market, with 14 customers on the second tour signing up to 5HQW 1RZ %X\ /DWHU. Mr Rajan Joshi, a prospective buyer on the tour, said: “It was great: it allowed us to look at several homes, while Âżnding out more about Rent Now, Buy Later, all in the space of a few hours. Rent Now, Buy Later is such a simple idea – why hasn’t anyone thought of it before?â€?

continued >>

42

Regenerating east London and Essex continued ZLWK KLV IDPLO\ $V (PUDQ H[SODLQV LW LV QRW RQO\ D SOHDVDQW VDIH SODFH WR OLYH but is also fostering a real VHQVH RI FRPPXQLW\

VIBRANT NEW DEVELOPMENTS In 2008-09 we completed 623 new affordable homes across a range of well-designed, desirable developments, including:

CURWEN APARTMENTS, PLAISTOW

GRAND UNION PLACE, STEPNEY Grand Union Place was completed in 2008-09, with the last of the 524 homes made available.

It was built on a derelict, canal-side site, providing muchneeded family homes (up to six bedrooms) in an area with severe over-crowding. As with all of our new developments, properties for rent, sale and 3DUW %X\ 3DUW Rent are ‘pepper-potted’ across

the development, with no visible differences between the tenures.

Later in 2009, a community facility is being set up to help bring the new residents together.

(PUDQ 6KDKHHQ ÂżOP DERYH

OLYHV LQ D WKUHH EHGURRP apartment at Grand Union Place

Reducing anti-social behaviour was also a focus when transforming a 1950s low-rise estate in Newham to build Curwen Apartments.

These energy efÂżcient homes balance the need for higher density housing with high quality design. Curwen Apartments has set a new standard for residential developments in Newham, and was shortlisted for a Housing Design Award.

43

TAYLOR PLACE, BOW In December the Mayor of Tower Hamlets opened Taylor Place in Bow. These apartments stand on the edge of the Olympic Park, and are built on the site of the old Taylor Brothers chocolate factory.

Councillor Muhammad Abdullah Salique expressed what Taylor Place means for the area: ³1RW RQO\ GRHV LW UDLVH WKH SUR¿OH RI WKH DUHD DV DQ XS DQG FRPLQJ SODFH WR OLYH DQG ZRUN it also means that more people from the borough are being given a chance to live in brand QHZ EHDXWLIXOO\ ¿QLVKHG KRPHV DW DQ DIIRUGDEOH SULFH ´ IN THE PIPELINE Despite the decline in the market, we have numerous exciting, high-

quality projects underway across east London and Essex, including 107 new homes at Paper Mill Place in Waltham Forest and 42 homes at a development in Chelmsford. A grant of ÂŁ68million from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), awarded in early 2009, is helping us to build more than 1,000 new homes over the next two to three years. Crucially, these will include homes of different sizes, including large family homes, available for rent and for sale through affordable home ownership schemes, plus supported housing.

2012 AND BEYOND In 2008-09 East Thames, with its partners Southern Housing Group and developers First Base, formed

Triathlon Homes, a consortium that will deliver 1,379 affordable homes in the Athletes’ Village development. Using a grant from the HCA, equity from Triathlon Homes, plus lending from Barclays Commercial Bank and the European Investment Bank, Triathlon will invest £268.7 million into the Village.

After 2012, the one to four bedroom homes will be available through a mix of affordable renting and buying options. New residents will have access to fantastic new facilities, including public squares and open spaces, multi-use community facilities, an education campus, medical centre, new infrastructure, and access to one of the largest new urban parks in Europe.

Promoting 44

45

When it comes to encouraging residents to reduce their impact on the environment and live sustainably and healthily, we’re trying to lead by example, as well as giving residents the information and inspiration they need to take the small steps that make a big difference.

OUR NEW HEADQUARTERS

GREENER HOMES

Our new, purpose-built ofÂżce on West Ham Lane in Stratford (see page 10) was designed to be environmentally friendly, with a ‘brown roof’ that can host local Ă€ora and fauna and a system that uses recycled rain water to Ă€ush the toilets. It is highly energy-efÂżcient, with movement activated lighting, a beam temperature control system, and even has carbon-neutral chairs.

It’s not just our of¿ce building where we’re making sustainable living a reality. We’re also increasingly building green homes, to help residents reduce their carbon footprint and save money on bills.

We also try to make sure our staff travel to the new building in a sustainable way — there are showers and a secure bicycle shed, make cycling a convenient option. Soon after we moved in we held free cycling training to get everyone up g y p to speed. p

Pinewood Court, (pictured ERWWRP ULJKW in Hainault, Essex, is one of our most environmentally-friendly developments to date, achieving the Energy Saving Trust’s Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3.

We assess the sustainability of every aspect of the development process, from choosing the location through to construction techniques. Pinewood Court is located on the edge of Hainault Forest Country Park so we worked to minimise impact on local wildlife. On the recommendation of an ecologist, we secured bat and bird boxes to the fence in the communal

garden. We also Âżtted solar panels to the roof to generate enough energy to light the communal hallways. Resident Stephen Williams, 30, says: “Who doesn’t want to save money if they can? Everyone wants lower service charges so the solar panels are a great way for us all to save money and if they’re helping the environment, even better.â€?

continued >>

Promoting sustainable and healthy living continued SPREADING THE GREEN AND HEALTHY LIVING MESSAGE

46

&UDQEHUU\ &OLPDWH &KDQJH &KDOOHQJH THE GREAT

Help save the planet and win prizes!

We have been running a wide range of initiatives to help our residents and local communities make small changes to the way they live that can have a big impact on their carbon footprint and their well-being: At Winsor Park in Beckton we held an eco-awareness day where residents got advice on recycling and waste disposal, and were given environmentally friendly kettles.

150 residents at Cranberry Lane estate in West Ham attended a Go Carbon Neutral Day, which we set up with local partners. Carbon neutral diaries were handed out so people could keep track of how they were reducing their carbon emissions and their energy bills.

Sandra Erskine, a social entrepreneur funded by East Foundation, our grant-giving subsidiary, launched Seeds for Life, encouraging women and children from diverse backgrounds to grow their own food.

East Potential’s Stay Well Healthy Living Network ran activities to help people over 50 lead healthy lifestyles.

This year, in partnership with Newham Food Access Partnership, they launched a network of lunch clubs to encourage local organisations to provide a nutritious meal for over 50s living in Newham.

We marked World Mental Health Day by organising a Wellbeing Day for residents from East Living’s care schemes. Visitors could get a health check; advice on how to quit smoking or eat more healthily, and try out new activities in a supportive environment.

As part of the Greater London Authority’s Well London project, 80 people pledged to promote healthy living in their neighbourhoods by becoming Community Champions, through one of our employment and training programmes (see page 23).

47

48

Strengthening 49

People are at the heart of everything we do – ensuring we have a positive impact on our customers and local communities is our number one focus, but we cannot achieve this unless we have staff who feel valued, work together effectively and are committed to performing well. Improving the way we work and strengthening the organisation is therefore hugely important to achieving our mission. head of¿ce staff had been split between two buildings.

OUR BUSINESS PRIORITIES Our priorities – improving customer experience by raising performance and achieving value for money – were set following feedback from our mock inspection in 2007 and from resident and staff surveys.

Creating Happy Customers is the aim of these priorities, and they have been a catalyst for a shift in focus for the organisation. This shift has seen a signi¿cant period of change, both to our organisational structure and culture.

WORKING TOGETHER EFFECTIVELY

space for our head of¿ce staff, but hot-desking and other facilities for our foyer and care scheme staff. A colourful and welcoming community space on the ground Àoor (see page 10), enables integration between our staff, residents and the local community.

In April 2008 we moved in to our new purpose-built head of¿ce in Stratford. Residents and staff were involved in designing the building, which includes not only ¿rst-class of¿ce and meeting

The move to our new head of¿ce has also enabled us to improve inter-team working and carry out restructuring, bringing together teams who work in similar service areas. Previously

Our restructure has included the introduction of a new Resident Services Directorate, bringing together Neighbourhood Management, Community Involvement, Rent and Service Charges, Customer Accounts, Maintenance, Care and Support and our Customer Contact Centre. This directorate enables us to deliver a more streamlined approach to resident services, and aims to provide high quality, consistent, value for money services.

We have already seen performance improve across several service areas as a direct result of the restructure.

continued >>

50

Strengthening the organisation continued DEVELOPING A CUSTOMER FOCUSED CULTURE During our of¿ce move in April 2008 staff took part in the ¿rst Making a Difference Day. This gave staff the opportunity to visit our schemes and estates and carry out activities to make a difference to residents – from gardening, to painting, to litter picking. This helped to reinforce the message that all staff, including those working on internal services such as HR and Finance, were all part of a bigger team making a difference to local people’s lives. Feedback from staff and residents was extremely positive, and we hope to run a similar event each year.

7KLV SDJH 6WDII DQG UHVLGHQWV ZRUN WRJHWKHU DW :LQVRU 3DUN WR OLWWHU SLFN paint and tidy up the estate during the 0DNLQJ D 'LIIHUHQFH 'D\

Peter Thompson, environmental sustainability manager, said: “It was a really good experience getting out and visiting the schemes and seeing things from the residents’ point of view.�

Throughout 2008-09 we have also continued to run our hugely successful ‘SPARKLE’ training,

to help staff and contractors ensure they are focusing on great customer service equipped to deliver these services in a customer friendly way. This has been consistently well-received.

To help teams shape their services around the people they are serving, we have also improved the ways they gain feedback from customers.

This includes regularly communicating at Group and directorate level results from post-experience surveys (see page 10).

Messages about improving the customer experience have been constantly reinforced through our internal communications.

This includes at our staff conference, which we held in April 2009. The day focused on our key priorities, particularly taking stock of the progress we have made to deliver a great customer experience and the impact this has had already. Staff were given the

300

East Thames staff and 200 maintenance contractor staff have attended ‘SPARKLE’ training on delivering a great customer service.....

51 Smiling Passionate Adventurous Responsible Knowledgeable Listening Engaging

opportunity to contribute instant feedback, ideas and questions on everything they heard through an electronic system.

Many commented positively on the changes to how we deliver our frontline services – one commented: “I think the most successful change is to frontline services and the introduction of front of house.”

IMPROVING PERFORMANCE AND PROVIDING VALUE FOR MONEY To provide a great customer experience we must be performing well and offering value for money. Therefore alongside training and communications on customer service, we have also been helping teams to ensure they are delivering good value for money and performing well.

This includes: Holding quarterly SHUIRUPDQFH EULH¿QJV for all staff. These ensure teams are getting feedback on their performance, including recognition for great

performance and discussion on how weaker performance can be improved.

Ensuring individual performance is well managed. In 2008-09 we introduced a new performance management system to help managers support individual team members to perform well.

As part of this all staff are given objectives for the year that are linked to our key priorities.

Encouraging staff to put forward ideas on value for money. Staff are encouraged to come up with value for money solutions and post their ideas on our internal forum.

Last year some staff suggested we could cut down on printing costs – something we have taken into account when putting together this year’s electronic annual review.

RECOGNISING STAFF WHO GO THE EXTRA MILE We’re very proud to have talented staff who are passionate about what they do. To recognise this passion and the willingness of our staff to go the extra mile for

customers, we hold an annual ‘Making a Difference’ Awards, judged by staff and residents. In 2008, one of our women’s refuges and our new front of house team took away top awards. 6HH SDJHV 11 and 28 to watch video clips on the winners.

In 2009 we are expanding the Award categories so they reÀect our three priorities and recognise those providing great internal services as well as those working with external customers.

Performance 10.9% 4.5% 5.7% 4.1% 6% 5.9% 10.8% 2.9%

£’000

3,503 6,926 122,001

INCOME

Rent & service charges Grants - housing Development management fees Grants - community involvement First tranche shared ownership sales Sale of housing properties Property developed for sale to other registered providers Property developed for sale - non social housing Other TOTAL

24,308 3,721 12,701 7,085 15,064 12,997 7,197 2,742 16,529 5,491 6,715 3,147 7,162 292 125,151 ,

2.2%

13.2% 4.4% 5.4% 5.7%

0.2%

52 60,161 13,309 5,491 4,949 13,157 7,308 7,197

10.4% 5.8%

10.1% 3% 19.4%

49.3%

£’000

12% 5.7%

2.5%

EXPENDITURE

Management costs (including wages) Service charge costs Support Rent - private sector landlords Maintenance / repairs First tranche shared ownership sales Property developed for sale to other registered providers Property developed for sale - non social housing Net interest Development costs Community involvement - programme costs Impairment on schemes in the course of development Other Corporation tax TOTAL

Read our Financial Statements online

2007-08

2008-09

2008-09

MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRS (EAST HOMES) % Emergency repairs completed within timescales % Urgent repairs completed within timescales % Routine repairs completed within timescales % Stock meeting Decent Homes Standard

PERFORMANCE 94.0% 93.6% 87.5% 95.2%

PERFORMANCE 89.0% 87.2% 86.8% 96.7%

TARGET 96.5%* 96.5%* 96.5%* 98%

VOIDS AND LETTINGS General Needs relet time Supported Housing relet time % of General Needs stock vacant and available to let % of General Needs stock vacant but unavailable to let

PERFORMANCE 23.4 days 88.8 days 0.82% 0.62%

PERFORMANCE 44.5 days 81.5 days† 0.31% 0.43%

TARGET 24 days 38 days N/A N/A

FINANCIAL INDICATORS General Needs arrears Shared Ownership arrears Number of Shared Ownership sales Number of Rent Now, Buy Later completions Average void period for sales

PERFORMANCE 4.7% 4.3% 114 N/A 10.14 weeks

PERFORMANCE 5.2% 5.3% 167 254 18.2 weeks

TARGET 4.7% 4.0% 172 243 16 weeks

RESIDENT SATISFACTION 6DWLV¿HG ZLWK RYHUDOO VHUYLFH 6DWLV¿HG ZLWK YLHZV EHLQJ WDNHQ LQWR DFFRXQW

PERFORMANCE 74.9% 60.4%

PERFORMANCE 76.2% 72.5%

TARGET 75% 66%

*96.5% was the overall target for all types of repair. †Excludes foyers.

*HQHUDO QHHGV UHVLGHQW SUR多OH Household types of new tenants

34.8%

13.7%

Age of new tenants

Ethnicity of new tenants

15.9%

39.5% 36.6%

31.7%

17.1% 2.7%

36.4%

Older people Single adult Multi adult - no children Lone parent Multi adult - with children

9.0% 2.1%

Under 18 18 - 24 years 25 - 59 years 60 - 74 years Over 75

7.1% 19.9%

27.8%

0.8% 5%

White British White other Black/Black British Asian/Asian British Mixed Chinese/other

6XSSRUWHG KRXVLQJ UHVLGHQW SUR多OH Household types of new tenants

Age of new tenants

Ethnicity of new tenants

4.1%

59.7%

89.0%

17.9% 6.3% 4.7%

16.3% 3.3%

Older people Single adult Multi adult - no children Lone parent Multi adult - with children

2.8%

Under 16 16 - 24 years 25 - 45 years 46 - 64 years Over 65

ETHNICITY OF STAFF We had 838 employees on 31 March 2009

3.5% 11% 45.9% 34.4% 4.9% 0.4%

41.6%

32.5%

11.1%

1.8% 9%

White British White other Black/Black British Asian/Asian British Mixed Chinese/other

COMPLAINTS & COMPLIMENTS: 2008-09 Total number of complaints received at stage 1: 662

White (385) Black/Asian British (29) Asian/Asian British (92) Mixed (288) Chinese (3) Other (41)

Number of complaints escalated to stage 2: 39 Number of complaints going to the Independent Housing Ombudsman Service: 2 (1 pending, 1 upheld) Number of complaints going to the CQC: 1 Total number of compliments received: 33 Total number of enquiries received: 228

53

Governance 54

East Thames Group is a registered social landlord. It is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee.

The Group is the strategic arm of the organisation, and coordinates risk management, regeneration, development and maintenance services. In addition, the Group sets overall strategic direction for seven subsidiaries.

The Group also provides governance, human resources, marketing and communications, ICT, business support and 多nancial services to each of its subsidiaries to ensure consistency of approach and to achieve effective economies of scale. All subsidiaries are wholly owned and mutual agreements ensure their independence.

Remuneration issues are considered on a Group-wide basis through the Group Remuneration Committee.

Chaired by Group Chair Bob Chilton, the Committee also consists of the Group Vice Chair, Treasurer, Chair of the Group Risk Management and Audit Committee and the Chairs of the main operational subsidiaries.

Audit and risk management issues are considered in detail by a Group Risk Management and Audit Committee. Chaired

by David Goodman, the Committee also consists of the Treasurers of the Group and main operating subsidiaries, plus an independent member.

Standards, ethics and Groupwide governance issues are considered by the Group Governance and Appointments Committee. Chaired by the Group Vice Chair, the Committee also includes the Group Chair, Chair of Group Risk Management and Audit Committee, subsidiary representatives and the Group Chief Executive and the Director of Support Operations.

Development and asset management issues are considered on a group-wide basis by the Group Development and Asset Management Committee. Chaired by David Edwards, the committee is made up of members of the East Regen and East Homes Boards.

OPERATIONAL SUBSIDIARIES IN THE GROUP ARE:

EAST HOMES owns and/ or manages more than 13,500 homes and is the largest multi-tenure landlord operating across east London and Essex. It is a residentfocused organisation that offers a wide range of affordable housing options.

East Homes provides a ‘onestop shop’ that offers lowcost rental accommodation, intermediate rent and home ownership options. Its aim is to be the leading provider of quality affordable homes for rent and sale in east London and Essex. East Homes is a charitable registered Industrial and Provident Society.

EAST PLACE, the Group’s commercial arm specialising in homes for outright sale and market rent, and running various management companies, is a subsidiary of East Homes. Another East Homes subsidiary, EH Street Properties, was acquired in 2007 after the purchase of a number of street properties.

EAST LIVING is a charitable registered Industrial and Provident Society and provides residential and respite accommodation through more than 80 care schemes and Àoating support to about 2,000 people with particular needs.

This includes supported living, registered care and housing management services, as well as Àoating support to people living in their own homes.

People bene¿ting from East Living’s services include people with mental health needs, people with learning disabilities, older people, women Àeeing domestic violence, vulnerable young people and people living with HIV/Aids.

EAST POTENTIAL is a social and economic regeneration charity which works to empower local people to create a brighter future for themselves and make a contribution within their communities. It does this through a broad range of programmes for young people, families and adults, including foyer accommodation for young people, employment and training services, arts and culture initiatives, children’s centres, and health and sustainable living projects.

It aims to raise aspirations, promote community pride and cohesion, and give people a chance to succeed.

As well as the operational subsidiaries listed above, East Thames has the following subsidiaries: East Treasury East Regen East Foundation

INDEPENDENT HOUSING OMBUDSMAN SCHEME (IHOS) IHOS is available to all housing association residents. Two complaints were submitted to the IHOS during 2008-09. One of these will be investigated.

GOVERNANCE East Thames has adopted and complies with the 2009 NHF Excellence in Governance : code for members.

SHAREHOLDER AND BOARD RECRUITMENT Copies of East Thames Board and shareholder recruitment and selection procedures, along with the obligations, skills

continued >>

55

Governance continued

56

and experience required by members, can be obtained from the Group Company Secretary at our registered of¿ce.

AUDITORS Grant Thornton LLP, Daedalus House, Station Road, Cambridge CB1 2RE

PRINCIPAL BANKERS Barclays Bank PLC, Business Banking, PO Box 544, 1st Floor, 54 Lombard Street, London EC3V 9EX

ANNUAL REVIEWS AND ACCOUNTS Detailed Annual Reviews & Accounts for all parts of the East Thames Group are available as separate documents from the Group Company Secretary at our registered of¿ce or by visiting our website, www.east-thames.co.uk.

BOARD MEMBERS Bob Chilton OBE, MA, PhD, FRGS – Chair, appointed 2004 Also Chair of the Standards Board for England and Deputy Chair of PhonepayPlus. Former ViceChair, National Consumer Council, and Director of Local Government Studies, Audit Commission, after a career in local government.

Secondments from the Audit Commission included: Interim Commissioner for Transport at Transport for London; Interim Chief Executive to the Greater London Authority; the Local Government Commission.

Marianne Skelcher Chartered Director – Group Vice Chair, appointed 2008 Self-employed organisational development consultant and executive coach. Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Previously Group Director of Human Resources, Bromford Group.

Andrew Newell MBA, FCIB – Treasurer, appointed 2007 Also Chair of East Treasury and member, Group Risk Management and Audit Committee. Over 30 years UK Financial Services experience encompassing ¿nance, risk, audit and governance. Formerly Head of Finance (London), Abbey National plc; and Chief Internal Auditor. Independent member, Football Association Audit Committee; Chair, Rosebery Housing Association; and Non-Executive Director, Kent Reliance Building Society.

Breege Burke – Independent member, Group Board, appointed 2008 Managing Director of Working Links (Employment) Ltd. Previously CEO at the National Autistic Society, Managing Director of Kodak Ireland and Finance Director at Servite Homes.

Kay Vowles MSA, FCIH– Independent member, Group Board, appointed 2008 Self-employed consultant working on social housing and local government. Former Chief Executive at a number of RSLs and a former regulatory manager at the Housing Corporation.

Chu O¿li LLB, MSc, MCIPD, MCIPS – Independent member, Group Board, appointed 2007 Appointed to the Group Board after serving a number of years on the East Potential Board and has served on the Governance & Appointments Committee. Previously served on the Independent Monitoring Board of HMP Blakenhurst and on the Employer and Practitioner (Organisation and Employment) Advisory Panel at the London Metropolitan University Business School.

Seconded to British Telecom as a strategic programme director in 2007.

Debbie Sorkin – Independent member, Group Board, appointed 2007 Former Director of Programmes and Services at the Royal Town Planning Institute with expertise in spatial planning, regeneration and community engagement.

Member of the Third Sector Partnership Board in Communities and Local Government. Also a Board Member and previous Chair of The Camden Society, and former Vice-Chair of East Living.

Sandra Fryer – Chair, East Potential, appointed 2008 Consultant with a background in planning, regeneration and sustainable development and was Interim Executive Director of Neighbourhood Services at Newham in 2007/8. Member of the Policy Council of the Town and Country Planning Association and adviser on eco-towns and sustainable communities. She has also held various other local and central government positions.

Linda Perham JP, BA, Hon FCLIP F, FRSA – Chair, East Living, appointed 2006 Chair of the Thames Water Trust Fund. Member of the Consumer Council for Water London and the South East. Consumer Director at TrustMark; a Justice of the Peace; former Member of Parliament for Ilford North and former Mayor and Councillor at London Borough of Redbridge.

Johanna Holmes – Chair, East Homes, appointed 2007 Founding manager to the establishment and growth of Chapman Hendy Associates (now Tribal HCH). Former Chief Executive of the Women’s Pioneer Housing Association and former

Assistant Regional Manager (Monitoring and Regulation) at the Housing Corporation.

Also a Trustee of HACT.

David Edwards BLE, MSc, FRICS – Chair, East Regen, appointed 2004 Planning and development surveyor and economist with expertise in physical and economic planning, regeneration and development. Regional Director for Southern England, Homes and Communities Agency. Former Head of Regeneration, Land and Property, Communities and Local Government.

David Goodman IPFA– Chair, Group Audit and Risk Management Committee, appointed 2003 Chair of the Group’s Risk Management and Audit Committee. Self employed consultant. Former regional Director with the Audit Commission. Chair of Standards Committee, Trafford MBC and Deputy Chair of Johnnie Johnson Housing Trust.

57

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THAMES

30 ES YE

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www.east-thames.co.uk East Thames Group Limited Registered Of多ce: 29-35 West Ham Lane, Stratford, London E15 4PH Switchboard: 020 8522 2000 Minicom: 020 8522 2006 Fax: 020 8522 2001 Registered by the Housing Corporation, No. LH4309 | Registered under the Companies Act 1985, No. 4091100 Registered charity 1084952 | Member of the National Housing Federation Produced by the Marketing and Communications team, East Thames Group.