My Great Place - Autumn 2015 by Great Places Housing Group

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Autumn 2015

The budget How the new budget impacts household finances It can take many forms including: • Physical assault • Damage to property or offensive graffiti • Arson • Verbal threats or abusive gestures • Offensive letters/leaflets/posters • Abusive or obscene phone calls • Abusive language • Intimidating groups/gangs • Malicious complaints • Rubbish dumping at your home • Bullying at school or work

Hate crime What should you do if it happens to you or someone you know? Don’t retaliate: you could risk violence or make the situation worse. By reporting it, you may be able to prevent these crimes from happening to someone else.

Protecting our communities Asking for help We know that sometimes this is the hardest part but the sooner you ask us for help, the better. We promise to take all reports of harassment seriously. You can report any incident in confidence – you do not have to tell us who you are but if you can tell us the names of all the people involved, it may help us sort out the problem more quickly. Please use the contact details on the back of this leaflet.

The magazine for Great Places Housing Group residents

Cook up a new career! Northmoor resident and single mum, Violet Shirley, on how she whipped up a rewarding career and how you can too!

Fire safety

Keeping you safe in your home this winter

Repairs

Numbers you need to know

Phone our Customer Access Team from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday. It’s local rate. Call us on:

0300 123 1966

07797 870 734 or email us at cat@greatplaces.org.uk

or simply text us on

For all Great Places residents you can call us between 8am and 6pm weekdays on:

0300 123 1966

& press 1 for repairs

You can also use this number for out-of-hours emergencies. Or you can email us about a repair at

repairs@greatplaces.org.uk Oldham office

Office addresses Blackburn office

Barnfield House (Suite 4 and 5) Groundfloor, Accrington Road Blackburn BB1 3NY Open Monday, 9.30am-5pm & Thursday 9:30am-12:30pm Appointment only at all other times.

Cheshire office

106 Longridge, Knutsford, WA16 8PD Opening hours: Monday only, 9.30am to 4.30pm

Fylde office

Salford office

336 Talbot Road, Blackpool, FY1 3QU Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm

4th Floor, St James’s House, Pendleton Way, Salford M6 5FW Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm

Sheffield office

Great Places head office

The Quadrant, 99 Parkway Avenue, Sheffield SS9 4WG Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm

Southern Gate, 729 Princess Road, Manchester M20 2LT Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm

Write to My Great Place at:

Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/GreatPlacesHousing

Communications Great Places Southern Gate 729 Princess Road Manchester M20 2LT

Email:

119 Union Street, Oldham OL1 1TE Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm

Tweet us @MyGreatPlace

Access for all

communications@greatplaces.org.uk

We’ve already sent a magnifying sheet to our visually impaired residents. Let us know if you need one. An audio version of My Great Place is also available.

Autumn 2015

FSC AND WORLD LAND TRUST LOGOS Do you suffer from, or are you aware of, incidents or harassment motivated by hate, such as someone’s race or being gay? If so, please don’t let yourself or others suffer in silence. If you tell us, we will help. We are committed to stamping out hate behaviour. What is Hate Crime? If someone commits a criminal offence against you or your home that is motivated by a person’s hate or prejudice because of your: • Race, colour, ethnicity, nationality or national origin • Religion • Gender or gender identity • Sexual orientation (includes homophobia or transphobia) • Disability Being a victim of this kind of crime can be a particularly frightening experience as you have been victimised because of who you are, or who, or what, your attacker thinks you are.

Cover star: Violet Shirley

The magazine for Great Places Housing Group residents

Cook up a new career!

Northmoor resident and single mum, Violet Shirley, on how she whipped up a rewarding career and how you can too!

Fire safety

Keeping you fire safe in your home this winter

www.greatplaces.org.uk

Welcome to

YOUR MAGAZINE! Welcome to your autumn issue of My Great Place. I hope you’ll find Violet Shirley’s story on page six inspiring. After being out of work for some time, she’s gone on to secure herself a raft of qualifications and her dream job working in the heart of her community in Northmoor. With winter just around the corner, we’ve taken a look at how we’re continuing to make our homes more energy efficient as well as tips and support for keeping your utility bills under control during the colder months. See pages 12–13. If you have any feedback about our magazine please do write in (see page four for contact details).

Kirsty Hogarth, Editor

4 My voice 8-9 News 14-15 How we’re doing 16-17 Neigbourhood news 18-19 My money

page

Hate crime – protecting our communities

20-21 22

WIN!

Community Stars Awards

Asking for help We know that sometimes this is the hardest part but the sooner you ask us for help, the better. We promise to take all reports of harassment seriously. You can report any incident in confidence – you do not have to tell us who you are but if you Winter warmth can tell us the names of all the people involved, it may help us sort out the problem more quickly. Please use the contact details on the back of this leaflet. pages

Regulars

page

What’s inside?

It can take many forms including: • Physical assault • Damage to property or offensive graffiti • Arson • Verbal threats or abusive gestures • Offensive letters/leaflets/posters • Abusive or obscene phone calls Features • Abusive language • Intimidating groups/gangs in:team: how you can • Malicious 5 Guarding against fire this winter complaints give feedback to us 6 dumping Cook up a new career! We speak to • Rubbish at your home Grapevine • Bullying at school or work resident Violet Shirley (Elderly services news) 23 Contents insurance Competitions What should you do if it happens to you or someone you know? Shuffle an iPod e4 Don’t retaliate: you could risk on pag violence or make the situation worse. By reporting it, you may be able to prevent these crimes from happening to someone else.

12-13

myvoice!

Write to us at:

We want to give you every opportunity to tell us your thoughts, ideas and comments. As you know there are new ways you can contact us via Facebook and Twitter as well as by letter. Whatever way you choose to contact us, we want to hear from you. Tell us about your neighbourhood or give us your thoughts on anything Great Places-related! One of your letters/emails/social media messages will be made Star Letter and you’ll receive a £10 voucher.

My Great Place Communications Great Places Housing Group Southern Gate 729 Princess Road Manchester M20 2LT

Email us: communications@greatplaces.org.uk

Tweet us: @mygreatplace

Facebook us at:

facebook.com/GreatPlacesHousing

How fire safe is your home? Great Places reader Karen Wadsworth of Blackpool has got creative with fire safety and designed a great poster raising awareness of how you can keep fire safe at home. Karen’s fire safety posters will be featured in Great Places reception areas and she’s also won an iPod shuffle.

Kids’ Competition Want a fancy new iPod?

Thanks so much for you responses to the ‘find Margaret Plaice’ competition – She was hiding behind the flying pig. Congratulations to Jannat Abubakar from Manchester our winner!

COMPETITION RULES

If you don’t already know, Margaret Plaice, our little fishy friend whose name is inspired by this very magazine, is hiding again somewhere. Can you find her? If you can, just email or write and let us know exactly where she is (make sure you put the page number) at the above addresses, making sure you put your address and phone number on the entry. The winning entry will get their hands on a cute little iPod, so get searching!

To enter you must be 16 or under and a Great Places resident

www.greatplaces.org.uk

Entries must be in by 1 November 2015

Guarding against fire this winter 1 Always, make sure your smoke alarms are

tested regularly. If you believe there’s a problem please contact Great Places’ Customer Access Team on 0300 123 1966.

2 Always unplug electric heaters when you go out or go to bed and keep them away from material such as furniture and curtains.

3 Did you know that 100 fires a year are

caused by faulty electric blankets? Turn your blanket off when you get into bed and never use a hot water bottle and a blanket in bed at the same time – even if the blanket is switched off. Make sure your blanket is tested every three years – Age UK may be able to help with this. Call Age UK on 0800 00 99 66 for advice.

4 Only use gas or paraffin

heaters in very well ventilated areas as they consume oxygen and could cause you to suffocate if a room is not properly aired.

5 Candles can make a home feel cosy in the

winter but never leave them in a room unattended – or try battery-powered candles which give the same effect and are much safer.

6 Be careful when using open fires – make

sure you use a fire guard and keep chimneys and flues clean and well maintained.

Did you know you can call your local Fire and Rescue service on their non-emergency number to arrange a free home fire safety check. Greater Manchester: 0800 555 815 Lancashire: 01772 862545 Cheshire: 01606 868700

South Yorkshire: 0114 253 2314 Merseyside: 0800 731 5958 Derbyshire: 01332 771221

5 5

Cook up a new career!

No matter what training, qualifications or experience you have, Great Places can help to get you work-ready. We can help you to gain new skills through volunteering, find apprenticeship opportunities, develop your IT and interview skills, and even provide support with setting up your own business! Contact our customer access team on 0300 1231966. Other useful career and training resources: Your local Job Centre www.apprenticeships.gov.uk www.ukonlinecentres.com www.do-it.org www.nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk

FREE SMALL SERVICE WASH!

1X FREE SMALL SERVICE WASH TO THE VALUE OF ÂŁ9 AT NORTHMOOR LAUNDRETTE. COUPON VALID FROM 15/9/15 TO 30/12/15 103 Northmoor Road, Manchester M12 5RT

Redeem date: _________________ (office use only)

Find out how volunteering helped change the life of one of our residents for the better Great Places resident Violet Shirley, who lives with her brother and two sons, has followed her passion for supporting people and has secured her dream job at Northmoor Community Centre. Single mum Violet had been out of work for several years after struggling to find a job that suited her skill set and also allowed her the time to care for her two boys. Her journey back into the job market wasn’t without its challenges, including having to build up self-confidence and find her way back into education; however, after securing herself over ten qualifications ranging from level 1 maths and nutrition, to childcare and a Diploma in Hospitality, she secured a job as a study support coordinator at Northmoor Community Centre. Violet, who had previously volunteered at Northmoor Community Centre, runs the hugely popular community homework club for local children aged 8–16 years. This session attracts up to 60 children per week, as well as the adult cooking club every Thursday where she helps local foodies cook and bake a range of dishes on a budget.

Violet said: “I absolutely love my job. I enjoy giving back – helping the children and seeing them smile. I actually look forward to coming to work. “To have the opportunity to help people to develop themselves, whether children or adults, is hugely rewarding.” Violet now plans to complete a level 2 mathematics qualification and one day hopes to own her own affordable restaurant for people with diabetes and allergies. Northmoor Community Centre laundrette has offered all Great Places’ residents a free small service wash to the value of £9. Please use the voucher overleaf. If you or your family are interested in attending any of the activities or want to know more about volunteering opportunities at Northmoor Community Centre please drop into the centre or contact info@ northmoorcommunity.org or call 0161 248 6823. The next volunteer information session will be held 8 October 2015 from 2pm–3:30pm

News Matt’s message The new (ish) government produced its first budget in July and it has proposed various changes to welfare benefits and tax credits that will affect many people, and in certain cases it will mean less money for some residents.

Many of you will have heard about plans to introduce right to buy for housing association residents. At this stage we don’t know exactly how this will work and who will be able to take part, but once we do, we will let you know.

We have a dedicated team of staff who can help you with any questions you may have about your money and can help you save cash in a number of ways, for example heating bills, so please take advantage of this. You can find out more details on page 18.

Winter is on its way, and as well as trying to find ways to save money on your heating bills we want you to all be safe in your homes. We’ve got some tips on p5 to help you do this and these include things like checking your smoke alarm. Please take time to read.

Many of you will have heard about plans to introduce ‘right to buy’ for housing association residents and a 1% cut in rents from next April. At this stage we don’t know exactly how these two things will work but once we do, we will let you know.

Finally, we are on the look out for those of you who do great things in the areas where you live as part of our Community Star Awards. We want to honour the unsung heroes in our neighbourhoods, so if you think you know someone who fits the bill please nominate them for one of the awards.

How we’re doing Our 2014–2015 Annual Report has now been published. The report includes information on how we’ve performed over the last year in creating great homes and great communities backed by great people. We created 750 new homes during 2014/15, which is a record number for Great Places. We now have over 18,000 homes across the north west and Yorkshire. To take a look at the report at www.greatplaces.org.uk. A special residents’ annual report showing how well we’ve serviced you, as a customer, over the last year will be published at the end of 2015.

www.greatplaces.org.uk

News ONE GREAT NEIGHBOURHOOD The One Great Neighbourhood project, which is seeing us work with residents and community partners to review six of our biggest neighbourhoods and make them even greater places to live, is well underway and we have now developed ‘neighbourhood plans’ for these six areas (Seedley and Langworthy, Coppice, Northmoor, Knutsford, Claremont and Wybourn). The plans are available at www.greatplaces.org.uk and in local community centres, and Great Places’ regional offices. Alternatively, speak with your local neighbourhood coordinator.

Creating award-winning communities Our work in communities across the north west and Yorskhire has been recognised at a number of housing awards over recent months, including our investment into Sheffield communities, our Go Green environment project in Blackpool, and our female-driven projects which have been shortlisted for a number of awards at the 2015 Women in Housing Awards. Our community projects wouldn’t be a success without the input and contribution of you, our customers, so a big thank you for helping us to create great homes and great communities, supported by great people! A full run-down of Great Places’ awards and shortlistings can be found at www.greatplaces.org.uk

#OneGreatNeighbourhood

Standing proud for equality and diversity The Great Places team showed its support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender life at the Blackpool and Manchester Pride festivals over the summer. If you want to share any stories, or are affected by any issues regarding disability, race, religion or sexuality, please contact our customer access team on 0300 123 1966.

Protecting our communities The community safety team work across Great Places neighbourhoods to tackle unacceptable behaviour. We work alongside our neighbourhood staff and other agencies to put you first.

We know it’s important to you that appropriate action is taken against those responsible. We work closely with the police and other agencies to reduce crime and nuisance in your neighbourhoods.

What do we do? We investigate incidents of:

How to get help We want you to feel comfortable about approaching us. We’re a friendly team and we’re here to help. We will listen without judging you and offer advice. Our staff are fully trained and you will be treated with complete discretion. If you need the help of an interpreter we will arrange this for you.

• Anti-social behaviour • Domestic abuse • Hate crime • Crime and nuisance • Neighbour issues Safety first! It’s all about early intervention and prevention. We want to resolve issues and work with you.

If we visit you, we will always show an identity card and will respect your home, privacy, customs and culture.

Contact information Please call 0300 123 1966, email cat@greatplaces.org.uk or visit www.greatplaces.org.uk and search for ‘community safety’. If you need to call us out of office hours, please use our ASB reporting line 0845 250 4626 which is also open 24 hours on bank holidays and weekends. You can also get information on our community safety team, anti-social behaviour, hate crime and neighbour issues by 10 www.greatplaces.org.uk. www.greatplaces.org.uk visiting Look out for our eye-catching leaflets and video at www.Youtube.com/GreatPlacesGroup.

• • • • • • • • • • •

Physical assault Damage to property or offensive graffiti Arson Verbal threats or abusive gestures Offensive letters/leaflets/posters Abusive or obscene phone calls Abusive language Intimidating groups/gangs Malicious complaints Rubbish dumping at your home Bullying at school or work

Great Places’ What should you do if it happens to you or someone you know? You can help them get the recognition they deserve by Who should we retaliate: roll out Don’t you could riskthem for an award in our Community Stars nominating the red carpet for in your violence or make theAwards! situation worse. neighbourhood? Who’s made a in it, you may be able to Bycontribution reporting All Great Places residents can nominate someone. The closing your area that puts them is 31happening January 2015 so make prevent these crimesdate from to sure you get your in the spotlight? Who are nominations in before then! the unsung heroes in your someone else. community who deserve a mention?

We’ll be holding a special awards ceremony to celebrate the hard work that residents and their neighbours put in to Asking for help making their neighbourhood a better place. Look out for information the nominees and the winners on our We know that sometimes thisabout is the website.

part but the sooner you ask us Award hardest categories

for help, the better. We promise to take SENIOR You Resident Good Neighbour all reportsAward of harassment seriously. can Award report any incident in confidence – you do Resident Award Supported Housing Young Resident Award notProject have toAward tell us who you Supported are but if you Housing Scheme Award Community can tell us the names of all the people Community/Residents Group Award Community Champion Award involved, it may help us sort out the Great Places’Staff AwarD Green Champion problem more quickly. Please use the contact details on the back of this leaflet.

How to enter – it ’s easy

You can nominate someone by emailing Maria Morris at maria.morris@greatplaces.org.uk or calling her on 0161 925 7928, or writing to her at the following address: 4th Floor, St James’ House, Pendleton Way, Salford, M6 5FW

WINTER WARMTH Home Energy Checks

Keeping you, your home and your energy bills well this winter.

Top winter energy saving tips Condensation can be a real problem during the winter months and can lead to black mold in your home, which can be damaging for your health. Keep bathroom doors shut and use extractor fans when taking a shower or cooking. It’s also important to air out your home by opening the windows slightly for a short while. Internal draught excluder – draught proofing your internal and external doors can really help keep the heat in. You can make a simple draught excluder using bits of spare material. Timer switch – handy for charging mobile phones at night or even to set the timer on a lamp to come on/off during the night as a safety measure. You can set the timer to automatically turn your appliance on or off at a certain time and therefore save energy. Radflek radiator panels – stop the heat escaping from your radiator and reflect back it back into the room. They’re easy to fit and can be purchased from DIY stores and online.

Use a hot water bottle at night to keep warm while you’re in bed.

Closing the curtains at dusk helps to keep the heat in your home.

Slice the price of your utility bills – we can help! Great Places can help you to switch and save on your utility bills and also give you some handy tips to reduce your energy consumption – helping both the environment and your wallet!

We’ve helped some residents save over £220 per year! To book in for a home energy check, please contact the customer access team on 0300 123 1966.

Spread the warmth While our neighbourhood teams do all they can to keep any eye on our most vulnerable customers, we encourage residents to be extra mindful of older or less able neighbours or relatives to make sure that they’re safe and well during the winter months.

www.greatplaces.org.uk

Make sure that they’re warm enough, especially at night, and have stocks of food and medicines so they don’t need to go out during very cold weather. If you’re worried about a relative or an elderly neighbour, contact your Great Places neighbourhood coordinator or ring the Age UK helpline on 0800 00 99 66.

New energy saving heaters We’ve invested nearly £200,000 in installing new energy efficient ‘Rointe’ heaters in 99 homes across the north west and Yorkshire. The homes have been selected based on the age and condition of their heating system to identify which heaters had reached ‘the end of their useful life’. These direct heat radiators provide almost instant heat ensuring residents stay in control of their heating and fuel bills. Karen Williams of Bowland House in Blackburn, is one of the residents to have benefitted from the new efficient heaters. She said: “I have asthma and the cold air can trigger an asthmatic episode so I was particularly grateful for new heating system. “I felt the difference straight away – my home is much warmer and I’ve noticed they’ve cut my energy bills down by about £10 a month. “I can’t fault the engineers – they came and got the job done in less than two days and left my home exactly as they found it.”

Keep the heat in and save £££s We’re dedicated to making our homes energy efficient for both the benefit of the environment and your purse strings! As part of this we’ve been working on making more of our homes well insulated. This includes external wall insulation, which helps to heat homes up quicker and for longer. We’ve fitted external wall insulation on 47 homes so far this year and we estimate this should reduce fuel bills in each home by £300–£400 a year.

Before

We’ve also reviewed over 2500 homes across all Great Places regions to identify which homes need cavity and loft insulation. So far, 87 homes have received cavity wall insulation and 261 have received loft insulation. In addition to this, low energy light bulbs, radiator reflector foils and insulated loft hatch covers are soon to be fitted in all homes which become vacant. Some of our coldest homes will also have solid wall insulation fitted.

After

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www.greatplaces.org.uk www.greatplaces.org.uk

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News neighbourhood

What’s going on where you live...

Holiday fun! The Holiday Kitchen Project – run by Great Places, in partnership with Kellogg’s and St Vincent’s Housing Association – was a great success over the summer. The club was held in in Newbold, Rochdale and Brunswick, Blackpool. Activities included stories, drama, crafts, physical activities, growing your own fruit and veg and much more. The Holiday Kitchen Project will be running again during the October half-term in Salford and Sheffield. The club is free and is for children aged 4–14 years. For more info please call Karen on 0161 9257952.

West Cliff and Claremont get a floral lift! West Cliff residents, with the help of the maintenance team at Sodexo, have given the entrance to their flats a colourful lift with an array of new potted plants. The communal gardens at three Blackpool schemes (Clevedon Road, 71 Dickson Road and 115 Dickson Road) have also had a green makeover. Great Places residents and staff – with the help of Grow Blackpool and Sodexo – have planted vegetables and herbs and installed a bin store and seating areas.

Green wardens We’ve been working with customers and our green wardens to review the value for money and quality of services provided by our grounds maintenance contractors across all Great Places neighbourhoods. The outcome of the review will be announced to all customers by Spring 2016. You can also help improve the maintenance of the green spaces in your neighbourhood by becoming a ‘Green Warden’ and keeping an eye on the work of our grounds maintenance contractors. For more information please contact Cathy McCormick on 0161 925 7930 or email cathy.mccormick@greatplaces.org.uk

Winnipeg residents’ gardening skills blossom

Pictured: Residents Gemma Swallow , Melissa Fitton, Natalie Bland, Katie O’Hara

Strong women shine Nine residents from Morecambe have attended their first Strong Women course and have formed the estate’s first residents’ group – Whinsfell and Whitmoor Community Spirit Group. The group are looking to run speed awareness sessions and promote road safety on the estate. We wish them every success!

www.greatplaces.org.uk www.greatplaces.org.uk

Green-fingered Great Places residents in Bispham, Blackpool are learning new skills, harvesting vegetables and eating more healthily after the reopening of the Winnipeg community garden. The garden was officially launched by Councillor Kath Rowson from Blackpool Council, Winnipeg residents’ group members and Clare Gooden, senior development officer for Groundwork Blackpool. Groundwork Blackpool supported the residents’ group by teaching them how to grow their own veg and maintain the plants. Great Places and Blackpool Council donated money towards the makeover and the residents’ group also carried out fundraising activities.

The sounds of Sheffield The sounds that bring Sheffield’s communities together (both music and voices) were celebrated with Great Places’ first music and picnic festival over the summer. The event was held in partnership with the Sheffield Manor Lodge Discovery Centre and a group of Wybourn tenants who provided an afternoon of fine African food, music and dance!

Street party success! Over 60 residents attended the summer street party on Bratton Drive in Mount Road, Gorton to celebrate their community and let Great Places know what we can do to make it even greater. Pictured: Kiran Zaman and Sireen Khan of Bratton Drive.

Socialising in Oldham

Congratulations go out to the Burnedge Mews Residents’ Group for successfully securing £2,135 in funding from the Respect Our Community Awards (which is supported by First Choice Homes Oldham and Great Places). The funds will go towards making a community garden, including a new summer house!

A walk in the park Romney Walk kids Kaitlyn, Zak and Noel get splash happy during community day trip to Towneley Park which was organised by Great Places resident Ian Kershaw-Calvert, thanks to a grant from the Big Local Fund in Blackburn.

Getting a kick out of karate Children in Knutsford were able to try out karate moves at a beginners taster session at St John’s Wood School Sports Hall this summer, courtesy of a partnership between dePoel Community (part of Brookfield Rose) and Great Places Housing Group.

Community action for St Francis Hall Residents of St Francis Hall braved the rain for a BBQ and action planning session with staff from Great Places and Cheshire Police. Pictured: St Francis Hall children Lakeisha, Brooklyn and Callum with Police Community Support Officer Sarah Stanley.

18,000th home! We’ve recently handed over the keys to our 18,000th home to a delighted mother and daughter at Park Hill, Sheffield. Parveen Mahmood and her 16-year-old daughter, Ayesha, are the residents of the newly refurbished twobedroom apartment on Park Hill’s Norwich Street.

my money Need help? For help with understanding the new government budget or Universal Credit and how to budget for these changes – please contact CAT on 0300 123 1966 or email fit@greatplaces.org.uk

THE NEW BENEFIT CAP • Benefit payments to people living outside of London are to be capped at £20,000 per year. This is equal to £384 per week including housing benefit. This means that families with three or more children will in some cases lose some or all of their housing benefit • If you or anyone in your household receives Disability Living Allowance (DLA) then the cap doesn’t apply • Housing benefit is the only benefit that can be reduced. So if you get more than £384 in other benefits you will still get those paid in full. It is only when you move onto Universal Credit that the full amount can be capped (see page 19 for more detail on Universal Credit)

APRIL 2017 • Child tax credits will be limited to just two children. This will only apply to children born after April 2017 and disabled children are excluded. However if you make a new claim for Universal Credit you will only be able to claim the child element for two children regardless of when any additional children were born • For new tax credit claims the higher amount given to the first child will be removed • There will be no automatic entitlement to housing costs for 18–21 year olds if you make a new claim for Universal Credit; however, we are expecting there to be lots of exemptions (more detail to be announced)

www.greatplaces.org.uk

APRIL 2016 • Housing benefit will only be backdated for four weeks, so if you don’t get your claim and supporting documents submitted in time then you will lose out. • Reductions in tax credit mean that if you claim working tax credit you will lose at least £1,233 per year (£23.70 per week). However, this will be offset by an increase in the national minimum wage to £7.20 for over 25s. By 2020 the Government aims to increase the minimum wage to £9 • You will be able to earn up to £11,000 before paying tax, an extra £80 per year for basic tax payers • The family premium will be removed from any new claims for housing benefit

Universal Credit top tips... manage your 1. If you think you will struggle to centre to money monthly, you can ask the Job ments in pay two split your payment so you get the month of drug or 2. If you have rent arrears, a history ch means whi e alcohol abuse, or another issu can ask the you can’t manage your money, you ent direct job centre to pay your housing elem of eviction to Great Places so you are not at risk ncil tax cou 3. Universal credit does not include your local support, so you still need to contact council to claim this benefit payment 4. While you are waiting for your first ance you can ask the Jobcentre for an adv r6 payment which you can pay back ove ney try mo row bor months. If you do need to interest you family or friends who won’t charge lots of help 5. Tell us! We can provide you with and advice

Our Financial Inclusion team work hard to help residents save money. Last year, they helped put £1m back into your pockets!

How the new budget impacts household finances Example one Sarah and Joe are out of work and have three young children. They currently receive £363 per week from Job Seekers Allowance, Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit. They also receive full housing benefit to cover their rent of £85 per week which brings their full benefit income to £448 per week. The benefit cap means that this family are now entitled to just £384 per week – a reduction of £64. This will be taken from their housing benefit, which means that Sarah and Joe will need to pay £64 per week to Great Places to cover the shortfall in their housing benefit. Example two Pete is 26, single and works 30 hours a week on minimum wage. He currently gets £201 wages and £21.11 working tax credit, per week. After April 2016 Pete will lo se all of his working tax credit.

What? The Government has introduced a new benefit called Universal Credit (UC). It will replace the following benefits • Income-based Jobseekers Allowance • Child Tax Credit • Income-related Employment and Support Allowance • Income Support • Working Tax Credit • Housing benefit All other benefits will be paid as normal.

When? UC is slowly being rolled out across the UK for all new claims and, depending on your circumstances. This new benefit will only affect those of working age. You may be told to claim this new benefit. If you are claiming benefits now it may take a few years before you need to move onto UC.

How? UC is different because it will be one single payment, paid monthly in arrears which means that your first payment will come through about six to seven weeks after you submit your claim.

What does this mean for me?

• You will need to make sure you pay your full rent to Great Places – we can help you set up a Direct Debit • If you are used to budgeting weekly or fortnightly you will need to get used to budgeting monthly – Great Places can help you with this • If you move in and out of work or your hours of work change from one week to the next your UC claim will go up or down in-line with your wages • If you are fit for work you will be expected to look for work or increase your hours and failure to do so will result in sanctions – if you would like advice about training or employment then we can help • You will be required to use the internet to make and update your claim – if you are unsure about how to do this we can sign-post you in the right direction • We’re here to help, but failure to pay your rent will result in eviction. Make sure you tell us if you are claiming UC

Checking what matters to you During July 2015, the in:team (Great Places customer involvement team) invited customers that have recently had a repair done in their home, and who live in Sheffield, Manchester, Blackburn, Salford, Oldham and Blackpool to tell us: • • • •

What they like about the repair service? What they don’t like about the repair service? What they expect the repair service to deliver? What’s most important to them?

We also called some customers on the day of a repair in their home, to ask how they felt about the service and what was most important to them. Customers told us they want a reliable and high standard service, which provides an appointment date when they first report a repair and keeps them informed and up to date of progress or changes while the repair is being dealt with. We have included all feedback as part of a review of the repairs service and its performance. Going forward,

customer views will be central to all improvements we make to the repairs service. We would like to say a big thank you to the all customers who attended a local meeting or took the time to speak to us on the phone. Customer feedback helps us to understand the standards you expect from our services and to plan and deliver our services better so that they meet your needs. Photographed: residents from the Fylde region meet Dave Crowe, Head of Repairs Performance and give him their views about Great Places’ repairs service.

Call auditing – meet Marsha our volunteer Great Places regularly checks the standard of customer service. A team of 12 volunteer customer auditors listen back to calls on a monthly basis. We spoke to Marsha, one of our volunteers and she explains the reasons why she volunteers to audits calls, what is involved and the benefits of volunteering her time with Great Places. What made you decide to volunteer to audit calls with Great Places? I decided I wanted to learn something new; something that is totally different to what I do in my day-to-day job. Also, it helps Great Places to check the standard of customer service offered to customers like me at this initial point of contact. What is involved, what do you do? Basically, I listen to a sample selection of five calls each month made by customers to either the repair desk or the

customer access team. Sometimes, I’ll run through the call twice to make sure I’ve understood the nature of the call. I make a few notes as I listen, then complete a call audit feedback sheet. The feedback simply involves answering a number of ‘yes or no’ questions about the content and quality of the call. I also score some specific elements of the call, like how well I thought the officer listened to the caller. I usually spend about 30 to 45 minutes per month volunteering. What would you say to other customers that might be interested in volunteering? It’s a great way to get involved and build your skills in a different area. You can do it independently and from the comfort of your own home. Maria and the team are really flexible and helpful. It’s one of the easier, less time consuming ways to volunteer your time and give something back.

Join our funding panel The funding panel allocates the Great Places Residents’ and Shared Spaces Funds. The Residents’ Fund awards money for projects that make a difference to your lives and

the areas in which you live. The Shared Spaces Fund is to help improve the safety and appearance of the area where you live.

Get involved! If you have some spare time and you’re thinking of volunteering, or you just want to find out more about how you can get involved, contact the in:team on 0161 925 7928 or maria.morris@greatplaces.org.uk.

How you’re helping to improve services We catch up with the two main resident-led Great Places groups to find out what they’ve been doing to make our services better for you. Customer Service Voice (CSV)

At their last two meetings CSV have challenged, debated and questioned over 30 agenda items, recent discussions points on the CSV agenda have included -

Great Places r Custome Services Voice

• • • •

Challenging how Great Places deals with customer complaints Who Great Places allocate homes to Monitor how Great Places keep customers safe in their homes Challenge how Great Places performs in different service areas including how quickly we let our empty homes, how satisfied customers are with services received and how we collect rent • Monitoring the ongoing improvements to the repairs service • Reviewing the effect of welfare reform on customers and what Great Places are doing to support residents affected Customer Service Voice (CSV) is the main resident advisory group to directors with responsibility for monitoring GP performance, shaping policy and reviewing improvements to the services we offer you.

Customer ‘insight’ gratefully received ‘Insight’, Great Places’ customer scrutiny group completed a review of the community safety

service in July. We presented our final findings and recommendations for improvement to the Great Places’ Board, who agreed the proposed actions. We the members of ‘insight’ are confident that our recommendations will help the community safety team to better support and deal with cases of nuisance and anti-social behavior. For our third scrutiny review, ‘insight’ has chosen to look at the various ways that Great Places communicates and keeps customers informed. We will kick off the review by contacting customers to ask how informed they feel and whether being kept informed is important to them. We will also ask customers for your ideas on how best Great Places could keep you informed. The review will look particularly at the customer newsletter My Great Place (sent to customers four times a year), Great Places’ website and social media like Twitter and Facebook.

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GRAPEVINE

Elderly services news

Summer celebrations! The elderly services newsletters have been discontinued and we are now publishing all elderly services news and information on the My Great Place Grapevine page and on scheme noticeboards.

Eileen’s ‘brave shave’ Resident Eileen Porter from The Byron’s braved a shaved head all in aid of raising money for MacMillian and Camberwell Park, a local school for children with special needs. Well done to Eileen who raised a whopping £436!

Raising cash for good causes Tulloch Court’s summer garden fete in aid of children’s hospice Brian House raised a massive £400. Pictured is Tulloch Court resident Kath Montgomery with Tommy Nolan, brother of the Nolan sisters who opened the event. A table-top sale in aid of the Nepal earthquake appeal also raised £350.

Curling, chatting and keeping fit Residents at Hawkshaw Court in Salford have taken up the Olympic sport of curling to help stay active and healthy. Once a week on a Tuesday, with the help of Salford’s health Improvement team, Hawkshaw Court is transformed into an indoor curling rink. Residents are enjoying the sport and want to challenge one of our other sheltered housing schemes to a game of indoor curling. Potential contenders can contact Gareth Gibson on 0161 8727693. Indoor curling is also attracting a crowd on a Wednesday at John Atkinson Court. Residents at this and other local Great Places housing schemes are enjoying keeping active and having a good natter over a cup of tea. Pictured is the JAC curling team in action.

Residents prepare for Blackley in Bloom 2015 The judges for Blackley in Bloom visited the Byrons to view the garden. Results should come through in October and residents are keeping their fingers crossed for another award. Huge thanks to Peter Matthews and Deborah Morris for leading on the garden work. Residents joined the judges in the garden and spoke with them about the work that they had been doing as well as their plans for the future.

HAVE YOU GOT YOUR HOME CONTENTS COVERED? Sadly, there has been a number of incidents where a resident has lost the contents of their home, whether due to a fire or a burglary, and they didn’t have home contents insurance to cover them. Don’t take the risk of this happening to you.

Understanding contents insurance From £1.64 per week you can have your belongings covered with the Great Places tenant home contents insurance scheme

£35k

amount paid out by Great Places’ contents insurance scheme in the last year

£0

we offer zero excess on the Great Places’ contents insurance scheme

108

claims received over the last year

• Levels of cover Some schemes only cover items that remain in your home, such as kitchen appliances and furniture. However, we recommend taking out cover to insure portable goods such as jewellery, mobile phones and laptops, if you own such items. • Valuing your goods When applying for contents insurance you will be asked to declare the estimated value of your goods as well the type of security you have fitted on your home – be honest as inaccuracies could lead to your insurance being void should you need to make a claim. • How will my goods be replaced if I need to make a claim? Some schemes offer new for old should you need to make a claim – so they will replace an old TV with a new TV. Other schemes only provide you with cover for the value of your goods according to the age of the item when the claim is made. • Add-ons If you would like full accidental damage cover, personal belongings cover (for portable items taken away from your home) and wheelchair/mobility scooter/hearing aids cover then you’ll usually have to request this as an addon to your basic policy. Check with your insurance provider. • Excess This is the amount you have to pay out to the insurance company in the event of a claim – some policies, such as the Great Places scheme, offer zero excess.

For further information about Great Places’ contents insurance scheme please contact our Customer Access Team on 0300 123 1966.

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Competition time Complete the word search, spot the difference and survey questions, cut them out and post them to us, along with your full name and address, to be entered into a prize draw to win a £20 shopping voucher. Six Word Search! winners will be selected. Make sure you include your survey questions with your entry. Name:

Date:

circlePlace, each of Maria the words from the list below. Words may appear Send your entries by post to: FREEPOST, RLSC-HLLJ-EZRZ,Find Myand Great Morris, forwards or backwards, horizontally, vertically or diagonally in the grid. Great Places Housing Group, 4th Floor St James’ House, Pendleton Way, Salford M6 5FW.

All entries must be in by Friday 1 November 2015. Remember, you don’t need a stamp!

Wordsearch

S U U H Z

HARVEST AUTUMN ACORN COLOURS FROST

R E O O Y A B Y F

R B O T

T R

U O A U C A A N R O C A P R

Words to find are: LEAVES BONFIRE HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN CHILLY

B O N F

O Z I

ORANGE RAKE

N E E S

X G V V W E S

Z M O Y

N U S A

P E Y

T D U V E

A E A P Y

U A C O L O U R S E N

X S C P M L

A H X X E U

Congratulations to last issue’s winners: Wordsearch: Alan Dean – Newton Heath Fred Burton – Newton Heath, Kevin Parkinson – Heysham. Spot the difference: John Wentworth – Newton Heath, Alan Haigh – Leyland, Mrs D Taylor – Blackpool.

T M L

C R C

M U Q R V P U M P K D A R B R E A U T

N C

U M N T

R A K E E K S D R G N C Q T

S O R F O

S P A E D

U G A H A

L O W E E N S

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE There are five differences – can you spot them? Circle the five differences on photo two.

PUMPKIN HALLOWEEN AUTUMN BONFIRE COLOURS HARVEST ORANGE RAKE LEAVES ACORN FROST CHILLY

Please answer the following question and send it along with your competition entry in order to be entered into the prize draw. Think of three words that best describe My Great Place to you? _____________ / ____________ / ______________ Tell us one thing you like about My Great Place? ________________________________________________________ Tell us one thing which you think would make the magazine even better for you ______________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Name:................................................................................................................................................................................... Address:............................................................................................................................................................................... 24 www.greatplaces.org.uk Telephone/Mobile: ...............................................................Email:....................................................................................