My great Place - Winter 2015 by Great Places Housing Group

Winter 2015

The magazine for Great Places Housing Group residents

omer Annual 14/15

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Having difficulty reading this report? Please call us on 0300 123 1966 and we’ll provide you with a magnifying sheet.

Neighbourhoods and communities The year in pictures Putting you first Supported housing

Career opportunities Boost your career in the new year

Welcome to your 2014/15 Customer Annual Report – an easy-to-read overview of how Great Places has performed during the year and how it plans to improve over the next 12 months.

Communty Stars Awards Now Open! Nominate a star in your community.

The following 12 pages have been designed and written in conjunction with customers to ensure that it provides an honest, accurate, and relevant reflection of Great Places’ performance.

What’s on this winter Our top budget days out

As the chair of Customer Service Voice I feel that it is important that Great Places is open and transparent to customers and I hope you find the information contained in this report interesting and informative. Christine Goulden

Customer Services Voice

Your 2015 Customer Annual Report Find out1 how well we’re serving you

Repairs

Numbers you need to know

Email our Customer Access Team:

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

0300 126 1966 or simply text us on: 07797 870 734

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

0300 123 1966 & press 1 for repairs

cat@greatplaces.org.uk

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

repairs@greatplaces.org.uk

Our opening times over the festive season: 24 December (Christmas Eve) 8am–2pm 25 December (Christmas Day) Closed 26 December (Boxing Day) Closed 27 December (Sunday) Closed 28 December (Bank Holiday) Closed 29 December 8am–4pm 30 December 9am–4pm 31 December (New Year’s Eve) 9am–2pm 1 January (New Year’s Day) Closed

Write to My Great Place at: Communications Great Places Southern Gate 729 Princess Road Manchester M20 2LT

Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/GreatPlacesHousing Tweet us @MyGreatPlace

Access for all

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.

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

FSC AND WORLD LAND TRUST LOGOS

Cover stars: The winners of the Community Stars Awards 2014.

Apology

Welcome to

YOUR MAGAZINE! As the year draws to a close, we’ve worked with Customer Service Voice (our main customer consultation group) to create your 2015 Customer Annual Report. The report shows how we’ve been serving Great Places customers over the last financial year and features some wonderful photo highlights of Great Places’ homes, communities, and people. Please see pages 7–18. I hope you find this information informative and helpful.

We’d like to apologise to those customers who received an out-ofdate rent statement in the Autumn 2015 issue of My Great Place. This issue has now been resolved. Please note that rent statements will always be approximately one week out-ofdate due to the time it takes to have the statements printed and sent out with the magazine.

On a more festive note, we’ve pulled together our top picks of the best budget activities happening across all Great Places regions during the winter months – there’s something for everyone ¬– see page 19. We wish you all the best for the festive season and a very happy new year!

What’s inside? Kids’ Competition Thanks so much for you responses to the ‘find Margaret Plaice’ competition – she was hiding behind the flying pig. Congratulations to Abdul Rahman from Longsight 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

Contents

4-5

Customer Annual Report pages

Community Stars Awards pages

6 Neigbourhood news 19 Star events this winter 20–21 News board 22 Grapevine 23 My Green Place 24 Competitions

7-18

Great Places’ Who should we roll the red carpet out for in your neighbourhood? Who’s made a contribution in your area that should put them in the spotlight? Who are the unsung heroes in your community who deserve a reward?

You can help a star in your community get the recognition they deserve by nominating them for one of the categories in our Community Stars Awards! All Great Places residents can nominate an individual, group or project. The closing date is Sunday 31 January 2016, so get in touch to let us know the stars that shine in your community. We’ll be holding a special awards ceremony in April 2016 to celebrate the hard work that residents and community groups put in to make their neighbourhood a better place. Look out for information about the nominees and the winners on our website and in My Great Place.

How to enter – it ’s easy You can nominate someone by emailing Maria Morris at maria.morris@greatplaces.org.uk, calling her on 0161 447 5076, or writing to her at the following address: FREEPOST RLSC-HLLJ-EZRZ, Great Places, Southern Gate, 729 Princess Road, Manchester, M20 2LT. 4

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

closing date : SUNDAY 31 JANUARY:

Award categories Good Neighbour Award A person who goes out of their way to care for others in their neighbourhood – maybe they help with an older person’s shopping, provide a shoulder to cry on, support neighbours in times of need, help to bring the street together for social events. Young Resident Award A person aged 25 or under who has worked to improve their area, made a positive difference to someone else’s life or stood up to bullying, hate crime, racism or other forms of antisocial behaviour, or shown particular bravery. Community Project Award

Do you know of a standout project in your area that’s impressed you? Has it transformed the place where you live or brought people together?

Community/Residents’ Group Award

A group of residents who’ve pulled together to make a significant difference to where they live. Maybe they’ve helped to bring improvements to your building, set up social events to bring the community together or raised money to transform green space near your home.

Green Champion

An individual who is committed to making a big environmental impact and has made a difference to their community. This could be looking after a community garden, helping at a community allotment or promoting community recycling.

SENIOR Resident Award

A person aged 70 or over who works tirelessly to improve their community. They may have been working in their neighbourhood for years and have never received recognition.

Supported Housing Resident Award A person who lives in one of our supported housing schemes who has made a real difference to the lives of others: they may have gone the extra mile to help a fellow resident, started up a group, or got involved in a community initiative. Supported Housing Scheme Award

Is there one of our projects which stands head and shoulders above the rest? Has it become an important part of the community? It could be a scheme for young people, young parents, homeless, alcohol dependents, or those with mental health issues.

Community Champion Award This person will already be an important part of the community. Maybe they run the local youth club or help in the local school as a volunteer. They might be a key person in the local church or the chief organiser of the community fair.

Great Places’Staff Award Is there someone from Great Places who has gone the extra mile for residents? Who do you think embodies our vision: Great homes. Great communities. Great people.

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News neighbourhood

What’s going on where you live...

IT whizz launches business Congratulations to Great Places resident Arshad Ayub (also known as Ash) from Salford who, after being unemployed for two years, has set up his own home business providing friendly computer support. Why did you decide to set up the business? Some companies are more bothered about profit than customers and I wanted to provide the best possible computer service I can. What services do you offer? We offer a high standard of IT service for computers as well as website and app design. We also provide low cost brand new computers and lessons for people who are new to computers and the internet.

Mayor of Preston opens new play area designed to unite families Great Places, Maple Crescent Residents’ Group and Contour Homes gathered for the opening of Maple Crescent’s new play area on Tuesday 17 November. Margaret McManus, the Mayor of Preston, officially opened the play area, which was built following a successful Big Lottery Fund application by the Maple Crescent Residents’ Group.

For further information please visit: https://plus.google.com/+Computer ProblemsSalford

£1000 donation for local hospices Richmond Park fun day Richmond Park neighbours Kenny Stimpson and Ira Liversidge enjoy a splash of colour at a community fun day hosted by The New Bohemians FC, Great Places and Athelstan Primary School to discuss plans to transform the primary school’s playing field into a community activity space.

Top turnout of Tatton Park trip Over 40 children and adults from Ardwick in Manchester enjoyed the unusually mild autumn 6 www.greatplaces.org.uk weather with a trip to Tatton Park.

A £1000 cheque was presented by Great Places’ Blackpool staff to two well-regarded local hospices, Trinity Hospice and Brian House. The money was raised through various fundraising activities, including a Come Dine With Me style dinner party event.

Local residents drive home the importance of road safety Morecambe’s Whinsfell and Whitmoor Community Spirit Group reveal their creative speed awareness banner, designed by local children, to help raise awareness of road safety in the neighbourhood.

Your Customer Annual Report 2015

Having difficulty reading this report? Please call us on 0300 123 1966 and we’ll provide you with a magnifying sheet.

Contents Welcome

Customers and communities

12–13

Finance

The year in pictures

14–15

Tenancy

Putting customers first

16–17

Your homes

10–11

Supported housing

Welcome I’d like to welcome you to your 2015 customer annual report which has been put together with the help of residents and covers a range of topics that matter to you.

This report provides an easy-to-read overview of how Great Places has performed during the year and how it plans to improve over the next 12 months.

I know one of the most important things for you is having an excellent repairs service. At times we haven’t met your expectations and that is one of the reasons why we have made changes to it during the last 18 months and we are beginning to see real improvements. For example, the amount of repairs we complete on the first visit to your homes has increased to more than 30,000 in total.

The following 12 pages have been designed and written in conjunction with customers to ensure that it provides an honest, accurate, and relevant reflection of Great Places’ performance.

However, I know there is still more to be done and the aim is to make this and the other services we offer you even better. So please take some time to read through the following pages and if you have any comments please contact our customer access team via email at cat@greatplaces.org.uk or call 0300 123 1966.

Customer Services Voice

Matthew Harrison

Chief executive, Great Places Housing Group

Finance

If you wish to view our full value for money selfassessment please visit www.greatplaces.org.uk

Financial viability is a key corporate priority for Great Places. Where our money comes from: Rent and service charges

£73.4m (87% of total turnover)

Other social housing activities

£10.m (12% of total turnover)

Commercial activities Total turnover for 2014/15 (the amount of money Great Places collected)

£793,000 (1% of total turnover) £84.3m

repayments 24% Interest/loan We need to borrow money

16%

to help us build new homes.

11%

17%

Planned/major repairs

Services Services covers things like cutting grass, landscaping gardens and cleaning communal areas.

£1

£6

Routine repairs

£1

How we spend our money

£9

12%

£2

Depreciation Depreciation is an accountancy term used to describe the reduction in value of our homes due to wear and tear.

Staff and office

£1

3 0.

Rent

12%

Surplus

Surplus is the ‘profit’ made by Great Places Housing Group. As a registered charity we re-invest our surplus into helping to build affordable new homes.

Rent arrears is the term we use to show the amount of rent owed which has not yet been paid. The lower the percentage the better as it means that more rent is being paid on time.

2014/2015

How does this compare with 2013/14?

General Needs – current arrears including housing benefit

3.4% (£2m)

3.6% (£1.9m)

Supported Housing – current arrears including housing benefit

4.3% (£150,000)

4.5% (£181,000)

Customer satisfaction that rent is value for money

(799 responses)

82%

78%

(684 responses)

Result

Tenancy Great Places is required to let our homes in a fair, transparent and efficient way.

2014/2015

How does this compare with 2013/14?

Re-let days

28.5 days

33.8 days

Total void loss

£427,000

£573,000

Average void cost per property

£1,711

£1,800

Satisfaction with new homes

97% (145 responses)

92% (119 responses)

Result

What do we mean by re-let days? Number of days between the previous customer moving out of a property and the new customer moving in. What is void loss? Void loss is the amount of rent not collected by Great Places due to our properties remaining vacant for any period of time. What does average void cost per property mean? How much we spend on making each empty property ready for a new customer to move in. How do we ensure that our new homes are meeting the needs of our customers? Our development team work closely with colleagues across Great Places and look at other new homes built in the local area to ensure that the style, layout and features of our new homes reflect the needs of individual communities. We also invite all our new home customers to provide us feedback about what works well and what could be improved in the future such as access, storage, energy efficiency, refuse removal and garden design.

Your homes We’ve invested more into improving and maintaining your homes last year than ever before — with a total investment of £23.5 million. Improving homes — what we’ve achieved

2014/2015

How does this compare with 2013/14?

New kitchens

628

529

Homes with new windows

367

150

New bathrooms and wet rooms

409

394

New boilers

607

327

New doors

605

249

How do we decide which properties need improvement work? Work is planned using a database, which records the age and condition of the major elements of each Great Places home. We also make planning decisions based on feedback from customers and Great Places staff about the condition of a property or communal space. This information is constantly refreshed by our ‘stock condition surveyors’ who complete a review of 2000 individual properties each year. When a home survey is due to take place we will write to our residents to advise them and offer an appointment. If the results of the home survey indicate that an item needs to replaced then we will allocate the work to our contractor and write to the customer to explain the plans for the work and to schedule in a convenient start date (within the overall timeframe of the planned work). Depending on the item needing to be replaced, we will provide the customer with a range of fittings and fixtures to choose from.

Repairing homes — what we’ve achieved

2014/2015

How does this compare with 2013/14?

No. of repairs completed

41,000

34,000

No. of repairs fixed first time

75% (30,750)

71% (24,140)

No. of repairs appointments kept

82% (35,337)

78% (35,700)

Customer repairs calls lost

3% (2162)

27% (17,428)

Customer satisfaction with repairs call handling

96% (622 responses)

88% (462 responses)

Customer satisfaction with overall repairs service

89% (622 responses)

83% (462 responses)

What are ‘lost calls’ and how have we been able to improve our performance in this area? A lost call is a call that rings for over 15 seconds and the customer hangs up before we have a chance to answer it. We record all instances of this and try and call customers back at a later time where resources allow. We have been able to significantly improve our lost call rate during 2014/15 by increasing management and staff resources within our repairs and asset management team. Our lost call rate is now better than the 5.4% average recorded by 32 other UK housing associations. How do we manage the allocation of repairs jobs? Jobs are allocated by offering an appointment to a customer based on the urgency of the work required and availability of suitable resources. We attend emergency jobs within four hours and non-emergency jobs within 28 days at a day/time convenient to the customer. How do we ensure your homes are safe and compliant? We carry out many checks to ensure your homes are safe and compliant with the various regulations that govern housing associations. During 2014/15 we completed: · Over 12,700 gas services to achieve 100% compliance · Fire risk assessments on over 500 communal areas · Maintenance checks of over 80 elevators · Over 246 asbestos surveys · Over 134 water safety checks · Over 1100 electrical tests.

Customers and communities Great Places’ vision isn’t just to build great homes but to also create great communities, supported by great people. We continue to support thriving neighbourhoods and work tirelessly to transform the lives of our customers. Creating neighbourhoods to be proud of This year saw the launch of a new customer-focused project, called ‘One Great Neighbourhood’, in six neighbourhoods: • • • • • •

Claremont, Blackpool Coppice, Oldham Knutsford, Cheshire Northmoor, Manchester Seedley and Langworthy, Salford Wybourn, Sheffield

We’ve met with over 1,000 customers to get feedback on what works well and not so well in their community. Based on this feedback we’ve developed six individual ‘neighbourhood action plans’ which will be carried out over the next couple of years working alongside Great Places customers and other local organisations. The neighbourhood action plans cover various things that make a neighbourhood a great place to live such as transport links, work and training opportunities, health and wellbeing services, and activities for young people. We will roll out this approach in other Great Places’ neighbourhoods in the future. Funding the development of great people and great communities Our Residents’ Fund and Shared Spaces Fund provide a pot of money to help the people and places in Great Places’ communities to shine. During 2014/15 we’ve provided £138,000 towards helping Great Places customers and community groups to achieve their goals, including a new outdoor play area for one of our young parents’ schemes and to support the running costs of the Northmoor Community Centre cooking club. Plus, we’ve helped fundraise £526,000 during 2014 for various resident, charity and community activities.

Northmoor

Community

How have we improved the handling of ASB/community safety cases? In 2014 we recruited a manager to lead and develop the community safety/ASB (antisocial behaviuor) service. We also launched a new community safety duty service so that all ASB case reports are sent to a dedicated community safety team member who will assess the case and contact the customer. We have also introduced a courtesy call back process for witnesses.

2014/2015

How does this compare with 2013/14?

No. of ASB cases

1069

870

How long it takes to close a case

59 days

61 days

Customer satisfaction with handling of ASB case

90% (134 responses)

88% (141 responses)

Customer satisfaction with outcome of ASB case

90% (134 responses)

86% (141 responses)

We’ve renegotiated our agreement with a new mediation provider (a company that independently works with all parties in order to resolve a case), which has resulted in more cases being referred to our mediators for early intervention. Celebrating our community stars The outstanding contributions of our customers in helping us to create great communities were again recognised at our annual Community Stars Awards 2015. Over 200 customers attended the ceremony at Gorton Monestry – with 11 winner and 10 runner-up awards being handed out. Nominations are now open for this year’s Community Stars Awards, please visit www.greatplaces.org.uk for more details. How do we pass savings onto residents? We’ve provided lots of support to customers over the last year regarding what benefits they can claim and how Universal Credit works – including customer surveys to better understand our customers’ experiences with the Universal Credit process so that we can provide suitable support.

No. of households helped into employment, voluntary opportunities and training Savings passed onto customers through benefit advice, utility savings and affordable credit. No. of Community Stars Award nominations received

2014/15

How does this compare with 2013/14?

338

304

£1 million

111

122 We’ve also continued to help hundreds of customers to cut down their energy use through helping them to switch and save on utility bills, providing energy efficient gadgets and advice on how to cut down their home energy use, and assisting with managing any water debt through Trust Fund grants. Hello Sarah Lodge

The year in pictures From our annual Community Stars Awards which celebrate the wonderful achievements of our customers to installing new windows and doors to help make our longer standing homes more cosy and energy efficient â&#x20AC;&#x201D; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a very vibrant year for Great Places.

Hello

Great homes. Great communities. Great people. Great homes: Maximising our investment in sustainable homes

Great communities: Building successful, vibrant communities

Great people: Providing outstanding customer service and support

Putting customers first A key part of Great Places’ vision is to provide outstanding customer service and support and an important value is that we know, respect and care about our customers. Customer involvement and empowerment

2014/2015

How does this compare with 2013/14?

No. of customers who have got involved in improving Great Places and its services

828

443

No. repairs appointments audited by customers

135

157

No. customer calls audited by customers

270

190

How have customers been involved in monitoring performance, shaping policy and scrutinising our services? • We recruited and trained customers for our new scrutiny panel, Insight, who inspect our services and report their findings direct to the Great Places Board. Insight completed their first scrutiny exercise, looking at our complaints service, and made 27 recommendations for improvement. These included: o Reducing our complaint response times from 20 days to 15 days o Developing a new complaints management computer system o Training in dealing with dissatisfaction for frontline staff and managers. • Customer Services Voice (CSV), our main customer consultation group, discussed 74 different matters, reviewed 14 policies, and challenged performance across 44 areas over the last year. This included: o Reviewing the investment programme and budget for 2014/15 o Approving our approach to supporting digital inclusion o Supporting changes to the Community Safety Policy and Community Safety Team. • Our Customer Funding Panel reviewed/scored 45 Resident and Shared Spaces Fund applications and approved £138,000 worth of projects. • Our team of customer call auditors reviewed 270 calls into Great Places, scoring our customer services officers on a number of factors, including their knowledge and customer service.

Interested in getting involved in helping to improve Great Places’ services? Please contact us by texting 07797 870 734, emailing cat@greatplaces.org.uk or calling 0300 123 1966.

Customer service and complaints

2014/2015 Customers satisfied with Great Places overall Customer satisfaction with our Customer Access Team (contact centre for customer enquiries) No. of formal complaints received Customers satisfied with the way complaints are handled

How does this compare with 2013/14?

86%

84%

99%

95%

325

365

59%

60%

(808 responses)

(102 responses)

(106 customers surveyed)

(699 responses)

(107 responses)

(60 customers surveyed)

How have we increased customer satisfaction with our Customer Access Team? Our Customer Access Team (contact centre) staff have completed additional training in delivering telephone-based customer satisfaction. They’ve also introduced new processes to make returning missed (‘lost’) customer calls more efficient and to ensure that they are more informed about what is going on in different areas of Great Places and can therefore handle customer enquiries more effectively. How do we use complaints information to improve our services? Complaints are an invaluable opportunity to understand where our services have failed to meet customer expectations and make improvements to ensure this does not occur in the future. Our service managers review the detail of every resolved complaint to ensure that key learnings are identified. These are collated on our complaints learning log and shared across the group. How do we find out how satisfied customers are with our services? We regularly contact customers by phone and email to find out how well our services are meeting your needs. We select customers at random to get their feedback on Great Places homes and our services in general. We also contact customers after they have received a specific service such as repair or home improvement work or logging a matter with our anti-social behaviour or complaints team. Meeting the diverse needs of customers With the help of over 500 customers we’ve recently developed a new vision statement and set of values. Key values include ‘we know, respect and care about our customers’ and ‘we are fair, open and accountable’. We’re working individually and collectively to ensure that we put these values into daily practice and are demonstrating that we understand the diverse needs our customers. We also continued to show our support for diversity in communities with a vibrant showing at the 2015 Manchester and Blackpool Pride festivals.

Supported housing Our supported housing service provides almost 1,700 places for a variety of vulnerable people including the homeless, young mums, young people, alcohol dependents, those with mental health issues, and older people. We work with over 30 specialist agencies, which bring expertise in the delivery of care and support services. Key developments during 2014/15 It was another challenging year with even greater financial pressure on the service meaning we have had to make some difficult decisions. We lost our contracts in Blackpool, which meant the closure of the Foyer and Williams Lyons House, while our Manchester Dispersed project also ended because of funding cuts. However, we also celebrated a number of key achievements including: • We partnered with Greater Manchester West NHS Trust to support people with alcohol dependencies in Salford. • We provided a peer-mentoring course at Pomona Gardens and Meadow Lodge in Trafford. • We developed specialist older person housing at Hazelhurst Ramsbottom in Bury. • Residents from our sheltered and extra care schemes in Manchester, Salford and Blackpool met on a quarterly basis to help shape improvements to the service. • Bluebell Court in St Helens, which provides accommodation for women who would otherwise be homeless, was reviewed by the local authority’s supporting housing team and scored ‘As’ in all service areas. Supported housing — customer successes

2014/2015

How does this compare with 2013/14?

No. of customers who secured independent living

94% (1026)

94% (906)

No. of customers who maximised their income

95% (1036)

96% (925)

No. of customers who progressed with training and education

84% (916)

85% (819)

How do we help customers to reach these goals? When a new customer joins one of our supported housing schemes we work with them to understand what their goals are and develop a support action plan for them. We then review whether they’ve reached their goals before they move on from the scheme. The number of people we’ve successfully helped in reaching these goals has remained high even though we are dealing with people with more complex needs than in previous years. Hello

Star events this winter! From Christmas markets and pop-up ice rinks to festivals and exhibitions, there are plenty of free events and cheap days out for everyone to enjoy this winter. Here’s our run-down of the star events.

BLACKPOOL What: Stanley Park When: All year Where: West Park Drive, Blackpool Cost: Free admission to the park and free parking available. Activities start from £1. Why we love it: If you’ve overdone the festive fayre, take a walk through Stanley Park with its stunning landscape and historical buildings. Facilities include a children’s play area, a BMX race track, café, trampolines, boat hire, crazy gold and the model village. For more information visit www.visitblackpool.com or call 01253 478222.

SALFORD What: A Closer Look Tour: Christmas blitz When: Daily in December at 3:30pm (except 24, 25, 26) Where: Imperial War Museum, Salford Quays Cost: Free 20 minute tour Why we love it: To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Manchester Christmas Blitz, step into a festively decorated 1940s house. Roy Taylor shares his experiences of the dramatic effects of the Blitz. Suitable for ages 14+ years. To find out more visit www.iwm.org. uk/visits/iwm-north or call 0161 836 4000.

SHEFFIELD What: Christmas markets When: Open daily from 10am to 6pm (8pm on Wednesdays) until Christmas Eve Where: Fargate, Walkley, Green Estate, Handsworth and Heeley Cost: Free entry but there are plenty of tempting treats to spend your money on! Why we love it: A festival wonderland awaits you at market stalls across the city, the Farrar’s Funfairs at Fargate and the Peace Gardens. Traditional wooden cabins offer craft products, gifts and treats! For more information call Visitor Services on 0114 275 7754 or visit: www.welcometosheffield.co.uk.

BLACKBURN What: The Ice Palace When: Open daily until 24 December Where: Victoria Court, The Mall, Blackburn Cost: From £4.50 Why we love it: Meet Santa, the Snow Queen, Snow Princess and a delightful snowman in a spectacular icy wonderland. And to warm you up, Baskin and Robbins are offering 50% off all hot treats with every Ice Palace ticket for The Mall Blackburn. Call 01254 544 55 to find out more or visit www.grottohireuk.com to book tickets to queue-jump at no extra cost.

GREATER MANCHESTER What: Bolton Winter Festival Where: Bolton Town Centre When: Open daily until 3 January (except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day) Cost: From £2 an activity Why we love it: There really is something for everyone – glowing tipis filled with festive food, drink and live music, curling, ice skating, and a Santa’s Grotto complete with a Santa Express Train! For further info visit www.visitbolton. com/winterfestival or call 0843 208 1854.

OLDHAM What: Victorian Steampunk Christmas When: Saturday 19 December, 10am - 5pm Where: Oldham Town Centre Cost: Free street entertainment (excludes rides/ food) Why we love it: Music, comedy and free children’s face painting and Christmas storytelling in Tommyfield Market. To find out more visit www.visitoldham.com or call 0161 770 4516.

Please note: Most of the star events don’t require booking, but we recommend contacting the venues in advance to make sure there are no changes to the event details.

19 19

NEWS BOARD Could you help care for someone in the Greater Manchester community? Help support people in your community and develop new skills at the same time by becoming a Safe and Well volunteer with Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. As a Safe and Well volunteer you’ll provide support to those who are most at risk of social isolation and loneliness by visiting them in their home to discuss support needs and offer practical solutions.

Credit: GMFRS

Interested? Visit www.manchesterfire.gov.uk/jobs. Closing date for applications is midnight on 6 January 2016. Interviews will take place on 21, 22 and 23 January 2016. Induction training will take place in mid-February 2016.

See your career take flight with the Manchester Airport Jobs Fair Manchester Airport Group will be hosting a major jobs fair on 13 January 2016 (10am–7pm) at the Concorde Hanger Viewing Park, with over 2,500 jobs available! Positions include check-in staff, customer service, cleaning, retail, hospitality, security and baggage handling. Great Places customers can register for a pre-event slot (spaces are limited) and also get job application hints and tips – please contact CAT (see page 2 for contact details). Deadline to register your interest is 8 January 2016.

Opportunity to develop your social care skills

Macmillan Solutions Manchester train and support a team of volunteers who provide emotional and practical help to local people affected by cancer, in and around Northmoor in Manchester. Could you help by befriending, gardening, shopping, phoning someone for a chat, driving people to appointments, dog walking or other tasks? Volunteering opportunities can be anything from an occasional hour to regular weekly support on an on-going basis. For more information call Macmillan on 07850 686 366 or email macmillan@northmoorcommunity.org

www.greatplaces.org.uk

Ways to pay your rent In the excitement of Christmas it is easy to forget to pay your rent on time. Great Places’ offices will be open over the Christmas period and rent payments will run as normal.

Ways to pay your rent Direct debit: call the Customer Access Team 0300 123 1966 (option 2) for more details

Did you know that your home contents are more valuable at Christmas? Make sure that your contents insurance cover extends over the festive period to include gifts. The Great Places scheme covers Christmas gifts and freezer contents and starts from as little as £1.68 per week. If you are thinking about buying from weekly payment stores this Christmas, you can save £££ by having home contents insurance. Having your own policy not only covers you for all the goods in your house but means you won’t need the expensive insurance through the weekly payment store. For further information please contact CAT (see page 2 for contact details).

Financial wellbeing survey — chance to win ££! Quids In magazine runs the UK’s largest wellbeing survey for housing association customers. Complete the printed survey enclosed in this issue of My Great Place for a chance to win £300 in cash. Two runner-ups will also receive £100 each. Return the survey by freepost to the address detailed on the survey form. Or you can complete the survey online, visit www.quidsinmagazine.com/survey2016.

Online: log on to www.allpay.net and click on ‘make an online payment’ Over the phone: use your debit or credit card to pay; call the Customer Access Team on 0300 123 1966 (option 2)

Using the Allpay app: this is available on all smart phones

Text message: use your payment card and debit card to register at www.allpaynet 24 hours a day: call 0844 557 8321 to access Allpay’s 24-hour automated telephone service Over the counter: Pay with an Allpay rent card at any Post Office or Paypoint outlet

If you have any queries please contact the Customer Access Team on 0300 123 1966 (option 2)

How the government budget may affect you Following the government’s Autumn budget which was announced in November 2015 there will be no changes to the tax credit rules. This is good news for anyone in receipt of working tax credit. However, the government has just announced that Housing Benefit for those going aboard will only be awarded where the claimant is returning within four weeks (special rules will apply for deaths and medical care). This is being reduced from 13 weeks from April 2016. Also, remember that from April 2016 housing benefit will only be backdated for four weeks, so if you have a change of circumstances you need to get your claim in quick. If you need help or advice about managing your finances, our financial inclusion team can help. Please contact CAT (see page 2 for contact details).

GRAPEVINE

Elderly services news

Senior Tenants Voice The Senior Tenants Voice (STV) group provides a direct line of communication to the elderly services team, so by working together we can improve our services. We caught up with STV following on from their last two meetings, where they gave their opinions on a variety of subjects/services: Members tested the draft elderly services consultation survey and agreed the questions to be used in the final version of the survey. See ‘elderly services review’ below for more details.

The group discussed what the new scheme warden call system could include, when it will be purchased, and installed into schemes. The process of purchasing a new system has now begun. STV as a group has now been up-and-running for two years and members spent some time looking at what the group does and identifying and agreeing their priorities for 2016. This includes repairs and investment works, financial accounting and the way our properties are allocated. If you’d like to find out more about STV please contact maria.morris@greatplaces.org.uk or call 0300 126 1966.

Elderly services review Great Places staff have been out and about during August and September 2015 visiting all our sheltered and extra care schemes, speaking to customers and gathering feedback on our current elderly service offer.

What’s next? We have collated all the survey responses and are currently reviewing the key themes and issues raised by residents.

We asked you what works well, what we can do to improve the service to ensure that it meets the needs of current and future customers, and how we can ensure that our services are efficient and provide best value for money.

Before the end of the year we will have developed an action plan to address these matters and we’ll provide feedback to residents in the new year in Grapevine and via tenant meetings.

Ten consultation events took place, one at each sheltered and extra care scheme. 200 customers took part in individual interviews.

www.greatplaces.org.uk

In the meantime we have already started to take action to address some of the issues raised. For example, at some of the Salford schemes residents raised concerns around the use of agency staff and we are now in the process of recruiting to address this.

green place

Advice, tips and ideas on staying green and saving money!

Great Places home visits help spread the warmth Mrs Diana Doran, a Great Places resident in Salford, was pleasantly surprised to notice a reduction in her dual-fuel bill this year following a home visit from Great Places’ environmental assistant Aimee Spencer and Jim McMillan from our development team. They offered Mrs Doran advice on making her home warmer whilst being more energy-efficient. During their visit, Aimee and Jim put a special foil behind the lounge radiator which help to reflect more heat back into the room. They also put a draught excluder under her kitchen door and provided Mrs Doran with a socket timer, TV power down, LED lightbulbs and an Energy in the Home Guide. As she spends much of her time downstairs Mrs Doran was delighted with the additional support to heat her home. And the cheaper energy bills have left her with an extra warm glow! If you would like a visit from one of our friendly team, contact CAT (see page 2 for contact details).

Control your heating and you won’t be left cold this winter Get to know your heating system to get optimal performance to keep you and your home warm and cosy this winter. Using your boiler, thermostat, timer, programmer and radiators efficiently is a simple way to cut your energy use and reduce your bills whilst keeping your house warm when the temperature outside drops. Smart ways to stay warm: • Turn down your room thermostat by 1˚c and take the time to programme your heating correctly • Set radiators valves to three in rooms you use frequently and lower temperatures in bedrooms • Close your curtains and internal doors to retain heat in your rooms • Time your heating to come on half an hour before you get up and go off half an hour before bed. For more advice on using your heating efficiently to keep you warm and well over winter contact CAT (see page 2 for contact details). In the event of your boiler breaking down, call 0330 123 1966. Select option one and option one again.

Cook up festive leftovers and have yourself a greener little Christmas Each Christmas in the UK we throw out the equivalent of two million turkeys, five million Christmas puddings and a shocking 74 million mince pies, according to the Love Food Hate Waste campaign run by the government’s waste reduction advisory body, Wrap. To put it into context, we are binning nearly twice as many mince pies as retail giant Marks & Spencer sells every year (40 million).

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:

Find and circle eachMaria of the words from the list below. Words may appear Send your entries by post to: FREEPOST, RLSC-HLLJ-EZRZ, My Great Place, Morris, forwards or backwards, horizontally, Great Places Housing Group, Southern Gate, 729 Princess Road, Manchester, M20 2LT vertically or diagonally in the grid.

All entries must be in by Friday 15 January 2016. Remember, you don’t need a stamp! H C E E D B U

Wordsearch Words to find are: SNOWMAN MISTLETOE CRACKER SLEIGH

CHRISTMAS STOCKING REINDEER TURKEY

O S B M

PRESENT HOLLY FROST CAROLS

T M A L

C S

T O E E

S N U T

E S D

A O Q R A B

Z O K

C A R O L

A M J

Y D S

T O K C Y E U V O

Y N

U E P R E S E N T

T W F

Y R E E D N

E R

R O R W M D N A M W O N S A

Congratulations to last issue’s winners: Wordsearch: Ian Boardman – Blackpool Rosemarie O’ Donnell – Blackpool, Mary Mulleary – Accrington. Spot the difference: Susan Selway – Morecambe, Mrs M Donnelly – Blackpool, Gordon Lucas – Salford.

T R F

E R S G N

Y O P I

Y O E

Y B E

K C O T

M E O R Z M K B D O R C H R

T M A S G

F N Y C R A C K E R H

Q N W J

T U C P E S U

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

SNOWMAN MISTLETOE CRACKER SLEIGH CHRISTMAS STOCKING REINDEER TURKEY PRESENT HOLLY FROST CAROLS

Please answer the following question and send it along with your competition entry in order to be entered into the prize draw. 1. Have you read about the Community Stars Awards which is on pages 4–5 of this magazine? 2. Do you know an individual or group who you think should be recognised in one of the categories? 3. Would you like someone from Great Places to contact you to take your nomination?

YES / NO YES / NO YES / NO

Name:................................................................................................................................................................................... Address:............................................................................................................................................................................... Telephone/Mobile: ...............................................................Email:....................................................................................