WSHA Spring 2024 newsletter

WSHA Office Refurbishment

WSHA has been working through an office transformation to create a welcoming, open plan working environment for staff.

The refurbishment works have also included the completion of a new reception area located in the Whiteinch Centre.

Going forward, WSHA will be operating a shared reception area with the Whiteinch Centre. The reception will be accessed at the entrance to the Centre on the left hand side.

Our new permanent Receptionist is Brodie Stevens, who many customers will already know from her previous temporary role at WCL.

Brodie will be available to assist with general enquiries with more housing-related issues being passed to our three Customer Services Assistants: Jan Scott, Jennifer McInally and Katherine Stewart.

Shared reception area

New Customer Service Area for WSHA

Interview room

New staff working space

The new design has also included two new interview rooms which are available to discuss personal or more complex matters, one of which is fully Disability Accessible.

In the face of rising inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, WSHA is committed to finding innovative ways to support our tenants. With this in mind, WSHA will be launching a new partnership with Housing Perks in April 2024.

How it Works

Housing Perks - a user-friendly online platform - provides WSHA tenants with access to a wide range of discounts on everyday essentials such as groceries, pharmaceuticals, petrol, and clothing. This partnership aims to address rising food price inflation and to soften the financial impact of big one-off purchases.

Savings Mobile App

The mobile app is free to use for tenants and gives access to over 100 national retailers.

Tenants typically save £6 - £12 per week on their essentials. Over a year, those weekly savings add up significantly.

For example, a housing association with a group of 1,200 users has saved over £10,000 in 4 months. The bulk of the savings being on everyday essentials. Discounts range between 4% - 18%.

The discounts available are not available to the public and we have negotiated special discounts which are only available to housing association tenants.

Tenants download the app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play store, enter a code unique to each housing association and get access to discounts, cashback and free items instantly. The mobile app enables tenants to use their discount while they’re on the go.

Next Steps

WSHA will issue further information on this new initiative in March 2024 promoting the Housing Perks mobile app to tenants through an email campaign and website promotion. There will also be drop-in sessions held at the Whiteinch Centre to help tenants sign up for the initiative and find out more information about the service and the benefits.

Management Information System - HomeMaster

WSHA have begun the transition to a new Management Information System (MIS), HomeMaster.

HomeMaster are well known in the Scottish Housing Sector - since winning their first Scottish customer in 2019, they are now established within 35 Scottish Housing Associations.

We are looking forward to working with HomeMaster and are excited about the user-friendly, web-based system which has functionality that allows its users to work more effectively and efficiently, improving the all-round service that we deliver to our tenants and owners.

The implementation project has begun, and we hope to go live in the Autmn. A member of the WSHA team may have been in contact with you to confirm your current household composition as well as to ensure that we have your contact details up to date. If you have not yet had this call, we may be in touch in the coming weeks, or please feel free to contact the office on 0141 959 2552

Prior to going live, we will provide tenants and owners the opportunity to have a preview of the portal that will be available to them for managing their own account. More detail on these sessions will be released nearer the time.

STAFF UPDATE

Since the summer we have had quite a few staff changes.

Brian McGinlay, one of our Welfare Rights Officers, has decided to seek a new career and has left the Association. We have successfully recruited a replacement for this role, and are pleased to welcome Lisa McNaughtan to the organisation from 1st April.

Jade MacDonald, Customer Services Assistant, has recently gone on maternity leave. We send our best wishes to both Brian and Jade.

Fiona McNamee has been promoted from Housing Assistant to Housing Officer, with Nikki McArthur, Customer Services Assistant, taking over her Housing Assistant role on a permanent basis. In turn, Jennifer McInally, who joined WSHA on a temporary basis as Customer Services Assistant has been made permanent.

WSHA are currently preparing to move over to a new Management Information System and Julie LawProperty Services Officer - has been seconded to the

Finance & IT Team to assist with this process. As a consequence, Lynne McManus will be taking over the compliance works and Pamela McLachlan has been appointed to the role of Property Services Assistant (Repairs). Victoria Campbell has joined us on a temporary basis as Property Services Administrator to provide support to the team.

WSHA will be working more closely with the Whiteinch Centre going forward, including operating a joint reception area. Brodie Stevens from the Whiteinch Centre has been appointed as our new Receptionist from 1st March 2024 and similarly, Katherine Stewart has been recruited as a permanent Customer Services Assistant from the same date.

Keira McArthur who has been assisting us on a temporary basis has had her contract extended until October to take over some Housing Services administration tasks.

Finally, but by no means least, we have welcomed Dianne McGill as our new Finance Assistant.

Congratulations to everyone concerned and good luck in your new posts!

WSHA Committee Recruitment

Our voluntary Management Committee is made up of tenants and individuals with differing skillsets and experience with a strong and shared commitment to set and deliver the Association’s strategic objectives.

We are about to launch our exciting new business plan which will detail how we will interact with tenants and residents in the local area. In preparation for this we launched a recruitment programme seeking new Management Committee members in February 2024 to complement and strengthen our Management Committee.

What were we looking for?

To help us complement the existing skill set of the current Management Committee we were recruiting new Management Committee members with experience and knowledge in the following areas:

• Finance

• Asset Management

• Housing Management

• Community Services

• HR

• Communications

We are delighted to confirm the campaign was a great success and we will be announcing the new members of the Management Committee over the next couple of months as part of the launch of the new business plan.

The promotional information for the recruitment campaign can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/@whiteinchscotstounha

WS Estate Services Ltd

WS Estate Services Ltd are continuing to deliver our services such as:

• Weekly close cleaning

• Multi-Storey Block caretaker 7 days a week: 8am-8pm

• Daily bulk uplift Monday – Friday

• Monthly window cleaning of all tenement buildings

• Daily backcourt and bin store cleaning

• Daily cleaning of WSHA Office

• Void clearing, cleaning and painting when required

• 7 year cyclical close painting throughout our stock

WSES are ready to start the summer estate grounds work including grass cutting, pruning of all shrubs and weed/moss killing within the backcourts.

WS Estate Services are now nearing completion of year one of the 7 year painting contract and are looking forward to progressing into year two by the end of April 2024. In addition to this, WSES will be providing the facility management service for The Whiteinch Centre, ensuring all areas are well maintained.

Going forward, the team will diversify the service further and will complete all hard landscaping including painting fences and drying poles, establishing new and existing paths, completing slab repairs and installing and repairing fence slats and post when required. Thanks to our team.

Planned Investment Programme for 2024-25

£2.78 million will be spent on properties this year (2024/25), with installations commencing in June to carry out fitting:

64 boilers

192 bathrooms

Surveys for the next phase of our planned investment programme (Phase 4) are due to commence at the start of March and will run through until the end of May. Tenants will be able to make their choices regarding bathroom and kitchen options at this stage as the surveyor will have a laptop with them to allow tenants to visualise their kitchen selection.

Upgrades will be carried out by CCG who will provide direct contact details should tenants wish to ask any questions during the works.

233 kitchens

87 windows

The installations of the kitchens, bathroom and boilers will start immediately after the completion of Phase 3, at the beginning of June 2024.

If you miss your survey, please contact David McCormack (Property Services Officer) on 0141 959 2552 who will be able to assist in getting this rearranged for you.

Radio Teleswitch Shut Down

If your home uses electricity for heating and supplying hot water and you don’t have an existing smart meter, your current meter may use a “radio teleswitch”: a radio frequency that allows electricity suppliers to record peak and off peak consumption.

This radio frequency is due to be shut down on 30th June 2025 and will no longer switch your electric supply to the lower cost tariff. Smart meters will be able to replicate what this radio frequency does, and a smart meter will need to be installed in your home in time for the shutdown if you do not

already have one. Energy UK, the trade association for the energy industry in the UK and those responsible for the shutdown, are urging all customers with radio teleswitch meters to look out for communications from your electricity supplier on upgrading to a smart meter.

To reiterate, if you currently don’t have a smart meter and your home only has electricity for providing heating and hot water then you may have a meter that relies on radio teleswitching. You should be able to tell if your meter relies on a radio teleswitch as there will be

a separate box next to your meter labeled radio teleswitch.

If this is the case, be aware and look out for communication from your current energy provider as they will contact you with regards to switching over to a smart meter in time for the planned shutdown. WSHA will continue to monitor any changes or developments surrounding the shut down and update you accordingly. Should you have any concerns or queries regarding this then it would be best to contact your energy supplier in the first instance.

Stock Condition Survey

A stock condition survey allows us to gather the most up to date information regarding the condition of your property. It will also enable us to identify any defects which we can raise repairs for to make sure your property is maintained to a good standard.

John Martin Partnership recently carried out a stock condition survey on behalf of WSHA, with the results feeding into the Association’s 30-year business plan.

We will use all information collected from the surveys to update our system and then use this to put together future upgrade programmes.

Customer Advisory Panel Housing

We recently asked you if you would like to be involved in a Customer Advisory Panel (CAP) to help shape the services WSHA provide to you. We were delighted that 25 of you said yes, and many attended the first two meetings. Meetings were held in the Whiteinch Centre and were supported by the Tenants Information Service who have provided training and guidance to participants on the role of the Customer Advisory Panel within the context of the Housing Association.

As the group develops, it will be reviewing things like policies, processes and other aspects of how WSHA delivers its services to you. This may be through different routes such as emails, surveys and face to face meetings. Whilst the Management Committee make the final decision about policies that are adopted, the CAP will have an important role to play before it reaches this stage.

We welcome more tenant involvement and would be delighted to talk to you about joining the CAP. If you would like

to know more about what it means to be involved, you could attend a meeting as an observer.

For more information, please contact Craig McGarry (Community Services Team Leader) on 0141 959 2552 or cap@wsha.org.uk

Housing & Community Services Welfare Rights Update

What can the Welfare Rights Team do for me?

Between September 2023 and February 2024 our team helped tenants to claim £373,627 through a variety of welfare benefits, making a huge difference to their financial wellbeing.

If you are unsure whether you are entitled to any help or need support to make a claim, please contact us on 0141 959 2552 for an appointment. This doesn’t have to be face to face and could just be a telephone call.

Changes to the Welfare Rights Team

Our colleague, Brian McGinley, recently tendered his resignation and we will welcome a new Welfare Rights Officer from April. In the meantime, you may need to wait a little longer for an appointment. Urgent cases will be prioritised.

Important information if you are claiming Tax Credits

Tax Credits are ending and Managed Migration is underway in Scotland.

Managed Migration is the process by which claimants currently entitled to Tax Credits and other legacy benefits are being moved onto Universal Credit.

The main points to be aware of during Managed Migration are:

• Claimants will be sent an individual letter stating: “This is a migration notice issued under regulation 44 of the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014”.

• The migration notice gives claimants 3 months to claim Universal Credit.

• Tax Credits are terminated as soon as a Universal Credit claim is made.

• Tax Credits are terminated if no Universal Credit claim is made by the deadline.

• Claimants can request an extension to the deadline.

• The migration notice can be cancelled in exceptional circumstances.

• There is protection intended to ensure that claimants are no worse off at point of transfer if circumstances are unchanged, if they claim before, or within one month of the deadline.

• Claimants should get independent advice to ensure they are receiving the correct amount of tax credits and to anticipate the effect of changes of circumstances.

Once you receive a Migration Letter you will need to claim Universal Credit by the deadline in your letter to continue to receive financial support. Before you apply for Universal Credit it is important to renew your tax credits if you are asked to by HMRC and check all your tax credits information is right. This is to help make sure the amount of Universal Credit you receive is correct. If you have received a Migration Letter and would like support with this, please contact our Welfare Rights Officer for assistance on 0141 959 2552 or via email wsha_admin@wsha.org.uk

Are you falling behind with your energy bills?

Energy regulator Ofgem announced that Scottish Power, EDF and Octopus will be able to begin forcibly installing pre-payment metres in homes after obtaining court warrants. For customers who already have a smart meter, the firms will also be able to remotely switch them to pre- payment mode without the need for a warrant.

If you are in financial difficulty with your energy provider, please get in touch with us. We can point you in the right direction especially if you are vulnerable (elderly or have young children or people with disabilities). Contact us on 0141 959 2552 or via email wsha_admin@wsha.org.uk

Welfare Rights Update

Help For Carers

Carer’s Allowance Supplement

Carer’s Allowance Supplement is an automatic payment made twice a year. It recognises the important contribution made by unpaid carers across Scotland.

The next payment of Carer’s Allowance Supplement will be made in June. It will be paid to people who are getting Carer’s Allowance from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) or Carer Support Payment from Social Security Scotland on 8 April 2024.

Carer Support Payment

Carer Support Payment is replacing Carer’s Allowance for carers in Scotland.

Carer Support Payment will be available in more areas from spring 2024 and across Scotland by autumn 2024. If you get Carer’s Allowance and live in Scotland, you do not need to apply for Carer Support Payment. Your benefit will move to Carer Support Payment. This is planned to happen between February 2024 and spring 2025.

Carers who get Carer Support Payment will also get Carer’s Allowance Supplement. You do not need to apply for it.

To find out about eligibility for Carer’s Allowance Supplement visit https://www.mygov.scot/carersallowance-supplement or contact our Welfare Rights Team on 0141 959 2552

Practical help, support and advocacy for Carers

You can contact your local carer centre directly to get support, you do not need to be referred.

Find your local centre on Care Information Scotland: https://careinfoscotland.scot/topics/ support-for-carers/carer-centres/

Other support for Black and Minority Ethnic carers:

MECOPP helps Black and Minority Ethnic carers to access support and services: https://www.mecopp.org.uk/services/carers

Reduce, Reuse and Raise Funds for Your Community

Times are tough just now with the rising cost of living affecting every aspect of life. We have joined forces with the Lintel Trust to offer our community the chance to learn new skills in fixing, mending, and upcycling and playing your part in working towards Net Zero - whilst earning money to be spent in the community. Essentially, you will be rewarded for recycling textiles and clothes with money to spend on community activities.

How Does It Work?

Lintel Trust has provided a branded textile recycling bank situated a short distance away from our offices. This is partnered with Clyde Recycling, who have over 30 years’ industry leading experience in the recycling and distribution of donated clothes.

They also offer 3 workshops delivered by Rags to Riches and you can choose between upcycling, crafting, or fixing and mending.

Why?

Textiles are the UK’s fastest growing household waste stream. By reusing and recycling textiles we can greatly reduce the amount we send to landfill and give unwanted items a new lease of life. With an estimated 300,000 tonnes of used clothing going to landfill, we want to make a difference - and by working together, we can!

What About the Money?

Textiles are measured per tonne with a proportion of the value being donated to Lintel Trust.

Lintel Trust will receive £200 per tonne, which will be restricted to projects serving our area.

Community-led projects can then apply for small grants (£500) to be spent improving lives and the environment in our area.

What Happens to the Donations?

Clothing is taken to Clyde Recycling’s modern sorting facility where it is sorted, labelled, and exported to well established partners in Europe, Africa and South America for resale.

Clothing and textiles that are not fit for resale are washed and repurposed as cleaning cloths and mop heads.

Roles and Responsibilities

Clyde Recycling are fully responsible for the cleaning, maintenance, and regular emptying of the clothing banks. They provided the Lintel Trust branded recycling bank to be placed in a prominent place in an accessible community area.

We have a direct number to contact Clyde Recycling should the clothing bank be full or damaged and they will respond the same working day.

Housing & Community Services

Community Projects Fund

Whiteinch and Scotstoun Housing Association (WSHA) has created a Community Projects Fund of £12,000 with the support of Gift Aid from our subsidiaries WS Estate Services Ltd and WS Property Management Ltd.

The Fund will support organisations to provide specific projects that meet the six community investment priorities as identified in the recent community consultation:

1. Support people into employment

2. Improve local environments

3. Recognise and reduce social isolation in our communities

4. Reduce food and energy poverty in our communities

5. Increase digital inclusion

6. Improve health and wellbeing

The Community Projects Fund is administered by the Community Advisory Group from the Whiteinch Centre. The Group is made up of members of the local community. The Community Advisory Group will help to identify which of the groups will be successful in accessing the funds based on their own knowledge of

the local area. Up to £1,500 can be awarded for each project.

The final decisions were made during a Participatory Budgeting Event that was held in the Whiteinch Centre on Saturday 16th March 2024.

If you want to find out more about this, please contact Craig McGarry (Community Services Team Leader) on 0141 959 2552 or e-mail: communities@wsha.org.uk.

The Whiteinch Centre is thrilled to announce the

grand opening of our new Community Library!

This exciting venture isn’t possible without our local residents who have generously donated a plethora of books.

We invite every one of our residents to explore the literary treasures within.

This library isn’t just a place for books; it’s a space for the community to come together, share stories and embark on new adventures through the pages of

all the magical narratives within.

If you have any spare books lying around, gathering dust, then why not donate them and expand the options available.

We hope you’ll come down, donate, and celebrate the joy that reading can bring, as well as the fun that comes from sharing knowledge with others.

Donations can be dropped off at The Whiteinch Centre, 1 Northinch Court, Glasgow, G14 0UG.

Let Us Know...

Do you have any comments to make on what you’ve read in this Newsletter, perhaps on some of the specific areas where we’ve asked for your views? Do you have any comments to make on our service in general? Do you want to get more involved in our work? If the answer to any of these questions is ‘yes’, then please share your comments on the tear off slip below and return it to the address below.

Please make your comments on the tear off slip below to: -

Corporate Services, Whiteinch & Scotstoun Housing Association Ltd. The Whiteinch Centre, 1 Northinch Court, Glasgow G14 0UG

Or e-mail your comments to wsha_admin@wsha.org.uk.

Name:

Address:

Note your comments here: -

wsha_admin@wsha.org.uk

wsha_admin@wsha.org.uk

wsha_admin@wsha.org.uk

wsha_admin@wsha.org.uk

wsha_admin@wsha.org.uk

As with all of the Association’s policies and procedure, this newsletter, in full and in part, can be made available in summary, on tape, and in translation into most other languages. It can also be downloaded from the website at www.wsha.org.uk

Please contact Corporate Services at the office at the Whiteinch Centre, 1 Northinch Court, or by telephone on 0141 959 2552, or by e-mail at: wsha_admin@wsha.org.uk if you would like a version in a different format.