Annual Report 2015-16
Annual Report to Residents 2015 – 2016
1
Annual Report 2015-16
Contents Annual Report: Residents’ Introduction
3
How are we doing?
4
A better life
6
Community projects
8
Safer Communities
10
Resident Involvement
12
Commercial
13
Future Homes
15
Value for Money
17
Account 18 Repairs and improvements
20
Aids and adaptations
21
Closing statement
22
2
This is our Viridian and we’d love to hear what you think about our report. Tell us here: www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ PLQVQ9Q
Annual Report 2015-16
Annual Report: Residents’ Introduction We hope you will take the time to browse through this review. Like liquorice allsorts, there is something here for everyone. You can dip in and out at your leisure to discover what’s been happening in your area over the last financial year.
From concept to delivery, this review has been designed by us – your fellow residents from the ‘Loop’. The ‘Loop’ is an informal group set up to give residents a say about the services they receive from Viridian.
With our new and expanding ‘Loop’ community, we are getting involved with all sorts of things and we welcome the views, news and stories of all Viridian residents.
This is the first annual review to be designed by Viridian residents. We came together to determine the format, content and layout of this review, and gave final approval before publication. The design team included Brian Morris and Danny Sullivan from Birmingham, Margaret Van Arkadie from Shepherds Bush, London, and others from South London. We hope you enjoy it. If you’d like to join the ‘Loop’ or know more about it, please visit our website or give us a call on 0330 123 0220. 3
Annual Report 2015-16
How are we doing? We think that listening to our residents is really important and that’s why we’re delighted that you’re responsible for designing our annual report. You told us you wanted something written in plain English about the things that matter to you, like our volunteering and employment programme that’s helped 183 of you into volunteering roles over the course of the year, or the £74,000 rebate we secured for you after a national water bill audit.
4
There’s also the 2,159 of you who’ve benefitted from help with money matters; the 48 we helped into work; the 128 we trained with employment skills; and the 231 households who reduced their energy bills with our help. And that’s just a snapshot of the things that have been keeping us busy.
Over the course of the year our overall customer satisfaction levels reached their highest level ever recorded at 87%, a rise of 8% over the previous year. That’s something we’re really happy about, because our ambition is to be an excellent organisation. It’s a simple aspiration, but it requires great people, and a determination to make radical improvements based on what you tell us.
Annual Report 2015-16
And what you’ve told us is that you’re proud of what we’ve achieved, including the £47.7 million we’ve spent building new homes for people in housing need and the £48.2 million we’ve reinvested in our properties. We’ve also achieved a 98% customer satisfaction rate for the aids and adaptations we’ve made to properties and we’ve improved the lives of 273 people by installing everything from grab rails to stair lifts. We’re also really pleased with our 93.5% customer satisfaction level for our complaints process, which exceeded our target of 90%. We also resolved 84.7% of calls first time, exceeding our 78% target, and 99.4% of calls were returned within 24 hours.
Our work around tenancy fraud has also made a real difference, with 49 properties recovered and let back to families in genuine housing need. We’re also more than a bit happy about winning a few awards, like the National Housing Award for our Kidbrooke Village scheme; our commendation for Best Small Development for Queens Walk in Ealing; and Domestic Abuse Campaign of the Year at the UK Housing Awards. We also recently won Communications Team of the Year at the 24housing Awards.
Over the course of the year we’ve also been working hard to further improve our environmental credentials, and we’re one of the first housing associations to invest in electric vans. It’s pioneering work like this which has helped us to achieve Gold status in the Sustainable Homes Index for Tomorrow (SHIFT). SHIFT is a government-backed independent assessment, and winning Gold means we have demonstrated that we’ve met some of the most challenging environmental targets in the sector.
5
Annual Report 2015-16
A better life Money matters We’ve been really busy providing support around money matters to 2,159 of you, and what a difference it has made. We’ve helped ensure you’ve received the right benefits, prevented evictions, provided training and employment support, and so much more.
£1,000,305 Housing Benefit lump sum recouped
163
court actions prevented
6
£6,553,643
32
weekly increase in Housing Benefit awarded
evictions prevented
429
£7.5m
customers given early tenancy support
added to rental income due to support received by customers
Annual Report 2015-16
Employment and volunteering Whether it’s training programmes, volunteer placements, moving from volunteering into work, or our apprenticeship programme, we offer a wide range of opportunities tailored to our customers. We know that statistics aren’t always exciting, but some of our statistics have changed lives: 48 of you found a job through our employment programme, and we’ve recruited 12 apprentices across the business.
Meet Tanbir
Meet Garfield
University didn’t appeal to Tanbir Choudhury; the idea of huge debts and a hard time getting a job to pay them off made little sense to him. He chose the apprentice route and has been working for us on our Decent Homes Programme, looking at home adaptations for disabled customers.
Take a look at what Viridian resident Garfield had to say about how we helped him into work as a bus driver.
Tanbir said: “It’s been such a big opportunity. So much has happened over the last eight months. Viridian cares about young people.”
Watch
Watch
Meet Tanbir: vimeo.com/177384573
Meet Garfield: vimeo.com/185495881
408
customers are registered on the volunteering programme
78
volunteers were placed with external organisations
128
customers took up employment and training programmes
7
Annual Report 2015-16
Community projects In October 2015 we set up two London-based community hubs where you can pop in for a cup of tea and a chat about housing, employment and money matters. Well, since then, we’ve made lots of tea and had lots of conversations with the 212 of you who’ve popped in for advice and support. We’ve also run some really exciting community projects – like our upcycling workshops, where residents learned how to restore furniture. Steve, a Viridian resident from Putney, explained: “I found out about the project when I got a text from Sam in Viridian’s Volunteering team. She explained that Viridian was working with a charity called Petit Miracles to offer residents skills in how to upcycle old furniture.
“Sam told me that I could attend as many sessions as I liked, but I’ve been to nearly all of them and have learnt a huge amount. From cleaning down furniture with sugar soap, to sanding and upholstery, I’ve had a go at lots of new things. Overall the course has been a lot better than I expected, and I’ve now got the confidence to get on and do the work I want to do in my flat.”
8
Annual Report 2015-16
Computer skills
Winter Heroes
Going green
From playing games and chatting to friends on the other side of the world, to ordering shopping, checking your bank account or applying for benefits, computers are pretty much invaluable. That’s why we set up out digital inclusion programme. Over the last year 121 of you completed the training. We’re really pleased that 79% said they now feel more confident about their IT skills, but what’s even more encouraging is that 87% feel more in touch with the world as a result.
Our Winter Heroes project is all about providing support to older customers over the winter months. Our fantastic team of 18 volunteers spoke to 695 of you to provide energy advice and draft proofing, and make sure that your heating was working. They also referred you for computer training, helped you to raise repairs, and much more.
We’ve had a really busy year in the ‘green’ team. We’ve been working on lots of clever stuff like the rollout of two electric vans for use by our repairs service; the installation of trackers in our fleet vehicles to provide data for fuel-efficient driver training; the installation of energy-efficient LED lighting in our Birmingham office; and lots more. We’ve also had some very ambitious targets, like reducing our fleet’s carbon emissions to 27.4 tonnes. We didn’t quite get there, but our annual emissions of 30.1 tonnes still represented a 9.8 tonne reduction from the previous year. Additionally, we’ve consolidated our energy and maintenance contracts, and that will help increase recycling levels to 90%.
Viridian resident Jean said: “What have I been missing? This has given me a completely new outlook on life – it’s just magic.”
Case study
Energy saving in figures
251
We’ve demonstrated our commitment to cutting our carbon footprint by investing in electric vans for our repairs technicians. We’re one of a very few housing associations to adopt the green machines. And the investment is worth it because as well as reducing our carbon emissions, we expect to save thousands of poundson fuel. Called the e-NV200, the automatic Nissan vans are 100 per cent electric and can travel up to 86 miles when fully charged.
87.2%
the number of our worst performing buildings that we’ve upgraded to be energy efficient.
the level of recycling achieved by our reinvestment and maintenance teams
80%
213
the proportion of housing and maintenance employees trained in sustainable practices
the number of customers we’ve visited to give energy advice
9
Annual Report 2015-16
Safer Communities We're committed to tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB), hate crime and domestic abuse to help make the communities we live in safer. We’re really proud to have won an award for this work at the UK Housing Awards, where our domestic abuse programme was named ‘Outstanding Campaign of the Year’. We’ve also worked really hard this year to improve the amount of contact we have with those of you reporting ASB, and we believe this will have a positive impact on your satisfaction with the service. Our average time to resolve ASB cases is now 11 weeks, just slightly short of our 10-week target.
Domestic abuse statistics
950
young people received healthy relationship awareness advice
10
73
individuals and families helped by domestic abuse specialist
52
colleagues trained to identify domestic abuse
Annual Report 2015-16
Safer Communities in figures Overall stats for ASB
Top five most reported ASB issues
2015/16
ASB cases received
415
Noise nuisance
124
Closed and offered support
434
Harassment
64
Cases resolved at closure
82%
Domestic abuse
73
Injunctions obtained
3
Drugs
38
Starter tenancies extended
6
Hate harassment
19
Court cases
9
Evictions on ASB cases
1
Please note that ‘cases closed’ is higher than cases received as some cases were closed from the previous financial year.
Case study Kate, a young mother with two young children, was in a long-term relationship with a known gang member. When he visited the house, he caused havoc. Her case had initially been treated as anti-social behaviour, because neighbours had complained of loud music and shouting. By engaging with the domestic abuse service, Kate was able to access emergency security measures for her home, including new locks and reinforced doors. She was given a personal panic alarm and had window locks installed. Her name is now flagged on a police database to ensure a fast police response-time to any incidents at her home. Viridian also banned the gang member from the property and supported Kate in her efforts to gain an injunction with powers of arrest. With our help Kate rebuilt social connections and started learning about healthy relationships. She was able to get her children off child-protection plans and cut ties with the perpetrator. A year on and she is working full time, socialising with friends again. She has also passed her driving test.
11
Annual Report 2015-16
Resident involvement Working with you to improve our services and involving you at the heart of everything we do continue to be our priorities. As a result of this, we’ve been shortlisted for the Tenant Participation Advisory Service ‘Excellence in Resident Scrutiny’ award. We continue to have John Cox, a resident who sits on our Board of Directors, and a further two residents sit on our Operating Board, where they influence decisions at a strategic and senior management level. Our Resident Scrutiny Board and Resident Auditors carried out three independent Service Reviews over the year. These were based around our Customer Services, our Lettings and Voids (empty homes)
processes and our preparations for the introduction of Universal Credit. The reviews resulted in 25 recommendations being made, 23 of which have been accepted and acted upon by Viridian.
Watch
Viridian resident Danny: vimeo.com/185943310
12
The resident Review Panel reviewed the handling of 13 complaints made by Viridian customers when they were unhappy with the original outcome.
Annual Report 2015-16
Commercial As well as our general needs, retirement, supported and extra care homes, we provide 3,900 units of student, keyworker and hostel accommodation. We work in partnership with universities and NHS trusts and also let directly to those in housing need. We are also really proud to have achieved a ÂŁ9.77m surplus which can be reinvested into building new homes.
In action
3,900
We’re also really proud of our students at Welkin Halls in Eastbourne, who donated 198kg of food to Eastbourne foodbank in June 2015 to support local people in need.
88.7%
Units of accommodation provided to students and keyworkers
Satisfaction levels at Platt, Writtle, Usher and Ivy Halls
98%
99%
Satisfaction levels at Welkin Halls (Eastbourne)
Satisfaction levels at Lucia Foster Welch halls (Southampton)
99%
96.1%
Satisfaction levels at Hostels
Satisfaction levels at Keyworker
13
Annual Report 2015-16
Case study Our Study4Success scholarship programme is now in its fifth year and was set up to support university students with their accommodation costs. Naomi was one of the successful applicants in 2015; she had been a victim of domestic violence and was able to turn her life around.
In action
Naomi has volunteered as a swimming teacher for disabled children, and edited the British Basketball magazine, encouraging more participation in the sport. She’s also volunteered with Great Ormond Street Hospital, and helped an older lady with Alzheimer’s into retirement housing.
14
Naomi said: “I had to move away and live in a safe house due to domestic violence, so I had to think very hard about changing my life. Applying for the Viridian scholarship was an amazing journey. I felt very anxious – it was like waiting for Christmas."
Annual Report 2015-16
Future Homes This year we’ve spent £47.7 million on building 307 new homes, with 187 built for rental accommodation, 88 for shared ownership and 32 for outright sale. We asked new customers what they thought of their homes and we’re very pleased that 97% said they were satisfied. We’ve also got really ambitious plans for the future including building 1,200 new homes by 2019.
57
12
shared-ownership homes sold
outright sales completed
70
£2.9m
customers buying a greater share of their home
£13.9m
generated from sales which can be reinvested into new homes
raised from customers buying a greater share of their home.
15
Annual Report 2015-16
Case study Living with her parents was far from ideal for Charlene Roberts, a busy mum holding down a fast-paced job as an ambulance controller. She needed space for herself, and for her two-year-old son to play and grow. She applied for a two-bed house in Kings Norton, Birmingham, which is part of a £5.3 million Viridian development of 44 homes to rent. She was one of the first residents to move in. Charlene said: “I was so happy to move in. I was so excited knowing that I was going to be the first person to live here. The kitchen is lovely – everything is new and modern. The garden is a good size and easy to maintain. The rooms are big and there are two double bedrooms. My son absolutely loves it. He's obsessed with trains and he can watch them go past; he has the run of the house and plenty of room to play.”
Case study Bethell Court, Parkside, is an exclusive development for those aged 55 and over in Cheam, Surrey. Peter and Maureen Lloyd heard about the new homes from their daughter. The couple were living in a five-bedroom house which was far too big for them, so they were looking to downsize. After selling their home they were able to buy a brand-new two-bedroom apartment at Bethell Court outright, moving in in time for Christmas 2014. Maureen said: “We needed to downsize, and our children wanted us near them. It’s nice to be closer to family when you get to our age.” “It’s the community atmosphere and the activities that make living at Bethell Court so unique,” Peter said: “It’s very comfortable living here, and there are plenty of activities to choose from. The people we’ve got to know are very friendly, as are the staff on-site.”
16
Annual Report 2015-16
Value for Money We’re committed to delivering value for money across all parts of the business. All decisions submitted to our Board must demonstrate value, and over the course of the year we’ve delivered £2.5 million in savings. We’re also really proud to have achieved a G1 rating for governance, which is the highest rating that can be gained from the regulator. The rating is partially based on our ability to deliver value for money. In October 2015, we started discussions with AmicusHorizon about forming a partnership. Our aim is to deliver significant savings that will allow us to build more homes, so this is a core part of our value-for-money strategy.
£515,046 £465,310
£30m
saved by signing new, more cost-effective contracts
increase on personal benefits received by customers
million group surplus achieved due to careful financial management
56%
£451
£3.80
less bad debt written off due to rent arrears, compared to 2014/15
average repair cost per property achieved – one of the lowest of any major housing association
to fill up one of our shiny new electric vans
Case study Bukola thought she was saving money on her gas and electricity, until she received an unexpected bill of £640. She contacted Viridian’s Energy Advice team, who not only found that she was paying too much for her electricity, but also that the energy company owed her £440. As well as negotiating a refund, our advisors helped her switch to a cheaper supplier, saving even more money. She said: “I was elated when we discovered that they actually owed me money. This is a fantastic service by Viridian and I would recommend that more people use it.”
17
Annual Report 2015-16
Accounts Viridian has had another very successful year. Our focus during 2015/16 has been on improving our performance as a financially strong, independent organisation. We remain committed to delivering further service improvements, and developing more homes for our residents. Not only did we achieve agroup surplus of £30 million , due to careful financial management, but we also ended the year with our lowest ever end-of-year figure Income & Expenditure Summary 2015/16 £million Turnover 130.7 Cost of sales (6.9) Operating costs (87.1) Operating surplus 36.7 Interest (9.9) Asset disposals 2.4 Fair value movements 1.3 Tax (0.5) Surplus 30.0
Where our money came from 2015/16 £million Rents 94.6 Service charges 9.4 Supporting People income 0.4 Shared ownership initial sales 8.5 Open market sales 5.4 Grants, fees & other 12.4 Asset disposals and staircasing 2.4 Fair value gains 1.3 134.4* *This figure includes turnover of £130.7m, asset disposals of £2.4m, and fair value movements of £1.3m.
for General Needs arrears (3.67%). That’s a great result, and really highlights the work we’ve done to support you with money matters. We also secured £100 million in government-backed funding, at very low rates of interest. This equals the maximum amount granted to other individual housing associations, and will fund our development plans. These are tremendous results that we’re very proud of.
What we spent our money on 2015/16 £million Expenditure from service charges 9.2 Supporting People costs 0.4 Routine maintenance 14.4 Major repairs 5.9 Employees 33.9 Property and utilities 8.9 Depreciation 11.4 Interest 9.9 Cost of shared ownership sales 4.7 Cost of open market sales 2.3 Other 3.0 Corporation tax 0.5 104.3 Surplus 30.0
Costs of sales The cost to purchase land and build properties. For example if it costs £250,000 to build a shared ownership house based on land cost, all building costs, and interest, and we sell 25% of the property, the cost of sales will be £62,500.
Fair value movements
These are changes in the market value of our assets, liabilities or investments. For example our student properties are classified as investments and if visa restrictions mean we attract less students then the market value would decrease.
Operating surplus
If our total income is greater than our total costs on our usual day-to-day core activities, than this generates a surplus. 18
Annual Report 2015-16
And here’s how we spent each £1 this year‌
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
1. Supporting People expenditure
1p
2. Cost of open market sales
2p
3. Other corporate costs
2p
4. Cost of shared ownership sales
3p
5. Major repairs
4p
6. Expenditure from service charge
7p
7. Depreciation
9p
8. Property costs and utilities
7p
9. Interest
7p
10. Routine maintenance
11p
11. Employees
25p
Surplus/not spent 22p All surplus is reinvested into building new homes, improving existing properties and supporting social impact initiatives.
19
Annual Report 2015-16
Repairs and Improvements While we’re proud of our plans to build 1,200 homes by 2019, we know that what really matters to you is how we’re looking after your home. Over the last year we’ve invested £48.2 million in our repairs and improvements programme. We’ve used some of that money to replace the things that are most important to you, installing 454 new kitchens, 702 bathrooms, and new windows in 283 properties. We’ve also improved the energy efficiency of our properties, which means lower bills for you. And we’ve invested an additional £500,000 in improving our estates with new carpets, flooring, CCTV and gardening equipment.
84
upgrade jobs completed on our estates, above what we had already planned
96.8%
of routine repairs completed on time Target of 95%
20
35,233 repairs completed
99.8% of emergency repairs completed on time. Target of 99%
94.4%
of repairs fixed first time Target of 95%
10.8
average number of days to complete a repair Target of 10 days
Annual Report 2015-16
Aids and adaptations We’re really proud of our aids and adaptations service. Over the year we spent £360,000, helping 273 of you with a range of facilities, from grab rails to level-access showers and stair lifts. We also gained a further £70,000 in funding through the local authority Disabled Facilities Grant – a big improvement on the £46,000 awarded in the previous year. We’re delighted that 98% of you who received works told us that you were happy with the quality of adaptations provided.
Case study When residents Jo and Chris Markam needed repairs in their Croydon home it wasn’t due to wear and tear. The couple have three boys with severe autism – Kye, 13, Kane, 12 and 5-year-old Kris. And for Kye, who also has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the condition often results in uncontrollable and destructive behaviour. He has head butted walls so hard that the plaster has come away, exposing electrical wires. He’s also ripped radiators away from fixings. He has also put his own life in danger by trying to jump out of the windows, and he’s jumped over the garden wall onto tramlines behind the house. Understandably worried, Jo and Chris were desperate to make their home safer for their children. Andrew Telford, our Reinvestment Business and Programme Manager, met with the couple, and visited the boys’ school to learn more about autism. He then arranged for high fencing to be installed around the garden, and reinforcements for the radiators, to keep Kye safe. The holes in the walls were filled in with a material that would resist Kye’s head-butting without hurting him.
Jo said: “Andrew has been amazing. It’s helped us 100 per cent.” 21
Annual Report 2015-16
Message from Nick I’m really pleased that for the first time our annual review has been created by our residents, and I’ve enjoyed reading what they have to say. We’ve seen improvements in performance that I’m really proud of, including: our 87% overall customer satisfaction rate – the highest ever recorded; the lowest ever end-of-year figure for General Needs arrears; and some great achievements by hard-working colleagues in teams across the business.
87% overall customer satisfaction
22
Annual Report 2015-16
I’m also delighted with the awards we’ve won. Our Kidbrooke Village Scheme was named ‘Best Design’ at the National Housing Awards; our Domestic Abuse Service took home Campaign of the Year at the UK Housing Awards; and our Energy team achieved gold status in the Sustainable Homes Index for Tomorrow.
So, what’s next? You may know that we’re entering into a partnership with AmicusHorizon. They have 28,000 homes across London, Kent and Sussex. They’re also members of the g15, which represents the 15 largest housing associations in London. Although we are different organisations, we share similar values and goals. Together we’ll continue our drive to work with you at the heart of everything we do, providing the best possible customer service. We’ll also be able to build more homes for people who need them: we plan to create 1,400 new homes a year from 2020.
We’re very excited about the opportunity to use our combined expertise to make a lasting difference to the communities we work in. Finally, I’d like to thank all our colleagues, customers and stakeholders for helping us to deliver all we have this year. I’d also like to give a special mention to our enthusiastic resident panel, the ‘Loop’, who produced this excellent annual review.
Nick Apetroaie Chief Executive of Viridian
23
Annual Report 2015-16
Head office Location: Colwell House, 376 Clapham Road, London SW9 9AR Tel: 0330 123 0220 www.viridianhousing.org.uk Reception opening times: Monday to Friday 8am – 5:00pm Customer service centre for housing management and repair enquiries opening times: Monday to Friday 8am – 6pm @viridianhsg /Viridianhousing1
24