Tenants Annual Report 2014/2015 Writ ten by residents, for resident s
➤ Welcome Welcome to Gedling Homes’ Tenants Annual Report 2014/15. Every year we produce an annual report to let you, our tenants, know what we are doing well, where we need to improve and what we plan to do in the year ahead. This report will provide an overview of how we are performing, looking at the promises we made, how well we achieved these, and what our plans are over the next year.
working on it and being involved with drafting the contents. We hope that you like what we have put together and look forward to hearing any feedback that you might have.” John Callender, Mary Callender, Raymond Ellis, Burley Saxton, Shirley Palmer, Alan White and Gordon Aitken - The tenants who worked on this report.
A note from our Tenants Editorial Panel: “We hope you enjoy reading this report, we’ve really enjoyed
John Callender
Mary Callender
Raymond Ellis
Shirley Palmer
Alan White
Gordon Aitken
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Burley Saxton
➤ About Gedling Homes
➤ Contents ➤ Our Highlights
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➤ Welfare Reforms
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➤ Our Promises - What we said and what we did
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➤ Value For Money
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➤ Great Homes
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Gedling Homes was created on the transfer of all of Gedling Borough Council’s housing stock in November 2008, following a ballot of tenants.
➤ Great Neighbourhoods
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➤ Great People
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Providing a variety of services to our tenants, including housing repairs and maintenance, through our GH Response service, helping our communities with programmes like the Greater Training Academy and involving residents in key decisions via our award winning tenant scrutiny panel and editorial team, we strive to put our tenants at the heart of everything we do.
➤ Getting in Touch
Gedling Homes owns and manages 3579 properties across Gedling Borough in Nottinghamshire and is part of the New Charter Group.
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Alan White is a member of both the tenants independent complaints panel and the tenants editorial team. He said: “It’s great to be involved in decisions and to be able to have a say about what’s happening in the local community. Gedling Homes likes to involve tenants as much as possible and it’s brilliant to be part of that and have some real influence.”
Alan White
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➤ Our Highlights Over the past year we have been working hard to keep our promises to you and represent our values; GREAT homes, GREAT neighbourhoods and GREAT people. Here’s a quick overview of some of the GREAT things we have achieved:
GH Response ➤ We launched GH Response, our in house repairs service, making a saving of approximately £300k
➤ We delivered £2.5 million of external works including fencing, roofing and improving hard standing areas ➤ Provided Lifeline services to over 850 customers ➤ 92% of our customers were satisfied with the way we dealt with their ASB complaint
TPAS Awards
➤ Won the Excellence in Annual Report regional TPAS Award for our 2013/14 Tenants Annual Report ➤ We won the national TPAS Award for tenant-led scrutiny ➤ 94% of tenants were satisfied with the quality of their home
St Andrew’s House ➤ We began redeveloping St. Andrew’s House to deliver Extra Care facilities in the borough, in partnership with Nottinghamshire County Council, securing £600,000 of funding from the council. This work will be completed in 2015/16. 04
94%
of tenants were satisfied with the quality of their home
➤ Welfare Reforms Welfare Reform has affected some of our tenants, the proposed Benefit Cap reduction and the roll out of the Universal Credit being the two main areas of concern to both tenants and to Gedling Homes. There are also further proposals for the future, including no automatic entitlement to help with housing costs for 18-21 year olds, a 7 day waiting period for new claimants of Universal Credit and a freeze on working age benefits for 4 years. If you have difficulties with Welfare Reform then Gedling Homes can offer advice on debt, benefits, available financial products, affordable warmth with specialist teams for great opportunities and digital inclusion.
Illegal money lenders Gedling Homes continues to publicise the possible harmful effects of using illegal money lenders often referred to as ‘loan sharks’. These unlicensed money lenders often prey on the most vulnerable and ‘in need’ residents who feel they have no other choice for borrowing money. If you know of any loan shark activity in your neighbourhood, please report it confidentially to the Illegal money Lending Team on 0300 555 222 or text LOAN SHARK and your details to 60003 or email reportaloanshark@stoploansharks.gov.uk
My Home Finance - fair loans My Home Finance is an alternative lender offering fair loans to residents and leaseholders. This organisation has been developed by the National Housing Federation in partnership with housing providers. If you are looking for a loan, budgeting advice and help with bank accounts call ‘My Home Finance’ on 0845 519 7237, call into any of our hubs or visit www.myhomefinance.org.uk
If you know of any loan shark activity in your neighbourhood, please report it confidentially to the Illegal Money Lending Team
Remember if you have borrowed from an illegal money lender, you haven’t committed a crime.
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➤ Our Promises Last year we made 8 promises across the organisation, here’s what we have done to achieve these: Launch GH Response, our in house repairs team to improve the quality of our repairs service at a reduced cost, delivering savings that will be reinvested into the services we offer. GH Response was launched in July 2014 and has currently saved the company approximately £300k.
Deliver our first Extra Care scheme at St Andrews House, Mapperley, in partnership with Nottinghamshire County Council. The scheme will provide accommodation and flexible support services specifically
designed to support older people to live independently for longer. The scheme was developed during 2014/15 and officially reopened in June 2015. St. Andrew’s House has been designed to meet the specific housing needs of older people. Care has been taken with the structural and interior design to ensure the accommodation is comfortable and suitable for older people with particular care needs, such as dementia. The scheme has been redeveloped from a 1980s block of sheltered housing bedsits in Mapperley, Nottingham and transformed into modern accessible homes for older people, 15 of which are designated for housing with care, which have been achieved in partnership with Nottinghamshire County Council. This service is an enhancement to traditional sheltered housing where older people can live independently in their own home with the reassurance that care staff are on-site for 24-hours a day.
Deliver energy efficiency improvements to the external walls of over 500 properties across Gedling borough. We have started work on the external wall insulation programme to support fuel poverty and energy efficiency throughout our homes.
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➤ Our Promises Establish our Gedling Neighbourhood Resolution Panels, to help resolve conflict caused by anti-social behaviour. We have delivered a Restorative Justice project, called the Gedling Neighbourhood Resolution Panel, which aims to help reduce anti-social behaviour from reoccurring and provide solutions to long-standing problems.
Achieve the Housing Quality Network’s Estate Accreditation, ensuring we provide a GREAT estate management service. Work is currently underway regarding this submission and will be completed by the end of the year. We have also been working towards the submission of 2 other accreditations, TPAS and Housemark ASB Accreditation. Gedling Homes is committed to reaching the highest service standards by achieving these.
Provide more opportunities for tenant involvement through social media and online platforms. Over the past year audience engagement via our online platforms has significantly increased. This is mainly thanks to Jump Start June, which was led by our Community Engagement team. The month saw a variety of activities happen across the borough, which were designed to help improve tenants’ homes and their communities. Throughout the month we reached 2105 people via Facebook, increased our page likes by 89
and saw 352 people visit our Facebook page. We also had 118 retweets (people sharing what we posted online) on Twitter and 98 favourites (people liking what we posted). We currently have 138 likes on the Gedling Homes Facebook page (www.facebook.com/GedlingHomes) and 841 followers on Twitter (@Gedling_Homes).
Deliver all 21 different courses through our GREATer Training Academy. Courses have been delivered to 143 tenants through the Greater Training Academy. It has been a great success and 16 courses were run, with more being planned for 2015/16.
Implement all recommendations from our tenant scrutiny panel, Gedling Eye, to ensure our services continue to improve. The Gedling Eye tenant scrutiny panel delivered scrutiny reviews for the complaints service, difficult to let properties and the external works programme. All recommendations were presented to the Gedling Homes Board and all agreed recommendations were implemented and their performance was monitored by the scrutiny panel.
352
people visited our Facebook page
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➤ Where our money comes from 79% Rent
7% Service Charges
7% VAT Refunds
4% Right to Buy Sales
1% Other Social Housing Activities
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1%
1%
Other Income
Garage Rent
➤ Where our money goes 49% Investment Works
12% Responsive & Void Repairs
11% Management Costs
10% Staffing Costs
7% Services to Communal Areas
7% Interest on Bank Loans
2% Other Social Housing Activities
2% Cyclical Maintenance
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➤ Great Homes You learn something new every day, working with Gedling Homes own and look after team has been really good, it’s good to know 3579 homes across Gedling borough. the what is expected in a professional environment.” We want these properties to be Looking after our assets GREAT homes for you and we strive to maintain them to a high standard We also aspire to provide GREAT housing stock
Repairs and maintenance Part of our commitment to providing GREAT homes is to provide a responsive service for repairs and maintenance. This year we are proud to say that we launched our dedicated in-house repairs and maintenance service, GH Response. In order to help develop this service, we have also recruited 8 new members of staff at GH Response, including 6 new technicians, helping to boost employment within the borough.
and this year, we started work on the external wall insulation programme to support fuel poverty and energy efficiency throughout our homes, which secured a £70k ECO (Energy Company Obligation) grant.
We have worked hard to improve the outside of our properties, delivering £2.5 million of external works including fencing, roofs and improving hard standing areas. We have also brought 4 empty homes back into use, which secured a £40k grant.
We have also welcomed our very first GH Response apprentice into the team, Matthew Hutcheson. He explains why this opportunity is a GREAT one: “It’s a brilliant way to learn a trade, I’ve learnt so many practical skills already, the experience is brilliant. I’ve got my own mentor, so I’m following him around’ to ‘shadowing him Matthew and learning from him. Hutcheson External Works
It’s a brilliant way to learn a trade, I ’ve learnt so many practical skills already, the experience is GREAT GH Response 10
➤ Great Homes Stats and facts for 2014/15
How we’ll improve
➤ Since launching our in-house repairs and maintenance service, customer satisfaction for responsive repairs has risen to 95.30%
We will aim to maximise our external funding for development through the Affordable Homes Programme and other external funding sources.
➤ 98% of jobs were completed right first time and on target, which is a 3% improvement on last year’s figures
We will market and develop the scope of GH Response as a preferred local contractor to ensure that the service is operating commercially to generate income to support our social aims.
➤ 98.26% of all repairs have been completed on time ➤ We’ve ensured that 100% of our properties have a gas safety certificate
We will ensure that GH response is more efficient, ensuring value for money is embedded throughout all activities.
➤ 98.91% of our customers were satisfied with the condition of the property at let stage ➤ 98.71% of our customers were satisfied with the Gas Servicing that was carried out on their property ➤ 89% of our customers were satisfied with the investment works that have been carried out
100%
of our properties have a gas safety certificate
98%
of jobs were completed right first time and on target
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➤ Great Neighbourhoods At Gedling Homes we don’t just look after bricks and mortar, we also want to create GREAT neighbourhoods for you to live in. This includes looking after the surrounding areas, reducing problems like anti-social behaviour and developing our communities.
Working with our communities As part of our commitments to help develop our communities, over the past year, we have worked with over 400 pupils at Arnold Hill Academy to support the Science Technology and Maths Curriculum. To help highlight the impact of anti-social behaviour and educate young people about its effects, we also engaged with 710 pupils from Years 7 and 8 through the 999’s initiative, working locally with the Police and other partners. This is an increase from 520 for the previous year. We have also been working hard to develop the Gedling Neighbourhood Resolution Panel, which offers a Restorative Justice model to help reduce instances of anti-social behaviour (ASB). This involves mediation between the affected parties and has, to date, been very successful. The Neighbourhood Resolution Panel is run by community volunteers, who facilitate the panels. We have trained 9 volunteers so far, Community Volunteer Caitlin O Connel tells us why she thinks
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the panel has been so effective: “The Neighbourhood Resolution Panel has worked really well. It has been a really interesting and rewarding Caitlin experience to be involved in O Connel the service. It clearly seems that the restorative justice approach to addressing anti-social behaviour works and results in long-term solutions to ingrained anti-social behaviour issues.” Our dedicated Family Intervention Project keyworker also worked intensively with 7 families throughout the year who were most at risk of eviction due to anti-social behaviour. As a result of our intervention work none of these families lost their home and all have subsequently sustained their tenancies with us.
Providing essential services when you need them As part of our commitment to providing essential services to those who need them, we have provided Lifeline services to over 850 customers this year. The service uses your existing telephone line to connect to an emergency response centre should you need them, all you have to do is push an emergency button and help will be at hand. The service is available to anyone who needs a little extra support to maintain their independence in their own home.
➤ Great Neighbourhoods How we’ll improve We will continue to implement the interventions that tenants and residents have told us they would like to see in their neighbourhoods to increase neighbourhood sustainability.
Lifeline service We have supported 149 sheltered housing tenants to improve their health and wellbeing and maintain their independence. We have achieved this by working in partnership with Nottinghamshire County Council to provide our residents with advocacy advice, advice on nutrition, access to benefits, support with personal safety and support to access services in local their local communities.
Stats and facts for 2014/15 ➤ 95.8% of our tenants were satisfied with the lettings and viewings process ➤ 87% of customers who reported anti-social behaviour were satisfied with the outcome of their complaint ➤ 92% of customers who reported anti-social behaviour were satisfied with the way Gedling Homes dealt with the complaint
We will aim to expand the use of the Gedling Neighbourhood Resolution Panel in order to provide long lasting solutions to neighbour disputes. We will aim to re-secure accreditation of our anti-social behaviour intervention service to provide confidence to customers that we are delivering a great service. Through greater partnership working with local authorities, the Clinical Commissioning Group and the voluntary sector, we will secure support to diversify, grow and extend our offer in relation to homes and services to older people and other vulnerable adults.
100%
of our Lifeline customers were satisfied with the service they received
➤ 100% of our Lifeline customers were satisfied with the service they received ➤ We relet our properties within 26.2 days (excluding low demand)
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➤ Great People As well as offering GREAT Homes in GREAT Neighbourhoods, we want our people to be GREAT. Why we think you are great Yes we think our tenants are great and we can tell you a few reasons why! Thanks to the brilliant ideas of our tenant editorial panel we were proud winners of the Excellence in Annual Report regional TPAS Award for our Tenants Annual Report. Gedling tenants also helped us to win the TPAS National Award for Excellence in Tenant-Led Scrutiny. Not only that, we also won the Housing 24 Welfare Wise Award.
It was really good experience and they have provided me with a great reference
Sheltered housing tenant, Mark Crocker, took part in our I.T. training, money matters and cook and eat workshops. He said: “The courses have really improved my Mark confidence.” Since attending Crocker the courses Mark has gained the confidence to start looking for work and has even gained work experience at The Nottingham. He said “It was a really good experience and they have provided me with a great reference.” Mark is now keen to develop his CV with the assistance of the Employability course that we offer as part of the GREATer Training program, which he hopes will assist him in the next step of getting an interview and hopefully a job.
TPAS Awards
Training our tenants More than 20 courses were delivered in the first full year of the GREATer Training Academy. The academy has been set up to offer training opportunities to all our tenants, whether it’s a creative course you are looking to do, learning about health and wellbeing or training and support that you need, we’re on a mission to help our tenants become GREATer together! 14
GREATer Training
➤ Great People Managing debts
Stats and facts for 2014/15
We know that for some of our tenants, managing debts can prove to be a difficult problem.
➤ We responded to 100% of complaints that we received
That’s why we run a debt advice service and this year we helped to manage £387,168 of debt for 82 clients. We also helped 112 tenants with their welfare benefits.
➤ We trained 143 of our tenants through our GREATER Training programme
We also secured a trust fund and grant awards to the sum of £16,966, which will be used as a hardship fund to help tenants who may be struggling financially.
➤ We gave benefits advice to tenants through our Money Wise service, helping to maximise the income of our tenants, amounting to £378,022 ➤ We helped tenants manage £387,168 of debt ➤ We collected 99.67% of rent from our tenants
How we’ll improve We will seek to maintain our rent collection performance above 99% We will review the GREATer Training programme to ensure that it is meeting our tenants training needs.
Money Wise team
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We will actively engage with carers and partners to ensure support is available for carers and the cared for within our community. We will look to develop schemes aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of our customers.
of our tenants were trained though our GREATer Training programme
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➤ Getting in touch Gedling House, Wood Lane, Gedling, Nottingham, NG4 4AD 0115 905 1515 enquiries@gedlinghomes.co.uk www.gedlinghomes.co.uk /GedlingHomes @Gedling_Homes
The design concept and theme for this report has been developed by Jade Taylor and Resource Housing, on behalf of New Charter Homes. This has been shared with Gelding Homes as part of the New Charter Group, reducing costs and improving efficiency for both organisations.
Chinese
Gujurati
Kurdish
Urdu
Polish
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