Regenda promoting the Resident Factor
annual report 2010
1
Contents
Page
Welcome Meet the team
4–5
Episode 1 Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Questions & Answers Facts and Figures Things to improve
6 – 13 6 – 09 10 – 12 13
Episode 2 The Home Questions & Answers Facts and Figures Things to improve
14 – 19 14 – 17 18 – 19 19
Episode 3 The Tenancy Questions & Answers Facts and Figures Things to improve
20 – 23 20 – 22 22 23
Episode 4 Neighbourhood and Community Questions & Answers Facts and Figures Things to improve
24 – 27 24 – 25 26 – 27 27
Episode 5 Value for Money Questions & Answers
28 – 30 28 – 29
Facts and Figures Things to improve
30 30
Access for all We make every effort to ensure the text in this document is between 10-12pt for legibility and clarity. This is not always possible due to content. However if you would like this document in large print, in your language or in audio format, please phone us on 0344 736 0066 or ask at one of our local offices. 2
large print available Translation available Audio tape approved
3
Contents
Page
Welcome Meet the team
4–5
Episode 1 Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Questions & Answers Facts and Figures Things to improve
6 – 13 6 – 09 10 – 12 13
Episode 2 The Home Questions & Answers Facts and Figures Things to improve
14 – 19 14 – 17 18 – 19 19
Episode 3 The Tenancy Questions & Answers Facts and Figures Things to improve
20 – 23 20 – 22 22 23
Episode 4 Neighbourhood and Community Questions & Answers Facts and Figures Things to improve
24 – 27 24 – 25 26 – 27 27
Episode 5 Value for Money Questions & Answers
28 – 30 28 – 29
Facts and Figures Things to improve
30 30
Access for all We make every effort to ensure the text in this document is between 10-12pt for legibility and clarity. This is not always possible due to content. However if you would like this document in large print, in your language or in audio format, please phone us on 0344 736 0066 or ask at one of our local offices. 2
large print available Translation available Audio tape approved
3
The Regenda Residents’ Annual Report Welcome to Regenda’s 2010 Annual Report. From April 2010 the Tenant Services Authority (TSA), which is the government body that regulates social housing, has stipulated that all housing associations must produce an annual report for their residents. This report must give details of what a housing association’s policies, performance and plans are in meeting standards of service and compliance across five areas. Our report follows the order of these standards as shown on the Contents section on Page 3.
We also want to thank our fellow residents for recently completing the STATUS satisfaction survey. Over 4,000 surveys were completed and the views expressed are reflected in the answers to our questions, and they provide the basis for the improvement plans. The spot cash prizes will be awarded to some lucky winners during the autumn to thank people for taking part in the survey.
Bill McQuinn Tony Hogan
Sharon Lowe
We hope you enjoy reading this Annual Report and that it gives you confidence that you are getting the services you need and the improvements you want.
We are members of the Resident Communication Team and have designed the style of this report based on the success of Regenda’s Market Day held in the summer when over forty residents came together to challenge and shape the standards of service being delivered. This day involved the use of voting technology which meant that all of the residents who attended on the day actively took part. We worked on the content with Regenda staff as well as residents from our Regional Consultative Committee and Readers’ Groups. Most importantly we signed off the final version, so we are confident that it provides a true picture of how Regenda is doing against the TSA’s Standards. It is also important to recognise that residents have played a part during the year to monitor the performance Regenda delivers through the Housing Services Committee, and the groups that meet about repairs. We hope you find the interviews that follow interesting. We made sure that the questions were direct and to the point so that a very clear answer had to be provided. This means that we can all see where Regenda is meeting the promises and commitments it has made about service delivery and where it needs to do better. Some of you attended consultation events in August and September and you will see that the things you raised as priority issues at these meetings are covered in this report. Some of the areas are also being picked up in ‘What Regenda needs to improve’ boxes, which you’ll see at the end of each section of the report.
4
Ron Ferguson
Ann McQuinn Dot Moran
The Resident Communication Team 5
The Regenda Residents’ Annual Report Welcome to Regenda’s 2010 Annual Report. From April 2010 the Tenant Services Authority (TSA), which is the government body that regulates social housing, has stipulated that all housing associations must produce an annual report for their residents. This report must give details of what a housing association’s policies, performance and plans are in meeting standards of service and compliance across five areas. Our report follows the order of these standards as shown on the Contents section on Page 3.
We also want to thank our fellow residents for recently completing the STATUS satisfaction survey. Over 4,000 surveys were completed and the views expressed are reflected in the answers to our questions, and they provide the basis for the improvement plans. The spot cash prizes will be awarded to some lucky winners during the autumn to thank people for taking part in the survey.
Bill McQuinn Tony Hogan
Sharon Lowe
We hope you enjoy reading this Annual Report and that it gives you confidence that you are getting the services you need and the improvements you want.
We are members of the Resident Communication Team and have designed the style of this report based on the success of Regenda’s Market Day held in the summer when over forty residents came together to challenge and shape the standards of service being delivered. This day involved the use of voting technology which meant that all of the residents who attended on the day actively took part. We worked on the content with Regenda staff as well as residents from our Regional Consultative Committee and Readers’ Groups. Most importantly we signed off the final version, so we are confident that it provides a true picture of how Regenda is doing against the TSA’s Standards. It is also important to recognise that residents have played a part during the year to monitor the performance Regenda delivers through the Housing Services Committee, and the groups that meet about repairs. We hope you find the interviews that follow interesting. We made sure that the questions were direct and to the point so that a very clear answer had to be provided. This means that we can all see where Regenda is meeting the promises and commitments it has made about service delivery and where it needs to do better. Some of you attended consultation events in August and September and you will see that the things you raised as priority issues at these meetings are covered in this report. Some of the areas are also being picked up in ‘What Regenda needs to improve’ boxes, which you’ll see at the end of each section of the report.
4
Ron Ferguson
Ann McQuinn Dot Moran
The Resident Communication Team 5
Episode 1
Tenant Involvement and Empowerment This is the standard that tells Regenda what it needs to do in the areas of: H Customer service, choice and complaints H Resident involvement and empowerment H Understanding and meeting the different needs of residents. We asked Steph Harrison, the Executive Director of Operations Services at Regenda to explain.
Q “Steph, how do we as residents know what to expect from the different services you provide?”
We have published a comprehensive set of service standards that outline what can be expected across all our service areas. We agreed these with over 40 residents at our Market Day event and the readers’ and email group read through the final drafts and made some editing changes which improved the way they read. The service standards are available on our website and we can provide a printed copy on request. These service standards apply to all our residents and we are using them as the basis for our discussions with you about ‘local offers’. Local offers are provided where residents tell us that they need a slightly different service from the one being offered. We agree the changes and the areas the different service applies to with residents. The 24 local consultation events that have taken place in August and September and have been attended by over 230 residents are the start of this process. These initial events identified a number of local priorities, which were explored further during another 5 separate regional events in late September attended by 120 residents. Both of these large scale engagement opportunities have been successful in giving us the feedback we need in order to define our local offer and by April 2011 we will have designed any that are required. Please speak to a member of your local housing team for further details of how our local offers are progressing throughout the year.
6
Q “How do you make sure that the information you provide and other communication we as residents have with you is effective for everyone?”
As all landlords do we can provide information in a number of ways from straightforward letter, to Braille or on CD when we are asked to. Another thing that we are very proud to be able to offer is our Resident Interpreter Service. We have recruited and trained 14 residents who can speak different languages to provide a translation service for other residents who do not speak English. They help our neighbourhood teams who need to speak to residents about things like complaint investigations or anti social behaviour cases, and they help people complete surveys. The real trick is to communicate with residents in the ways that work for them without them having to tell us. So that’s the challenge we are working hard to meet. We ask each resident to complete our ‘Resident Profiling Survey’. This gives us very specific information about each person.
• The Regenda Website allows people to request a service and provides a range of information • Our network of local offices that people can visit - and we are currently checking that these are in the right places and open at convenient times for local residents • Regular visits and site inspections where our neighbourhood officers can meet residents where they live Overall we are determined to fully understand all of our residents and appreciate the range of differences they bring, be that ethnicity, age, religion, gender, language, sexual orientation, disability or gender identity. Everyone at Regenda has been trained to appreciate the importance of diversity, and the need to show respect and fairness to all.
We have also designed a system called Residents With Individual Needs and this allows us to record a specific piece of information about a resident that we take into account when providing a service. We also try really hard to make sure that everyone can request services in ways they want to, for example: • 90% of people contact us by phoning our Shared Service Centre where all the queries and requests are dealt with by the person who answers the call
7
Episode 1
Tenant Involvement and Empowerment This is the standard that tells Regenda what it needs to do in the areas of: H Customer service, choice and complaints H Resident involvement and empowerment H Understanding and meeting the different needs of residents. We asked Steph Harrison, the Executive Director of Operations Services at Regenda to explain.
Q “Steph, how do we as residents know what to expect from the different services you provide?”
We have published a comprehensive set of service standards that outline what can be expected across all our service areas. We agreed these with over 40 residents at our Market Day event and the readers’ and email group read through the final drafts and made some editing changes which improved the way they read. The service standards are available on our website and we can provide a printed copy on request. These service standards apply to all our residents and we are using them as the basis for our discussions with you about ‘local offers’. Local offers are provided where residents tell us that they need a slightly different service from the one being offered. We agree the changes and the areas the different service applies to with residents. The 24 local consultation events that have taken place in August and September and have been attended by over 230 residents are the start of this process. These initial events identified a number of local priorities, which were explored further during another 5 separate regional events in late September attended by 120 residents. Both of these large scale engagement opportunities have been successful in giving us the feedback we need in order to define our local offer and by April 2011 we will have designed any that are required. Please speak to a member of your local housing team for further details of how our local offers are progressing throughout the year.
6
Q “How do you make sure that the information you provide and other communication we as residents have with you is effective for everyone?”
As all landlords do we can provide information in a number of ways from straightforward letter, to Braille or on CD when we are asked to. Another thing that we are very proud to be able to offer is our Resident Interpreter Service. We have recruited and trained 14 residents who can speak different languages to provide a translation service for other residents who do not speak English. They help our neighbourhood teams who need to speak to residents about things like complaint investigations or anti social behaviour cases, and they help people complete surveys. The real trick is to communicate with residents in the ways that work for them without them having to tell us. So that’s the challenge we are working hard to meet. We ask each resident to complete our ‘Resident Profiling Survey’. This gives us very specific information about each person.
• The Regenda Website allows people to request a service and provides a range of information • Our network of local offices that people can visit - and we are currently checking that these are in the right places and open at convenient times for local residents • Regular visits and site inspections where our neighbourhood officers can meet residents where they live Overall we are determined to fully understand all of our residents and appreciate the range of differences they bring, be that ethnicity, age, religion, gender, language, sexual orientation, disability or gender identity. Everyone at Regenda has been trained to appreciate the importance of diversity, and the need to show respect and fairness to all.
We have also designed a system called Residents With Individual Needs and this allows us to record a specific piece of information about a resident that we take into account when providing a service. We also try really hard to make sure that everyone can request services in ways they want to, for example: • 90% of people contact us by phoning our Shared Service Centre where all the queries and requests are dealt with by the person who answers the call
7
Episode 1 Tenant Involvement and Empowerment
•R esidents who visited our housing office at the St Chad’s Centre in Oldham said it wasn’t clear from the signs where we were and the office opening times were inconvenient. So we took the old signs down and replaced them with much clearer and distinctive ones, put the Regenda logo on the wall which we also painted red, and we are now open from 9.00am until 4.00pm providing access to the free phone to the Shared Service Centre
Q “Sometimes the service you provide is not up to scratch to be polite, so how do you make sure we can complain about it when we need to?”
We know you are right about this and although we try to get it right all the time and we try to improve every year, sometimes things go wrong. When this happens you have every right to let us know and we aim to deal with your complaint quickly and effectively. We have a straightforward complaints process. Basically you can complain in any way you like – letter, form, through the website, face to face, or you can even get someone else to complain on your behalf. We have designed our complaints process to make sure you get a full response to your complaint within ten days of us receiving it. Whenever we can we will get back to you earlier than this. It is true to say that sometimes we fail to meet this timescale, but I hope staff let you know that they need more time to investigate when this happens. If they don’t they should do. We don’t like getting complaints because it means we have let you down in some way. That said everyone who deals with complaints is trained to manage them efficiently and to always be polite and respectful to you. The key thing for me is that we learn from every complaint as this is the best way of knowing where services need to improve. At the moment we have some examples of how complaints have led us to change the way we do things, for example:
8
• Residents in Merseyside complained about the cost of the water in their service charge. So we consulted all of the residents concerned about changing the process of paying water charges through their service charge to paying them direct to the water company which is a cheaper option • Residents complained about our 0844 Shared Service Number because it was charged at the national rate so we replaced it with the cheaper 0344 number • Residents complained that contractors left footprints on their carpets so now we insist that they wear shoe protectors when they go inside I am sure we can do more with the information we can gather from complaints especially in terms of driving up service standards and the quality of the services we provide.
Q “This standard talks about resident involvement and empowerment. What does that mean to Regenda?”
These are terms that have been around in our world for a while now, especially involvement, and we have developed a lot of ways residents can get involved with the work we do and the services we provide. Empowerment is probably a less well known term and it is about sharing more responsibility and control with residents about the way things develop. When we were inspected by the Audit Commission in 2009 they judged our resident involvement service to have more strengths than weaknesses, which we were pleased about as it demonstrated our strong commitment to resident partnership. This was partly due to the range of ways we invite residents to get involved, including Mystery Shoppers, Resident Communications Team, email and readers’ groups, surveys, Challenge events and more intense involvement at Committee and Board Member level. However it is important we don’t rest on our laurels and so we are currently working on a major project to improve this service and ensure it offers the full range of opportunities residents want, and those that we need to offer for residents to scrutinise our services, and to shape our improvement priorities. The project will also deliver better training and skill building opportunities for residents. These will build on the existing ways residents are empowered such as the Regional Consultative Committees, the Housing Services Committee and the scrutiny groups that review specific services such as repairs.
Q “You mentioned scrutiny there Steph. Tell us a bit more about this and what it means please.”
Well this is all about you keeping an eye on us and the quality of the service we provide. We need you to hold us responsible for delivering what we promise. These are promises in the service standards, in the local offers, and in our policies. We have many ways in which we measure the performance we achieve – targets; resident survey feedback; monitoring and quality checks, and we regularly report how we are doing to Managers, Directors and Board Members. We want to include residents in this list and design ways that you can check and validate the performance levels we are reporting. You can then use the information and knowledge from scrutinising our performance throughout the year, to decide what you want to report in next year’s Annual Report.
9
Episode 1 Tenant Involvement and Empowerment
•R esidents who visited our housing office at the St Chad’s Centre in Oldham said it wasn’t clear from the signs where we were and the office opening times were inconvenient. So we took the old signs down and replaced them with much clearer and distinctive ones, put the Regenda logo on the wall which we also painted red, and we are now open from 9.00am until 4.00pm providing access to the free phone to the Shared Service Centre
Q “Sometimes the service you provide is not up to scratch to be polite, so how do you make sure we can complain about it when we need to?”
We know you are right about this and although we try to get it right all the time and we try to improve every year, sometimes things go wrong. When this happens you have every right to let us know and we aim to deal with your complaint quickly and effectively. We have a straightforward complaints process. Basically you can complain in any way you like – letter, form, through the website, face to face, or you can even get someone else to complain on your behalf. We have designed our complaints process to make sure you get a full response to your complaint within ten days of us receiving it. Whenever we can we will get back to you earlier than this. It is true to say that sometimes we fail to meet this timescale, but I hope staff let you know that they need more time to investigate when this happens. If they don’t they should do. We don’t like getting complaints because it means we have let you down in some way. That said everyone who deals with complaints is trained to manage them efficiently and to always be polite and respectful to you. The key thing for me is that we learn from every complaint as this is the best way of knowing where services need to improve. At the moment we have some examples of how complaints have led us to change the way we do things, for example:
8
• Residents in Merseyside complained about the cost of the water in their service charge. So we consulted all of the residents concerned about changing the process of paying water charges through their service charge to paying them direct to the water company which is a cheaper option • Residents complained about our 0844 Shared Service Number because it was charged at the national rate so we replaced it with the cheaper 0344 number • Residents complained that contractors left footprints on their carpets so now we insist that they wear shoe protectors when they go inside I am sure we can do more with the information we can gather from complaints especially in terms of driving up service standards and the quality of the services we provide.
Q “This standard talks about resident involvement and empowerment. What does that mean to Regenda?”
These are terms that have been around in our world for a while now, especially involvement, and we have developed a lot of ways residents can get involved with the work we do and the services we provide. Empowerment is probably a less well known term and it is about sharing more responsibility and control with residents about the way things develop. When we were inspected by the Audit Commission in 2009 they judged our resident involvement service to have more strengths than weaknesses, which we were pleased about as it demonstrated our strong commitment to resident partnership. This was partly due to the range of ways we invite residents to get involved, including Mystery Shoppers, Resident Communications Team, email and readers’ groups, surveys, Challenge events and more intense involvement at Committee and Board Member level. However it is important we don’t rest on our laurels and so we are currently working on a major project to improve this service and ensure it offers the full range of opportunities residents want, and those that we need to offer for residents to scrutinise our services, and to shape our improvement priorities. The project will also deliver better training and skill building opportunities for residents. These will build on the existing ways residents are empowered such as the Regional Consultative Committees, the Housing Services Committee and the scrutiny groups that review specific services such as repairs.
Q “You mentioned scrutiny there Steph. Tell us a bit more about this and what it means please.”
Well this is all about you keeping an eye on us and the quality of the service we provide. We need you to hold us responsible for delivering what we promise. These are promises in the service standards, in the local offers, and in our policies. We have many ways in which we measure the performance we achieve – targets; resident survey feedback; monitoring and quality checks, and we regularly report how we are doing to Managers, Directors and Board Members. We want to include residents in this list and design ways that you can check and validate the performance levels we are reporting. You can then use the information and knowledge from scrutinising our performance throughout the year, to decide what you want to report in next year’s Annual Report.
9
Episode 1 Tenant Involvement and Empowerment
The facts and figures Regenda now has some profiling information for every resident. For example we know:
This information has enabled us to tailor service to them as individuals, for example:
• For all residents if they are male or female and if they have a disability
•W e provide support and solutions to victims of Hate Crime through our specialist Tenancy Enforcement Team where people have told us these issues are caused by their religion or sexual orientation
• The age of 81% of residents • The ethnicity of 69% of residents • The language 49% of residents speak • The religion of 36% of residents • The sexual orientation of 34% of residents • There are 1,769 residents recorded as having individual needs
•W hen carrying out estate visits we knock on the door of people who have told us they don’t like going on walkabouts •W e arrange for a Resident Interpreter to accompany us when we know someone’s first language is not English •W e send out newsletters in large print where people have asked us to
26%
of residents have a disability
10
454
residents have told us they are frail or elderly
11
Episode 1 Tenant Involvement and Empowerment
The facts and figures Regenda now has some profiling information for every resident. For example we know:
This information has enabled us to tailor service to them as individuals, for example:
• For all residents if they are male or female and if they have a disability
•W e provide support and solutions to victims of Hate Crime through our specialist Tenancy Enforcement Team where people have told us these issues are caused by their religion or sexual orientation
• The age of 81% of residents • The ethnicity of 69% of residents • The language 49% of residents speak • The religion of 36% of residents • The sexual orientation of 34% of residents • There are 1,769 residents recorded as having individual needs
•W hen carrying out estate visits we knock on the door of people who have told us they don’t like going on walkabouts •W e arrange for a Resident Interpreter to accompany us when we know someone’s first language is not English •W e send out newsletters in large print where people have asked us to
26%
of residents have a disability
10
454
residents have told us they are frail or elderly
11
Episode 1 Tenant Involvement and Empowerment
Did you know that in 2009/10 9.3% of all allocations were to people from a black or minority ethnic group, and nearly 24% were to people with a long term limiting illness? In 2008/09 these figures were 7.3% and 8%. Last year we recorded 1,810 service failures and complaints – 10% of the total resident contacts were to report a complaint or a service failure • We resolved 64% at first point of contact • 63% were investigated and responded to within 10 days
What Regenda needs to improve Tenant Involvement and Empowerment
H We need to complete the review of resident involvement and specifically: • increase the number and diversity of the residents who regularly work with us
• 90% were resolved at stage 1 of our process Over half the people who complained were satisfied that we dealt with them politely, it was easy to complain to us and they were satisfied with the outcome. But residents also told us we need to get better at keeping them informed and resolving the complaint more quickly.
• introduce new ways for residents to scrutinise what we deliver against our service standards
This year we carried out the STATUS Survey which is a large resident feedback exercise that gives us valid satisfaction ratings against a large number of questions.
• provide more training and skill building initiatives for residents to take part in
H We need to agree with residents the type of
• 78% of people were satisfied with how we dealt with general enquiries and 10% were dissatisfied. This is a 6% increase in satisfaction and 8% decrease in dissatisfaction compared with residents’ views back in 2008 • 79% of residents now think we are good at keeping them informed, compared to 73% in 2008 • 65% are satisfied we take their views into account compared to 61% in 2008 • 82% prefer to be informed by letter; 38% by telephone; 28% by personal visit; 23% by newsletter
Did you k now that we a re providing co equipme mputer nt and IT training f or some of our sh e residents ltered th funding f rough r Get Digit om the al projec t?
we should provide financial compensation when services fail, and what other type of compensation we could offer
H We will improve the information we provide to residents both written and on our website
local offers of service they want and make sure they know how we will measure our performance against these and our corporate service standards
We were pleased to learn that:
12
• increase the range of involvement opportunities so that more residents feel that they get the chance to have their opinions heard and acted upon
HW e need to agree with residents how and when
H
We will improve the feedback we provide to residents after they take part in consultation events or complete surveys, in particular what we do with their feedback and how it changes service delivery
H We will continue to improve the quality of the contact residents have with our Shared Service Centre
H We need to build upon the information we have about each of our residents, making sure it is all up to date
H We need to do more to tailor the services we provide so that they meet the needs of individual residents
H We need to increase the levels of resident satisfaction with all aspects of our complaints service
H We need to be able to learn effectively from the complaints we receive and demonstrate how we have done this to residents
13
Episode 1 Tenant Involvement and Empowerment
Did you know that in 2009/10 9.3% of all allocations were to people from a black or minority ethnic group, and nearly 24% were to people with a long term limiting illness? In 2008/09 these figures were 7.3% and 8%. Last year we recorded 1,810 service failures and complaints – 10% of the total resident contacts were to report a complaint or a service failure • We resolved 64% at first point of contact • 63% were investigated and responded to within 10 days
What Regenda needs to improve Tenant Involvement and Empowerment
H We need to complete the review of resident involvement and specifically: • increase the number and diversity of the residents who regularly work with us
• 90% were resolved at stage 1 of our process Over half the people who complained were satisfied that we dealt with them politely, it was easy to complain to us and they were satisfied with the outcome. But residents also told us we need to get better at keeping them informed and resolving the complaint more quickly.
• introduce new ways for residents to scrutinise what we deliver against our service standards
This year we carried out the STATUS Survey which is a large resident feedback exercise that gives us valid satisfaction ratings against a large number of questions.
• provide more training and skill building initiatives for residents to take part in
H We need to agree with residents the type of
• 78% of people were satisfied with how we dealt with general enquiries and 10% were dissatisfied. This is a 6% increase in satisfaction and 8% decrease in dissatisfaction compared with residents’ views back in 2008 • 79% of residents now think we are good at keeping them informed, compared to 73% in 2008 • 65% are satisfied we take their views into account compared to 61% in 2008 • 82% prefer to be informed by letter; 38% by telephone; 28% by personal visit; 23% by newsletter
Did you k now that we a re providing co equipme mputer nt and IT training f or some of our sh e residents ltered th funding f rough r Get Digit om the al projec t?
we should provide financial compensation when services fail, and what other type of compensation we could offer
H We will improve the information we provide to residents both written and on our website
local offers of service they want and make sure they know how we will measure our performance against these and our corporate service standards
We were pleased to learn that:
12
• increase the range of involvement opportunities so that more residents feel that they get the chance to have their opinions heard and acted upon
HW e need to agree with residents how and when
H
We will improve the feedback we provide to residents after they take part in consultation events or complete surveys, in particular what we do with their feedback and how it changes service delivery
H We will continue to improve the quality of the contact residents have with our Shared Service Centre
H We need to build upon the information we have about each of our residents, making sure it is all up to date
H We need to do more to tailor the services we provide so that they meet the needs of individual residents
H We need to increase the levels of resident satisfaction with all aspects of our complaints service
H We need to be able to learn effectively from the complaints we receive and demonstrate how we have done this to residents
13
Episode 2
The Home This is the standard that tells Regenda everything it must do in respect of:
Q “Getting homes up to the Decent Homes Standard is one thing, but how will you make sure they don’t fall below it again?”
H The quality of the properties we live in H Making sure they are safe H The repair and maintenance service we should receive Chris Dale is the Senior Manager in charge of this service and we asked questions that left Chris in no doubt that the Asset Management and Responsive Repairs service areas are in the spotlight!
Yes, you are absolutely right and that’s where our planned improvement programmes come into play. We regularly survey all of our properties to keep the ‘Stock Condition Survey’ data up to date. This means we can use this information to prioritise planned maintenance work in line with the age and condition of the property. In turn this means that we can maintain properties to the right quality to meet the Decent Homes Standard.
Q “Chris, there has been a lot in the news over the last year or so about all the work that is going on to improve homes so that they meet the Government’s Decent Homes Standard? What has Regenda been doing to make sure our homes are decent?” We have been investing in our homes for a number of years now to make sure all of them will meet the Decent Homes Standard by 31st December 2010. In the last three years over £18 million has been spent on our improvement programme and 99% of homes are now of the right quality to meet the standard. The types of improvements we have made are:
As well as the planned programmes we also have Regenda’s Lettable Standard. This is a property condition checklist that is used every time we re-let a home. If repair work is required to meet the Lettable Standard then this is carried out before the new resident moves in. The Lettable Standard has been agreed with residents and it is also designed to keep properties up to the quality required by the Decent Homes Standard.
Q “What about new homes that have been built to a higher standard than Decent Homes. What are you doing with those?”
It is true that new homes are built to different quality standards, in particular a standard called the ‘Code for Sustainable Housing’. This in general terms means the homes have more environmental and economic features such as solar panels for example. We only own a very small number of such homes but we will have more as years go on, and we will be maintaining these to the standard they were when first built.
• Install new kitchens and bathrooms • Replace roofs, windows and doors • Install central heating systems • Improve insulation
14
15
Episode 2
The Home This is the standard that tells Regenda everything it must do in respect of:
Q “Getting homes up to the Decent Homes Standard is one thing, but how will you make sure they don’t fall below it again?”
H The quality of the properties we live in H Making sure they are safe H The repair and maintenance service we should receive Chris Dale is the Senior Manager in charge of this service and we asked questions that left Chris in no doubt that the Asset Management and Responsive Repairs service areas are in the spotlight!
Yes, you are absolutely right and that’s where our planned improvement programmes come into play. We regularly survey all of our properties to keep the ‘Stock Condition Survey’ data up to date. This means we can use this information to prioritise planned maintenance work in line with the age and condition of the property. In turn this means that we can maintain properties to the right quality to meet the Decent Homes Standard.
Q “Chris, there has been a lot in the news over the last year or so about all the work that is going on to improve homes so that they meet the Government’s Decent Homes Standard? What has Regenda been doing to make sure our homes are decent?” We have been investing in our homes for a number of years now to make sure all of them will meet the Decent Homes Standard by 31st December 2010. In the last three years over £18 million has been spent on our improvement programme and 99% of homes are now of the right quality to meet the standard. The types of improvements we have made are:
As well as the planned programmes we also have Regenda’s Lettable Standard. This is a property condition checklist that is used every time we re-let a home. If repair work is required to meet the Lettable Standard then this is carried out before the new resident moves in. The Lettable Standard has been agreed with residents and it is also designed to keep properties up to the quality required by the Decent Homes Standard.
Q “What about new homes that have been built to a higher standard than Decent Homes. What are you doing with those?”
It is true that new homes are built to different quality standards, in particular a standard called the ‘Code for Sustainable Housing’. This in general terms means the homes have more environmental and economic features such as solar panels for example. We only own a very small number of such homes but we will have more as years go on, and we will be maintaining these to the standard they were when first built.
• Install new kitchens and bathrooms • Replace roofs, windows and doors • Install central heating systems • Improve insulation
14
15
Episode 2 The Home
Q “You mentioned that the Decent Homes improvements have cost £18 million over the last three years. That’s a lot of money and overall the repairs and maintenance service will cost a lot more than that. So how do you know you are getting value for money?”
Again you are right on the money! This service probably has the biggest budget of all every year but I am confident that we spend it wisely. We split the budget in two and 60% is spent on the planned programmes such as replacement kitchens and bathrooms and the cyclical programmes such as external decorating. The other 40 % is spent on the responsive repairs service such as mending broken taps, clearing blocked drains and all the other day-to-day repair problems you report to us. We also review the type of responsive repairs that we complete each year and use this information as an indicator of where it may be prudent to plan an improvement programme. We are also careful to get the best price for everything. So this means we use tenders and quotations where we get a price for a product or service against a specification of exactly what we expect from a number of contractors or employers. For the very large contracts we have to do this in line with European law.
16
We enjoyed talking about planned maintenance but were keen to get onto Responsive Repairs. Here’s how it went!
Q “I’m sure you know Chris that most residents value the repairs service above all others. How good is the one you provide?”
I am proud of the repairs service we provide, and I feel able to say that because of the feedback we get from you, the performance we measure against our targets, and the cost of the service compared to other landlords. So the simple answer is I think we provide a good repairs service. The things I think are good about the service are quite varied. For example: • When you contact us to report a repair by ringing the Shared Service Centre, they can normally book you an appointment there and then so you know when to expect the contractor • Not only that but we can offer appointments in the morning or afternoon, Saturday mornings and slots that take account of the school run
• Our contractors are very committed to delivering a high quality service and are signed up to the Contractor Charter which you helped to design, so that they not only provide a good maintenance service but they also provide excellent customer service • The fact that we are committed to completing repairs ‘right first time’, reducing the inconvenience for you • The way we can tailor the repairs service to meet your needs, by knowing when to tell the contractors to give you a little more time to answer if you have mobility problems, and when to respect cultural differences, for example, removing shoes and avoiding times of worship • The role you play in checking that the repairs service is right for you at our CORE group meetings where you meet with me and the contractors to discuss performance, complaints and any other issues that arise during the year
Q “It’s not just responsive repairs that are key to us though. We also need to feel safe in our homes, so how do you make sure that everything is in order?” We take health and safety in the home very seriously and we have contracts in place for: • Gas safety
Q “Finally Chris, tell us about the adaptations service you provide. For example how many adaptations do you carry out to help residents with specific needs?”
• Water hygiene • Electrical testing • Fire risk assessments • Asbestos register The services we provide meet all the requirements of the law and our tenancy agreements so you can live safely in your home.
Every year is different but last year we fitted 250 walk-in showers, and completed 10 specialist extensions to enable residents to stay in their home. We have a budget of £350,000 and we work in partnership with 11 local authorities to maximise the amount of funding available for adaptations. In addition to these major adaptations we complete minor adaptations such as hand grab rails and small ramps on request and approximately 200 residents benefitted from this service last year.
17
Episode 2 The Home
Q “You mentioned that the Decent Homes improvements have cost £18 million over the last three years. That’s a lot of money and overall the repairs and maintenance service will cost a lot more than that. So how do you know you are getting value for money?”
Again you are right on the money! This service probably has the biggest budget of all every year but I am confident that we spend it wisely. We split the budget in two and 60% is spent on the planned programmes such as replacement kitchens and bathrooms and the cyclical programmes such as external decorating. The other 40 % is spent on the responsive repairs service such as mending broken taps, clearing blocked drains and all the other day-to-day repair problems you report to us. We also review the type of responsive repairs that we complete each year and use this information as an indicator of where it may be prudent to plan an improvement programme. We are also careful to get the best price for everything. So this means we use tenders and quotations where we get a price for a product or service against a specification of exactly what we expect from a number of contractors or employers. For the very large contracts we have to do this in line with European law.
16
We enjoyed talking about planned maintenance but were keen to get onto Responsive Repairs. Here’s how it went!
Q “I’m sure you know Chris that most residents value the repairs service above all others. How good is the one you provide?”
I am proud of the repairs service we provide, and I feel able to say that because of the feedback we get from you, the performance we measure against our targets, and the cost of the service compared to other landlords. So the simple answer is I think we provide a good repairs service. The things I think are good about the service are quite varied. For example: • When you contact us to report a repair by ringing the Shared Service Centre, they can normally book you an appointment there and then so you know when to expect the contractor • Not only that but we can offer appointments in the morning or afternoon, Saturday mornings and slots that take account of the school run
• Our contractors are very committed to delivering a high quality service and are signed up to the Contractor Charter which you helped to design, so that they not only provide a good maintenance service but they also provide excellent customer service • The fact that we are committed to completing repairs ‘right first time’, reducing the inconvenience for you • The way we can tailor the repairs service to meet your needs, by knowing when to tell the contractors to give you a little more time to answer if you have mobility problems, and when to respect cultural differences, for example, removing shoes and avoiding times of worship • The role you play in checking that the repairs service is right for you at our CORE group meetings where you meet with me and the contractors to discuss performance, complaints and any other issues that arise during the year
Q “It’s not just responsive repairs that are key to us though. We also need to feel safe in our homes, so how do you make sure that everything is in order?” We take health and safety in the home very seriously and we have contracts in place for: • Gas safety
Q “Finally Chris, tell us about the adaptations service you provide. For example how many adaptations do you carry out to help residents with specific needs?”
• Water hygiene • Electrical testing • Fire risk assessments • Asbestos register The services we provide meet all the requirements of the law and our tenancy agreements so you can live safely in your home.
Every year is different but last year we fitted 250 walk-in showers, and completed 10 specialist extensions to enable residents to stay in their home. We have a budget of £350,000 and we work in partnership with 11 local authorities to maximise the amount of funding available for adaptations. In addition to these major adaptations we complete minor adaptations such as hand grab rails and small ramps on request and approximately 200 residents benefitted from this service last year.
17
Episode 2 The Home
The facts and figures Our residents told us through this year’s STATUS Survey that: 85% are satisfied with the quality of their home – up 4% from 2008
Compared to other landlords we are in the top 25% of our benchmarking club when it comes to the cost of repairs – it cost us £590 per property last year to provide the service. We are also in the top half in respect of residents who are satisfied with the service.
Of all those repairs we completed 87% right first time top half of the benchmarking club.
When it comes to the planned and cyclical maintenance programmes, it cost us £895 per property last year and with 85% of residents satisfied with the quality of their home we are in the lower half of the list.
• New bathrooms in 96 homes
Last year we completed: • 4,367 Emergency repairs • 3,192 Urgent repairs • 22,453 Routine repairs
Did you know that last year we provided: • New windows in 125 homes • New kitchens in 189 homes We are proud to say that 100% of our homes have a valid gas safety certificate in place.
What Regenda needs to improve The Home
H We will continue to drive up resident satisfaction with the repairs and maintenance service
H We will launch our new Lettable Standard and work with residents to check that all properties we let to new residents meet it
H We will do more work with residents to make sure we are telling them what major works will be carried out and when they will be done
H We will work with our contractors to provide
We made appointments for 86% of these repairs and we kept 97% of those appointments.
more tailored services that meet the needs of residents with individual needs
H We will work with our contractors to secure more funding for community investment activity such as apprentice schemes and DIY training
83%
are satisfi with the re ed pairs service – up by 10% from 2008
18
% 2 8 are satisfied
with the y t i l a u q l a r e gen – e m o h r i e h t of up 4% from 2008 19
Episode 2 The Home
The facts and figures Our residents told us through this year’s STATUS Survey that: 85% are satisfied with the quality of their home – up 4% from 2008
Compared to other landlords we are in the top 25% of our benchmarking club when it comes to the cost of repairs – it cost us £590 per property last year to provide the service. We are also in the top half in respect of residents who are satisfied with the service.
Of all those repairs we completed 87% right first time top half of the benchmarking club.
When it comes to the planned and cyclical maintenance programmes, it cost us £895 per property last year and with 85% of residents satisfied with the quality of their home we are in the lower half of the list.
• New bathrooms in 96 homes
Last year we completed: • 4,367 Emergency repairs • 3,192 Urgent repairs • 22,453 Routine repairs
Did you know that last year we provided: • New windows in 125 homes • New kitchens in 189 homes We are proud to say that 100% of our homes have a valid gas safety certificate in place.
What Regenda needs to improve The Home
H We will continue to drive up resident satisfaction with the repairs and maintenance service
H We will launch our new Lettable Standard and work with residents to check that all properties we let to new residents meet it
H We will do more work with residents to make sure we are telling them what major works will be carried out and when they will be done
H We will work with our contractors to provide
We made appointments for 86% of these repairs and we kept 97% of those appointments.
more tailored services that meet the needs of residents with individual needs
H We will work with our contractors to secure more funding for community investment activity such as apprentice schemes and DIY training
83%
are satisfi with the re ed pairs service – up by 10% from 2008
18
% 2 8 are satisfied
with the y t i l a u q l a r e gen – e m o h r i e h t of up 4% from 2008 19
Episode 3
Tenancy This is the standard that tells Regenda what it needs to do in respect of:
Q “It is important that you allocate homes effectively, not just for Regenda but for the neighbourhoods the homes are part of. How do you make sure you do?”
H The way it allocates homes H How it supports local authorities to deal with the bigger housing issues We spoke to Steve Blackburn, Head of Customer Services all about this standard.
Q “Steve, are you comfortable that everyone has a fair chance of getting on your waiting list and ultimately getting to live in a Regenda home?” I’m absolutely sure that this is the case, and the reasons for this are outlined in our Allocations Policy. We aim to always give everyone as much information as possible about their housing options and we try to create a balance between providing homes for those people in the greatest housing need, and making the best use of available homes to help support balanced and sustainable communities. We also make it as easy as possible for residents to move home. We take part in the Home Swapper scheme where Regenda residents can exchange homes with residents from other social landlords. We also help residents to move out of homes that are too large for them to smaller properties or if they feel it’s just the right time for them to move home.
20
Our homes are spread across 28 local authority areas, and we have to work closely with all of them when it comes to allocating our homes. We provide a proportion of our vacancies to local authorities for them to ‘nominate’ a resident from their waiting list. We also take part in choice based letting schemes, for example Access Liverpool is part of the choice based lettings scheme called Property Pool and it specifically allocates sheltered or adapted homes to the people who need this type of housing. All of our sheltered Liverpool vacancies go through this scheme.
Our dedicated lettings team provide an excellent advice and support service for new applicants and residents who wish to move. Our ‘residents with individual needs system’ means that we can identify the specific needs of residents and applicants and where possible we try to offer adapted properties to the people who need them. We will re-house ex-offenders and the under 18s. The only reasons we will suspend someone from our waiting lists are: • I f they have had action taken against them for anti social behaviour or racial harassment within the last two years • If they have current or former tenancy arrears over £150 • If they have abandoned their previous tenancy • If they have lied on their application form
21
Episode 3
Tenancy This is the standard that tells Regenda what it needs to do in respect of:
Q “It is important that you allocate homes effectively, not just for Regenda but for the neighbourhoods the homes are part of. How do you make sure you do?”
H The way it allocates homes H How it supports local authorities to deal with the bigger housing issues We spoke to Steve Blackburn, Head of Customer Services all about this standard.
Q “Steve, are you comfortable that everyone has a fair chance of getting on your waiting list and ultimately getting to live in a Regenda home?” I’m absolutely sure that this is the case, and the reasons for this are outlined in our Allocations Policy. We aim to always give everyone as much information as possible about their housing options and we try to create a balance between providing homes for those people in the greatest housing need, and making the best use of available homes to help support balanced and sustainable communities. We also make it as easy as possible for residents to move home. We take part in the Home Swapper scheme where Regenda residents can exchange homes with residents from other social landlords. We also help residents to move out of homes that are too large for them to smaller properties or if they feel it’s just the right time for them to move home.
20
Our homes are spread across 28 local authority areas, and we have to work closely with all of them when it comes to allocating our homes. We provide a proportion of our vacancies to local authorities for them to ‘nominate’ a resident from their waiting list. We also take part in choice based letting schemes, for example Access Liverpool is part of the choice based lettings scheme called Property Pool and it specifically allocates sheltered or adapted homes to the people who need this type of housing. All of our sheltered Liverpool vacancies go through this scheme.
Our dedicated lettings team provide an excellent advice and support service for new applicants and residents who wish to move. Our ‘residents with individual needs system’ means that we can identify the specific needs of residents and applicants and where possible we try to offer adapted properties to the people who need them. We will re-house ex-offenders and the under 18s. The only reasons we will suspend someone from our waiting lists are: • I f they have had action taken against them for anti social behaviour or racial harassment within the last two years • If they have current or former tenancy arrears over £150 • If they have abandoned their previous tenancy • If they have lied on their application form
21
Episode 3 Tenancy Comparison of average weekly rents at March 2010
Q “Getting a home in the first place is a good start, but then we have to start paying the rent. How do I know you are charging a fair rent especially when you put it up?” The Government decide how landlords such as Regenda set rents. They describe in law the way we must calculate the rent for all the different type of homes we provide. We have to stick to this method and describe what we do in our Rent and Service Charge policy.
National Landlord Rent
North West Landlord Rent
Regenda Group Rent
Bedsit
£61.67
£52.30
£ 63.41
One bedroom
£67.88
£59.22
£ 64.53
Two bedrooms
£76.82
£66.90
£ 69.49
Three bedrooms
£83.43
£72.76
£ 77.24
Four bedrooms
£96.98
£79.64
£ 78.88
Five bedrooms
£106.80
£85.56
£ 88.85
Six or more bedrooms
£119.33
£93.78
£ 95.94
Total all self contained
£72.64
£68.44
£ 71.77
You can check how our rents compare with others as we take part in an annual comparison of average rents with national and other local housing associations, local authorities, and private landlords. We also ask you if you think you get value for money from your rent. In the STATUS survey this year 83% of residents told us they thought rents did provide value for money, a 6% increase from 2008.
Q “What about after the resident has moved in? How do you make sure they are coping well in their new home?” All of our new residents are given ‘starter tenancies’ to make sure we can help and support them as they settle in to their new home and neighbourhood. This means we visit the resident a minimum of three times after they sign up for their home, to make sure the right support is in place and to make sure we know about any specific needs the resident may have. As a result of carrying out these visits we can be sure that the person to whom we let the property is actually the person living in the property and that they have the best chance of maintaining their tenancy in the long term. 22
The facts and figures • Did you know we have homes in 28 local authority areas • I n South Ribble we have 4 properties but in Wyre we have 2,929 • I n Chorley we have 7 properties but in Oldham we have 1,883 • I n Bolton we have 8 properties but in Liverpool we have 1,383 • I n 2009/10 we allocated 1,063 homes to new residents. 335 of these residents were nominated by the local authorities • We are a member of 12 Choice Based Lettings Schemes •O n average it takes us just over 23 days to re-let a property once someone moves out. When we compare ourselves with other landlords we are in the top 25% for minimising the amount of time our homes stand empty
een b e v a h We te e l p m o c able to 0% of almost 8 ter the star its vis tenancy d to e we plann ess l 0 1 / 9 0 In 20 r u o f o % than 10 ties proper or f p u e m ca re-letting
What Regenda needs to improve Tenancy
HW e will review our allocations policy with residents and make sure it is fully up to date
H We will consult more widely with residents about changes to their rent and service charges
23
Episode 3 Tenancy Comparison of average weekly rents at March 2010
Q “Getting a home in the first place is a good start, but then we have to start paying the rent. How do I know you are charging a fair rent especially when you put it up?” The Government decide how landlords such as Regenda set rents. They describe in law the way we must calculate the rent for all the different type of homes we provide. We have to stick to this method and describe what we do in our Rent and Service Charge policy.
National Landlord Rent
North West Landlord Rent
Regenda Group Rent
Bedsit
£61.67
£52.30
£ 63.41
One bedroom
£67.88
£59.22
£ 64.53
Two bedrooms
£76.82
£66.90
£ 69.49
Three bedrooms
£83.43
£72.76
£ 77.24
Four bedrooms
£96.98
£79.64
£ 78.88
Five bedrooms
£106.80
£85.56
£ 88.85
Six or more bedrooms
£119.33
£93.78
£ 95.94
Total all self contained
£72.64
£68.44
£ 71.77
You can check how our rents compare with others as we take part in an annual comparison of average rents with national and other local housing associations, local authorities, and private landlords. We also ask you if you think you get value for money from your rent. In the STATUS survey this year 83% of residents told us they thought rents did provide value for money, a 6% increase from 2008.
Q “What about after the resident has moved in? How do you make sure they are coping well in their new home?” All of our new residents are given ‘starter tenancies’ to make sure we can help and support them as they settle in to their new home and neighbourhood. This means we visit the resident a minimum of three times after they sign up for their home, to make sure the right support is in place and to make sure we know about any specific needs the resident may have. As a result of carrying out these visits we can be sure that the person to whom we let the property is actually the person living in the property and that they have the best chance of maintaining their tenancy in the long term. 22
The facts and figures • Did you know we have homes in 28 local authority areas • I n South Ribble we have 4 properties but in Wyre we have 2,929 • I n Chorley we have 7 properties but in Oldham we have 1,883 • I n Bolton we have 8 properties but in Liverpool we have 1,383 • I n 2009/10 we allocated 1,063 homes to new residents. 335 of these residents were nominated by the local authorities • We are a member of 12 Choice Based Lettings Schemes •O n average it takes us just over 23 days to re-let a property once someone moves out. When we compare ourselves with other landlords we are in the top 25% for minimising the amount of time our homes stand empty
een b e v a h We te e l p m o c able to 0% of almost 8 ter the star its vis tenancy d to e we plann ess l 0 1 / 9 0 In 20 r u o f o % than 10 ties proper or f p u e m ca re-letting
What Regenda needs to improve Tenancy
HW e will review our allocations policy with residents and make sure it is fully up to date
H We will consult more widely with residents about changes to their rent and service charges
23
Episode 4
Neighbourhood and Community This is the standard that tells Regenda what it needs to be doing in our neighbourhoods to make sure:
Q “Steve, tell us how you go about tackling the problems nearly every neighbourhood faces these days. Who do you work with and how do you involve residents in this?”
H they are clean, safe and successful H how they work with others to do this H they are doing as much as they can to tackle anti social behaviour We asked Steve Newsham, the Regional Director for the West Region to explain how they go about this.
Well, the good news is that 85% of our residents are satisfied with the neighbourhood they live in. That’s really good news for all of our neighbourhood teams as it shows an increase of 5% from 2008 which suggests that the work we are doing in neighbourhoods is having a positive impact. We do a number of things to make sure our neighbourhoods are good places to live. For example we have created a Neighbourhood Health Index to help us monitor a range of different aspects in each area. These include: • The number of reported anti social behaviour issues • Levels of crime • Education performance • Levels of poverty • The number of inspections we carry out on our estates • The number of new allocations in the area • The number of starter tenancy visits we complete We use the information from the index to rate each neighbourhood. We carry out estate inspections and walkabouts and we meet with residents and other agencies such as the police and fire service to check what is happening in an area. We then develop neighbourhood, estate and scheme action plans in partnership with the residents who live there to agree the priority issues that need improvement and interventions. There are some good examples of the type of things we have done through this consultation with residents and looking at the needs of the neighbourhood.
• In Wirral we are providing advice on pensions for residents in one of our sheltered schemes in response to resident requests • Across all areas we organise fun days to help residents socialise and build relationships We provide cleaning and landscaping services to estates where there are communal areas to try and ensure the appearance of our schemes have a positive impact on the general image of the neighbourhood. We work closely with the different local authorities and other local agencies to support neighbourhoods such as social development activity, activity to help with the economic situation and projects to support environmental sustainability. For example: • In Liverpool we support the Youth Voices, Access to Home Ownership and Be Money Wise projects • In Wirral we support the Wirral Wardens who support a range of environmental initiatives • In Wyre we support Dream Schemes and the Citizens Advice Bureau’s Money Advice service and we have done environmental improvements in Martindale Sports Park • In Oldham and Rochdale we are members of the Community Cohesion project • In Cheshire we support the Care and Repair service We use a variety of methods to promote the roles we are playing in neighbourhoods. These include our action plans, and the regular local newsletters we publish, and critically the face to face contact we have with residents when we are on site.
• In Rochdale the fire service completed risk assessments for 50 residents and as a result we installed new 10 year fire alarms and provided deep fat fryers so they stopped using chip pans
24
25
Episode 4
Neighbourhood and Community This is the standard that tells Regenda what it needs to be doing in our neighbourhoods to make sure:
Q “Steve, tell us how you go about tackling the problems nearly every neighbourhood faces these days. Who do you work with and how do you involve residents in this?”
H they are clean, safe and successful H how they work with others to do this H they are doing as much as they can to tackle anti social behaviour We asked Steve Newsham, the Regional Director for the West Region to explain how they go about this.
Well, the good news is that 85% of our residents are satisfied with the neighbourhood they live in. That’s really good news for all of our neighbourhood teams as it shows an increase of 5% from 2008 which suggests that the work we are doing in neighbourhoods is having a positive impact. We do a number of things to make sure our neighbourhoods are good places to live. For example we have created a Neighbourhood Health Index to help us monitor a range of different aspects in each area. These include: • The number of reported anti social behaviour issues • Levels of crime • Education performance • Levels of poverty • The number of inspections we carry out on our estates • The number of new allocations in the area • The number of starter tenancy visits we complete We use the information from the index to rate each neighbourhood. We carry out estate inspections and walkabouts and we meet with residents and other agencies such as the police and fire service to check what is happening in an area. We then develop neighbourhood, estate and scheme action plans in partnership with the residents who live there to agree the priority issues that need improvement and interventions. There are some good examples of the type of things we have done through this consultation with residents and looking at the needs of the neighbourhood.
• In Wirral we are providing advice on pensions for residents in one of our sheltered schemes in response to resident requests • Across all areas we organise fun days to help residents socialise and build relationships We provide cleaning and landscaping services to estates where there are communal areas to try and ensure the appearance of our schemes have a positive impact on the general image of the neighbourhood. We work closely with the different local authorities and other local agencies to support neighbourhoods such as social development activity, activity to help with the economic situation and projects to support environmental sustainability. For example: • In Liverpool we support the Youth Voices, Access to Home Ownership and Be Money Wise projects • In Wirral we support the Wirral Wardens who support a range of environmental initiatives • In Wyre we support Dream Schemes and the Citizens Advice Bureau’s Money Advice service and we have done environmental improvements in Martindale Sports Park • In Oldham and Rochdale we are members of the Community Cohesion project • In Cheshire we support the Care and Repair service We use a variety of methods to promote the roles we are playing in neighbourhoods. These include our action plans, and the regular local newsletters we publish, and critically the face to face contact we have with residents when we are on site.
• In Rochdale the fire service completed risk assessments for 50 residents and as a result we installed new 10 year fire alarms and provided deep fat fryers so they stopped using chip pans
24
25
Episode 4 Neighbourhood and Community
Q “You haven’t said much there Steve about anti-social behaviour and let’s face it, this is the thing that many residents have to live with. What are you doing about that?”
The facts and figures • When we compare how satisfied our residents are with their neighbourhood with other landlords we are in the top 25%
What Regenda needs to improve
• It costs us £127 per property to provide the estate services we do, and this puts us in the lower half compared to other providers
HW e will continue to drive up resident satisfaction
• We attend 20 external meetings to help support the neighbourhoods and tackle anti social behaviour You are right of course. The most serious problems in a neighbourhood are often caused by the anti social behaviour of people who live or visit the area. According to this years STATUS survey results 13% of our residents had to report an anti social behaviour case.
• It costs £556 to deal with each case of anti social behaviour and this puts us in the top 40% compared to our peers
Neighbourhood and Community with their neighbourhood
H We will increase the amount of contact we have with residents to identify and tackle neighbourhood issues in the ways you want
H We will do more to publicise the service we can offer to deal with anti social behaviour
H We will continue to develop the type and level of diversionary activities we can support to prevent anti social behaviour
During 2009 we reshaped the way we provide services locally so that, amongst other things, our Neighbourhood Teams had dedicated staff dealing with anti social behaviour, supporting vulnerable residents and working alongside Neighbourhood Officers and specialists from our Tenancy Enforcement Team. Our Tenancy Enforcement Teams provide the support when serious incidents are reported to us and they work with agencies such as the police, victim support and social services to help tackle the problems residents face. We are members of the Crime and Disorder Partnerships in several local authority areas and we attend regular operational meetings to support work associated with anti social behaviour. We identify ASB Hotspots through our Neighbourhood Health Index. If the number of reported cases goes above a certain number then we carry out a drive to take action to reduce the levels of nuisance, for example, we use Good Neighbour Agreements to promote specific responsibilities outlined in people’s tenancy agreements. We have also trained 14 people as Mediators and in 2009/10 they provided a mediation service 16 times, and offered to do so 103 times. We also use professional witnesses in serious anti social behaviour cases. Overall in 2009/10 we completed 94 supportive actions such as those I have just described.
26
85%
of the people who reported a case of anti social behaviou r were satisfied with the way we handled the case
We completed 97% of the Neighbourhood Action Plan scheme inspections that we said we would – 101 out of 104 27
Episode 4 Neighbourhood and Community
Q “You haven’t said much there Steve about anti-social behaviour and let’s face it, this is the thing that many residents have to live with. What are you doing about that?”
The facts and figures • When we compare how satisfied our residents are with their neighbourhood with other landlords we are in the top 25%
What Regenda needs to improve
• It costs us £127 per property to provide the estate services we do, and this puts us in the lower half compared to other providers
HW e will continue to drive up resident satisfaction
• We attend 20 external meetings to help support the neighbourhoods and tackle anti social behaviour You are right of course. The most serious problems in a neighbourhood are often caused by the anti social behaviour of people who live or visit the area. According to this years STATUS survey results 13% of our residents had to report an anti social behaviour case.
• It costs £556 to deal with each case of anti social behaviour and this puts us in the top 40% compared to our peers
Neighbourhood and Community with their neighbourhood
H We will increase the amount of contact we have with residents to identify and tackle neighbourhood issues in the ways you want
H We will do more to publicise the service we can offer to deal with anti social behaviour
H We will continue to develop the type and level of diversionary activities we can support to prevent anti social behaviour
During 2009 we reshaped the way we provide services locally so that, amongst other things, our Neighbourhood Teams had dedicated staff dealing with anti social behaviour, supporting vulnerable residents and working alongside Neighbourhood Officers and specialists from our Tenancy Enforcement Team. Our Tenancy Enforcement Teams provide the support when serious incidents are reported to us and they work with agencies such as the police, victim support and social services to help tackle the problems residents face. We are members of the Crime and Disorder Partnerships in several local authority areas and we attend regular operational meetings to support work associated with anti social behaviour. We identify ASB Hotspots through our Neighbourhood Health Index. If the number of reported cases goes above a certain number then we carry out a drive to take action to reduce the levels of nuisance, for example, we use Good Neighbour Agreements to promote specific responsibilities outlined in people’s tenancy agreements. We have also trained 14 people as Mediators and in 2009/10 they provided a mediation service 16 times, and offered to do so 103 times. We also use professional witnesses in serious anti social behaviour cases. Overall in 2009/10 we completed 94 supportive actions such as those I have just described.
26
85%
of the people who reported a case of anti social behaviou r were satisfied with the way we handled the case
We completed 97% of the Neighbourhood Action Plan scheme inspections that we said we would – 101 out of 104 27
Episode 5
Value for Money This is the standard that tells Regenda everything it should be doing to deliver value for money such as:
H How expenditure has been prioritised in relation to each of the standards and in the delivery of local offers, as well as meeting other needs such as investment in social housing provision
H How we ensure value for money has been secured and tested
H Plans and priorities for delivery of further value for money improvements
H Arrangements for residents to influence services delivered and cost of those services that result in service charges to residents
This is the standard we can use to make sure Regenda spends our money wisely! It looks at how spending decisions are made in terms of meeting resident priorities and how it then goes on to get the best price for the best quality of product or service. It also looks at how it involves us in all of this. We talked to Catherine Lynagh, Regenda’s Executive Director of Finance.
Q “Catherine, money is tight for everyone these days and so it is really important that we get value for money for the rent we pay. How are you making sure we do?”
Q “What are you doing as an organisation to make sure you improve on the value for money you achieve every year? And how can we help you do this?” The trick to this is to make sure getting value for money for every pound we spend is part and parcel of everyday work here. So to help with this we have asked all the people who work here to tell us what value for money means to them and how they can deliver it in their area of work and within their team. We found that there was a good deal of understanding about what value for money means right across the group. To help make sure we keep value for money at the front of everyone’s mind, our Every Penny Counts campaign will enable both residents and employees to identify money saving initiatives. The savings these ideas deliver will be deposited in the Every Penny Counts Bank, and the money will be re-distributed to pay for improvements or projects that residents want. Keep a look out for how you can get involved with this initiative, and make sure you tell us about any money saving ideas you have.
28
We are always very aware of the fact that it is our responsibility to deliver the very highest quality of service to all residents for the very best price. We have put in place a Value for Money Strategy that outlines how we go about this. We work hard to understand what we spend money on, and how much it costs to deliver our services. We compare our costs with other landlords through an exercise called benchmarking, and this allows us to identify areas of high cost. This in turn means we are able to investigate the areas where we are more expensive than others and put in place changes to reduce costs. We use tendering and contracts to reduce the cost of buying in goods and services from third party providers, and we manage and monitor our budgets to ensure we operate as effectively as possible. Value for money is not all about cost though, it is also about the quality of the services we offer. To make sure this is meeting the standards residents want we regularly consult you about what we provide, and we use your feedback to make sure we are hitting the standards we have agreed with you. Recently we have been conducting a lot of consultation meetings with residents from across the group. By listening and discussing the type of services residents want and need, this has given me a real feel for the areas that are of the highest priority for residents. We will use this information to influence our expenditure plans when we put the budgets together for next year, so residents can be sure we will provide funding for the areas that are important to them.
29
Episode 5
Value for Money This is the standard that tells Regenda everything it should be doing to deliver value for money such as:
H How expenditure has been prioritised in relation to each of the standards and in the delivery of local offers, as well as meeting other needs such as investment in social housing provision
H How we ensure value for money has been secured and tested
H Plans and priorities for delivery of further value for money improvements
H Arrangements for residents to influence services delivered and cost of those services that result in service charges to residents
This is the standard we can use to make sure Regenda spends our money wisely! It looks at how spending decisions are made in terms of meeting resident priorities and how it then goes on to get the best price for the best quality of product or service. It also looks at how it involves us in all of this. We talked to Catherine Lynagh, Regenda’s Executive Director of Finance.
Q “Catherine, money is tight for everyone these days and so it is really important that we get value for money for the rent we pay. How are you making sure we do?”
Q “What are you doing as an organisation to make sure you improve on the value for money you achieve every year? And how can we help you do this?” The trick to this is to make sure getting value for money for every pound we spend is part and parcel of everyday work here. So to help with this we have asked all the people who work here to tell us what value for money means to them and how they can deliver it in their area of work and within their team. We found that there was a good deal of understanding about what value for money means right across the group. To help make sure we keep value for money at the front of everyone’s mind, our Every Penny Counts campaign will enable both residents and employees to identify money saving initiatives. The savings these ideas deliver will be deposited in the Every Penny Counts Bank, and the money will be re-distributed to pay for improvements or projects that residents want. Keep a look out for how you can get involved with this initiative, and make sure you tell us about any money saving ideas you have.
28
We are always very aware of the fact that it is our responsibility to deliver the very highest quality of service to all residents for the very best price. We have put in place a Value for Money Strategy that outlines how we go about this. We work hard to understand what we spend money on, and how much it costs to deliver our services. We compare our costs with other landlords through an exercise called benchmarking, and this allows us to identify areas of high cost. This in turn means we are able to investigate the areas where we are more expensive than others and put in place changes to reduce costs. We use tendering and contracts to reduce the cost of buying in goods and services from third party providers, and we manage and monitor our budgets to ensure we operate as effectively as possible. Value for money is not all about cost though, it is also about the quality of the services we offer. To make sure this is meeting the standards residents want we regularly consult you about what we provide, and we use your feedback to make sure we are hitting the standards we have agreed with you. Recently we have been conducting a lot of consultation meetings with residents from across the group. By listening and discussing the type of services residents want and need, this has given me a real feel for the areas that are of the highest priority for residents. We will use this information to influence our expenditure plans when we put the budgets together for next year, so residents can be sure we will provide funding for the areas that are important to them.
29
Episode 5 Value for Money
The facts and figures We have taken part in an annual benchmarking exercise with 34 other providers. This told us about how efficient we are compared with others: • In 2009/10 our overheads and housing management costs were competitive when compared to others, and we are placed in the top half of high performing providers. Our responsive repairs service and planned maintenance costs are even more competitive and put us in the top performing 25% of the same group. Our performance has either remained the same or improved in each of these areas when compared to 2008/09 • When comparing the time it takes us to relet our homes when they become empty, we are again in the top performing 25%
What Regenda needs to improve Value for Money
HW e will check that our Every Penny Counts campaign is effective in engaging employees and residents to identify money saving initiatives
HW e will make sure residents get a say over where savings get spent
HW e will continue to drive down costs in the areas we know are expensive
% 3 8 t n e r r i e h t k sidents thin
y– e of re n o m r o f e u l a v s e d i v pro e s a e r c n i % this is a 6 08 from 20 30
31
Episode 5 Value for Money
The facts and figures We have taken part in an annual benchmarking exercise with 34 other providers. This told us about how efficient we are compared with others: • In 2009/10 our overheads and housing management costs were competitive when compared to others, and we are placed in the top half of high performing providers. Our responsive repairs service and planned maintenance costs are even more competitive and put us in the top performing 25% of the same group. Our performance has either remained the same or improved in each of these areas when compared to 2008/09 • When comparing the time it takes us to relet our homes when they become empty, we are again in the top performing 25%
What Regenda needs to improve Value for Money
HW e will check that our Every Penny Counts campaign is effective in engaging employees and residents to identify money saving initiatives
HW e will make sure residents get a say over where savings get spent
HW e will continue to drive down costs in the areas we know are expensive
% 3 8 t n e r r i e h t k sidents thin
y– e of re n o m r o f e u l a v s e d i v pro e s a e r c n i % this is a 6 08 from 20 30
31
The Regenda Group Regenda House Enterprise Business Park Northgate Close Horwich Bolton BL6 6PQ 32
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Tel: 0344 736 0066 Fax: 01204 814555 Text: 07970 865865 Email: info@regenda.org.uk Web: www.regendafirst.org.uk