Menu of Involvement
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Shine a light on... Your PCH
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Shape the future
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Improve where you live
Get help and support
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Get rewarded for your bright ideas
Share your views
Call us on 0800 694 3101 / 01752 388300
Menu of Involvement
We need you to help us make improvements and a positive difference to the services you and your neighbours receive... You may want to get involved without going to meetings or having to give up a lot of your time. We understand this, so we’ve come up with different ways you could get involved and have your say. This leaflet explains some of the ways you could get involved, whether you’re a resident, leaseholder or shared owner.
The activities available will depend on the information and feedback we need and how many people want to get involved. If you know how you want to get involved, or even if you’re not sure, please get in touch – call us, visit the website or tick the appropriate boxes on the freepost form at the back of this leaflet. Don’t wait until tomorrow – it would be great to hear from you today!
How much time can you spare?
A Little Time
As long as it takes to sit and watch a soap... Do you have up to 30 minutes to spare from time to time? You could complete a survey by post, phone, email or text.
A Lot Of Time
A Little More Time
As long as it takes to watch a film... Do you have an hour to spare every now and then? You could become one of our reality checkers.
As long as it takes to watch a television series... Do you have two hours to spare every month or two? Join one of our Customer Interest Teams or Specific Interest Groups.
What’s in it for me?
As well as helping us make a real difference to the service we give it’s your chance to: Develop new skills, access free training and improve your confidence Boost your chances of getting paid work or into further education Check that you’re getting what you pay for and improve things for you and your neighbours Meet like-minded people, make new friends and have fun Get recognition for a job well done and maybe even a reward! 2
We will also help with travel, childcare and other out of pocket expenses
plymouthcommunityhomes.co.uk
GIVE US YOUR BRIGHT IDEA AND WE’LL GIVE YOU A REWARD! Do you have a bright idea which could improve services for you and your neighbours? If your idea is put into practice and saves money you could get a reward. If the saving is significant, we’ll give a cash investment to your community.
Get your thinking cap on! Contact us on 01752 388300 or 0800 694 3101 for more information, or email info@plymouthcommunityhomes.co.uk to let us know your bright idea.
If you have A Little Time Just Ask! From time to time we’ll send you a survey to ask you what you think of your housing service. You can receive surveys by post, text, email or telephone or we can visit you at home – it’s up to you. Armchair Advisers Armchair Advisers review documents to make sure they are easy to understand before we send them out to lots of people – you can do this from the comfort of your own home. #PCHHour Every month a member of senior staff will host #PCHHour answering your tweets about PCH.
Menu of Involvement Chat Café Join us somewhere near you for a cuppa and a chat and tell us about the issues that matter most to you. Together we can start to work through them and we’ll let all the neighbours know what we’re doing. i-Chat Share your views and ideas via the web and social media. This could include comments or compliments, responding to a survey, engaging in an online discussion forum or joining a virtual community to look at a specific topic over a longer period of time. Tweetup A twice yearly opportunity for PCH Twitter followers to meet up socially and receive two short (no more than 10 minutes) presentations about topics which have proved popular - an opportunity to network and make new connections. Community Recognition Event An annual event for PCH residents and partners, including our annual Community Recognition Awards to celebrate and recognise exceptional contributions to Resident Involvement. You can help shape Resident Involvement and PCH’s priorities for the next year. Community Walkabouts We carry out Community Walkabouts in every area at least once in every six months. You can come along too – after all, you know the area you live in better than anyone else. Locations and dates of these can be found on our website. 3
Menu of Involvement
Call us on 0800 694 3101 / 01752 388300
If you have A Little More Time
Neighbourhood Voices Most neighbourhoods have someone that people talk to. As a Neighbourhood Voice, you’ll listen to the views of your neighbours and meet us every other month to tell us what you think is needed.
Money Tree Fund (MTF) Panels The MTF is an annual pot of money available for you to help improve your neighbourhood. There are two MTF Panels, North and South. Their role is to process fund applications and choose between projects, ensuring that they meet the criteria; a project which benefits and enhances the area for all and is value for money. You could be a member of the Panel which is made up of residents and staff. Mystery Shoppers and Reality Checkers Ever wanted to secretly check how good our services really are? Mystery shoppers are teams of trained residents who test our services to make sure they are doing exactly what it says on the tin! Reality Checkers can also get involved in shadowing, interviewing staff or residents or running a survey or focus group to really get to the heart of what’s happening. Make a Difference Days These are one-off action days where staff, organisations we work with and local residents work together to clean up neighbourhoods or address local issues, with a celebration event in the evening.
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Focus Groups You’ll be invited to one-off informal but structured chats with other residents to give your views on a specific area of service. Performance Improvement Team On a quarterly basis, this team of trained residents will consider performance reports and complaints, identify trends and lessons learnt and make recommendations to improve the way we do things. They will also work with us to agree standards and targets for services to residents. Community Events and Projects Whether you want to organise a one-off fun day or trip, or a longer-term project such as a sensory garden, film club or playscheme, we can work with you to see what support and resources are needed to make your community event or project a roaring success.
plymouthcommunityhomes.co.uk
If you have A Lot Of Time Tenants’ and Residents’ Associations (TRAs) TRAs are a great way for you to get together with your neighbours to talk about your local area and can be informal or more structured. We can help with anything from group set-up to providing grants for running costs and activities. We’ll also attend meetings if you want us to. Board Members If you can help make key decisions and plan ahead then you could become a Board Member. From time to time, we have vacancies to join our Board and we look for people who are willing to use their knowledge and skills to help us run the organisation. Resident Scrutiny Team (RST) The RST is a group of trained residents who work as part of a team to provide an independent check of the services provided by PCH. Where necessary, they challenge performance and make recommendations for improvements, including looking at value for money. There is a selection process and we’ll provide you with all the training and support you need if you’re successful. Spends and Saves This group of trained residents are involved in every aspect of our tender processes, including specifying contract requirements, short-listing companies from tenders received, conducting interviews and site visits and appointing the successful contractor. You will work to add value to all that PCH does by improving services and saving money.
Menu of Involvement Neighbourhood Investment Plans Initially working with a small group of residents from two areas of Plymouth, we will look at a number of ‘indicators’ that affect residents, such as crime, health, finances and access to public services. You’ll help to develop action plans about how we’ll work with residents and other organisations to make improvements. Specific Interest Groups (SIGs) From time to time we’ll focus on issues affecting a specific group of people and what we can do to improve things for them. For example:
• Older People: Whether you live in
Housing with Support or general needs housing, meet other residents to tell us how we can improve things.
• Disabled Residents: To raise awareness and understand housing and community issues affecting disabled residents, their families and carers.
• LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender): To raise awareness, break down barriers and to support LGBT residents by making sure we understand your needs and aspirations.
• Leaseholders: Help shape our services to leaseholders.
• Youth Action: Working with you if you’re
aged 16-25 to give you a voice and help us understand your needs and aspirations.
• Service Charges: Many properties,
for example, flats and maisonettes, have a service charge to cover communal costs such as caretaking. This group looks at service charge calculations and how best to cover these costs. 5
Customer Interest Teams Customer Interest Teams are a real opportunity for you to get to the heart of PCH and make a difference. Customer Interest Teams are called together by PCH to shine a light on services and future plans through joint resident and staff projects, each including a ‘value for money’ approach. You could be part of a short-term project or you could be required to commit time over a period of months - either way, we’ll let you know what’s involved when we first invite you to take part. There is no limit to the number of Customer Interest Teams you can be on and you won’t be asked to be a part of more than one project at a time. Prospective projects fall into five categories: • Tenant Involvement and Empowerment – including Customer Service, Choice and Complaints, Resident Involvement and Empowerment and Diversity • Home – including Quality of Accommodation and Repairs and Maintenance • Tenancy – including Allocations and Mutual Exchange (how we let our homes) and Tenure (the terms of your tenancy agreement) • Neighbourhood and Communities – including Neighbourhood Management, Local Partnerships and Anti-Social Behaviour • Future Plans - including Strategic Projects, such as Health and Wellbeing, Environmental Sustainability, Worklessness, Digital Inclusion, Annual Reporting and Social Value.
/ 0800 694 3101
Community Benefit Society registration No: 30637R
YOU CAN ALSO GET HELP AND FUNDING LEARN FOR FREE A free training programme for PCH residents. Whether you want to get more involved, improve your job prospects or learn something new, we have something for everyone. We publish the programme quarterly and we are always looking for ideas for new courses to run. KICK START GRANTS If you are aged 11-18 and keen on a project we can help with things like enrolment, travel or equipment expenses. All we ask is that you tell us about your experience. HELPING HANDS If you have a skill or knowledge that you want to share, we can train you to teach other residents. MONEY TREE FUND You could get funding to improve neighbourhoods and communal areas. We also need residents to be on panels to assess applications see page 4. If you need this document in a different format, we can provide it in:
Business Reply Plus Licence Number RTGY-EEHB-CUUG
Get Involved! Third Floor West Plumer House Tailyour Road Crownhill Plymouth PL6 5DH
Thank you for getting involved with PCH make it happen
Get involved... If you would like to get involved with PCH, please either fill in and return this Freepost form, visit our website or call us on 0800 696 3101 or 01752 388300. I want to know more about: Any other ideas:
Please tick all that apply Just Ask! Armchair Advisers Chat Café i-Chat Tweet up
Name:
#PCHHour Community Recognition Event Community Walkabouts Money Tree Fund Panels FOLD HERE
Address:
Make a Difference Days
FOLD HERE
Mystery Shoppers and Reality Checkers Focus Groups Neighbourhood Voices Performance Improvement Team
Postcode:
Tenants’ & Residents’ Associations Telephone Number:
Board Members Resident Scrutiny Team Spends & Saves Neighbourhood Investment Plans
Email:
Specific Interest Groups Customer Interest Teams I’m not sure – contact me for a chat
SEAL HERE
SEAL HERE
SEAL HERE
Community Events & Projects