News Extra — Winter 2016

Winter 2016

The magazine for South Staffordshire Housing Association and Care Plus customers

Homes and services in a changing landscape

News about your rent payments

Are you a winner?

Counting the cost of missed appointments

Front cover: Pattingham in the snow, by Linda Ellis

WELCOME

to the winter issue of News Extra.

This is the start of a year bringing excitement as well as challenge for SSHA. Looking forward, we are beginning a new year as part of Housing Plus Group, with a commitment to delivering good quality, affordable homes and services in Staffordshire and Shropshire. In future issues of your magazine we will bring you news about new developments offering more of the homes our communities need and choices for people at every stage of their lives including affordable rent, market rent and shared ownership.

It is also essential that we protect services for customers, at a time of cuts to our income. Just like so many families across the country, we are budgeting carefully to get the best value for money. Fair Landlord principles are even

more important now, making sure that our investment in homes and services is fair to the majority of customers.

In the following pages you can read about some of the people who have benefited as a result of Fair Landlord investment and about more of the decisions we are taking to make sure we can keep making those home improvements. Find out how you will hear about changes to your rent and how your views are shaping our services.

And turn to page 6 to see the winners of family memberships with the National Trust which were the prizes in our special competition in the Autumn issue of News Extra.

involved in helping to create new, shared channels for consultation so that customers can play a valuable role in building and improving our new Group.

Learn more on page 8.

Find out how you will hear about changes to your rent and how your views are shaping our services. Get

Jan Goode Neighbourhoods Director

News about your rent payments Look out for important information about your rent payments, coming soon.

The rent that we charge you is revised every year based on Government guidelines.

We are currently working on those calculations for all of our customers and we will write to you by early March 2017 to let you know your new weekly charge from April 2017 onwards.

What do you need to do?

If you already pay by direct debit we will amend the payments you will be

2

required to make from April 2017 and confirm this in writing to you.

If you pay by any other method including standing order, then you will need to make sure that you change your payment amount from April 2017.

There is still time to switch to paying

by Direct Debit for a more convenient, worry-free way to pay your rent before your payments change.

Please call the Customer Services Team on 01785 312000 and they will be able to arrange this.

If you receive housing benefit then you should look out for a separate letter towards the end of March 2017 from your local housing benefit team about your updated entitlement from April 2017.

Look out

February

2017

Your rent review letter

March

2017 Housing benefit entitlement information

Fair Landlord: investing in MORE of your homes

When my new kitchen was finished I took photographs to show my grandchildren!

Pamela Morgan, Great Wyrley Fair Landlord is a thread running through everything we do as a housing provider.

Our Fair Landlord principles mean that we plan our spending fairly, to benefit more of our customers. So we can fit more kitchens, bathrooms, energysaving boilers and carry out more MOT home upgrades.

We spend £10million on home improvements annually and this year we will fit new bathrooms in close to five per cent of all our homes. Pamela Morgan is one of the customers who has benefitted from Fair Landlord

policies. In November she had a new kitchen fitted in her Great Wyrley flat.

“It took a week to fit and the team were brilliant. They explained what they were going to do each day and didn’t leave until they had finished.”

Pamela had a choice of units and selected light oak doors and charcoal worktops. “It’s made such a difference.

There is plenty of storage space and I’ve also got a fitted oven and hob. I’d been finding it difficult to clean my previous low-level slot-in cooker and SSHA said that as long as I made sure that the hob and oven were delivered in time, they would fit them for me.

“The kitchen looked so lovely when it was finished that I took photographs to show my grandchildren!”

• Because of Fair Landlord we can fit MORE fire doors, bringing added safety to residents like Pamela, who live in apartment blocks.

Fair Landlord means that we can install 400 new boilers EVERY year.

These energy-efficient boilers help our customers cut their energy bills by up to £300 per year – adding up to savings of around £120,000 for you.

Fair Landlord policies mean that 1,200 customers benefit from a visit by the MOT home improvement team every year.

That’s 100 homes every month!

•

•

Pamela Morgan in her new kitchen

3

Customer insight: your voice counts

Service Review Partners project on Robert Heath Heating In the last issue of News Extra we asked you to contribute to a project for the Service Review Partners. The customers who make up this very important panel were looking into the service you receive from Robert Heath Heating.

Many of you took the time to share your own experiences by completing the form included in News Extra, participating in the email research or inviting panel members into your home.

A big ‘thank you’ for sharing your views.

The project identified strengths and weaknesses in the service and made some key recommendations for improvement.

You told us that the strengths of the service include:

•

A good repair tracking system linking to the handheld devices carried by the engineers.

•

Better working relationships, understanding and communication following the appointment of a resident liaison officer.

•

Planning staff at RHH have a really good knowledge of the skills of individual engineers, helping them to allocate jobs to the right people to carry out particular repairs.

You wanted to see improvements in these areas:

•

Speed of repair for the total loss of heating and hot water.

•

Better parts ordering process to reduce the number of cancelled appointments

•

Taking into account the personal circumstances of customers when making appointments.

Following the findings of the project the Service Review Partners produced a report making ten recommendations to improve the service.

The recommendations will be taken into account during the review of our contract with Robert Heath and we will update you in the Spring issue of this magazine.

Complaints drop by almost 50%

4

We take your feedback seriously.

complaints were made – a fall of nearly 50%.

Complaints, compliments and comments from customers help us to understand what we do best. We can also identify areas where we need to improve, or to better explain the reasons behind some decisions and policies.

As a customer-centred organisation, this is great news. We’re pleased that we are receiving fewer complaints and that you keep sending in compliments telling us about the fantastic service you receive from repairs operatives, carers and advisors.

In the three months to October 2015 we received 64 stage 1 complaints. In the same period in 2016 just 33 stage 1

Although complaints have fallen, every comment is taken just as seriously.

We are looking in detail at what we

can learn from these complaints, particularly around keeping you informed about repairs, our lettings policy and why we sometimes need to say ‘no’ to requested work.

Fair Landlord:

spending carefully to deliver value Customers know that Fair Landlord principles are always applied to our spending.

Fair Landlord has helped us continue improving our homes and building new ones even though we have to budget very carefully.

We make decisions to benefit as many customers as possible.

Sometimes, that means making hard choices – things like withdrawing the old freephone number for instance, which was expensive to provide and used by a minority of customers, or stopping doing some of the jobs which aren’t part of our responsibilities as a landlord as set out in your tenancy agreement.

As a result, we can spend fairly, doing more of the things which benefit the majority of our customers – things like installing new boilers, replacing kitchens and bathrooms or carrying out the MOT home improvements on

every property in a rolling programme.

You can read more about what that investment means to customers on page 3.

Spending carefully isn’t only about homes and services. We look for great value in the way we work, too.

Have you spotted one of our electric cars on the road? These new pool cars have been introduced to reduce our fuel costs. We have reduced our printing costs, too. Board members have supported the cost-saving drive by going digital in their meetings and readers of this magazine have helped as well, with one-in-three readers opting to receive News Extra by email instead of getting a printed copy in the post.

Last summer we took the delivery of the first of our electric cars, designed to reduce the cost of our essential mileage. The fleet of Renault Zoe e-cars are used by housing officers, advisors and other members of the team when they visit customers across the district.

Fair Landlord

Fair Landlord budgeting = fairer services for our customers

The e-car project has been supported by business partner Vaillant who supply the energy-efficient boilers we fit in your homes. Last year we fitted more than 400 new boilers, saving customers an average of £300 in energy costs annually. Savings like those achieved through the e-car project will mean we can continue that really important work.

Look out for a new-look SSHA website in spring 2017. The site will have added features meaning you can do more online. Added convenience for customers, more Fair Landlord savings for all of us.

Housing Plus Group Property Director Steve Collins (left), is pictured taking delivery of our Renault Zoe electric cars. Inset, 400 energy efficient boilers were installed last year.

5

Are YOU a winner?

In the Autumn issue of News Extra we held a very special competition to celebrate the launch of the new Housing Plus Group.

Inspired by the wonderful landscape and places of interest in Staffordshire and Shropshire, we offered two family memberships of the National

Winner Karen Butler

Winner Janet Mullett

6

Trust, offering a gateway to great days out for a whole year.

Our winners, who correctly answered the quiz-style questions about the new Group and our local area, were Karen Butler of Wombourne and Janet Mullett of Kinver. Both customers were delighted to learn

that they were our lucky winners: “That’s wonderful, what a lovely end to the day!” said Karen, when we called to share the good news.

We hope that Karen, Janet and their families have lots more lovely days enjoying their prize membership in the next 12 months.

River View

An exciting new development offering a ‘room with a view’ for residents aged 55+

A riverside location on the edge of one of Staffordshire’s most popular villages awaits the new residents of apartments at River View, the latest retirement living community being built by Housing Plus Group in Penkridge.

Construction is already at an exciting stage on the site and we hope to open a show apartment in May. Head of Development Sepp Sergeant said: “This is an amazing location in the

meadows by the River Penk yet really close to all the facilities of this bustling village. We are already receiving a lot of enquiries and expect to see very high levels of interest in the site.”

Of the small development of 14 onebedroomed and 27 two-bedroomed apartments in River View, 28 homes will be available to rent with 13 sold through shared ownership.

Residents of the new development will be able to enjoy landscaped gardens and a light and airy orangery. The community kitchen is expected to be

at the heart of sociable events, while the luxuriously appointed apartments provide comfortable contemporary living with the emphasis on convenience and peace of mind.

For more information and to register your interest in buying a home at River View through shared ownership, call 01785 312213 For details of homes available to rent, call 01785 312292

View over Penkridge from the site and artist’s impressions of the new River View development (above)

7

Customer insight: your voice counts

Your views can make a difference As you know, there are lots of ways in which we gather your opinions about our services.

We are always very grateful to all the customers who take the time to share their experiences.

Your feedback helps us learn about the issues which are important to you and means that we can improve the way that we work.

Earlier this year many of you took part in our satisfaction survey. We shared some of the results of that survey in a previous issue of News Extra. The latest news on that survey is that a member of our Customer Services team has been talking to everyone who reported an outstanding problem, to try to resolve those issues.

In June we did another piece of research, getting in touch with customers who had recently had a repair carried out in their home. We asked these customers about the booking process, the repair itself and asked if they had any suggestions about how we could do things better. We have now collated all those responses and were very pleased to see so many positive comments. We still think that we can improve, though,

8

These short, targeted surveys are really useful because they focus on one aspect of our service, giving us very valuable feedback and allowing us to create an action plan to improve Neighbourhoods Director, Jan Goode and we have formed a ‘task force’ to look in detail at your suggestions.

In December we did a similar project making contact with people who had moved into newly-let homes – including new customers and people who had moved between our properties. We will tell you more about the results of that research in the next News Extra.

“These short, targeted surveys are really useful because they focus on

one aspect of our service, giving us very valuable feedback and allowing us to create an action plan to improve,” said Neighbourhoods Director Jan Goode. “We would like to thank all the customers who took a few moments to chat to us and share their experiences.”

In January your views can help to shape the way that customer insight influences our work.

As part of bringing together Severnside Housing and South Staffordshire Housing Association, our customer panel is looking in detail at the kind of customer involvement that has taken place in both organisations.

We want to create new, shared channels for consultation so that customers can play a valuable role in building and improving our new Group.

We want to know what YOU think about the ways that we listen to customers. To have your say, email scrutinyq&a@ssha. co.uk or call Richard Davis on 01785 312290 before the end of January 2017.

Fair Landlord:

Concentrating on the repairs which are our responsibility Being a fair landlord means providing a fair service. Carrying out a repair which isn’t our responsibility isn’t fair because it diverts resources away from the majority of our customers.

That is why we are really clear about which repairs are our responsibility and which jobs are the responsibility of individual tenants.

Calls to our Customer Services team requesting repairs which are not our responsibility to provide have fallen significantly and we are very grateful for the part that you are playing in the success of our Fair Landlord campaign.

By concentrating on the jobs which are our responsibility as your landlord and delivering an even better service for those repairs, we can invest more in home improvements and maintenance – the equivalent of 150 extra kitchens, 200 bathrooms or 1,200 MOT home upgrades.

We do still receive around 50 calls each week from customers asking for repairs which are not our responsibility as your landlord. Most customers tell us that they understand the Fair Landlord principles but have forgotten which repairs to call us about. To help you, we are reprinting our Repairs Checklist here,

Repair

Our responsibility

Fair Landlord

for an at-a-glance guide to common household repairs.

You will see that we have also added onto the checklist the services we can provide, at an additional cost. The commercial service is carried out by our trained operatives and repairs are provided within five days.

Responding to calls about repairs which aren’t our responsibility costs around £8,000 each year. Please keep the checklist by your phone and take a look before calling.

Your responsibility

Chargeable service available

Lighting in communal entrances or landings Blocked guttering

Cleared as part of the MOT programme

£20

Window won’t close or open Broken shower (which we fitted) Leaking roof Loss of power Problem with your hot water or heating

Call Robert Heath Heating on 0333 240 8803

Decorating the outside of your home Repair tap or kitchen unit Blocked sink or toilet, replacement toilet seat Condensation

We can offer advice to reduce

Lost key

gaining access and replacing lock to a composite door

£50 £70

New bulb for lighting inside your home or for your security lighting

£15

– gaining access and replacing lock to a timber door

Fixtures and fittings (e.g. curtain rails) Broken or misted glass in windows

Misted glass is a decorative issue

– re-glazing a double-glazed window up to 1.5m2 re-glazing a double-glazed window larger than 1.5m2 Minor crack in the plaster inside your home Pest control (e.g. bees, wasps or squirrels) Replacing a blown fuse Damaged electrical socket (except fair wear and tear) Decorating the inside of your home

We can replace as a chargeable service

9

Looking for work?

South Staffs Work Clubs bring together volunteers, professionals and job-seekers to help local people into work.

Relaxed and informal meetings take place in communities throughout the district, giving people the opportunity to get advice, find out about vacancies and volunteering, brush-up their CVs and interview skills and get support.

SSHA is a partner in South Staffs Work Clubs which take place in Featherstone, Perton, Bilbrook and Codsall, Huntington, Wombourne, Great Wyrley and Penkridge. To find your nearest Work Club visit www. southstaffsworkcafes.co.uk Work Clubs can make a big difference to someone looking for employment.

Here’s what Paul told us about his own experience:

“I can always remember the first day I stepped through the door of the Work Club. I was greeted by a lady with a great beaming smile, and received a very warm welcome.

It was a small and friendly group, not just a Work Club but somewhere people could share their own experiences of job seeking. I received help with CV writing, application forms and many other areas. The advice was informal but straight to the point and very concise.

Anybody searching for work is welcome. You can get advice about searching for jobs, benefits, housing and IT, with a cup of coffee and a chat. If you are looking for employment, try the Work Clubs. I’m sure you will be pointed in the right direction.

Many people have secured full time employment thanks to the help and support they have received from the Work club. I am one of them. I am now in employment and the help and support I received from the Work Club was invaluable.”

Paul

Replacing windows –

a clear view of our Repairs Extra service Replacing the glass in a doubleglazed unit when the window has been broken or you are getting some misting isn’t a repair that we can carry out as a Fair Landlord within your tenancy agreement.

You’ll see on the repairs checklist on page 9 that getting a unit re-glazed then, is your responsibility.

We can, though, do this work for you as part of our Repairs Extra service, at a competitive rate.

10

“The advantage to customers of using this service is that you are dealing with people you can trust and who know your property,” said Alan Core, Head of Planned Maintenance. “Our teams are highly skilled and they have a detailed knowledge of our properties, including the type of unit fitted in particular homes.”

and arrange payment terms. Glass is specially manufactured and we can provide frosted or tempered glazing where it is needed.

Customers who want to use the Repairs Extra service can make an enquiry through Customer Services.

We will take a look at the unit, measure it, provide a quote for re-glazing

“We will keep you informed about the production schedule and as soon as we take delivery of the new glass, we will be in touch to arrange fitting,” said Alan Core.

Counting the cost of missed appointments In 2015-16 we were unable to gain access to homes to carry out pre-arranged repairs or essential safety checks an incredible 1,288 times.

Each missed appointment costs us £30, adding up to a massive £38,640 during the year. That’s wasted money which could have been spent on new kitchens, bathrooms, energysaving boilers and other home improvements benefitting customers and neighbourhoods.

If you miss an appointment for an electrical safety test you could be putting lives at risk. And because those tests are part of our legal responsibilities as your landlord, if we can’t get access to carry out these tests in your home you could be in breach of your tenancy, leading to the possibility of a County Court Judgement and even eviction.

If you have an appointment and can no longer be there to let us into your home, get in touch. We will always try to

£38,640

rearrange our visit to a time that suits you.

We can also help by avoiding times that you tell us are inconvenient. For example, if you normally drop-off and collect your children from school, tell us when we make arrangements to visit your home.

Together, we can cut waste, improve the service you receive and invest in SSHA homes.

Eliminating missed appointments for electrical tests is a priority for us.

By law, we must ensure that electrical installations and wiring in your home are safe to use and in good working order.

The only way to do this is by regular inspections and repairs to faults

What to do if you need to rearrange an appointment: your cut-out-and-keep guide

• For electrical work call 01785 312291 • For kitchen, bathroom and boiler installations call 01785 312000

• For gas safety checks by Robert Heath Heating call 020 37643991

found during the tests.

Electrical tests are carried out once in every five years. They are quick, convenient and involve very little disturbance in your home.

The inspection includes any electrical alterations you have made to the home.

Remember, you need written permission from us for any alterations you want to make, before work begins. Electrical alterations must always be made by a qualified electrician and will be tested as part of the inspection.

According to the Electrical Safety Council, electricity kills at least one person every week in the home. It causes around 20,000 fires a year and seriously injures almost 1,000 people annually. Please keep your appointment for an electrical test. If you need to rearrange, contact us now to make sure that you don’t become part of those statistics.

Electrical inspections protect you, your family and your home.

Always keep your appointment or make alternative arrangements with sufficient notice if it is no longer convenient.

11

Stronger together:

More homes, more When we asked for your support for our merger with Severnside Housing we told you that the new Group would develop homes our communities need and offer more choice for customers.

Now we are offering a range of homes in rural and urban locations, with the flexibility to provide homes for people at every stage of their lives including affordable rent, market rent and shared ownership.

Developments where work has already started include:

•

Castle Lane, Hadley, Telford: 14 properties offered at market rent including one and twobedroomed apartments and threebedroomed homes

• •

The new Leegomery Road development

12

Aston Road, Shifnal: 10 two-bedroomed homes for affordable rent and four threebedroomed homes to purchase by shared ownership Leegomery Road, Telford: (pictured) 12 two-bedroomed apartments for affordable rent, with a further 24 new homes being built on the site during 2017-18.

•

Tarporley Road, Whitchurch: six new homes for affordable rent and shared ownership

•

Allerton Road, Shrewsbury: four two-bedroomed bungalows for affordable rent

The development programme for the new group is our largest ever, with 730 new homes planned over the next three years.

Soon we will be working with

parish councils, communities and partners in districts throughout South Staffordshire to provide more homes our communities need and more choices for customers.

News in brief...

choice “We are part of the local area and we understand the huge need that exists for homes to allow neighbourhoods to thrive and people to live in good quality homes that they can afford,” said head of development Sepp Sergeant. “We want to make sure that there are homes for people as their lives change – starter homes for young people who want to live and work in this area, homes for growing families and easy-to-manage homes helping older people to live independently in their own homes.”

You can now obtain information about our exciting developments in Shropshire.

For affordable rented homes register with Shropshire Homepoint at https://www. shropshirehomepoint.co.uk/ Data/ASPPages/1/30.aspx For market rent or shared ownership homes in Shropshire visit the Severn Homes website at http://www. severnhomes.co.uk/ And look out for details of new homes in South Staffordshire on the SSHA website.

Housing benefit cap to take effect from April 2019 What is the cap?

The Government recently announced that it is to limit the amount of Housing Benefit that is paid for social rented homes in line with Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates from April 2019. This is known as the LHA Cap. It will affect all new tenancies started after April 2016.

Who will it affect?

For South Staffordshire Housing Association customers, the housing benefit cap will primarily affect people who are single and aged under-35, in one-bedroomed homes where they have lived since April 2016.

Sepp Sergeant, head of development

What should I do?

We want to make sure that there are homes for people as their lives change

Unfortunately, details about the policy are still being developed by the Government and may change in the future. We will keep you up to date with details as soon as we know more and if you are likely be directly affected by the housing benefit cap, we will be in touch.

13

When waters rise – are you flood-ready?

Winter storms, torrential rain and high water levels in local rivers raise concerns about flooding. At this time of year being prepared is your best protection. Here are some tips and pointers towards more sources of information to help you become flood-aware.

stores. You won’t need a large number of the bags – in anything except a really severe flood a barrier two-bags high is normally sufficient. If you are filling sacks yourself, don’t overfill them because they get heavy very quickly.

Tuck the open end under the bag and stack them overlapping, like bricks in a wall, placing a plastic sheet or bin liner on the ground beneath.

Sandbags

Sandbags might keep the flood from your door but toilets, sinks, floorboards and airbricks can be vulnerable points, too. You don’t need a sandbag in the sink but find something heavy to hold the plug in place to stop rising water pushing it out.

Sandbags are most effective when they are in-place before a flood. If you think that your home could be at risk of flooding, you might want to plan ahead and get some sandbags ready, just in case.

SSHA does not keep stockpiles of sandbags. Staffordshire County Council has sandbags which can be distributed by the emergency services working with the council during flooding. The council does not issue sandbags directly to the public.

South Staffordshire Council keeps a limited supply of unfilled sandbags at the council offices in Codsall. These can be collected on a first come, first served basis.

Sacks of builder’s sand can be obtained from any of the major DIY

14

Insurance

If you do not have contents insurance then you will have to pay for any flood damage to your possessions. Almost all contents insurance policy will cover flood damage to the contents of your home, including furniture and personal possessions – check now to make sure that you are covered for flood damage.

As your landlord we are responsible for damage to the building itself.

If you don’t yet have contents insurance, you might want to take a look at the My Home insurance

scheme provided by the National Housing Federation in conjunction with Thistle Tenant Risks and Allianz Insurance. The policy is exclusively available to residents living in social and affordable housing. It covers your possessions against theft, fire, storm, flooding and other household risk.

For more information see www.thistlemyhome.co.uk

Keeping informed

General flood emergency preparation advice can be found on the Staffordshire Prepared website. Follow this link if you are reading digitally or visit: www. staffordshireprepared.gov.uk/ Advice/Advice-for-the-Public/ Lets-get-prepared.aspx The National Flood Forum website provides information about how to protect your home. Follow this link or visit: http://www. nationalfloodforum.org.uk/ You can find flood warnings on the Environment Agency’s website.

Visit http://apps.environmentagency.gov.uk/flood/31618.aspx

Retirement living options – available now Our apartments are designed to help you enjoy life. If you want to continue to live independently but in a smaller, easier-tomanage home, then our retirement living communities could be the right move for you.

A limited number of studios, one and two-bedroomed apartments are occasionally available for rent or re-sale.

For information about current availability or to apply to join the waiting list for retirement living communities in locations throughout South Staffordshire call 01785 312292 or email careplusenquiries@housingplusgroup.co.uk Penkridge Wheaton Aston Shifnal

Brewood Coven Codsall

Huntington

Cannock Chelslyn Hay Great Wyrley

Perton Wombourne Kinver

www.care-plus.org.uk

Essington

At your service As we told you in the autumn issue of News Extra, we are working together in a new, larger housing association to improve the service and value for money our customers receive.

The Customer Service teams in Shropshire and Staffordshire have already begun the complex process of becoming experts on the properties, services and people across the whole area of the new Group.

“When a customer calls one of our advisors they expect us to be able to answer questions and resolve queries,” said Neighbourhoods director, Jan Goode. “The members of our Customer Services team have an incredible knowledge of your home and neighbourhood, the services we provide, our policies and the people who work here.

That means that you get advice you can trust when you call us.

reducing the time you wait to speak to someone and ensuring that everyone gets the same great quality of service wherever they live.”

That means that Customer Service advisors in Shrewsbury and Staffordshire are busy learning even MORE information, so that they can take calls across both counties and answer any questions you may have.

Training will continue each Monday morning between 10am and 12.30pm ready for the new, improved service to launch in April.

Need help using our website?

Browsealoud software to our website makes our content even easier for you to access, with reading and translation support.

Key features include

• • • • •

Reading selected text aloud Translating in multiple languages Text magnification Converting selected text into a downloadable MP3 audio file Blocking distractions on screen with a tinted mask

Browsealoud is easy to access.

Simply click on the Browsealoud logo on the website to launch the floating toolbar.

“From April our advisors will be working together as one team,

Useful telephone numbers:

This newsletter is also available in:

• Gas leaks

• Street lighting

Large print

(National Gas Emergency Service)

(South Staffordshire Council)

Audio

0800 111 999

• Electrical emergency

0800 40 40 90 (National Grid)

• Health and sickness help and

0300 111 8000

• Street cleaning 01902 696316

(South Staffordshire Council)

• Personal concerns, advice 111 (NHS Direct) worries and troubles • Police 101 (non-emergency) • SSHA gas repairs and service 08457 90 90 90 (Samaritans) • General property repairs, 0333 240 8803 rent payment, debt advice (Robert Heath Heating) and fault reporting • Refuse collection SSHA Customer Services 01902 696203 01785 312000 (South Staffordshire Council)

Braille Other languages For more information call Customer Services

Acton Court, Acton Gate, Staffordshire ST18 9AP Customer Services t: 01785 312000 e: enquiries@ssha.co.uk www.ssha.co.uk