Suppor ting our Customers

Equality Scheme 2018-2022 OBJECTIVE 5: Support our customers to ensure equality outcomes in times of change

Understand our customers and their needs and adapt our services to meet those needs Provide training and support for our customers in relation to digital Tackle the matters that are important to our customers such as social isolation and fuel poverty

During 2019/20 we continued to:

Progress our CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Implementation Project, which will enable us to increase the profile information we hold about our customers to include items such as communication preference to enable us to shape services to meet their needs effectively; Support residents through the ongoing changes to the welfare benefits system; Deliver our Warm in Winter programme, our older persons winter warmth and safety programme that identifies and addresses loneliness and helps safeguard residents from scams; Work to support the local communities in which Swan operates by developing employment opportunities within Swan and offering training and guidance for accessing these roles; and Provide our customers with hate crime training opportunities.

Supporting residents through the ongoing changes to the welfare benefits system

We have three Welfare Reform Officers who continue to support general needs residents through the changes. Our knowledge and understanding of customers and their needs has been enhanced by the appointment of these officers. The London Welfare Reform Officer speaks both English and Bengali which supports our resident profile in London. We have provided and will continue to provide, targeted information and individualised support for residents affected by welfare reform with a focus on personal contact and we understand that our residents have different needs. In 2019/20 rent arrears were only 1.96%. In 2019/20 the team helped residents to reduce their debt and met arrears targets by:

Contacting 2,953 residents to explain the welfare reform changes and help them to maximise their income; Carrying out 634 home visits; Supporting 1,940 households in receipt of Universal Credit; Supporting residents to make 233 Discretionary Housing Payment applications with an 82% success rate, resulting in residents being awarded Discretionary Housing Payments totalling £112,639; Securing an additional £751K in welfare benefits to help residents to sustain their tenancies; Setting up 185 Alternative Payment Arrangements for vulnerable residents and referring 57 families for debt advice and training; Working out of hours on 23 Saturdays and 35 evenings throughout the year to contact residents who are working and secure lump sum payments; Devising awareness raising campaigns, You Tube videos and text messages to reach as many households as possible; and Working with the Resident Involvement and Community Development Team to promote training opportunities and support residents back into work.

We have partnerships which support financial inclusion and money management and we also signpost to other organisations:

In Tower Hamlets we signpost residents to the Bromley by Bow Centre, Toynbee Hall and Capitalise Debt Advice Agency, and are part of the ‘Money Talks’ programme – a network to provide support for residents. We have service level agreements in place with Basildon CAB and Havering CAB (which covers Havering and Redbridge) and refer residents to them for debt management advice and help to access mainstream financial products. We are voucher holders for the Tower Hamlets, Chelmsford, Clacton, Braintree, Colchester and Basildon foodbanks, and our work with local foodbanks has proved invaluable in helping those who need it. We also have a hardship fund which we use to help residents in financial difficulties. We also work in partnership with local Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), job centres and housing benefit departments to assist our tenants to complete and resolve issues affecting their applications, and work in partnership with Basildon, Tower Hamlets, Newham and Havering Liberty Credit Unions and other housing providers.

We understand that, to effectively support residents through the changes to the welfare benefits system, we must continue to maintain and strengthen our partnership working. We attend regular Housing Forums, which are set up by the DWP for housing providers and we have a liaison officer for help with complex cases. We have Trusted Partner status and access to the portal to identify claims, verify rent and apply for Alternative Payment Arrangements for those residents who would struggle to pay their rent.

Warm in Winter Campaign

Following successful pilots run in Tower Hamlets in 2017 and Basildon in 2018, we wrote to all Swan residents aged over 70 who live alone and offered to visit them in 2019 as part of our Warm in Winter Campaign. As a result, we visited 60 residents to make sure they were safe and warm in their homes, to identify any residents who might benefit from additional support / services and to identify any wellbeing or safeguarding issues.

Hate crime training opportunities

Building on the work already undertaken, we continued to work in partnership to provide our customers with hate crime training opportunities. We included an article in the Spring 2019 edition of The Communicator (newsletter for residents, now called Home) to congratulate Swan resident Samantha for winning the Inspirational Resident award at the Tower Hamlets Star in the Community awards for her work as a Tower Hamlets No Place for Hate Champion. The article also told any residents interested in becoming a Tower Hamlets No Place for Hate champion how to find out more. Following a nomination made by Swan, Samantha was also shortlisted in the Community Role model category at the national 24 Housing Diversity Awards 2019. We continue to make information about hate crime, how to report it and the support available on our website.