Residents' Annual Report | 2022

2022 RESIDENTS’

HOW DO WE GET YOUR FEEDBACK?

HOW DO WE LISTEN TO YOU?

PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY RESULTS

LOOKING AFTER YOU LOOKING AFTER YOUR HOME

Message from Susan Hickey

Welcome to our 2021/22 Residents’ Annual Report. This past year has been a busy and challenging one. Covid-19 continued to have an impact on how we live and work. The cost of living has had a significant impact for many people and organisations – including Swan and our customers. Swan’s governance and financial rating was reviewed and downgraded by the Regulator of Social Housing, and Swan has also faced financial challenges.

What’s in this report?

Look out for our key performance highlights

New this year

Coming up in 21/22

Resident Feedback

Changing Lives, Creating Opportunities

Resident led improvement

MOVING ONLINE AND KEEPING COMMUNITIES CONNECTED

Page 05

HOW DO WE LISTEN TO YOU?

Page 09

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY RESULTS

Page 10

TACKLING ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

Page 15

LOOKING AFTER YOUR HOME

Page 19

CARE AND SPECIALIST ACCOMMODATION

Page 27

PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE

Page 31

During the first half of the year we continued to adapt our services so that we could fulfil our mission to deliver brilliant customer care and great places to call home amidst Covid-19 restrictions. Our frontline teams still completed over 48,000 repairs, delivered nearly 42,000 care visits and provided more than 1,200 free meals for children during school holidays. We also increased our use of online technology to hold public consultations and customer meetings and to give you support and advice - including helping our customers to gain over £1m in benefits support. I can also confirm that Swan leaseholders living in blocks that require cladding remediation works will be protected from the costs of work on external wall systems and balconies.

While we have now returned to relative ‘normality’ with Covid-19 restrictions having been lifted, having seen the benefits of digital services we will keep offering and expanding these for our customers. This is part of our work to improve your customer experience. We have also been working with the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) for the second year to gather your feedback through surveys and focus groups to listen to how we can get things right, make changes, and to monitor our progress.

Swan has been facing financial challenges and our leadership team has been working with various partners so that Swan can become part of a larger group. Discussions with Orbit were ended in September 2022 and our more recent discussions with Sanctuary will see Swan join the Sanctuary group on 31 January 2023.

Sanctuary is one of the largest not-for-profit providers of housing and care in the country. Being part of Sanctuary will help to secure the financial stability of Swan and ensure we can continue to deliver our services and invest in your homes. We will be writing to all our customers with more information about this soon or you can find out more at www.swan.org.uk/Sanctuary

In 2022/23 we will be focusing on supporting our customers through the cost of living crisis while also continuing to work to improve our services, our governance and viability. This will enable us to keep fulfilling our purpose to ensure as many people as possible have somewhere to feel at home.

Susan Hickey Chief Executive

Introduction to Swan’s service

It is now my second year as the Executive Director of Customer Experience – a role created to ensure that we deliver brilliant customer care.

You told us in 2020/21 that we needed to improve our customer services, particularly around repairs, lettings and complaint handling. In 2021/22, our teams have focused resources on making improvements across these areas that you identified, as well as working to improve your overall experience.

This has meant listening to you more closely so that we understand what we need to do to get things right for you, first time. Between December 2021 and March 2022 we sent out 1,929 surveys to customers, with 227 customers responding. Thank you for this valuable feedback. We continue to work with the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) to gather some of this feedback and - most importantly - monitor our progress and compare our performance to other organisations to really understand how we are doing.

We have also focused on using what we learned during the Covid-19 pandemic about using digital services to get our customers involved in shaping our services. Our involved customers can now attend meetings online or in-person to make sharing feedback easier and more convenient for you. We have made improvements to our MySwan portal, which customers can use to check their balance, pay their rent and make requests online, at a time that suits them best. Earlier in 2022 we launched a new online platform called ‘Count Me In’ for our customers to share their feedback via short surveys and online polls – and to read what changes we have made based on the feedback that you share.

It has been good to be able to get back to delivering some of our services face-to-face. I am proud to report that in 2021/22 we delivered a total of 29 community projects, many of them in-person, with nearly 2,000 customers taking part in one or more of these. These projects ranged from Holiday Hunger clubs and nature activities, to employment workshops and sessions to tackle knife crime. Our Care and Specialist Accommodation team provided more than 280 activities for our customers within supported housing with customers benefitting from a range of individual and group activities over the year. More than just bricks and mortar, delivering these activities for our customers has always been important to Swan and we will continue to support you, your family and your communities in this way.

I hope that you enjoy reading the report and I welcome any ideas that you have about how we can deliver an even better experience for you. Get in touch by emailing involvement@swan.org.uk

Pete Morley-Watts Executive Director of Customer Experience

Customer feedback

Feedback from customers tells us that 73% of customers are happy with their current home and neighbourhood, but your perceptions of Swan are less positive. You have told us that we need to get better at keeping our promises to you, and we need to improve how we respond when you tell us about an issue or complaint.

For this reason, we are focused on improving our customer experience of the complaints handling process, the repair process and keeping our promises to you e.g. getting back to you when you contact us and resolving your issue.

These three important projects are being managed by Robyn Cornelius, our Head of Service Improvement, who is working alongside customers and colleagues to ensure you see real changes this year. If you would like to get involved in these projects or any improvement projects, please contact our Customer Involvement team.

How do we listen to you?

Swan satisfaction – between December 2021 and March 2022 we sent out 1,929 surveys to customers, with 227 responses. Overall satisfaction was 43.3%.

Feedback from Swan satisfaction survey:

“Swan are approachable and very quick to resolve any issues that I might have.”

“Because every time I call for repairs or a query or anything, I get told I'll get phoned back and never do, you’re useless.”

“Always very helpful and good service when needed.”

Responsive repairs – between January 2022 and March 2022 we sent out 1,197 surveys to customers, with 139 responses. Overall satisfaction was 59.3%.

Feedback from responsive repairs:

“The workman was polite and tidy and worked efficiently.”

“Very pleased with everything.”

“Nobody turned up.”

“Work wasn't done as he couldn't do it.”

Customer relations/complaints – between December 2021 and January 2022, we sent out 178 surveys to customers, with 43 responses. Satisfaction with handling was 27.8% and satisfaction with outcome was 32.4%.

Feedback from customers tells us that 73% of customers are happy with their current home and neighbourhood

Community development

Swan is committed to creating sustainable communities and supporting our customers to achieve their goals. Our Community Development team delivers a variety of different projects and activities aimed at making a difference in our customers’ lives. We’ve given you a flavour of some of the work that they do below. For more information visit our website or contact the Community Development team on 0300 303 2500.

29

£44,355

Value of community space given to local groups rent free

Holiday activity clubs

To support families during the school holidays, Swan has partnered with Active Essex, Essex Boys and Girls Club, Feeding Britain, Newark Youth and the London Tigers to deliver holiday activities and free meals.

Children from 6-16 years old enjoy fun activities including team games and arts and crafts with a healthy meal at our holiday activity clubs. Last year we ran clubs at our community hubs, which we provided to our partners free of charge.

We delivered the clubs at Beechwood Village, Basildon, The Reach at Blackwall Reach and the Exmouth Community Hub in Stepney Green.

We were able to provide 248 hours of free childcare

Number of community development projects delivered

£36,150

Amount of external funding secured

1,842

Number of participants

And 1,209 hot and healthy meals

Backyard Nature

Towards the end of last year, we introduced the Backyard Nature (BYN) Guardians project to children and young people at Beechwood Village and Laindon in Essex. The project aims to bring young people closer to nature and encourages them to find out how nature works.

The project delivered two events last year at Beechwood: a Community Garden SOS day in September and a bulb planting session in December, which jointly attracted 46 participants.

In Laindon, several Backyard Nature Guardians have been recruited and have recently been building bird boxes, which have been sited at various locations across the Church View estate.

Our involvement with Backyard Nature opened a door to a wider consortium of housing associations and through working collaboratively, Swan was able to secure a grant from the I-Will Fund for the sum of £120,000 to deliver further activities connecting children to nature.

Food preservation workshops

One such initiative was the establishment of a Green Youth Board, a platform for young people to share their voices on issues such as climate change, conservation, protecting wildlife environments and other environmental issues.

Two children who attended the Community Garden SOS day, Antony and Alicia, were so keen to get involved that they became representatives on the National Green Youth Board. Antony and Alicia have travelled to London and Liverpool as the voice for Swan customers.

Backyard Nature is being rolled out to residents of the Exmouth Estate following a successful funding application to the Mayor of London’s ‘Grow Back Greener’ Fund, from which £35,500 was secured to undertake green projects. Residents will be supported to grow their own food and to undertake planting and nature activities during the coming year.

Helping customers do their bit to love the planet, our Customer Involvement and Community Development (CICD) team has been hosting food preservation workshops at The Reach Community Hub on its Blackwall Reach development in East London.

Having attended several ‘Preservation Culture’ workshops, which showed people how to turn leftover fruit and vegetables into delicious jams, pickles and chutneys, three residents were trained up to deliver the workshops themselves, as volunteers.

The group went on to deliver three workshops in August 2021 and in February and March 2022.

These workshops bring people together to develop new skills and make great use of leftover food at a time when household budgets are tight.

Somewhere to feel at home

Swan’s beauty taster day inspires career change for customer

We held a beauty and aesthetics taster day at King Edward Community Hall, Basildon, in March 2022.

The one-day session provided an opportunity to hear from a professional about what qualifications, skills and expertise is needed for a career in the beauty industry.

Among the treatments showcased were: Hopi ear candling, massage and eyebrow tinting. The tutor also explained what you needed to become self-employed, alongside things such as health and safety, licensing and funding opportunities.

For one particular resident, Claire, it made quite an impression. Here’s Claire’s story.

Following the taster day, Claire, one of our customers, has decided to dip her toe back into the world of beauty and is looking to pursue a career in the beauty industry, with plans to sign up to further courses in the hope of gaining additional qualifications and working as a beauty and aesthetic practitioner.

The taster day was not Claire’s first experience of beauty and aesthetics, she is already qualified to level two in beauty therapy and worked in a salon 10 years ago. Since then though she has been running her own printing and dressmaking business but has faced challenges because of the pandemic, which made her keen to get back into beauty. The taster day really reignited her passion for it.

Claire said: “It is always a risk to start from scratch again and to build yourself up but going to the taster day reminded me of how much I enjoy it and that it was a happy stage in my work career. Just talking about it and being around other people, it definitely made my mind up to pursue my dream.”

Claire added: “The industry has changed a lot in the past 10 years, so I thought I’d just have a look and see what was on offer. I know a lot of people now offer cosmetic enhancements and I was curious about that, the aesthetics side of it.”

Although beauty therapy was not new to Claire, the taster day allowed her to gauge how things have changed over the years.

Warm in Winter

We have joined the’ Warm in Winter’ campaign for a number of years to support older, vulnerable customers. This year, visits to homes were not permitted once again, due to the risks of Covid-19, but this did not deter our people in providing support.

In December 2021, we sent out 435 Warm in Winter letterbox boxes, to residents aged 65+ and living alone, which contained important hints and tips on staying warm at home, who to contact in case of need, places to go for company and financial aid information.

The boxes also contained a pair of woolly fingerless gloves, a sachet of hot chocolate, mini marshmallows and some tasty cookies for people to enjoy, while reading the information.

Building careers in construction

We partnered with Axis and South Essex College to deliver a construction training programme for our customers to help them access Axis' recruitment programme, which offers fantastic opportunities in trades employment

The multi-trades construction training topped up with functional and employability skills started in November last year.

Ten customers from both London and Essex joined the course and six customers successfully completed the theoretical part of the training in March. Once completed at the college, the participants were offered two weeks work experience at Axis to learn practical trade skills. This helped them to understand the culture of

the industry and the day to-day aspect of the job, visiting various places with Axis' Operatives. Ruhul Amin, one of our Blackwall Reach residents shared his learning journey saying:

“Last year I enrolled myself in a Level one construction course delivered by Swan, Axis and the South Essex College. It was a brilliant learning opportunity for me to gain the trade skills to build a career in construction. I believe this will certainly help me to get into the sector and learn much more as I go along.”

Following the work experience in April, some of the candidates applied to Axis' apprenticeship scheme which is expected to start in September 2022.

Swan at a glance... key info

Financial performance

Consolidated Group income and expenditure account for the year ended 31 March 2022

G3

Governance Rating

Compliant Housing Association Homes owned and managed

V3

Viability Rating

Turnover: £109m

Operating costs: (£97,783)

Operating deficit: £183.4m

Interest payable: £14,447

Surplus on ordinary activities before tax: (£184,350)

If a number is in brackets, this means that it is negative.

At Swan we are committed to ensuring value for money for our residents. The way we operate as a business and our funding arrangements are structured to maximise the amount of ‘surplus’, or income we generate from our development programme and the day-to-day activity, so we can continue to invest in services for our residents and new homes to help as many people as possible feel at home with swan.org.uk.

How do we spend your rent?

The rent that you pay for your Swan home is set each year in line with the Regulator of Social Housing’s Rent Standard.

use

as there are extreme outliers in the Global data – the median for each metric is the middle value in the dataset.

New homes Let 2020/21

198 General needs

131 Mutual exchange

The average rent per week for our general needs homes is £118.53

How we get our data

Having the correct information about our customers is important so that we can make sure our services are tailored to the communities where we work.

We collect data on residents when they sign up. However, we are aware some information is incomplete for some of our residents and their households so we will be contacting residents this year to make sure that their details are up-to-date.

Helping our customers with benefits advice and help

With the country in the grip of a cost of living crisis, we understand how household finances are being stretched and the challenges that this brings. This is why we offer a range of support with a view to easing that burden.

Our staff supported 2,564 residents with arrears, benefit issues and financial difficulties.

Our Welfare Benefits team is here to provide advice and support to help you understand the benefits system. Between April 2020 and March 2021, we helped Swan residents gain an more than £1million in benefits that they may not have otherwise received.

We are here to offer advice and assistance specific to your circumstances, whether it’s about applying for welfare benefits, managing your budget, or dealing with debt. We can help you to identify where you may be eligible for certain benefits, assist you in claiming, and if necessary, we will represent you at appeal tribunals. Our team can provide information and support about the changes to the benefit system due to the Welfare Reform including the social size, benefit cap and Universal Credit. Sometimes we will support you by directing you to another agency that can best support you.

4,459

In 2021/22, we contacted 4,459 customers with financial difficulties; 653 more than in 2020/21.

241

We supported 241 customers to apply for Discretionary Housing Payments totalling more than £150,000 to cover their rent shortfall.

20

20 Swan Hardship Fund payments awarded during the year including towards items such as food, utilities and travel costs.

Case study

Welfare benefits team step in to help disabled customer get benefits reinstated

Our Income team referred Ms S to our specialist Welfare Benefits team as she had high levels of rent arrears and she was not responding to our letters about this. A member of our Welfare Benefits team contacted Ms S and they discovered that she is severely vulnerable, with both mental and physical health issues. She was confused as to why her Housing Benefit claim had been suspended and then cancelled.

A member of our dedicated Welfare Benefits team looked into Ms S’s situation on her behalf. They discovered that Ms S’s benefit entitlements had been cancelled because additional information was not provided because of her disability and Covid-19 restrictions. Ms S does not have internet access nor digital skills to manage her benefits online. She was

also unable to obtain assistance or guidance from local benefit advice agencies or organisations.

Ms S was advised to apply for Universal Credit (UC) to receive additional assistance under new regulations. However, she refused to claim UC because of her disability as this could have resulted in her receiving less money overall.

One of our dedicated Welfare Benefits Officers appealed the decision to cancel Ms S’s benefit entitlements. They applied for a late reconsideration appeal to reinstate her Housing Benefit. The process took around three months.

The appeal was successful and the claim was reinstated and backdated. Housing Benefit of £122.15 per week was awarded to Ms S as well as a backdated lump sum payment of £3,298.32, which cleared her outstanding rent arrears.

Tackling anti-social behaviour

2021/22 – There were 189 new ASB cases reported to Swan

12 legal cases were managed through the court

4 ASB cases were resolved through mediation

We worked on 7 hate related incidents over the course of the year

ASB case study

On 8 September 2021 several residents called us to report that their neighbour had been behaving in a threatening and aggressive manner, causing fear and alarm. The incident had been reported to the police and subsequently the neighbour was arrested and detained in custody.

Swan’s ASB Officer already had a case open against this tenant and had been working closely with police to take appropriate action. Following this serious incident, the ASB Officer, with support from Neighbourhood Officers, began gathering evidence from the affected residents and shared this with the police in the form of a witness statement. The police agreed to attend the magistrates court, along with our ASB Officer to apply for a Closure Order. A Closure Order can effectively exclude a tenant and/or any visitors from entering the premises for a period of three months. This was applied for in order to prohibit any further disorderly behaviour that was clearly significantly impacting other residents.

We worked on 49 live domestic abuse cases over the course of the year, an increase on the previous year of 22.5%.

We worked on 67 live substance misuse / drug dealing cases over the course of the year

We worked on 46 noise related cases over the course of the year

100% of ASB complainants were contacted with 24 hrs

Noise App - we received a total of 1,620 recordings, a slight decrease on the previous years’ figures of 1,814 recordings of 11.97%.

On 29 September 2021 the case was presented to the court and the judge agreed to the Closure Order being granted. The property was fully secured, the locks changed, and a copy of the Closure Order was placed on the property. Nearby residents were advised that it was now a criminal offence punishable with a custodial sentence and/or a fine of up to £5,000 if anyone, including their neighbour tries to re-enter the premises so that they could call police if they saw any one attempting to enter the property.

In October 2021 our ASB Officer applied for possession of the property following the tenant being found to be causing serious anti-social behaviour. This case was considered at court on 14 April 2022 and the Judge awarded Swan possession of the property.

Throughout our investigations the residents were kept fully updated on our actions and were grateful that the ASB they had been experiencing had been resolved.

A breakdown of noise reported via the Noise App

Equality and diversity

Our vision is to deliver a truly inclusive customer service offer that improves lives. During 2021/22, we worked hard to continue delivery of our Equality Scheme 2018-2022 Action Plan, which is focused on achieving five key objectives including to: ‘Support our customers to achieve equality outcomes in times of change’.

If you would like more information you can view our Annual Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Report which will be published on www.swan. org.uk later this year.

Celebrating in the community

The ending of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions provided some great opportunities for us to get back out into the community. For example, we attended Essex Pride and Basildon Pride and an International Women’s Day event at The Reach Community Hub in Tower Hamlets that was organised by our partner, London Tigers.

HouseProud Pledge

We remain committed to meeting the commitments we have made by signing the HouseProud Pledge: Making sure that LGBTQ+ residents can have input at executive/strategic level, increasing LGBTQ+ visibility, and providing staff training to improve understanding of LGBTQ+ lives. If you would like to get involved please contact the Customer Involvement team on involvement@swan.org.uk or 01277 844242.

For more information about the HouseProud Pledge and HouseProud’s ‘No Place Like Home’ research that led to the development of the pledge, please see www.houseproud-lgbt.com.

How did we do?

2021/2022

92.14%

Repairs completed at first visit (Target 96%)

96.5%

Repair appointments made and kept (Target 96.5%)

87.4%

People satisfied with their last repair (Target 90%)

60%

Satisfied with overall service (Target 80%)

92.1% Satisfied with repairs service (Target 93.5%)

81%

Satisfied with quality of home (Target 65%)

£126.24

Average cost of a repair (No target)

100%

Properties with a valid gas safety certificate (Target 100%)

12.4

Average number of days taken to re-let an empty home (Target 15 days)

85% Satisfaction with our letting service (Target 80%)

69% People satisfied with the complaints procedure (Target 86%)

1.96%

Current arrears as a % of rent due (Target 2.6%)

101.57%*

% of rent collected (Target 100%).

* Figure is more than 100% as this includes rent arrears collected.

100% Stage 1 complaints responded to within six working days (Target 98%)

283 Number of Stage 1 complaints received

82% Satisfied with ASB case handling (Target 80%)

61% People satisfied with how their report was dealt with (Target 86%)

Repairs

Most of us would agree that there is no worse time for your boiler to break down than over the winter months when it is cold!

In the winter of 2020/21, we had a lot of gas boiler breakdowns that could not be fixed first time as well as needing to complete legally required gas servicing. Our customers told us that having to wait to have their boiler repaired was a poor service over the winter. So, we listened to your feedback and changed how we delivered this service.

In 21-22 we moved the legally required gas servicing checks forward to the summer months so that our engineers were available to quickly deal with any breakdowns during the colder winter months.

This improved our ‘right first time’ customer feedback score from 90.65% in 2020/21 to 99.36% in 2021/22

Plans for repairs in 2022-23

Our repairs partner, Axis, has been working hard behind the scenes making changes to its Information Technology (IT) and how its people handle your requests to offer you a better service.

As part of this work, Axis has set up a new communal repairs team so that they can make these repairs faster.

Our time to complete repairs went from 2.87 days to 1.48 days The number

Swan customers will soon be able to schedule and change their repair appointments using the MySwan portal. Axis will be continuing to complete gas servicing in the summer months as this has led to fewer customers reporting having no heating or hot water during the winter by making better use of our resources..

As part of our planned work, in 2022/23 we will continue to improve our homes by installing over 200 new kitchens, over 600 new boilers and decorating the outside of 500 homes as well as many communal areas..

We will also help to tackle rising fuel costs by making sure that the correct wall and loft insulation is installed, together with more efficient heating systems.

Care and support

We provide a range of care and support services, delivering Swan’s social purpose to make a difference to lives in Essex.

Our services include strategic provisions of care and support; working in partnership with local authorities and clinical commissioning groups to deliver care and support services to those most in need. This includes older persons, young persons and those with learning disabilities, as well as providing a range of community and in-home support, including care.

Stella - Care and Support Case Study

Our dedicated Care and Support team tailors the service they provide to every customer to meet their specific care needs, from encouraging independence to providing end-of-life care. The following case study demonstrates how this approach can make a difference to the lives of our customers.

When Stella broke her wrist at the end of last year, she didn’t know how she was going to care for her husband. After being referred to Swan Care North then onto its plaster of paris (POP) pathway things started to look up.

She received daily help from the team including with personal care, dressing and undressing, meal and drink preparation and assistance with medication.

Stella said:

“Every single one of them was brilliant and I want you to know what a great team you have. They came into my house like a breath of fresh air, bringing with them their good cheer. They put me at ease with their professionalism, their ability to communicate and the kindness shown to me.

Stella says she loves each and every member of the team as they are “truly committed” to the job and thanked them from the “bottom of her heart”.

Having regained her confidence after a six-week recovery period, Stella is able to go about her life again but says her husband never would have coped on his own for that long. She added that he also enjoyed the twice daily visits.

Registered Care Services Manager, Melissa Garrod, added:

“When Stella started her journey with Swan, she scored herself 40% on how she manages daily, when she left on the 23 April, she scored herself 100%, which is a major achievement for Swan and for her. On departing from our services, we asked two questions, the first being how she rated our services. Stella scored us very good – the highest possible score. The second question is how likely she was to recommend our services on a scale of 0/10 (10 being the highest) and again Stella scored Swan 10/10, which is amazing.”

Supported Housing activities 2021/2022

We have recorded 287  activities for our customers  within Supported Housing with 943 records of people benefitting from a range of individual and group activities over the year.

Care and specialist accommodation key stats

Supported Housing (Independent Living) Learning Disability, Sheltered and Extra Care Accommodation

Care services: Care services:

Number of people supported: 1,114

Number of visits: 81,541 Hours of care delivered: 42,385 hrs

Customer satisfaction: 100%

% of missed or late visits: 0.00%

Number of referrals delivered within target – two-hour or four-hour response: 100%

Customers who would recommend care services: 80%

342 number of units of accommodation: Sheltered, Learning Disability and Extra Care

229 – units of accommodation Learning Disability –supporting 231 people.

Current tenant arrears 1.27% against 2.6% target.

Number of people supported: 1,114

Number of visits: 81,541

Total numbers of people supported in 2021/22:

Basildon Foyers – 68 & Heather Court - 28

Total numbers of people supported in 2021/22 = 417 (this is for all Supported Housing – Learning Disability, Extra Care, Sheltered)

50 sheltered – Boyes (24) Oakroyd (26)

36 leaseholders at Brackendale

Learning Disability – 231 Extra Care – 38

Sheltered – 52

Basildon Foyers – 68 (DCH 39, SHF 29)

Heather Court – 28

RESIDENTS’ ANNUAL REPORT

Foyer customers pick up AQA certificates as Youth Power Fund is launched

Young people from across all three Foyers came together for an awards ceremony at Swan House Foyer to celebrate their academic achievements and launch of the Youth Power Fund.

The event at Swan House, Basildon, in June 2022, was a celebration of achievement for Swan Foyer customers who have completed or are working towards completion of AQA modules. It was also a chance to formerly announce that Swan has been successful in gaining £45,000 grant funding.

The Blagrave Trust has partnered with the Foyer Federation to offer local Foyers the opportunity to bid for funding to support innovation and creativity around youth leadership.

The aim is to fund new thinking and innovation that embeds sustainable youth leadership and shifts the balance of power in favour of young people.

At this months event each Foyer customer received a certificate to mark their achievements to date.

The seven modules include: Managing relationships, budgeting and debt management, community awareness and engagement, emotional wellbeing, exploring becoming a tenant, healthy lifestyle and employability skills.

Harry Russell, 24, has been a Foyer customer since last August. He said: “Since I’ve been here my Young Persons Coach has helped me do my driving theory test, learn about cooking and gardening. I’ve completed two AQA modules in emotional wellbeing and exploring becoming a tenant. It’s a really supportive and safe environment.”

Kayleigh, 22, has been a Foyer customer since the end of December last year and aspires to become a police officer. She said: “I’ve completed five AQA modules and attended a theatre trip since I’ve been here. Today’s event has been a great celebration.”

Shani Levy, Director of Care & Specialist Accommodation, added: “What an amazing afternoon we all had celebrating together. The waffle cart went down a treat!

“We are super excited to have gained this funding through the Foyer Federation and are looking forward to seeing our young people grow and develop into confident leaders who have a voice within Swan and their community.”

There are over 20,000 subjects available through AQA and you don’t need to be a Foyer resident to take part in a course. If you are interested in gaining a recognised AQA qualification, in any particular subject matter, please contact Abdullah Hossain on 01277 844242 or ahossain@swan.org.uk.

Activities across Supported Housing: 123

289 activities completed with customers.

1,810 participants took place in the events.

Top three outcomes from these events: Being more sociable, feeling more connected to their community and increases in confidence.

Continuous Improvement and Audits across CASA

95 Continuous improvements (based on feedback from customers and staff)

57 compliments from customers and stakeholders where specific feedback was not requested

25 audits completed across CASA – 287 actions completed to improve the quality of our service delivery

Keyworker teams help NHS by rehousing doctor

Despite the challenging times we all faced in relation to delivering services during the pandemic, Swan’s Keyworker teams ensured that our NHS staff were able to continue their important work of fighting the pandemic, with very limited resources and while isolating from their loved ones.

A doctor, already in a Keyworker Living property, needed to move to a larger property and Keyworker Living was able to offer this as a transfer just before the Christmas holiday season. This was during the pandemic and cases were rising in the hospital, so leave was almost impossible for the doctor.

Derek, the maintenance officer, liaised with the doctor every day and made sure that all repairs and redecoration were completed and assisted with the move helping with heavy items. The doctor was able to continue working with no interruption with her shifts and her father was able to join her so she could care for him during his illness.

NHS

Key Worker Living

RESIDENTS’ ANNUAL REPORT

somewhere to feel at home

Swan HA

Pilgrim House

Billericay

Essex CM12 9XY

Tel: 0300 303 2500

swan.org.uk

@swanhousing

Repairs: 0800 783 2768 or 020 3597 2067 from a mobile (24 hrs a day)

NU living

Tramway House

3 Tramway Avenue Stratford E15 4PN

Tel: 0800 819 9390

nuliving.co.uk

@nulivinghomes

Hera Management Services Limited

Tramway House

3 Tramway Avenue

Stratford E15 4PN

Tel: 0345 683 8812

heramanagementservices.co.uk

@heramanagement

In your language

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