Accord Group Annual Report 2012 by The Accord Group

Big The

and small

Annual Report 2012

Big A future of

and little differences

Contents 1

Welcome from the Chairman

Page 4

Foreword from the Chief Executive

Page 6

How we grow big and small opportunities

Page 8

Big opportunity

Page 10

Opportunity to grow

Page 12

Growing opportunity

Page 14

Our people

Page 16

A big future

Page 18

Key success stories in 2011

Page 20

10 Accord facts and figures

Page 30

thinking

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

Welcome from the Chairman

ver the last 12 months, the Accord Group has made significant progress on its fiveyear journey by creating both big and small opportunities, enriching the lives of our customers and improving the communities where they live. This year we have created more than 30 jobs for local people through the opening of our award winning LoCaL Homes factory in Walsall, which is producing low carbon, timber frame homes and as a Group have more than doubled in size through acquiring domiciliary care company, Direct Health. We have an excellent reputation locally, regionally and nationally, particularly for our work in health and social care around dementia and for our housing and innovative ways of working.

Everyone who works for the Accord Group is committed to delivering the best services they can and it is this dedication which helps us create the big and the small opportunities for our customers. The Group Board of Management oversees the governance of the Group, working closely with the Boards and Committees of the organisations which form the Group and I would like thank them and recognise each of them for the fantastic contribution they make. On behalf of the Board I also wish to thank the Group Chief Executive and his teams for their continuing hard work and dedication over the year and I look forward to creating more opportunities together.

Our aim is provide the people we serve with real choice and to deliver the type of services they want. We have listened to our customers through increased local engagement and have worked with them to develop both the big and small opportunities. Whilst the housing sector is undergoing some fundamental changes to its operating environment, the future for the Accord Group is bright. Our successful bid to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has seen us awarded ÂŁ14 million to build 673 homes for rent and shared ownership as well as number of homes for sale.

Akshay Parikh Group Chair

In addition, as part of a wider ÂŁ30 million grant allocation awarded to the Matrix Housing Partnership, an additional 1,500 homes across the West Midlands will be built. Many of these homes will be low carbon, timber frame homes, built at our own local factory. Today the Accord Group employs more than 4,200 and is a major employer in the Midlands and it is the financial strength and capacity of the Accord Group which allows us to be able to provide much needed new housing and services, including support to social enterprises.

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

Our aim is provide the people we serve with real choice and to deliver the type of services they want. Everyone who works for the Accord Group is committed to delivering the best services they can and it is this dedication which help us create the big and the small opportunities for our customers. Accord Group Annual Report 2012

Foreword

ccord is passionately committed to meeting the housing, health and support needs of its customers and the wider communities in which it works. We are investing significant funding into creating pathways into work, through job creation, training and enterprise support which demonstrates our commitment at a time in this prolonged recession which our customers wellbeing and livelihoods are seriously threatened. We’re addressing these challenges in innovative and progressive ways. Our factory producing timber modular homes has really taken off. We manufacture one house per day and erect one house per day on site. We have the capacity to move our production levels up to three shifts, manufacturing three homes per day. This whole initiative has meant we now build super-insulated homes which have very low energy requirements and low carbon emissions and as such are cheap to run for our residents. In addition, we have created vital jobs in the factory, on the construction site and in the supply chain. We have targeted these jobs and as a result we have recruited people from the local area including our customers. This was a deliberate policy. And we’ve been innovative in purchasing a high quality domiciliary care provider to become a member of our group of organisations. Direct Health is proving to be a great partner, delivering quality care so that people can live independently in their own homes. It is a big employer and its staff turnover and expansion plans means we will fill over a period of the next three to four years some 2,000 jobs. Again we can target the recruitment process to benefit the communities we serve. With a private sector company as part of the Group it makes a strong profit and that profit will be covenanted to Accord which is a charity, so that it can be ploughed back into our core purpose of meeting housing, health and care needs. We have a substantial building programme over the next three years. Along with our Matrix partners – Trident, Rooftop, Trent and Dove, WATMOS – we will complete more than 2,000 homes meeting the growing housing need in the wider Midlands. At a time when people cannot get housed and house building is at a particularly low level, we are using our financial strength and resources to ensure much needed new homes are built. And as can be seen from the factory we are building homes which people can afford to run at a time when energy costs have literally gone through the roof.

At a time of challenge for our customers, with benefit reform meaning for many of them their income levels will be cut, we must be more effective at providing support, guidance and opportunity. We have recently reorganised our front line services so we can better deliver this objective. We have more staff now engaged in welfare advice, support for jobs, training and enterprise opportunities.

Our AddVentures initiative, headed by the indefatigable Jas Bains is spearheading our work in this respect. We’ve already created and support a number of jobs and apprenticeships, support people into training and setting up their own businesses. A worry for business start-ups is the low level of consumer demand – fuelled by the economic downturn, but also low levels of confidence amongst consumers. It is an issue that desperately needs to be addressed by policy makers. We are making our contribution, doing what we can to create big and small opportunities to stimulate local economies, using our purchasing power where we can. I earnestly believe we have to act as a force for good and do more where we can in these difficult circumstances, but we need this scaled up by Government whether it is local or national. Many thanks for the leadership shown by our Group Board and other people on the Boards across the Group. My thanks to the senior team here who constantly inspire me with their skill and ambition.

My thanks also to all our staff for their incredibly hard work, high standards and unstinting commitment in putting our customers first! And above all to all of our tenants and customers who play such an important role in improving and driving forward the work of the Group so we can create big and small opportunities.

Dr Chris Handy, OBE Group Chief Executive

At a time when people cannot get housed and house building is at a particularly low level, we are using our financial strength and resources to ensure much needed new homes are built.

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

How we grow big and small opportunities

ur enduring ambition is to build communities which our customers want to live in. To do this we generate income and surpluses, drive efficiencies and forge strong relationships. We improve life chances by creating opportunities through educational, training and employment, as well as tackling disadvantages such as financial inclusion. We listen to our customers in shaping the homes and services we provide. From our co-operatives within bchs and Redditch Co-operative Homes, where resident leadership sees people run their own neighbourhoods, to striving to help the most vulnerable in our community lead independent and fulfilling lives, we are passionate about our work. Our success is founded on an ethos of collaboration, built around a culture where innovation, new ideas sharing is fundamental to the way we operate. An example of this is where we are proactively tackling the Green Agenda through the development of sustainable, low carbon timber frame homes. In 2011, the Group made history, when it became the first housing association in the country to open its own factory producing these types of homes in collaboration with Walsall Council. And in 2012 was recognised for its work at the Housing Heroes Awards after scooping the award in the category for Development Team of the Year.

At the Accord Group, we have been exploring a range of issues impacting on older people, especially as changes to the Welfare Reform Act come into effect and have grown our health and well-being services to cater for their needs. Joint working with Age UK Walsall means we are able to provide help at home services and we have set up dedicated lunch clubs for those who are able to attend, offering nutritious meals and advice on how to cook them. We have also been hosting ‘silver surfer’ workshops with our customers, teaching them how to use the internet.

Our work does not stop there. We are also a leader in the field of dementia and have set up six dementia cafes across the Black Country, offering support to people with the illness and their families to get together in a social setting and will shortly be opening six more. We provide safe havens for people fleeing domestic abuse and help victims find new homes, schools, jobs or training and have been recognised nationally for this work. People who are leaving the criminal justice system are also supported by the Accord Group and last year we received European funding for our visionary work in this field.

We are also focused on growing our health and social care business and have acquired private domiciliary care company Direct Health, which has seen us double our care turnover from £30 million to over £60 million. This means we can provide more services to people within their own homes as we have a firm understanding of the challenging and changing health agenda.

Over the last year we have enhanced this engagement and involvement with our residents through the introduction of the Resident Inspector Project. The Resident Inspector Project has a dedicated project officer which puts residents firmly in the driving seat as they review our services and challenge performance. This approach helps develop residents’ skills, as they take on a greater scrutiny role in inspecting our work and holding us to account. We have also targeted under-represented groups of residents such as young people to take part. To achieve this we are making use of a new piece of software, which will enable us to track the involvement of all residents and assess the impact more effectively. In addition to this, a Group Customer Scrutiny Panel has been introduced. This is an important part of the revised governance structure and will ensure residents are working in partnership with the Boards as well as influencing important decisions about the business. At the Accord Group we also actively encourage our colleagues to work closely with our customers. Team members from across the Group supported the first Group Estates Week which saw more than 70 staff take part in painting fences, gardening and general DIY.

With growing youth unemployment figures, the danger of increased childhood poverty and the threat to youth services owing to local authority budget constraints, the Accord Group is all too aware of the loss of opportunity for a whole generation and the growing disaffection of many young people. In direct response to this, along with AddVentures, we have set up the ‘A Fund’. This Youth Investment Fund is aimed at supporting and cultivating youth entrepreneurship and is looking to raise £10 million over the next five years. The fund has been created as a way of engendering a new approach to unlocking young people’s capabilities - particularly in Birmingham, the youngest of all major European cities. A number of workshops and events have been delivered across the City in partnership with UnLtd to begin engaging young people around enterprise ideas and opportunities and the response from young people has been overwhelming.

This work is all part of making sure we shape our neighbourhoods the way our customers want them.

In 2011, as part of our work in the community, we embarked on a journey to support social entrepreneurship across the West Midlands using a model adapted from the Tides Foundation in the United States. AddVentures was launched in the summer of 2011 and has already established its RiSE (Residents in Social Enterprise) programme. A programme which seeks to enable residents and service users that want to make a big difference in their community to set up local community enterprises by providing a range of support functions such as; office space, marketing and communications, access to start-up capital, business development, a business mentoring service and access to peer networks. RiSE has received a positive response from tenants in particular, and two of our residents have already accessed the programme along with external funding to establish their social ventures.

Our new customer support service RiSE, has seen residents take small steps to make

a big difference to their lives.

All of these services are shaped by our customers and a Group-wide resident panel who oversee the work of the individual organisation’s resident panels who each closely scrutinise our work.

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

Showell Court, Wolverhampton.

Walsall Waterfront, Walsall.

Our state-of-the art, £500,000 flagship social centre.

The largest Kick-Start funded programme outside of London.

The LoCaL Homes factory, Beechdale.

Eastern Gateway development, West Bromwich.

The first homes roll off the production line.

Transforming West Bromwich town centre.

opportunity

hilst the housing sector is undergoing some fundamental changes to its operating environment, the future for the Accord Group is bright. Following our successful bid submission to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), we have a strong development programme which will see us invest £87.8 million into the communities we serve over the next three years. One example of this is where we will be developing a £27 million scheme in partnership with Wates Living Space to build 200 new homes on the site of the former Guest Hospital in Dudley. The development will retain many of the hospital’s existing features and buildings and will transform the historic site in Tipton.

In addition, as part of a wider £30 million grant allocation awarded to the Matrix Housing Partnership, which Accord leads, an additional 1,500 homes across the West Midlands will be built. These homes are being built in Birmingham, Redditch, Coventry and the Black Country. Flagship developments such as our state-of-the art £500,000 social centre at Showell Court in Wolverhampton which opened in January bring the community into the care setting by providing activities for residents as well as creating new friendships with people who live locally, who also make use of the centre’s facilities. Meanwhile the largest Government Kick-Start funded programme outside of London, Walsall Waterfront, saw homes for key workers, including doctors and nurses from the local Walsall Manor Hospital completed in March. This is a scheme which has brought together the public, private and health sectors, creating a diverse community space.

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

We have also continued to invest in new homes and regeneration, whilst proactively addressing the Green Agenda. Work is well underway to transform a commercial area near West Bromwich town centre into a residential quarter as part of the wider generation of Sandwell. The Homes and Communities Agency awarded Eastern Gateway £1 million pounds to begin the work in October.

Also in January of this year, the first homes from Accord Group’s factory LoCaL Homes, which opened in November, rolled off the production line and are currently being built in Darlaston as part of a £10 million development. This development will be completed next year. Looking forward as new policies are being developed by central and local Government, which will have a significant impact on the way we work, we need to have a strong voice and increased influence in the way these policies are shaped. The Localism Act devolves greater powers to councils and neighbourhoods and will give local communities more control over housing and planning decisions. Therefore, we need to increase our engagement with local stakeholders and improve their understanding of our wider values and breadth of work within our communities.

Big investments in regeneration have

created

exciting new projects across the region.

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

Opportunity to grow

eighbourhoods’ form the platform from which we can build on people’s strengths and abilities to create the opportunities that will enable a community to take responsibility for and contribute to new pathways for shared prosperity and well-being. We have therefore identified transformation as the single most important thing in enabling us to shape our own future and continue to fulfil our ambition of delivering big and small opportunities for our customers. As part of the transformation journey we will continue to invest in the skills and development of our staff teams so they are fully equipped for the challenges and in particular the opportunities that lie ahead. Over the past year we have successfully implemented a coaching and leadership programme which has resulted in all of our managers qualifying as accredited coaching practitioners. In total we have invested £600,000 in this training and have reshaped our teams so the coaching and mentoring ethos will now seek to grow a supportive yet outcome focused culture, which builds on the capacity and talent of our people. During the next year our aim is to build on this solid foundation to ensure permeation to all levels of the organisation. In particular, we will focus on developing our talented and experienced frontline teams who are so critical in bringing about change at the interface and creating communities in which people want to live.

In Walsall and as part of the development of the ‘for Real’ brand Caldmoreaccord launched its first ever time bank offering local people a unique way of volunteering in their neighbourhoods. Called Time for Real, the innovative time bank, which is part funded through Walsall South Area Partnership, support locals people to donate their time to help others in their community. Unlike traditional volunteering, participants ‘earn’ time credits for donating skills such as DIY, gardening and cooking, which they can then ‘cash in’ when they need help. There are approximately 250 time banks across the UK, although Time for Real is the first to be run in Walsall, serving all four wards in the south of the borough.

Already work is underway and in 2011, Ashram launched its pioneering Locality for Real pilot programme in Bordesley Leisure Gardens for the prototyping and test-bedding of a wide range of innovative approaches to micro neighbourhood development. The pilot will be delivered over a three year period to ultimately test what a self-organising neighbourhood approach would look like in practice. The pilot is testing a range of initiatives drawing on its own existing experience of neighbourhood development and also exploring other approaches, models and tools as a way of seeking to address local economic, social, environmental and cultural challenges and bring about change.

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

Growing opportunity Our values shape the way our people work to deliver our missions of: Committed to communities

Making a difference

Putting people first

Excellence through innovation

The Accord Group makes a difference. Our customers get valuefor-money, excellent services, quality, innovation and a sense of belonging. We do this by empowering our talented people and engaging our residents to give an outstanding service, all in all giving a great customer service.

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

Our people

e employ over 4,200 people across a wide range of services and we constantly engage and involve our people to shape the work of the Group. Through our internal Staff Voices initiative, we now have more than 50 representatives across the Group who have a consultative role and who contribute to the organisation’s decisions. We have implemented a challenging management programme which has seen over 200 managers participate in job-relevant training and we have a dedicated resourcing and talent team.

We celebrate success internally by hosting our annual event the Great People Awards. Colleagues are nominated by their peers and last year’s event once again saw a record number of nominations. In addition we also host the Resident Awards. These awards recognise residents who have made a difference to their community and who are actively involved in helping to shape the Accord Group’s services.

The Accord Group which achieved Investors in People in 2010 was awarded several accreditations during 2011, including Investors in Excellence, ISO14001- IT accreditation, ISO/IEC20000 – environmental accreditation, and the Customer Contact Association (CCA) accreditation for excellent customer service. In addition, we are also the only housing association in the country has achieved the stringent European Environmental and Audit Scheme (EMAS) accreditation, which was renewed last year and is valid until 2013.

We create both big and small opportunities for our communities too. An example of this is where we have created up to 30 jobs for local people at our factory in Walsall, which produces low carbon, timber frame homes. Many of those who are employed were victims of the recession and could not find work.

A major focus of the Accord Group’s work is providing training and employment opportunities and we have more than 70 apprentices working for us across the Group.

Our EMAS accreditation has seen us undertake small changes, which have played

a big part

in reducing our environmental impact.

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

A big future

t Accord, we invest in the development of new communities across the Midlands and work to improve the infrastructure of existing communities to provide good quality facilities and a range of opportunities for residents. We recognise that our customers are diverse and include a wide range of people with different needs. This means that we need to be flexible in our approach and able to react to the varied needs of the customers we serve.

Our philosophy is to make a difference in the communities in which we operate. We do this by listening to our customers and involving them in all aspects of our work. This helps us to make a real difference to peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives. Therefore, we take our environmental responsibilities seriously. We are aware that many of our decisions affect the environment, both at a local and global level. We feel that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to play our part in taking steps to protect our planet and we achieve this by limiting the negative impact of our business wherever we can. We build good quality, sustainable homes which are well insulated and provide affordable warmth for our tenants. We have introduced the latest renewable technologies to a number of schemes and carry out a rolling programme of modifications on all properties to ensure that we continually aim for higher levels of environmental performance.

We strive to work with organisations who share our aims and our values; from our commitment to equality, to the importance we place on providing good customer service. This could mean working with suppliers who source their materials sustainably, with contractors who are committed to responsible construction or with partners who can create job opportunities in the neighbourhoods in which we work.

It also means seeking out organisations who can provide additional skills and experience, and who are working towards similar objectives. In real terms, partnering could mean working with local authorities, businesses and communities to regenerate an area; provide community facilities or develop schemes to benefit our customers.

Sustainability is one of the key areas where the Group leads in the sector. We are the only housing association in the country who has achieved the stringent European Environmental and Audit Scheme (EMAS) accreditation.

Each year we create a number of jobs and appoint young residents into vacant posts as part of our ongoing commitment to creating jobs in the community.

For us, partnering means working to ensure that the services and facilities we provide are better targeted, more innovative and more effective. By working collaboratively, we can achieve more for the benefit of everyone.

We have a culture of continuous improvement and focus on efficiency and value-for-money.

The Resident Engagement team works with the resident panels across the Group who value the opportunity to get involved and to be engaged with. By ensuring our people play a

big part

in the way we work, helps us make even the smallest difference to all of our customers. Through Fairness, we recognise the particular need of different groups and individuals and ensure that these are met.

Our timber frame homes made at our LoCaL Homes factory, not only provide low carbon construction, but offer warm, super insulated living with up to a

50 per cent

reduction in heating bills compared to a traditionally built brick property.

More than

10 new

and permanent jobs created at Ribbon Court extra care scheme.

ÂŁ130,000

saved by procuring green energy services on a Group-wide basis.

In November, more than

60 residents from across the Group were nominated for a Great Resident Award.

From the 2 July, we became a third party reporting centre for hate crime and have trained

over 30

of our staff to report any concerns.

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

Homes for key-workers, including doctors and nurses from the local Walsall Manor Hospital, completed at the Walsall Waterfront in March.

Key success stories in 2011 We become one of handful of landlords to be awarded gold in the RSPCA’s Community Animal Welfare Footprints scheme for its work in promoting animal welfare in September.

Accord Group’s customer contact centre Customer First extended its opening hours in January, making it easier and more accessible for thousands of residents to get in touch with us.

Greenscape turned over more than £1 million for the first time since it was formed 26 years ago in April.

More than 80 members of staff across the Accord Group received training in May to identify the signs of loans sharks operating in their communities.

Chapter House received a make-over worth £20,000 by volunteers from the Black Country Constructing Excellence Club (BCCEC).

Jas Bains (Chief Exec of Ashram) was awarded an MBE for services to housing in the region in January’s New Year’s honours list.

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

More than 3,000 people visited our stand to view our timber frame home at the world’s biggest event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment - Ecobuild in London.

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

Mayor of Solihull Councillor Irene Chamberlain visited Bosworth Drive Community Centre to see how it is helping to improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the area.

Key success stories in 2011 The Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government Jack Dromey MP visited Redditch in February to see how co-operative housing is benefitting local people.

In December 2011, Accord Group hired new Procurement Manager to lead on securing a range of services for the Group that offer valuefor-money.

Greenscape won a £190,000 contract to look after the grounds of 125 Mercian Housing Association estates in the West Midlands and Shropshire in December.

Customer First, our call centre was re-accredited with the Customer Contact Association (CCA) Global Standard, which is the professional body that measures a contact’s centre customer focused approaches.

Accord Group’s care and support departments secured Investors in Excellence (IIE) re-accreditation in November.

The Information Systems (IS) team secured a Group-wide accreditation in their recent ISO 20000 IT Quality Audit. After holding the accreditation for the past 12 months for Fry Housing Trust, the renewed accreditation now covers the whole Accord Group. ISO 20000 is the global standard for planning, delivery and management of IT service and support infrastructures.

Residents at Carpenter Place celebrated its 25th anniversary in May and Cherry Tree Court celebrated its 25th in August.

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

Key success stories in 2011 £35,000 worth of CCTV cameras were installed at Woden Road West estate in a joint initiative with the police and young residents to make the neighbourhood a safer place to live.

The flagship Eastern Gateway scheme in West Bromwich was awarded £1 million from HCA in October.

bchs launched Private Sector leasing scheme in January in a bid to tackle the shortage of affordable housing in Birmingham and the Black Country.

Melody Hossaini, founder of Inspirengage and former BBC Apprentice star, attended Accord’s AGM in September where she backed AddVentures and the A-Fund.

Accord officially opened the LoCaL Homes factory in November – making history by becoming the first housing association in the country to open its own timber home hub.

Refurbishment work started at Apna Ghar day centre in August, with £750,000 being spent on upgrades.

In January 2012, the first factory homes rolled off the production line and are being built in Darlaston as part of £10 million development.

Accord Group hosted a recruitment day for the LoCaL Homes factory in partnership with Walsall Council in August - more than 170 people attended.

In October, Matrix secured £30 million in Government grants as part of HCA’s affordable homes programme – the fourth largest allocation in the West Midlands.

Accord Group received £588,000 in funding from the HCA in March to build nine bungalows in Brownhills, Walsall - including two homes especially for residents with disabilities.

AddVentures launched and hosted roadshows for local, budding entrepreneurs in Coventry, Sandwell and Walsall throughout September and October.

Dementia café scheme goes from strength to strength – with the scheme expanding into Walsall in May. A total of 48 cafés will be held in Sandwell by September.

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

Key success stories in 2011 Taste for Life Birmingham was launched in June and hosted workshops in September to help older people use new technologies such as mobile phones.

Socialbreakfast.org supported a 300-plus student debate at Joseph Chamberlain College, focusing on issues from nuclear disarmament to global warming.

We teamed up with the Jericho Foundation and Balsall Heath Forum to help more than 40 people undertake work experience or access training in March.

In partnership with Health Exchange we have run a programme of activities around; healthy eating activities, exercise sessions, expert patient programmes and awareness sessions on chronic illnesses.

Volunteering at the Accord Group rocketed in July, with 250 people applying to lend a hand. Volunteers included Accord’s own residents.

Food for Fitness workshops were held in Birmingham to improve the health and well-being of people aged over 50.

In partnership with Age Concern we were successful in securing grant funding to purchase specialist IT equipment for people with visual, mental and physical impairments as part of ‘UK Online Week’.

We passed through the first round of the Big Lottery’s Improving Financial Confidence programme.

Students taking part in the Government’s National Citizen Service made-over the garden at the Millennium Forge scheme.

In November, Taste for Life Walsall scheme celebrated helping more than 350 people in just a year.

Our Jobs and Skills Coach has delivered ‘Get it Keep it’ workshops along with one-to-one advice sessions for service users. This incorporates advice on how to access employment, signposting to other agencies, practical and personal help with looking for a job and other volunteering opportunities.

We have introduced a new telephone system which enables the staff to work in a more efficient and targeted manner to provide best value to the co-operatives with who we work.

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

Key success stories in 2011 We maintained alongside our EMAS accreditation the highest possible excellence standard possible to be attained in the UK for environmental management.

Caldmoreaccord celebrated its 40th anniversary of delivering community based services.

We have extended the range of money and debt advice offered to customers including a new offer from MyHome Finance.

Caldmore Housing Association and Accord Housing Association join together in partnership to become Caldmoreaccord strengthening its offering to customers across the Black Country.

Private domiciliary health care company Direct Health joined the Accord Group in June 2012.

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

facts

Accord

and figures 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2012

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

Compliments and complaints

Amount Total number of compliments received 449 Total number of complaints received

How every £1 of tenants’ rent was spent

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

£Pence

Accord Group housing stock at 31 March, 2012

315

Dealt with at stage one

302

Dealt with at stage two

Dealt with at stage three

Ombudsman resolution

Stock General needs

7,937

Supported

1,627

Management costs

Leasehold

1,235

Day to day repairs

In development

Services, Care and Support

Interest

Planned repairs

Bad debt and voids

Total

205 11,004

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

Repairs 2011 - 2012 Total number of repairs Total number of emergencies Emergencies completed on time % emergency completed within target

34,569 5,706 5,662 99%

Total number of urgent repairs Total number of urgent repairs completed on time % urgent completed on time Total number of non- urgent repairs Total number of non-urgent completed on time % non- urgent completed on time Total number of satisfaction returns Number of satisfied returns % satisfied returns completed on time

11,395 11,208 98%

2,363 1,961 83%

Transfers 101

Total number of properties requiring a CP12 Number of properties with a valid CP12 Total numbers of properties with a CP12

5,597 5,596 99%

Total no. of lettings

17,468 17,046 98%

Source of new lettings

Amount Referrals 763 Nominations 339 Direct applications

355

Other 26 1,584

Empty Homes Number of empty homes at 31 March 2012 94 Percentage of homes let in the year 20.4% Average time to let 14.57 days Average cost of works for re-fitting ÂŁ995

Types of new lettings

Amount Single adults

833

Older people

515

Two adults (no children)

One adult ( with at least one child)

176

Two or more adults (with at least one child)

103

Other 0 Total 1,686

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

Accord Group Work Profile 2012 African Asian British Bangladeshi Asian British Indian Asian British Other Asian British Pakistani Black British African Black British Caribbean Black British other Black other Caribbean Chinese Indian Irish Mixed race Mixed white and black African Mixed white and black Caribbean Mixed white asian Not known Oriental Other Pakistani White Undisclosed White British White Irish White other

Average weekly rents at 31 March, 2011* 8 13 113 10 62 82 110 8 15 0 2 1 1 0 0 33 4 2 0 7 0 1 12 1,091 10 17

Accord £78.74 Black Country £84.26 Bromford £81.83 Family HA £73.98 Mercian £78.81 Midland Heart £80.23 * Data taken from RSR submissions 2011

Accord Group account summaries Year ended 31 March, 2012 Year 2010 2011 2012 Total £’000 £’000 £’000 (Restated) Income and Expenditure* Income Rents, Service Charges, Support, etc 54,799 61,476 62,585 Shared Ownership 1st tranche sale proceeds – 321 701 Interest earned 64 102 186 Sale of housing and other properties 1,190 1,555 6,448 Other income 315 360 400 Total income 56,368 63,814 70,320 Expenditure Operating costs 43,811 48,389 50,214 Shared Ownership 1st tranche sale costs – 228 583 Interest on loans 7,907 10,756 11,498 Cost of housing and other properties sold 983 1,581 6,314 Other financing costs – 404 – Taxation 13 16 13 Total expenditure 52,714 61,374 68,622 Surplus 3,654 2,440 1,698 Balance Sheet Tangible Fixed Assets 570,916 590,602 602,995 Other Assets 23,662 33,591 38,767 Total Assets 594,578 624,193 641,762 Financed by Social Housing Grant 239,749 247,210 247,696 Loans 265,256 287,597 303,244 Accumulated Reserves 75,331 76,348 78,046 Creditors 14,242 13,038 12,776 594,578 624,193 641,762

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

The Accord Group is made up of seven organisations

Accord Group Central Services 178 Birmingham Road, West Bromwich West Midlands B70 6QG T: 0300 111 7000 F: 0300 111 7001 E: customerfirst@accordgroup.org.uk accordgroup.org.uk

Ashram Housing Association

Direct Health

Fairgate House, 205 Kings Road Tyseley, Birmingham B11 2AA T: 0300 111 7000 F: 0300 111 7001

Plumptre Court, 7 Poplar Street, Nottingham, NG1 1GP T: 0115 924 7032 F: 0115 924 7035 *Note :- Direct Health joined the Accord Group in June 2012

bchs Fairgate House, 205 Kings Road Tyseley, Birmingham B11 2AA T: 0121 764 3808 F: 0300 111 7001

Fry Housing Trust

Caldmoreaccord Housing Association

43 Rowley Village, Rowley Regis West Midlands B65 9AS T: 0121 559 6406 F: 0121 559 4632

18 Caldmore Green Caldmore, Walsall WS1 3RL T: 0300 111 7000 F: 0300 111 7001

Moseley and District Churches Housing Association

37 King Street, Darlaston West Midlands WS10 8DE T: 0300 111 7000 F: 0300 111 7001

106 Alcester Road Moseley, Birmingham B13 8EF T: 0300 111 7000 F: 0121 442 5050

Redditch Co-operative Homes (RCH) Britton House Britton Street, Redditch B97 6HD T: 01527 591 170 F: 0300 111 7001

Accord Group Annual Report 2012

accordgroup.org.uk

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The Accord Group, 178 Birmingham Road, West Bromwich, B70 6QG Tel: 0300 111 7000 Email: customerfirst@accordgroup.org.uk

Annual Report 2012