Delivery Plan 2017/18
Introduction The Delivery Plan supports our Business Strategy 2016-2020 by turning it into actions for the year ahead. This helps staff to see how they contribute to delivering against our purpose, which is ‘delivering great services, enabling people to thrive in great communities, supporting a great city’. It also makes clear to our customers and key stakeholders what we will do during the year. All of the actions for the year ahead contribute to our strategic objectives which underpin our purpose.
Our three service objectives are:
Keep the housing stock decent, and neighbourhoods clean and safe
Collect the rent and let properties efficiently
Promote health and wellbeing and support vulnerable people to enjoy independence.
The actions in our Delivery Plan also support our six cross cutting objectives which act as a guide for the way we do things over the next year.
These cross cutting objectives mean we will:
Use modern technology and innovation to challenge and redefine service delivery
Achieve efficiency at every level and direct resources to where they are needed most
Have high performing people who understand how to contribute to our purpose
Trade profitably and appropriately to support core services
Work proactively with NCC and our other landlords
Maximise partnerships to improve services.
Core values Our core values are at the heart of our business, and are the principles and standards that influence the way we work in all that we do. They are:
Accountability – acting openly and taking responsibility; Integrity – acting fairly and honestly; Passion – working positively with enthusiasm; Respect – treating everyone with care and professionalism; and Forward thinking – proactively seeking improvements and solutions.
Gap Year This year we are delivering The Gap Year, YHN’s transformational change programme. We are undergoing this change so that YHN:
Is a competitive social housing provider; Can respond to funding pressures; Reacts to the change within our operating environment; and Gives NCC and our customers the best service possible.
We’ve spent eight months collecting feedback from staff and customers, as well as reviewing how effective our systems and process are. In 2017/18 we will begin to change the way we work and provide services. We’ve set aside funding within the 2017/18 budget to enable us to deliver on specific projects or reviews necessary to deliver the outcomes of the Gap Year. The aims of the Gap Year programme are to:
Improve the customer experience; Engage, enable and support staff to innovate and focus on the needs of the customer; Create the financial scope to afford and sustain excellence, and Demonstrate pride in our city.
What is in the Delivery Plan?
A look back at our performance and challenges during 2016-17; A look forward to the year ahead; The strategic targets reported to YHN Board and NCC Cabinet Our commitments to tenants; and Our Service Improvement Programme for 2017/18.
Who was involved in developing this plan? Consultation has been delivered at different stages in developing the Delivery Plan and has involved:
Board members; Key officers including: o YHN Executive Team; o YHN Operational Leadership Team; o YHN Service Managers; and Newcastle City Council (NCC).
We have developed our Delivery Plan with NCC, who is our sole shareholder, to ensure that our plan is aligned with their priorities within their Corporate Plan. Their priorities are:
A working city – creating good quality jobs and helping local people develop the skills to do them; Decent neighbourhoods – working with local communities to look after each other and the environment; Tackling inequalities – tackling discrimination and inequalities which prevent people from fulfilling their true potential; and A fit for purpose council – a council which leads by enabling others to achieve.
Our Delivery Plan and strategic targets give NCC assurance that we are delivering across all areas of our Management Agreement to deliver housing services on their behalf. A number of the strategic targets have been set for us by NCC, to cover all aspects of the Management Agreement.
Looking back This was the first year of our new Management Agreement, and it’s so far, so good. The disaggregation of our finances from the Housing Revenue Account gave us more scope to innovate and trade commercially as well as providing NCC with the strategic control of their Housing Revenue Account. Several factors beyond our control have caused us to rethink our approach and to become more business-like in our endeavours. The council continues to face pressure following significant reductions in funding from central Government. In addition, this year council rents were cut by 1 percent, which means we are now required to step up and do our bit to work more efficiently. In addition, various other changes to the welfare system mean reduced incomes for tenants, or significant disruption to their immediate lives where they are being moved to Universal Credit. We continue to meet challenging targets for rent collection whilst working with tenants to avoid arrears-related evictions, as we know that it is bad for customers and ultimately costs the City more. Many aspects of the work put in over previous years to make us more efficient is starting to bear fruit, such as the new approach we introduced to “nudge” existing tenants away from internal transfers where they are unnecessary. Customers are completing many more transactions online, which is more convenient for them and helps us to reduce our overheads and operating costs. All the properties we manage continue to meet the Government’s Decent Homes Standard and the average SAP rating for the stock has been improved. This is an exciting time of change across the organisation, not least with the Executive Team. Tina Drury, our Managing Director, joined in the summer and has put in place her new Executive Team. We are now in the process of reviewing all of our structures to ensure they are fit for purpose as we move forward. As well as internal changes, our working relationships with some of our partners is also changing. During the year, some of our services provided to Byker Community Trust have come to an end, as they explore new ways of working. However, we’ve continued to support our partners at Leazes Homes as they progress through their development programme with funding from the Homes and Communities Agency, and their extra care supported accommodation in particular is making a real difference to NCC; something we’re of course pleased to assist with.
The other services provided to the council continue to perform well. We’ve processed and resolved a high number of ASB cases, and are continuing to assist tenants back into work via our employability programme. Customer satisfaction, although it has dropped a little, remains high at 83%. Also, the work of our Young Peoples Service and Advice and Support teams has led to strong tenancy sustainment rates. Overall, we’ve achieved a lot and we look forward to whatever comes our way next year. The year ahead The Government’s 1% rent cut will be a positive thing for many of the City’s tenants, but the loss of this income will be keenly felt by the Housing Revenue Account and YHN, and this will likely still impact on our customers. It affects things like the capital programme, so we have to keep working hard to get best value out of the programme to meet tenants’ priorities and keep investing in the council’s stock. We know we will have to cope with fewer financial resources, but we’ve not waited until we actually have less before we act on this. We’ve been thinking more strategically, have looked at efficiencies and have come up with a comprehensive list. We’ve also considered multiple scenarios and implemented numerous controls to monitor risk as we go. Customer satisfaction can be improved, and our services can be delivered more efficiently and expertly. We will be using the results of last year’s tenant satisfaction survey as we seek to establish a more consistent experience of our services for all the customer groups we engage with. We also know that there will be more challenges to come, as Government policy continues to change and new restrictions and obligations are imposed. We will, of course, continue to work collaboratively with NCC in response to these pressures. We’ve spent quite a bit of time internally reflecting on our journey so far. This has been a useful process; it’s cathartic and it’s necessary, but it’s time to take the next step now. With a new Managing Director and Executive Team in place, the time is right to move beyond this. Our staff have been involved in identifying what we need to do to transform our culture and ways of doing business. Pleasingly, the appetite is there: they have been energised by the challenge and are looking forward to what the changes will bring for them, for the organisation and our customers. Further changes at Board level are being explored to ensure we are fit for the future and in a strong position to lead the organisation as it faces these additional challenges. In summary, we’re really looking forward positively to what the next year will bring.
Strategic targets and actions A set of key business targets and actions has been developed as part of the annual Delivery Plan. They are designed to give snapshot assurance to key stakeholders of NCC, YHN Board and customers as to assess whether business critical areas are on track. Working with the Council, we have identified eight strategic targets which will be used to monitor performance. The Strategic targets for this year are the: Target Number
Target theme
2017-18 target
1
Efficient spend and delivery of the HRA capital programme Percentage of repairs completed within agreed timescale Percentage of tenants satisfied with the repairs service Total spend on repairs and maintenance
Spend £47.80m
Percentage of rent collected from current tenants Percentage of rent not collected because of void properties (all council owned properties) Percentage of rent not collected because of void properties (excluding multi storey blocks in the Walker area) Percentage of tenants ending their tenancy
98.72%
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
99.5% 95% £20.35m
1.61% 0.90% 8.5%
These targets have been developed following consultation with NCC officers and feature as part of the Management Agreement In addition to these measures there are two targets reported to YHN Board which relate to the Group’s business interests. These are:
Achieve group profit of £1.231m in line with budget set in March 2017 Cash balances (to be confirmed once full treasury management transfers happens later in 2017/18)
How is performance monitored? YHN Board reviews the Group’s performance on a quarterly basis. YHN’s Executive team monitor the strategic targets, as well as the operational targets that underpin them. Our Assistant Directors monitor the operational targets and service specific measures and indicators. The council reports on YHN’s performance to Cabinet every six months. This graphic shows which audience receives YHN performance information and on what frequency.
YHN Service Improvement Programme The principal project for next year is the Gap Year. This programme of work will oversee additional projects or reviews that we will deliver next year. These will be developed once we have concluded the data collection and analysis phase of the Gap Year. How do we monitor our progress against the Service Improvement Programme? YHN’s Executive team receive monthly updates on the progress of the Gap Year, and there are regular reports to YHN’s Board and Customer and Service Delivery Committee.
Customer Commitments Within the city there is an overarching framework for engagement to ensure the voice of the customer is at the centre of how we provide and improve services. There are three elements to this framework. We deliver an engagement programme that aims to understand how customers experience our services and how they could be improved. Newcastle City Council has commissioned Newcastle Independent Tenant Voice (NITV) to focus on strategic and policy issues and an independent advisor ‘Engage Associates’ to provide scrutiny on housing services. Both of these elements look at housing services provided across the city. For YHN customers, we have developed six customer commitments for 2017/18; these will be our local offer for the year. These commitments focus on how we can respond to customer feedback and how we can work in partnership with customers and stakeholders to support us in achieving our strategic targets. Our customer commitments for 2017/18 are to:
Publish a new customer engagement plan which will set out our consultation and research activity for the next twelve months; Invest in real time feedback to act on and respond to customer feedback more quickly; Develop our approach to customer insight so we can improve the services we offer; Develop a new customer investment fund to support local communities; Consult with customers when we are reviewing services or strategies; and Ensure that customer feedback is represented within the Governance structure.