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Tenants’ Annual Report 2012/13
HOMES LIMITED
Annual An Ann A nu n ual u a R Re Rep Report epo e po p ort o rt rt 2 13 20 4 2013-2014
Tenants’ Annual Report 2012/13
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Tenants’ Annual Report 2012/13
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The X-tra Factor Team This Annual Report is written by residents, for residents.The X-tra factor team, a group consisting primarily of residents, have continued to consult with residents throughout the year to ask what you would like to see included in this report.
Our conversations with residents showed that this year we needed to include: • • • • • • • •
More information on the community activities in neighbourhoods More pictures to show people getting involved in their neighbourhoods Extended information on regeneration activities Less numerical facts and figures relating to the business New Charter Homes challenges within the year for each service area New Charter Homes plans for improvement in each service area A celebration of achievements The impact of our major projects on residents
To write the report we initially decided the areas to be covered, choose the staff and residents we wanted to interview and then wrote questions for each. All our information has been gathered from these interviews. We do hope you find the information included to be informative and interesting.
The X-tra factor team Ann Daly
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Susan Aktas
Christine Burgess
Sue Cox
Belinda Jeffery
Taff Jeffery
Fred Warburton
If you would like to know more about the X-tra Factor team please contact Sue Cox, Resident Involvement Manager on 0161 331 2416, email: RITeam@newcharter.co.uk
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Contents
Who lives in our homes? Page 4
Resident Involvement Page 5
Neighbourhood Management Page 12
! Social Enterprise Page 14
Relets Page 15
Anti-Social Behaviour Page 16
Community Regeneration Page 18
Great Opportunities Page 21
Great Academies Page 22
ÂŁ Repairs & Investment Page 23
Show me the Money Page 24
Customer Experience Team Page 26
G Governance Page 27
Our Chief Executive Page 28
Impact Maps Page 29
If you would like any further information on getting involved at New Charter please contact: the Resident Involvement Team on 0161 331 2000, email RIteam@newcharter.co.uk
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Tenants’ Annual Report 2012/13
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Who lives in our homes? Female
Male
53.87% 46.12%
Transgender
Under 16’s
16-24
25-44
0.01%
23.17%
13.53% 24.88%
45-64
65+
Gay, lesbian or bisexual
Black, Minority & Ethnic
Religion Other than Christian
Disabled
22.17%
16.25%
0.56%
9.02%
1.24%
4.02%
This information is linked to the profiling information gathered from new residents.
Percentages from a total of 29,801 residents 4
If you would like any further information on our customer profile please contact: Cath Owston, Director of Customer Experience on 0161 331 2264, email: Cath.Owston@newcharter.co.uk
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Resident Involvement RI Team
The last year has been challenging, busy and very rewarding in Resident Involvement. The restructure of the Neighbourhood Team, the impact of welfare reform and the introduction of neighbourhood plans have all had major affects on our working practices and on our team. Resident Involvement continues to remain the cornerstone of our business, and yet again, residents have exceeded all our expectations with your willingness and enthusiasm in getting involved in your neighbourhoods to make them a better place for all to live.We have seen resident associations achieve major projects this year and more and more people are getting involved, having a say in their neighbourhoods and undertaking training to empower themselves. IT Training
With the introduction of neighbourhood plans this year we have seen more cohesion and partnership working between both internal teams and with residents.There has been a joined up approach to ensure that we worked with you constantly throughout the year to implement the plans, ensuring not only that we have consulted with you on what it is like to live in your neighbourhood, but also that we are continuing to put into practice our promises and move all our neighbourhoods to a five star rating. Although a huge change in working practices, the plans are now Runway Event pulling everyone together and putting resident involvement at the forefront of all job roles.
Residents Awards
First Aid Training
Partnership working
Showcase Event
The introduction of welfare reform and the changes to the allocations policy has also resulted in increased partnership working, with residents championing the areas and helping us to ensure that we have got the policies right to deal with these changes as effectively as possible.
If you would like any further information on getting involved at New Charter please contact: the Resident Involvement Team on 0161 331 2000, email RIteam@newcharter.co.uk
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Resident Involvement continued
TPAS In early 2013 we retained our ‘Resident Involvement Quality Standard’ from the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS), recognising our commitment to Resident Involvement.The independent inspectors praised New Charter for continuing to involve and engage residents in our activities, with Michelle Reid (TPAS Chief Executive) stating she was “constantly impressed” with New Charters’ performance, that we had listened to the recommendations from the previous accreditation, making particular reference to the excellent work of the Tenant Management Team (TMT) – the Tenant Panel and the GREAT opportunities scheme.
New Charter offer many ways for residents to get involved, from answering surveys, to participating in a residents association, to being a tenant board member. All these are detailed in our Resident Involvement Statement, which is available on request, on the New Charter website or in any of our Home and Community Hubs. iPad
RESIDENT INVOLVEMENT STATEMENT
www.newcharter.co.uk
Tony Powell, Exec Director, stated “Residents take a key role in our business to make sure we’re continually focused on developing services to meet their needs. But involvement and engagement is a two way process, and this achievement is of particular credit to all our residents involved, whose brilliant work has given residents a strong voice in Tameside and beyond.”
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There are
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In addition to this there are
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active Resident Associations affiliated to the company, all working with New Charter to improve life in their neighbourhoods. neighbourhood forum groups meeting on an ad-hoc basis to deal with issues in their neighbourhoods.
If you would like to know more about Resident Involvement please contact: Sue Cox, Resident Involvement Manager on 0161 331 2416 email: Sue.cox@newcharter.co.uk
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Tenants’ Annual Report 2012/13
Resident Involvement continued
Tenant Panel The Tenant Panel have been busier than ever this year, now meeting fortnightly to monitor resident involvement across the organisation and that New Charter are meeting the Homes and Communities Agency consumer service standards. This year the panel have reviewed service standards in five different service areas making a total of 34 recommendations to New Charter to improve services.The team have also read through and made recommendations on 45 impact assessments, helping to share good practice and learning across the organisation.
If you would like to know more about the Tenant Panel please contact: Sue Cox, Resident Involvement Manager on 0161 331 2416, email: Sue.cox@newcharter.co.uk
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Resident Involvement continued
Independent Solutions Panel
Throughout 2012/13 we have joined forces with residents from other local landlords to form a new independent complaints panel called Independent Tenant Solutions. Should residents not be happy with the outcome of the New Charter complaints process they can now have their case heard impartially by other residents on this panel, who can make recommendations to suggest a way forward to resolve the complaint. This is a new service, which is one of the first of its kind in the UK.
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If you would like to know more about the Independent Tenant Solutions Panel, please contact: Greg Suligowski, Head of Connect on 0161 331 2128 email: Greg.suligowski@newcharter.co.uk
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Tenants’ Tenants e a s Annual a Report epo p 2012/13 0 3
Resident Involvementt continued ti d
Brushes Estate Management Board (EMB) Brushes Neighbourhood 2012/13 has been another very successful year for Brushes EMB with more residents involved in community activities than ever before. The new conservatory at the neighbourhood hub is now in full use, with regular mums and tots sessions, youth events and resident meetings. The Baileys Back play area has been continuously improved with new play equipment, new fencing and CCTV and the neighbourhood has had another successful year in InBloom, obtaining the Green Flag award for the 5th year. There is still a great community spirit at Brushes, with residents continuing to fundraise for events through the weekly lottery. Brushes EMB is an independent company, which means that whilst New Charter still own the houses, the board run the neighbourhood in partnership with New Charter.
Community fun day
Summer event
Working together
If you would like to know more about Brushes Estate Management Board please contact: Emma Quinn, Brushes Neighbourhood Office, 10 Poplars Road, Brushes, Stalybridge, SK15 3EN on 0161 331 2462, email: Emma.quinn@newcharter.co.uk
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Resident Involvement continued
The Tenant Management Team Scrutiny Panel TMTtraining
TMT
This year saw the departure of three members of our team, Belinda Jeffery, Frank Gittens and Carol Barrow.We would like to thank them for all their hard work and great contributions to the team and wish them well in the future.We were also joined by new members, Susan Aktas and Wayne Jones and welcomed back previous member, Steve Thomas.We wish them a happy and action packed adventure into scrutiny.
External speaking
Our year ahead
Our aims for next year are to continue our scrutiny work, which is vital, and to step up monitoring activity on past reports, ensuring that agreed changes are being implemented and to gauge the impact those changes have made both in terms of customer satisfaction, value for money and good practice.
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The team are still much in demand to visit other organisations. Our grounds maintenance scrutiny is still recognised as a powerful piece of work and we were delighted to be invited to present it as a best practice example at the May and September Northern Housing Consortium conferences. In June the team were invited by the prestigious Chartered Institute of Housing in Manchester to talk about how we became co-regulatory champions. In July we joined Ashton Pioneer Housing to co-host a scrutiny workshop and we are still working with Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) to advance good practice.
If you would like to know more about the Tenant Management Team, please visit their website: www.tenantmanagementteam.org.uk or contact Stephen Fanshawe on 0161 331 2579, email: Stephen.fanshawe@newcharter.co.uk
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Resident Involvement continued
The Tenant Management Team Scrutiny Panel Scrutiny topics This year, resident involvement was one of the areas scrutinised, the outcome was excellent.Twenty five recommendations for change were made and all were accepted and implemented by New Charter. Another topic was external communal window cleaning. The results of this scrutiny highlighted deficiencies in the service being provided by the outside contractor. Following further investigation the team recommended that the service be brought in-house with the exception of those properties needing specialised equipment to carry out the job. Monitoring of the ‘Moving-In Experience’ showed a marked improvement in the service, reports from mystery shoppers and resident inspectors quoted “standards have improved above and
TMT training
beyond expectations.” The Let-ability Group will continue to monitor and spot check our properties prior to letting. We have continued to meet with the New Charter Homes Board and found the experience mutually beneficial. It has been agreed that these meetings will continue on a six monthly basis so that we are mutually informed on current situations. A fully committed team is vital to meet our needs and we will continue to recruit resident inspectors, mystery shoppers and scrutineers, to enable us to meet our targets of at least three new scrutinies a year and six monthly reviews of previous work.
TMT team-building
If you would like to know more about the Tenant Management Team, please visit their website: www.tenantmanagementteam.org.uk or contact Stephen Fanshawe on 0161 331 2579, email: Stephen.fanshawe@newcharter.co.uk
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Neighbourhood Management Launching our neighbourhood plans Emma Wilson
Neighbourhood Management has seen a year of change, which has been both fabulous and challenging.The section has undergone a major restructure, seeing changes to policies, procedures and staffing. Although this was unsettling for a while we have now launched our neighbourhood plans and we have a strong staff team who have clear objectives for the next three years. The major challenges for neighbourhood management for the forthcoming year will be to manage the impact of welfare reform on our communities.We have already started to see increased applications to move as a result of the bedroom tax and we need to be prepared for how this will affect our neighbourhoods, how we will deal with communities becoming fragmented and the associated risks of having empty homes in neighbourhoods that we have worked so hard to sustain.
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Launch event
Neighbourhood d plans l In January 2013 we officially launched our neighbourhood plans for all our 32 neighbourhoods.The plans, which run for three years, are extremely ambitious, rating all our neighbourhoods against a star rating system. Because performance in neighbourhood management is hard to measure, these plans have given us an ideal to work towards, aiming for all neighbourhoods to be rated 5 star by 2016.This will be a major challenge, especially considering the impact welfare reform will have on our communities. It is therefore important that we continue to listen to residents, to work within the communities and alongside the regeneration and resident involvement teams to have one joined up approach.
If you would like to know more about the neighbourhood plans please contact: Emma Wilson, Director of Communities on 0161 331 2396, email: Emma.wilson@newcharter.co.uk
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Neighbourhood Management
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Garage sites Our action plan to improve garage sites has now been completed, making a massive difference to our neighbourhoods.We are delighted we have been able to achieve this on target.
Our new in-house grounds maintenance service, Green Charter, was launched in 2012 and we had a tough start. Resident expectations were high and weather conditions were extremely poor.Although we know the service still isn’t perfect, we have made numerous improvements throughout the year, by; having sheltered scheme managers sign off work, starting cutting grass earlier in the year, introducing a low cost gardening service for residents, more staff training and buying new machinery.We are also working in partnership with Tameside Council to land swap, making better use of the equipment we both have.We are still listening to residents’ feedback and we will undertake a full survey of the service at the end of the year to make sure we are continually improving.
HQN accreditation In early 2013, we revisited the Housing Quality Network (HQN) accreditation in Estate Management. Having achieved the accreditation for the first time in 2012 the assessors were keen to ensure that we were doing everything we promised and that we were continuously improving. The assessor was again blown away, stating “the engagement between staff and residents at New Charter is second to none.”
CleanCare The team have had a very positive year, focusing on making the service more cost effective and efficient.We have reduced our vehicle fleet, decreased our tipping charges by working with Tameside Council on waste management schemes and we have changed staffing areas to make smarter use of the team. CleanCare will be expanding the service this year by carrying out the external window cleaning in communal blocks, resulting from a recommendation made by the TMT scrutiny panel.
If you would like to know more about Neighbourhood Management please contact: Emma Wilson, Director of Communities on 0161 331 2396, email: Emma.wilson@newcharter.co.uk
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Social Enterprise
2nd Generation Furnishings Business
The volunteer team
2nd Generation Furnishings is a not-for-profit Charitable Social Enterprise who recycle furniture, clothes and white goods to save on land fill and to assist people in financial hardship turn their houses into homes. In the last year the project has helped 833 Tameside residents, recycling over 20,000 kg of reusable furniture, helping sustain tenancies and giving local people the opportunity to volunteer, assisting their employability. Our challenge for the next year will be to extend the business to teaching residents skills such as sewing, (machining) upholstery and renovating old furnishings, all aiming to protect the environment by recycling and repairing as many household goods as possible. 2nd Generation Furnishings Astral House Stamford Drive Stalybridge SK15 1QU
2nd Generation shop
Opening times: Mon - Fri: 9.30am - 4.30pm Sat: 10.00am - 2.00pm Email: 2ndgenerationfurnishings@gmail.com Telephone: 0161 303 0083
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If you would like further information on 2nd Generation Furnishings or on volunteering opportunities please contact them on: 0161 303 0083 or email: 2ndgenerationfurnishings@gmail.com
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Relets It has been a very busy year in Relets, with the development of our new allocations policy, the introduction of the Localism Act and managing the impact of welfare reform.
Welfare Reform The introduction of the bedroom tax has, as expected, created a change in demand for our properties.We used to have higher demand for our larger family homes, however, demand is now growing for our smaller properties.We need to ensure that we market our homes effectively and work with our development team to make sure we are building the right size and layout of homes in the right areas. To counteract the effect of the welfare reforms we have also: • Amended our ‘child at height’ priority. This means that we have relaxed the rules relating to children living in flats and maisonettes, now we only restrict households with children from living in our high rise. • Ensured that the needs of our under occupying residents wanting to downsize are reflected in our transfer policy • Promoted the Homeswapper scheme to residents, for which 1,100 tenants are now registered, with 300 logging in weekly to view properties.This scheme has been very successful, with 140 properties being swapped in the last year, saving approximately £4000 each time in empty homes turnover costs. We will continue to adjust our working practices to meet changing demand throughout the next year.
Allocations Policy We launched our new allocations policy in May 2013 and immediately reduced our waiting list by removing those who hadn’t bid for 12 months or over and those who were deferred due to not paying previous arrears etc.This has left less than 3000 applicants on the general list and 485 transfer applications.All applicants now have to be eligible for rehousing to be on our list, meaning we no longer hold people on the list who are not in housing need or who don’t bid for properties. We have introduced our Community Contribution Scheme, which encourages new applicants and residents wanting to transfer who are in work, training or volunteering. Some applicants have expressed the view that they think you have to be in receipt of benefits to apply to us, but clearly this isn’t the case and we want to encourage people to let us know if they are giving something back to their communities and neighbourhoods.
If you would like more information about Relets, please visit our website www.newcharter.co.uk, visit one of our neighbourhood hubs or call Shonna Hildersley, Allocations Manager on 0161 331 2532, email: Shonna.hildersley@newcharter.co.uk
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Anti-Social Behaviour
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Making your neighbourhoods a safe and pleasant place to live is our priority.This year again we have had major achievements with Neighbourhood Resolution Panels becoming part of the ASB toolkit.ASB fell by 14% across the Borough, and our customer satisfaction on the way complaints were dealt with was 90%. During 2012/13 our Neighbourhood and Tenancy & Support Services dealt with 990 cases of anti-social behaviour. Streetwatch
Sue Hird and Alan Kibble
Streetwatch
Neighbourhood Resolution Panels (NRP)
This project has developed in the last year, with new schemes set up in Mossley and Stalybridge. Volunteers have been linking in with the police and carrying out patrols on their neighbourhood, keeping an eye on local issues affecting residents. The patrols have been very well received in our neighbourhoods and are helping to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour, making residents feel safer and building community confidence.
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Introduced in Tameside in 2012, the use of NRPs to tackle the effects of crime and anti-social behaviour has been a major success, resolving 50 cases so far. NRPs provide a platform to bring together the victim and the perpetrator to resolve the conflict or damage caused by their actions. In housing disputes, NRPs are often used to address issues in our neighbourhoods and avoid enforcement action being taken. We now have 50 trained facilitators signed up, including volunteers and 6th formers from the New Charter Academy. With an incredibly high success rate, NRPs have saved in excess of ÂŁ130,000 in civil and criminal court fees already.
If you would like to know more about the Tenancy and Support Services Team, please contact: Sue Hird, Director of Tenancy and Support on 0161 331 2144, email: Sue.hird@newcharter.co.uk
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Anti-Social Behaviour
COPE Our scheme, which uses residents who have had experience of going through the court system to befriend and support current witnesses who are experiencing some form of antisocial behaviour and the possibility of going to court as a witness.We have 10 volunteers who have been recruited by case workers who are willing to give their time and benefit of their own experiences to help others. This is an invaluable service for those who often feel overwhelmed and scared about going to court.
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Inspire In 2012 a new service was set up which we named Inspire. Contracted by Tameside Council, this integrated family support team will work with 343 complex families over the three year contract period, offering, empowering and supporting families to positive changes for themselves and future generations.
If you would like to know more about the Tenancy and Support Services Team please contact: Sue Hird, Director of Tenancy and Support on 0161 331 2144, email: Sue.hird@newcharter.co.uk
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Community Regeneration We have spent this year embedding the five themes of Community Regeneration into the job roles for the team, to offer a specialist service helping to achieve the neighbourhood plans.
Five Themes
• Environment
New Charter ensure that projects cover at least, if not all of the five themes, here are some examples of the projects from the year.
Youth Team
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• Jobs And Lifelong Learning • Healthy Living • Community Safety
Youth work
The youth team have gone from strength to strength this year, engaging with over 500 young people across our neighbourhoods in both structured sessions and project work. 2012 saw the introduction of our first youth forum, where young people between the ages of 14 – 19 meet fortnightly to help us understand their priorities and interests and to improve the website and newsletter.They have also been part of a project with Tameside Council to form a group of 20 young inspectors who are testing services for young people across Tameside.
Youth awards
• Social Exclusion
Youth forum
Visit to recycling centre
Finger puppet making
If you would like to know more about Community Regeneration please contact: Adele Robinson, Regeneration Manager on 0161 331 2397, email: Adele.robinson@newcharter.co.uk
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Community Regeneration Manchester United initiative at NC Academy
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Reach for the sky
Partnership working has continued to expand this year, with the Manchester United hub at the New Charter Academy engaging over 500 young people from the Academy and the local feeder primary schools.The project includes not only sport, but career advice, self-esteem and team work.
Great sports
The team have continued to work in partnership with Tameside Sports Trust and have engaged with over 1,500 young people throughout the year in free community sports sessions and holiday activities. Targeted football sessions have also been run throughout the year in neighbourhoods on a referral basis from the police,Youth Offending Team and Tenancy and Support Services Team, to engage young people and improve behaviour.
Royal Exchange Theatre
Dancing at New Charter Academy
Art in the garden
The team have also continued the partnership with the Royal Exchange, giving young people and adults from the Smallshaw/Hurst area the opportunity to be involved in writing, acting, stage craft and design and to experience theatre productions. For instance, this year they organised ‘Our Pals’; a drama project involving local community representatives which was presented to the local community and partners at the NC Academy and Hurst Community Centre. If you would like more information about Community Regeneration please contact: Adele Robinson, Regeneration Manager, on 0161 331 2397, email: Adele.robinson@newcharter.co.uk
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Community Regeneration
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Gardens InBloom
InBloom & Community Gardens Residents have continued to excel with environmental initiatives on their neighbourhoods, with again 16 areas entering the InBloom competition.We won nine outstanding, three thriving, two developing and two improving awards with Mossley residents winning the overall North West small garden title. Many of our neighbourhoods now have well established community gardens, fruit and vegetable growing beds, wild meadows and greenhouses, all contributing towards health and wellbeing.
Tatton Flower Show The team organised a show garden entry at RHS Tatton Flower show this year which successfully gained a silver award. Young people were highly involved in the conception, design and artwork for the garden, as well as working at the event to explain the garden to the public.
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School interventions The team have also been working with theatre companies to create a hard hitting child sexual exploitation production; this was match funded by the Local Childrens Safeguarding Board and in partnership with Greater Manchester Police. They have commissioned a 2nd tour of a gang violence production to perform at local secondary schools and a production to primary schools on the adverse effects of alcohol.
Timebanking This initiative, which involves an informal volunteering swap scheme in several neighbourhoods, has been continuing over the year and now has 228 active members. Over the last year the programme has been redesigned to incorporate issues around employment and health. Participants of the scheme have had support to help them reduce their alcohol consumption, smoking and encouraged to have healthy lifestyles. The programme has helped seven people into sustained employment and over 100 into training.
If you would like more information on Community Regeneration please contact: Adele Robinson, Regeneration Manager on 0161 331 2397, email: Adele.robinson@newcharter.co.uk
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Tenants’ Annual Report 2012/13
Community Regeneration Keeping Neighbourhoods Tidy A joint project between Micklehurst and Crowswood resulting in a very successful recycling project being implemented, which was successful in gaining the North West Best Neighbourhood award.
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A very proud moment
2013 will see a new Health and Wellbeing Strategy to show how New Charter will continue to work with residents to improve all aspects of their lives.
Great Opportunities The Great Opportunities programme proved very successful last year.The company assisted 80 people into work during last year, taking the total to 108 since we started the programme. The programme has evolved and grown. The team work very closely with many partners such as Job Centre Plus and local colleges to offer opportunities for work placements, training and employment. We started several work clubs across the neighbourhoods, providing advice and guidance to the unemployed of all ages on their doorstep. The team are reaching young people of school age to raise aspirations and provide advice and guidance.The team commissioned a worklessness theatre production which toured secondary schools.
The team produced a training package and a booklet for frontline staff on providing advice and guidance to our neighbourhoods. Job clubs
If you would like more information about Community Regeneration please contact: Adele Robinson, Regeneration Manager, on 0161 331 2397, email: Adele.robinson@newcharter.co.uk
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Great Academies During 2012/13 New Charter added two new Academies to our sponsorship, Silver Springs and Copley. Moving into supporting education has been a brave and successful accomplishment for New Charter, as we aim to invest, not just in homes, but in the wider community.The aim of our involvement in education is that in order to achieve our mission of Great Homes, Great Neighbourhoods, Great People we need Great schools. We are determined to work together to shape the communities we serve. New Charter provides comprehensive and efficient business support to allow the Academy leadership teams to concentrate on education.The support provided includes: Human Resources, Payroll, Asset Management, Legal Services, Governance, Finance, IT support, Health and Safety, Project Management and Community engagement.
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If you would like more information about our Great Academies please contact: Lizabeth Bohler, Project Manager on 0161 331 2381, email: Lizabeth.bohler@newcharter.co.uk
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Repairs & Investment Your Home
Our aims for 2013/14
It’s been a good year but we will always strive to do better.The key is continued partnership working with our residents, increasing choice and ever improved service standards. 2012/13 has been another successful year for New Charter Homes, with us continuing our 100% record on gas servicing, increasing our appointment rates for repairs to over 80%, reducing our accidents at work for another year running and improving our working methods on empty homes.We have also exceeded our promise to supply 173 new homes, by adding 192 to our portfolio and we have achieved the ROSPA gold award for the Health and Safety team work across the company for the fifth year.
Our major challenges for the forthcoming year are to ensure that we continue to bring in external work and exceed our target of £4.9million.That we fully deliver our Repairs, Maintenance and Investment programme within budget of £19,595million and our new build budget of £23,606million.We also aim to increase the appointments we make with residents for repairs above the 80% we are currently at, that we maintain our good relationship with customers and for the first time in the next year our Building Company will go into new build, aiming to build nine properties.
Improvements planned from 1st April 2011 to 31st March 2014
Every year the cost of missed repairs appointments, because residents have gone out when we call, is a problem for New Charter. In the last year we have seen a large improvement in this area to which we are very grateful. Please remember if you have reported a repair and you know when we will be calling, it is important that you are home to enable us to do the work.
HEATING/BOILER SWAPS 2,400 PLANNED, 1,140 COMPLETED AT END OF SECONDYEAR BATHROOMS 1,800 PLANNED, 1,213 COMPLETED AT END OF SECONDYEAR KITCHENS 1,250 PLANNED, 972 COMPLETED AT END OF SECONDYEAR REWIRES 1,600 PLANNED, 1,100 COMPLETED AT END OF SECONDYEAR ROOFING 750 PLANNED, 671 COMPLETED AT END OF SECONDYEAR RENEWAL ENTRANCE DOORS 715 PLANNED, 500 COMPLETED AT END OF SECONDYEAR
No access appointments
PV solar We hopefully aim, subject to legal assurances, to install PV solar to 3000 properties that must have south facing roofs within the next year and, if successful, will assist residents greatly in the struggle to control ever increasing utility bills.
If you would like more information about Repairs & Investment please contact: Andy Stafford, Executive Director of Homes on 0161 331 2753, email: Andy.stafford@newcharter.co.uk
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Show me the money Show me the Money – Welfare Reform As of last year, welfare reform still remains the biggest challenge and risk to our business, for both New Charter and for our residents.Throughout the last year we have been preparing the business to ensure the reforms have the lowest impact possible and that our residents have all the support and advice to minimise any hardship. Throughout the year, SWAT (Specialist welfare reform Advice Team) has continued to speak to those who are affected by welfare reform, either because of the bedroom tax (under-occupation charge), benefit cap or universal credit. We have signposted people to our Money Care Team.
Our SWAT team
£ We have made available additional resources for our Revenues Team to ensure that we have systems in place to make it as easy as possible for residents to pay their rent, that we have the staff needed in this section and that we have additional provision for bad debts. Although we do not yet know the full impact of welfare reform on our business, we do know that a continued challenge for the forthcoming year will be to minimise the impact, not only of the reform, but also of the Government budget cuts.We need to be realistic about how much New Charter can try and alleviate these cuts by investing in our neighbourhoods without lowering the standard of our services to residents.
Our advice to you: Speak to us, don’t suffer in silence and don’t let your financial problems escalate.The roll out of universal credit for all is now expected to begin in April 2014. Remember that this is a Government initiative, it is not something New Charter has introduced and we want to help those who are struggling to pay their rent.
The touring bus
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If you would like more information about Revenues please contact: Julie Vickers, Director of Business Support on 0161 331 2020, email: Julie.vickers@newcharter.co.uk
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£
Show me the money
Advising on the effects of using Loan Sharks
Illegal Money Lenders New Charter will continue to publicise the possible harmful effects of using illegal money lenders often referred to as loan sharks.These unlicensed money lenders often pray on the most vulnerable and ‘in need’ residents who feel they have no other choice for borrowing money. If you know of any loan shark activity in your neighbourhood, please report it in confidence to the Illegal Money Lending Team by phone 0300 555 2222 or text LOAN SHARK and your details to 60003 or email reportaloanshark@ stoploansharks.gov.uk or contact your Neighbourhood Co-ordinator.
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My Home Finance – fair loans Last year, 1200 of you helped us to understand how you manage your money by completing a survey.This has been really useful in helping us to offer the services you need. One of the things you told us is that many of you take out loans and some of you are using very expensive options like doorstep and payday lenders, or even turning to illegal loan sharks. We want to offer another choice, so New Charter Homes is working in partnership with ‘My Home Finance’ to give residents and leaseholders an alternative way to access loans, budgeting advice and help with bank accounts.‘My Home Finance’ has been developed by the National Housing Federation. If you are looking for a loan for any purpose, all you need to do is call ‘My Home Finance’ on 0845 519 7237 where staff will talk you through the process and see if this is the right option for you. For more information you can call into any of our Hubs or you can log on at www.myhomefinance.org.uk
Remember if you have borrowed from an illegal money lender, you haven’t committed a crime.
If you would like more information about Revenues please contact; Julie Vickers, Director of Business Support on 0161 331 2020, email: Julie.vickers@newcharter.co.uk
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Organisational Transformation & the Customer Experience Team Organisational Transformation & the Customer Experience Team
The year has been extremely busy for the teams both in terms of dealing with major changes in the organisation and in the great progress we have made in moving the customer experience forward. The biggest change for us has been the full launch of our Connect service (customer service centre). From March 2013, we now operate a 24/7, 365 day per year, customer contact centre so that emergency repairs calls are always answered by our own staff. There is now one telephone number for New Charter, 0161 331 2000, regardless of your query. A new Customer Relationship Management system was also introduced in March 2013.This holds details of all customer contacts to ensure that we have an up to date record of customer requests and actions which need to be taken.This has added greatly to our customer service offering, in that we are able to ensure that customer calls are followed up and actioned. Feedback from our mystery shopping reports show that customers like the new system. Throughout 2013/14 our challenge will be to continue to further improve Connect, to make it sharper, to extend the service areas dealt with by the team and to use the profiling information we gather about our customers to improve and personalise our service to you.
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Awards
We are delighted that, for the fifth year running, we have featured in the Sunday Times Best Companies list, retaining a top 10 position. It was a tough year, with lots of changes for our staff who, as ever, responded brilliantly. Even after such a difficult year, with internal restructure, welfare reforms and legislative changes, our people still rate New Charter as a great place to work.
Social Media
The use of social media at New Charter is growing momentum. Our use of Facebook is increasing with 344 ‘likes’ as at 31st March 2013. Residents are even using the site to report repairs and anti-social behaviour. Our Twitter site has been used throughout the year to tweet from events and we now have 195 followers. Look out for our ‘live chats’ on Facebook throughout 2013.
If you would like more information about Organisational Transformation or Customer Experience please contact: Chris Amyes, Executive Director – People on 0161 331 2173, email: Christine.amyes@newcharter.co.uk
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Tenants’ Annual Report 2012/13
Governance Tom Daly (Tenant) Tom was elected to the Board in September 2010. He has a background in construction and a good understanding of management and health and safety issues. Tom is committed to assisting New Charters’ efforts in delivering the best possible services to tenants and developing communities and neighbourhoods that people are proud to call home. Lez Barstow (Tenant) Lez joined the Board in September 2011. He trained as a teacher and later took postgraduate courses in photography, film-making and careers counselling. He now
runs a Literacy Agency. Since becoming involved with New Charter in 2004, he has contributed to a variety of groups including the Customer Communications Group. Helen Garnett-Wren (Tenant) Helen was elected to the Board in September 2012. She has a background in sales and purchasing and a good understanding of business administration and IT. Helen is committed to ensuring that New Charter continues to improve and meet the needs of its tenants.
New Charter would like to thank Alan Alcock (Tenant) and Gordon Tow (Co-opted) who both stepped down from the Board in September 2012. Independent Board members are appointed by application and interview. Tenant Board members are appointed by self nomination, interview and election Local Authority Board members are appointed by nomination.
Alan Alcock
Board members at New Charter Homes Limited Geoff Loughlin-Chair (Independent) Jim Middleton-Vice Chair (Local Authority) Joan Ryan (Independent)
Gordon Tow
Tracey Jones (Local Authority) Jacqui Fendall (Independent) David Boyle (Local Authority) Tony Powell (Co-optee) Jacqui McCann (Co-optee) If you would like more information about becoming a Tenant Director please contact: Laura Douthwaite, Assistant Company Secretary on 0161 331 2118, email: Laura.Douthwaite@newcharter.co.uk
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A message from the Chief Executive The year 2012/13 has gone very well for New Charter. We are still a strong, sound, progressive and confident organisation who values both ourselves and our staff.We remain in a strong financial situation with a sound business plan and the best people to carry it forward. We pride ourselves on our reputation and our relationships with partner agencies and our funders. Our work has continued to expand throughout the year both in terms of new homes development and extending our partnership working.We are starting to pick up the changes from the public sector cuts, expanding into areas such as helping troubled families and supporting education through Academies. It is always an anxiety that we will grow too big, but New Charter is committed to never lose site of our core business; providing decent quality, affordable homes, to our residents.The work in addition to this is very small in scale of what we do as a whole and we will continue to listen to you to ensure that it isn’t at the expense of our current residents. It has been another year of major achievements.We featured, for the fifth year, in the Sunday Times Best Companies list, achieving tenth position.The introduction of our Connect service has been positive and we envisage this will immensely improve the service we offer to our customers. The impact of welfare reform is still unclear, although New Charter is a pathfinder for universal credit, the numbers of people affected has been too few to allow us to make any useful observations. It has, however, given us greater access to MPs to ask questions and express our views. As an organisation we believe the bedroom tax to be unfair, badly thought out and incompetent.Although there is an argument around personal responsibility we understand that it scares people and it is going to be difficult for people to change their behaviours to deal with monthly payments.To prepare, we have been training front line staff throughout the year to ensure that they are fully informed and able to give advice to residents on their options.We have also carried out surveys to help us have a better understanding of our customers’ financial issues and have been helping to modernise the Credit Union, introduced ‘My Home Finance’ and working with a consortium of other Housing Associations on ‘Smarter Buys’. Ian Munro Our promise to build 300 new homes over three years is still on target and will be exceeded by converting properties, buying back former Right to Buys and acquiring properties for renovation. Our challenges for 2013/14 are to continue to manage the impact of the welfare reform on our business and yourselves but I am confident that we are in a strong position, have the right staff and plans in place to make it another successful year for us all. Ian Munro – Group Chief Executive – New Charter Housing Trust Group
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If you would like further information about New Charter Homes please contact: contact@newcharter.co.uk, visit our website www.newcharter.co.uk or telephone 0161 331 2000
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Tenants’ Annual Report 2012/13
Value, Impact, Performance (VIP) VIP is our approach to measuring the social and economic impact of our investment in your neighbourhood. Here are some examples:
Great Opportunities • In 2012/13, New Charter invested £61,660 in our Great Opportunities programme • We helped 80 local people to get jobs – and 135 more to take part in courses and volunteering • In addition to the social and emotional benefits of this work, Great Opportunities has generated savings worth over £709,200 for our local and national partners
If you would like more information about VIP please contact Lauren Webb, Policy and Compliance Officer on 0161 331 2378, email: Lauren.webb@newcharter.co.uk
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Value, Impact, Performance (VIP)
Specialist Welfare Reform Advice Team (SWAT) In 2012/13, we invested £189,914 in SWAT; which has: • Made over 2500 visits to customers affected by the ‘Bedroom Tax’ and other Welfare Reforms • Worked with over 70 customers to make referrals to specialist advice in connection with their benefits/debts • Used the ‘Universal Bus Tour’ to provide high quality information about Welfare Reform in every neighbourhood • The team has enabled the Group to achieve a collection rate for the ‘Bedroom Tax’ of around 84%
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If you would like more information about VIP please contact Lauren Webb, Policy and Compliance Officer on 0161 331 2378, email: Lauren.webb@newcharter.co.uk
Tenants’ Annual Report 2012/13
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Value, Impact, Performance (VIP)
Money Care Team • In 2012/13 we invested £132,369 in our Money Care Team In 2012/13, this team: • Helped 332 clients achieve over £941,867 in gains in Welfare Benefits (an average of over £2,836 per customer) • Worked with 343 clients to have their debts to the value of over £1,260,830 written off (an average of over £3,675 per customer)
If you would like more information about VIP please contact Lauren Webb: Policy and Compliance Officer on 0161 331 2378 Email: Lauren.webb@newcharter.co.uk
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Contacting Us Resource Housing Reg. No. 2111
Remember, we now have just one number for you to call to access all services -
0161 331 2000
This single number will be the same 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and all calls are dealt with by New Charter staff at our offices. In the evenings, at weekends and on Bank Holidays our services operate for emergencies only - dealing with emergency housing issues and emergency repairs.
English
If you need help understanding this document, please call us on 0161 331 2000 and we will arrange for somebody to help you.
Polish
Jeśli potrzebuje Pan/Pani pomocy w zrozumieniu tego dokumentu, prosimy o kontakt pod numerem 0161 331 2000, a my zorganizujemy kogoś do pomocy.
Portuguese
Se necessitar de ajuda no que respeia à compreensão deste documento, queira por favor contactar-nos no nº. 0161 331 2000 e iremos colocar alguém à sua disposição para o ajudar
French
Si vous avez besoin d’aide pour comprendre ce document, s’il vous plaît appelez-nous au 0161 331 2000 et nous nous chargerons de quelqu’un pour vous aider
Bengali
Urdu 0161 331 2000
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