Accent News North East - April 2016

NORTH EAST

Andrew Kidds Head of Customer Contact  @Andkidds_Accent

Customer Portal Since the launch of our customer portal, almost 3500 of you have activated your personal accounts.

If you haven’t already accessed your account, or you’ve misplaced your username or password, please contact us. Those of you who have already activated your accounts will know how simple and easy the service is to use.

You can report and view repairs, make payments and access your rent accounts.

Visit https://login.accentgroup.org today to make the most of our online service.

Claire Stone Executive Director of Communities & Assets  @claires1965

Repairs and maintenance contracts for 2016 In our last issue, we mentioned we were aiming to appoint new contractors to deliver your repairs and property maintenance services. The new contracts aimed to improve service and deliver better value for money.

We were due to award the contracts just after printing the last issue, and had promised to let you know who the successful contractor was for your area.

Behind the scenes, everything was going to plan and we were working with the new contractors getting ready to launch your new service in April.

Unfortunately, we have since run into problems with the contracts

for a number of reasons and it has become clear that they may not be affordable for us. As a result, we have abandoned the process for the time being and we will undertake a thorough review of how your services will be delivered in the future.

This will not affect your services for the next 12 months. We will make sure you continue to receive a high quality repairs and maintenance

service, and we are currently in discussions with all our contractors so they can continue to work with us for another year. You will report your repairs in the same way, via our contact centre.

We will take this extra opportunity to make sure that we can deliver the best value for money services on your behalf while we prepare for re-launch of the new contracts and your new service in April 2017.

Wanted: Resident Members Tony Grainger, Regional Housing Director  @accentmb

We’re looking for committed and enthusiastic residents to join our regional compliance and scrutiny committees. You will work closely with other residents, our independent committee members and our senior managers, to scrutinise regional performance and contribute to the regional improvement of services.

This is an important role and a great opportunity if you are looking to develop personally or further your career, whilst helping to improve our services.

We will provide all the training and support you need.

We value the knowledge and experience our resident members can bring to the committee.

We need people with good communication skills, who are keen to learn and are passionate about providing excellent services to our residents.

The committee works on a voluntary basis.

We would need you to attend at least four formal meetings and up to four ad-hoc meetings a year.

Meetings are held in the evening but there may be some daytime visits to our homes. You will be paid travel expenses and any loss of earnings.

Please give serious thought to this opportunity and, if you’d like to apply, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us or email customerservices@accentgroup.org for more details

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ACCENT NEWS NORTH EAST

Rent Changes The Welfare Reform and Work Act became law at the end of March. This affects the way we review most of your rents. The new arrangements are quite difficult to explain.

For most of you, on the Government’s instruction, your net rent will reduce by 1% over each of the next four years. There are some exceptions. For example, the Government has said that those of you who live in supported and sheltered housing will continue to find your rent increasing in line with current legislation in 2016. (The date of this will depend on when your tenancy started – please see below). The Government has still to decide what happens after that.

Service charges are not affected by the new law.

If you pay a service charge, it forms part of the total charge you pay us. We review service charges each year and this is not changing. So, if your service charge increases due to higher costs, this could mean your total charges increase, even after the 1% net rent cut.

When will my rent be reviewed?

In most cases, it will be adjusted at the same time as it was last year. So, if your rent is usually reviewed in April, or you are a new resident since April 2015, your rent should be reviewed in April 2016. If your rent increase was in October last year, it will be in October 2016. So, just to confirm: • If you are a resident on an assured, secure (fair) or affordable tenancy and you do not live in a supported or sheltered housing scheme (generally with a scheme manager), your net rent will be lower by 1% over each of the next four years.

However, if you pay a service charge and it increases, this could mean your total charges are higher, even with the 1% net rent cut.

   @ CONTACT US SEE PAGE 8

• If you are a resident on an assured, secure (fair) or affordable tenancy, and you do live in a supported or sheltered housing scheme, your net rent will be reviewed in line with current legislation and is likely to increase in 2016 (depending on the date your tenancy started).

• There are also exceptions for residents who pay ‘intermediate’ or ‘market rent’. Your rent will be adjusted according to the normal market review, so these changes do not affect you directly.

We are still waiting to be told about parts of the legislation, so we don’t know the full facts yet.

We’ll confirm more details when we do, so please bear with us. More information will be made available on our website: www.accentgroup.org

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Fire regulation arrangements for communal areas In accordance with fire regulations, we have a responsibility to:

Tony Grainger Regional Housing Director  @accentmb

 Keep stairs, landings and corridors in communal areas of blocks of flats clear of tripping hazards.  Take reasonable steps to prevent the spread of fire and remove things which are a fire hazard.

Some landlords do not allow any items in corridors and stairways.

We will allow some, but we may need to restrict them to make sure everyone stays safe. We carry out

an annual inspection, a ‘fire risk assessment’, to make sure that communal areas are safe and comply with relevant fire legislation. If there are any issues with items in communal areas, we will talk to you about them.

In some cases your items may be removed, for example, you must not leave bikes, shopping trolley bags or rubbish in communal areas.

If you would like one of our information leaflets, please contact us or visit our website.

Introducing our new ‘Independent Living’ service offer for older people Katie Jamieson, Independent Living Co-ordinator

We already provide a number of services in our sheltered housing developments and have recently reviewed our service in consultation with residents. Feedback showed that whilst residents were happy and valued the service we provided, they wanted a greater focus on helping them to maintain their independence, with a particular emphasis on health and wellbeing. Our scheme managers will, therefore, work more closely with residents in future to help them improve their physical health, and maintain their independence and general quality of life, so they feel included in the scheme and wider community where they live. We will also support and facilitate activities which are available to the wider community to create a dynamic healthy living hub.

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ACCENT NEWS NORTH EAST

For anyone living in general needs accommodation over the age of 60, we will be offering a telephone support service with a named contact. We will contact you at least twice a year to make sure you are okay and provide practical help and support, which includes helping you access local services and improving your wellbeing. We will introduce this over the next six months to over 3,000 older people in our general needs homes. The service is free and optional – so if you do not want us to contact you we won’t.

The service is starting now. It will take a few months to get around everyone, but you don’t need to do anything, we will be in touch.

Immigration Act 2014

Tracey Jackson Housing Manager

On 1 February, it became law for all housing associations to check prospective tenants’ immigration status under the Immigration Act 2014 before letting a property.

 @accentmb

With a direct letting, we must see evidence of a person’s identity and citizenship, for example a passport or biometric residence permit. Copies of these documents need to be taken and kept for one year after the tenancy ends. Everyone living in theproperty over the age of 18 years must provide this information.

The legislation also applies to lodgers.

If you want to take in a lodger, (as per your tenancy agreement) you need to let us know first. We need to know who the lodger is and where they will live. You will need to carry out similar checks on your lodger and provide us with the required evidence. This is now part of our approval process.

Your housing officer can provide more information.

Thinking about an apprenticeship?

Go for it!

Hi, my name is Amy Wilson and I’ve been Accent’s “Housing Apprentice since June last year.

Through my apprenticeship, I have been studying for my Level 2 in Housing Practice and working as part of the tenancy sustainability team. I have taken part in community action days, engaged with residents, dealt with service satisfaction calls, attended meetings and enjoyed lots of training. I have also been able to train and work as a customer advisor and work in the income recovery team, which involved giving help and advice on rent payments, debt and attending court. I’ve also recently been involved iwith the contracts team.

Working at Accent has been a great experience, my apprenticeship has boosted my confidence and given me work experience and a work based qualification. For anyone thinking about an apprenticeship, my advice is go for it!

”

   @ CONTACT US SEE PAGE 8

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Sheepfoote Hill, Yarm

by Aslam Hanif MBE

Over the last few years, we have been working to stabilise an area of land at our scheme in Yarm.

We have tried a number of things to stop landslip around a small stream which runs through the site.

This year, we have completed a major refurbishment exercise which includes driven piles filled with grout reinforcement, re-grading areas with coarse rockfill and fitting steel protection mesh. I oversaw the works and I am delighted that this major project has now been completed.

This should resolve any further issues we have.

New doors and windows at Acomb Wood

by Jo Caveney

When I first took over management of the York area in 2014, I received numerous complaints about the windows and doors.

Residents said the properties were damp and draughty and cost a lot to heat. The condition of the windows and doors also affected the overall appearance of the scheme, making it look run down.

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ACCENT NEWS NORTH EAST

With evidence from home visits, I requested the contracts team to bring the works required forward into the planned programme for 2015/16. They agreed. Work started in the summer and finished in December.

The work has changed the whole appearance of the scheme. Residents are very happy with their new doors and windows, and have been telling me their pockets are feeling the benefit too!

Homes for rent

by Kelly Brooks

Last year, we re-housed over 550 new residents in the North East using local choice based lettings schemes. To offer more choice to customers, we are now introducing Accent waiting lists. Operating our own waiting lists will make sure we help people with the greatest housing need first and they have a choice about where they live.

how many bedrooms you need and whether you have a pet. You will also need to tell us why you want to move.

Anyone aged 16 or over can apply by completing an application form. If you would like us to send one directly to a friend or family member, let us know.

We will support you every step of the way. When a property becomes available in your chosen area, we will go through the process with you.

We have homes across the North East. If you would like to move, or you know someone who is looking for a home, please contact us.

How to apply for our rented housing depends on circumstances and the type of home wanted.

We allocate our homes via:      

Our website: www.accentgroup.org/find-a-home Our own direct waiting list Our transfer list Zoopla: www.zoopla.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/accentmb Choice Based Lettings

To express interest for a home, we will need to know where you want to live, the names and dates of birth of everyone who will be living with you,

New kitchen is just the Meal Ticket

Our £204,000 planned refurbishment project to replace 47 kitchens at Allerton Close, Hartlepool with ESH Property Services has recently been completed.

of all the employees.

In summing up the work, she said: “The quality of the kitchen units and the qualities of your team are outstanding. I am of the opinion that this team of workers are a great asset to your company. They are very polite, caring people and only too willing to help whereever they can”.

Residents are very pleased with the completion of this long awaited work. One resident in particular couldn’t have been more delighted with the professionalism of ESH staff and the caring nature

Thanks to Paul Blackwell, Contract Manager, Mark Neary, Site Manager, Jackie Edwards, Customer Care Advisor, Mohammed Tahir, Contract Surveyor and all the ESH Property Services team.

by Amanda Grange

   @ CONTACT US SEE PAGE 8

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We have recently reviewed how we should engage with you on scrutinising and improving services…

Rachael Walsh Head of Strategy & Regulation  @rachaelwaccent

We know that many of you want information, influence and choice in the services we deliver, but don’t have the time or desire to get actively involved. So, we are looking at ways to make it easy for you to influence how we deliver services.

One way we can do this is to make more use of the customer profile information you have already given us, for example, when we make decisions about services for older or younger people, or families. We will also make it easier for you to engage with us electronically by, for example, online and email surveys.

Of course, you can still get more involved if you would like to. Our compliance and scrutiny committees are responsible for ensuring services are delivered well within our regions, and we are always looking for residents to join (see page 2). We also hope you will get involved in scrutiny exercises, for example, by attending a focus group or assessing the quality of specific services.

If you are interested in any of the above ways of getting involved, or would just like more information, please contact us.

New reception opening times A reminder that our opening hours are now: • Middlesbrough office: Mornings 9am to 1pm (except Wednesday which is 10am – 1pm).

• Blackhall office: Mornings 9am to 12noon (except Wednesdays when we are closed all day).

Although our office receptions now close at 1pm, you can still contact us outside these times.

STAY IN TOUCH! Address: 202 Linthorpe Road Middlesbrough TS1 3QW

Social media: Telephone:  @accentmb 0345 678 0555  /accentmb Email: customerservices@accentgroup.org

www.accentgroup.org

Our contact centre is open from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, and from 8am – 12pm on Saturday