Cha Newsletter December 2014 by Steve Evans

December 2014

Crosby Housing Association newsletter for tenants

The Board and Staff at Crosby Housing Association wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year

Inside this special Christmas edition we have reports and photos from events in Seaforth and Waterloo; an update on Universal Credit; news on a decorating discount for CHA tenants; an invitation to our Planning Day in January; a Christmas quiz; and finally, should anybody need it, a recipe for a Christmas de-tox. Merry Christmas!!!

Welfare Reform Update - Implementation of Universal Credit Universal Credit is here and happening as part of the Crosby Housing Association world!

The introduction of Universal Credit will have an impact on anyone who is out of work or on low income receiving benefits. The greatest impact/risk will be to families and others living in our homes that have more than one bedroom.

Universal Credit will eventually replace: Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance Income-based Employment and Support Allowance Income Support Working Tax Credit Child Tax Credit Housing Benefit From summer 2014 all new claims made by single people would automatically be a UC claim. Roll-out to families living in Sefton is expected to commence from spring 2015. Be prepared! Get Ready!

There is no paper claim form for UC, you make your claim on line! The average waiting time for a payment to be processed is 6 weeks . UC is paid on a monthly basis to mimic an annual salary. UC is paid direct to you and you will be responsible for paying all your essential bills, including your rent.  If

Open a bank account Improve your internet skills

Get access to the internet

you claim UC ask DWP to contact CHA direct for a copy of your Tenancy Agreement and to confirm the rent you pay.  You will be offered free budgeting advice at your initial interview - make use of this service as it’s free!  If you under occupy your home, you may be able to claim a Discretionary Housing Payment from Sefton Council to cover the bedroom subsidy.  If you are a single person you are entitled to 25% reduction in your council tax payment .  Set up direct debits so your essential payments such as rent and utilities are paid and you do not fall into debt .  If you are in debt, contact the companies concerned to agree arrangements to pay what you can. Help us to help you.

In the New Year we will be writing to families and others living in our homes that have more than one bedroom to gather in information we need in order to help you prepare for Universal Credit. Look out for our Tenant Profiling Questionnaire. Your co-operation will help us to help you. 2

Christmas in Waterloo & Seaforth

Crosby Housing Association working with our partners in the community have hosted Christmas events in Waterloo and Seaforth. We were entertained by many performers including the children of St Johns Primary School, Mark Reader, Kenny Thompson and In Another Place Gospel Choir, whilst enjoying table top sales and tombola’s from Seaforth Community Shop, Sandunes Nursey, SING Centre and Seaforth Brownies. Eating paella cooked in the open by Tapas Tapas, pasta prepared by LPK South Road, cupcakes from Sonia’s World of Cakes and mince pies contributed by Sensations café of Stella Precinct proved very popular on cold nights in late November. Local children visited Santa in his grotto and were all treated to a selection box and an audience with Father Christmas himself. The Christmas lights were switched on by Sefton’s Mayor Kevin Cluskey. We would like to make special mention to all those involved in bringing the Christmas events together. Without you all, we wouldn’t have made it the success it was!

Thanks to all involved and see you all next year! 3

Didn’t we have a lovely time the day we went to Warrington? Of Course we did! In July, 13 tenants and 4 members of staff went along to the annual Tenant’s Conference held at the Village Hotel in Warrington. Our newly appointed Bus Driver Vin Fox (aka CHA Operations Manager) had the joy of driving the mini bus on a very sunny day. The conference provides the opportunity to meet with tenants of other small Housing Associations in the NW. Throughout the day, issues currently facing the housing world were discussed. Peter Marland from Ashton Pioneer Homes gave a talk about welfare reform and their live experience of universal credit. Other speakers included Lynda Cooper from Christians Against Poverty, John Haslam from Manchester Credit Union, and a session from Forum’s Health Engagement Team.

Scrutiny Panel The Scrutiny Panel works on behalf of CHA tenants to shape and scrutinise service delivery and to hold CHA to account. The Panel will work to ensure that CHA provides customer centred services of the highest standard; ensuring you our tenants, residents and others are at the heart of the business. On 4th December 2014, Jill Roberts, CHA Housing Services Team Leader, met with the Scrutiny Panel refreshed with new members to help Crosby Housing Association look at how services are run internally. The team discussed their role and what aspects of CHA services they will look at in 2015, to include provision of Communal Services and our Repairs and Void policy and procedures.

We are proud to work alongside our tenants to improve services and we are always looking for new ways for you to be involved in our events and improving the way in which we work. If you would like to be more involved with CHA, contact us on 0151 920 7300 or email us at jill.roberts@crosby-ha.org.uk for more information.

Tendering for provision of Communal Services Approximately 240 tenants pay a charge as part of their rent for services provided by the Association. The three main services provided are:

Garden Maintenance Window Cleaning Communal Area Cleaning

provided by Evergreen Horticulture provided by Weedalls provided by Premier Cleaning

The contracts for delivery of these services are due for renewal, and to ensure value for money and quality of service, the services will be put out to competitive tender for delivery from 1 April 2015. We will be asking the Scrutiny Panel to help us with this exercise. If you would like to be involved or want more information please contact Vin Fox. 4

Annual Open Meeting Crosby Housing Association Annual Open Meeting was held on 9th September 2014 at SING Centre in Seaforth. The meeting was well attended by our Tenants, Partners and Contractors who enjoyed presentations from Board Chair Nick Thompson and CEO Mandy Elliott on the work CHA has completed over the past year. A guest speaker from Citizens Advice Bureau gave an informative talk to the meeting about the impact of welfare reform and universal credit. The presentation opened up a healthy debate throughout the room and provided us all with a better understanding of the implications of UC.

2014 Gardening Competition Once again the standard of entries for this year’s competition was really high, especially in the category of Best Overall Garden. We would like to say a big well done and thank you to all those who entered the competition and congratulations to all our winners. The winners were announced at our annual meeting in September and pictures of the winning entries are shown below. While the judges were about they also noticed a large number of excellent gardens that were not entered into the competition. So if you think your garden matches up to those of our winning entries please enter next year’s competition. You could find your garden pictured here and receive a voucher for £25.

Best Overall Garden:

Best Entry/Alley Way:

Bernie Reynolds

Mr & Mrs Hughes

Best Vegetable Garden:

Best Yard/Hanging Basket Display:

Ian McKay

Sue McCluskie

Meeting To discuss planned programmes In September we met with many of you in the SING Plus centre to discuss our plans for future works programmes. It was a productive meeting with lots of feedback, some good and some not so good. We have listened to your views and revised our plans where we can. In summary the planned works programme for the current and following financial year will focus on: Fire security works - relating to the installation and upgrading of fire security systems. Works for this programme have been tendered and are currently in progress. Energy efficiency works to support tenants to keep their homes warmer for less. In the main, works will focus on heating systems, window replacements and the renewal of external doors. In prioritising works we have focussed on the needs of older people and those living in supported environments and we were reassured that you endorsed this approach at the meeting. We hope to have the first of the heating works tendered shortly and we will move towards tendering the works for window and door replacement in the new year. Over 2 years our aim is to replace    

windows in up to 80 homes heating systems in up to 50 homes external doors in around 15 homes complete the fire safety works in all relevant properties.

In order to ensure that the programme can be financed we have to monitor closely the money we spend on homes that become vacant and the level of day to repairs we undertake. We have already reviewed some of our systems and we will be looking more closely at these areas with a view to making improvements. We will be involving the new tenant scrutiny team to make sure tenants are closely involved in deciding any changes that come out of the review.

CHA Business Communications Day The next away-day is scheduled for Monday 26th January 2015 at the Crosby Lakeside Activity Centre (CLAC) and the office will be closed on that day. The day will be an opportunity for key stakeholders, staff, Board and tenants to discuss CHA operations in the future. Generally a maximum of 12 tenants will join staff and board on the day; it’s not too formal and there are opportunities to get involved. To join us on the day please contact the office for further details.

Chart is 13! CHART works with Sefton residents who have a severe and enduring mental illness by helping to resolve their accommodation and support issues. CHART helps to assess accommodation and support needs and assists in finding suitable, appropriate and sustainable accommodation. The past year has been a busy one for the team. Tom Massey left in May after managing the team for a second stint of nine months. National policies such as the Bedroom Tax and the discontinuation of Community Care Grants through welfare reform have presented challenges to both the team and the people they support. CHART received 338 referrals during the last financial year to March 2014 and 125 referrals so far this year in the period April to September. CHART continues to have a close working relationship with housing and support providers in the social and private sector, mental health teams within Merseycare and other agencies, both in the statutory and voluntary sector. CHART works beyond the local areas covered by Crosby Housing Association, supporting people across Sefton and working with partners throughout the borough.

Headway Sefton Headway is a national charity that exists to help, advise and provide a safe community for sufferers of head/brain injuries and their carers. Sefton Headway’s first drop-in on 12th November 2014 was well attended with over 30 new faces through the door. Hal Lever, Author of ‘I’m Not Drunk Honest’ gave a short, inspirational talk, relaying his own experiences of brain injury and the subsequent daily struggles he faced overcoming the stigma of appearing ‘drunk’ when out in public. Every 2nd Wednesday of the month between 1.00 and 3.00pm, Sefton Headway host a drop-in service at Crosby Lakeside Activity Centre (CLAC) for those who care for brain/head injured and the injured themselves. Sefton Headway are also looking for volunteers. For more information, contact Cathy on 07736774496. Come along and join us – Help us evolve

Waterloo Town Team Waterloo Town Team is a strategic partnership formed in 2010. Members include a range of stakeholders from the community, housing providers, local authority, fire service, transport service, police, residents and traders. It has set its ambitions high to support improvements to the local area and in particular the High Street. In doing this it aims to improve the quality of life for local people many of whom are tenants of CHA. The town team is chaired by CHA Chief Executive, Mandy Elliott. In 2015, Waterloo:   

celebrates its 200th birthday commemorates the battle of 1815 after which it is named marks the 10th anniversary of the arrival of “Another Place” onto its beaches

The Waterloo Town Team is working with its partners to deliver a range of events that will commemorate these important milestones. We will keep you posted so that you can join in and share the experience.

Thinking of Decorating? - Special Offer for Tenants CHA has signed up to work with Dulux Decorator Centre Refresh scheme to give our tenants a higher quality service. As a result, you are now entitled to a minimum of 10% discount at a Dulux Decorator Centre when you show your Crosby Housing Association tenancy agreement.

You will find Dulux Decorating Centres on the industrial estates at Kirkdale and Aintree. Sandon Industrial Estate L5 9YN

Aintree Industrial Estate Brookfield Drive L9 7AJ

Tel: 0151 298 2307

Tel: 0151 521 1907

Communitree Launch On 11th November 2014, Veterans and the local community gathered to mark Armistice Day. A service involving Sefton Veterans, Bowersdale Resource Centre and Crosby Housing Association was held in Bowersdale Park. The morning gave a unique opportunity for year 10 pupils of Crosby High to mix and talk with the Veterans about their personal experiences. The service was the first event to make use of the Communitree planted last year in Bowersdale Park for the community. Pupils of Crosby High and Seaforth Brownies decorated the Communitree with poppies and crosses bearing personal messages of recognition and thanks to those who served in conflicts in WW1, WW2, Falklands and more recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Communitree is available for events run by the community and you can book a time to use the Communitree by contacting the Friends of Bowersdale Park by emailing: bowersdalepark@yahoo.co.uk

Sefton Veteran Project with Expect Centre On 26th November 2014, Expect Centre held an official launch of the Sefton Veterans Project. Local community and partners such as Sefton Council, One Vision Housing, Crosby Housing and Mayor Kevin Cluskey attended the launch which revealed the work that the Project does with Veterans to help them feel part of the community. Sefton Veterans Project supports individuals who have served in the armed forces on a range of issues including housing, access to employment and volunteering opportunities. Since the project began, Expect has worked with over 50 Veterans and is looking to establish links with more ex-service men and women in our area. If you would like to know more about the Sefton Veterans Project, would like to be involved, or know a Veteran that you would like to refer, please contact Dave Smith at the Expect Centre on 0151 257 6371.

Paying Your Rent In April this year we introduced several new ways for our tenants to be able to make rent payments. Many of you have discovered how much easier it is now to pay your rent wherever and whenever it suits you best – particularly helpful over the Christmas holidays. With your personalised AllPay card you can make payments:

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At the Post Office; cash, cheque or debit card payments up to £450

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At local shops displaying the yellow PayPoint sign; cash payments up to £200

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Online at any time using your bank debit or credit card through www.allpayments.net

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Over the phone at any time using your bank debit or credit card – call 0844 557 8321

By Direct Debit making regular payments from your bank account – call our office on 0151 920 7300 to set up DD arrangements

If you currently make payments to us through your bank by Standing Order, we will be contacting you early in the New Year to ask if you would like to change to Direct Debit. The advantage of Direct Debit is that you do not need to fill out new bank forms every time your rent changes. We let you know well in advance of any payment changes and these are updated at your bank without any need for further actions on your part. If you have lost or never received your personalised AllPay card, please get in touch and we will gladly arrange to send a card to you.

CHA Board News The Board Meeting on 18 August 2014 was the last for Margaret Pickthall and Paul Davies who have now both formally retired as Board members. Board Chair, Nick Thompson, expressed the gratitude of the Association to Margaret and Paul for all their time, work and enthusiasm.

Margaret Pickthall and Paul Davies

3 new members where appointed to the Board at the CHA Shareholder Annual General Meeting on 9/9/14 – the new members are Tony McClure, Ian Ross and Peter O’Dowd. We are looking forward to benefiting from their skills and experiences. 10

New Faces CHA welcomed 3 new members of staff over the summer months.

Jill Roberts Housing Services Team Leader

Kevin Powe Housing Services Officer

Lou Colton Business Support Officer

Jill, Kevin and Lou have all settled into life as part of the Crosby Housing Team and are looking forward to working with you in the future. Their recruitment has enabled us to complete changes to our organisational structure, staff and team roles to meet the changing requirement of the business.

The Operations Support team and Housing Services staff have been merged to form one integrated team â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Housing Services Team. This new team is managed by the Operations Manager, Vin Fox, who is now responsible for all aspects of services provided to our tenants.

Christmas Quiz

10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

What date is St Stephen's Day? In Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol, who was Scrooge's dead business partner? The song White Christmas was first performed in which 1942 film? London's Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is traditionally given by which country? In the song The Twelve Days of Christmas, '...my true love brought to me nine...' what? Name the original eight reindeer from the 'Twas the night Before Christmas' poem? What colour are the berries of the mistletoe plant? What is New Year's Eve called in Scotland? What Christmas item was invented by London baker and wedding-cake specialist Tom Smith in 1847? In what year was Band-Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas the UK Christmas chart-topping record? In which modern country is St Nicholas's birthplace and hometown? Who wrote How the Grinch Stole Christmas? Who is officially credited as the author of Auld Lang Syne? How many points does a snowflake have? 1. 26th December 2. Jacob Marley 3. Holiday Inn 4. Norway 5. Ladies dancing 6. Comet, Cupid, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Donner, Blitzen 7. White 8. Hogmanay 9. Christmas cracker 10. 1984 11. Turkey 12. Dr Seuss 13. Robert Burns 14. Six

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Christmas Office Hours Crosby Housing Association office in Church Road, Waterloo closes at 1.00 p.m. Wednesday 24th December 2014 and re-opens at 9.00 a.m. Monday 5th January 2015 Emergency Repairs only:

0845 057 7096 24 hours Need a Christmas Detox? It is the season to be jolly but if it all gets a bit too much over the festive period, try this Christmas juice idea to perk you up! Red Tomato Cooler 5 tomatoes, 1 lemon (peeled), A few sprigs of parsley: Juice the vegetables together and drink. If you would like this document in another language or format, or if you require the service of an interpreter, please contact us.

To get in touch :

Call us on 0151 920 7300 Visit us at www.crosbyhousing.org.uk

CROSBY HOUSING ASSOCIATION