ARDENGLEN’S PRIORITIES FOR 2023-24

Consideration will be given to introducing a different model of delivery of our reactive repairs service. The construction industry has changed significantly since the pandemic and Brexit and there has been considerable uncertainty affecting labour and material costs. Many larger maintenance companies who previously provided housing associations with a comprehensive repairs service have left the sector and others who remain have been affected by significant cost uncertainty and are reluctant to commit to long term contracts with fixed costs.

We are now looking to partially revert back to the more hands-on approach that was prevalent in housing associations in the past where the repairs service was delivered by a number of smaller contractors who can hopefully provide a greater consistency in personnel and therefore gain a better local knowledge of repairs and also develop a more personal interaction with customers which ultimately should lead to an increase in overall performance and consistency with costs. The effectiveness of the new delivery model will be assessed against industry standard key performance indicators and benchmarked against other contractors and peer groups.

We will be engaging with customers at regular intervals throughout 2023-24 and beyond to better understand your needs and tailor our services to our customers’ priorities, this will include developing a community investment strategy. AHA will implement a recording system for customer profiling including equalities data.

Services

Deliver first class customer services

We will review our customer care standards in line with all of our methods of communication taking in to account the views of customers and staff. We will continue to develop digital methods of communication in relation to the services and information available online and the range of methods that customers can use to engage with us.

We will continue to support customers impacted by both the continued roll out of Universal Credit & the cost of living crisis by working in partnership with external agencies, seeking relevant funding opportunities including extended funding to continue to provide the energy advisor post which has proven to be invaluable. Income management will remain a key focus ensuing rent arrears collection is being managed effectively. We will review our longstanding Welfare Rights Service to ensure that it still fits the needs of customers.

We will focus on getting the basics right and to the highest standard especially in our management of void properties and allocations. We will implement hate crime as part of our neighbour disputes policy to reinforce our position as a 3rd party reporting centre for hate crime.

We will continue to build on our membership for both pantry and panty plus activities & prepare for a potential move to new premises to deliver current activities held in the Maureen Cope Community Hall.

Asset Management

We appreciate that despite being sub-inflationary this year’s rent increase has been quite substantial due to the external pressures of the economy and that tenant’s expectations will be such that they will be looking for evidence of where their money is being spent.

We will therefore be looking to restart our investment programme this year as the original plan was scaled back in 22/23 to accommodate a financial review of the impact of significantly increasing maintenance costs on the overall 30 year financial projections of the association. The review helped to identify pressure points and enabled the association to make adjustments to ensure continuity of its cash-flow whilst also accommodating investment in the replacement of major components within its stock.

We will continue to review our finances on an ongoing basis to ensure sufficient resources are available to undertake the lifetime maintenance of our stock and ensure we are compliant with all tenant safety matters. This will include the periodic updating of our Asset Management Software cost data to accommodate tender price increases as well as updating condition data received from the planned 20% stock condition surveys which will ensure we are targeting our finances towards those areas of greater need.

Our overall approach to Asset Management will be reviewed to ensure that we are operating in alignment with those principles outlined in the recent Scottish Housing Regulators practice guide on Integrated Asset Management.

Whilst the association has always given careful consideration to compliance with all tenant safety matters and will continue to do so there will be a greater emphasis given to pro-actively gathering information on the prevalence of dampness and mould within our properties and the impact it is having on our tenants wellbeing and comfort within their homes.

We will aim to develop a tenant communication plan to facilitate this which will give us a better understanding of the nature and locality of the problems and help to devise permanent solutions not only on a reactive basis but also incorporated within future investment or new-build projects.

Communities

Provide quality homes, communities and sustainable tenancies

The Association will therefore fully embrace the recent joint briefing note by the Scottish Housing Regulator, Putting Safety First which provides guidance for social housing practitioners and challenges assumptions about the contributory factor of tenant’s lifestyles towards the causes of dampness and mould.

The review of EESSH2 by the Scottish Government has taken longer than expected and is currently still in the consultation stage. This would have provided a degree of clarity on how to proceed with the proposed Energy Strategy which was planned for 22/23 and hopefully would have outlined funding mechanisms to assist associations to finance the upgrades required.

Instead of waiting on the outcome of the review it is proposed that specialist consultants are engaged at an early stage to initially provide a brief overview towards developing an energy strategy with consideration given to our current stock profile and its suitability towards various retrofit fabric upgrades and renewable heating technology. The framework will be further developed in greater detail once the outcomes of the review are known.

In a difficult and uncertain operating environment we will continue to utilize procurement initiatives to seek greater contractor interest through the use of existing Framework Contracts or Dynamic Purchasing Systems where contractors have expressed a real commitment to participate.

Similarly we will further develop our current engagement in collaborative procurement with other associations in the wider Glasgow area and will be looking to consolidate this relationship with the various stakeholders to enable us to develop the skills, and knowledge which will allow us to extend such arrangements to associations in the immediate local area

Partnerships

Build strong collaborative relationships locally and nationally

Partnerships

Ardenglen does not have unlimited financial and human resources to contribute to community regeneration. Accordingly, the Business Plan emphasises the importance of working in partnership with others as well as delivering services in our own right.

Seeking to work in partnership in other areas will also be important to us, for example in relationto procurement, sharing good practice and contributing to the locality plan. This is something weare keen to do more of, through joint working with other communitybased housing associationsin Castlemilk and other peers.

Governance and Finances

The ambitions set out in this Business Plan can only be fully realised if Ardenglen has strong and effective governance and if we have the financial resources and stability needed to put our plans into practice.

The financial projections accompanying the Business Plan confirm that the Association is in a position to meet our long-term maintenance and debt repayment obligations.

The projections incorporate a set of realistic cost assumptions, with our maintenance costs based on an up-to-datestock condition survey and with significant costs increases above inflation built into our projections over the next few years. Going forward, we will develop a strategy for the delivery of the EESSH2 standard, but we are clear that the cost of meeting the standard should not fall on our tenants.

The economic uncertainty emphasises the importance achieving best value for our customers. The continuing work of the Value For Money Working Group will focus on efficiency and new initiatives which will underpin our future viability and rent affordability.

The Association is committed to taking a detailed look at affordability to inform future rent increases which will include detailed tenant consultation and a comprehensive equality impact assessment. Refresh the budgetary process, with focus on budgetary control, review and monitor expenditure, including Business Plan assumptions regularly, with the introduction of quarterly forecast outturns for Board Review.

Development of a Digital Strategy for both our staff and our customers that will enable efficient customer service transactions and streamline processed for our teams.

To continue to effectively manage our strategic risks to be in a stronger position to deliver our business objectives.