Larkfield News - Autumn 2017

AUTUMN 2017

larkfield news creating a better neighbourhood

WEBSITE MAKEOVER Have you seen our new website? We’ve redesigned it to make it more user friendly, with improved content and functionality.

On it you’ll find information on how to apply for a home, ways to report repairs and pay your rent, details regarding your tenancy, and information for owner occupiers. Have a look for yourself at

www.larkfieldha.org.uk

WELCOME to the autumn edition of Larkfield News.

Inside, you will find information on our AGM and new committee, Universal Credit, summer trip and much more. We are also pleased to announce the launch of our brand new website!

Frances Beattie Chairperson

Find us on Facebook Did you know we have a Facebook page?

We use it to keep our tenants up to speed with what’s going on at Larkfield.

www.larkfieldha.org.uk

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COMMUNITY EVENTS We recently organised two events for residents of Larkfield and Port Glasgow.

30 residents joined us on our Annual Summer Trip to East Kilbride Shopping Centre and 40 residents joined us for a community cinema night where they enjoyed watching ‘Blue Hawaii’.

The community cinema event coincided with Scottish Housing Day where we, along with other Scottish Housing Associations, used it as an opportunity to promote the housing options available to people across Scotland.

We love organising trips and events and once again everyone had a great time.

Frances paid tribute to two of our long serving Committee members, Allan McIntyre and Margaret Bell – both of whom retired from the Management Committee this year. She then welcomed new Committee member Suzanne Gallagher.

We celebrated our achievements at our Annual General Meeting on 21 September.

Frances Beattie, Chair of Larkfield, welcomed 40 Larkfield members and guests and reported on another successful year, highlighting key activities and continued partnership 2

working across the Link group.

Members heard that over the past 20 years, we have invested more than £8 million on improvement works to our properties, and have worked alongside tenants and community partners to deliver customer-centred services within the heart of the Larkfield community.

Frances Beattie and Suzanne Gallagher.

01475 630930 info@larkfieldha.org.uk

Universal Credit The Scottish Government have new powers granted to them by Westminster to change how Universal Credit is paid to new claimants in Scotland.

The new Universal Credit choices are to: • Be paid monthly or twice monthly; and • Have the relevant housing costs in the Universal Credit award paid to you or to your landlord directly.

New claimants will be offered the choice in their online account. If you choose to have your housing costs paid directly to your landlord this will be confirmed in your online journal.

If you do not make the choice within 60 days of the offer being presented, then the offer will be removed from your online account. However, you will still be able to request the new Universal Credit choices at any time.

If you are an existing Universal Credit claimant these choices will be accessible to you from early January 2018.

If you choose to be paid Universal Credit twice monthly, you will be advised by the Department of Work and Pensions online when the first half of your award is due. If you receive your housing costs directly, you need to ensure you budget adequately so you have money to pay your rent.

If you are unsure about any aspects of Universal Credit, please contact your Housing Officer on 01475 630930.

Planned Maintenance This year we completed work on 20 properties in the Larkfield area to make them more affordable to run.

The work that was carried out was to improve the render on the outside of the properties to help increase insulation.

We invested £80,000 in the scheme and worked in partnership with Inverclyde Council, the Wise Group and Everwarm.

Review of our Customer Service Standards We are currently reviewing our Customer Service Standards. These are part of our commitment to put you first, and deliver services that are accessible to everyone. We want to provide an efficient and customer-focused service and are responsible for making sure our services meet the standards and outcomes detailed in the Scottish Social Housing Charter.

Customer service is at the heart of everything we do and we want to get it right first time.

If you call us, we will: • Answer the telephone promptly • Call you back within one working day. If you want to speak to a specific person who is not available, we will call you back to arrange a mutually convenient time If you write to us, we will:

Our commitment to you • Treat you fairly, with respect and in a professional manner • Be polite, honest and courteous at all times • Always identify ourselves by name, wear a badge and, where appropriate, wear Larkfield branded clothing • Ensure, by listening to you, that your needs are identified and understood • Provide you with different ways of getting in touch • Provide information or advice which is concise, accurate, jargon free and in plain language • Provide information in other languages, large print, Braille or audio tape on request • Provide access to hearing loops and translation or interpretation services on request • Respect your right to confidentiality and keep your personal information secure in accordance with data protection legislation • We will always try to resolve your enquiry at the first point of contact • Make sure our staff have excellent customer care skills to deliver our services • Use any feedback you provide to shape our services Our standards are what you should expect from us, but we also ask you: • Treat our staff with courtesy, respect and dignity • Keep any appointments that you have or contact us if you need to change the date or time • Give us the information we need to help you • Give us your views and suggestions to help us improve our services

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Response times for general enquiries

• Acknowledge receipt of your letter within one working day by letter, telephone or email • Reply to letters requiring a response within five working days • Include a contact name and telephone number, together with any other information needed (e.g. reference number) If you email us, we will: • Acknowledge receipt of your email within one working day • Reply to those requiring a response within five working days We are keen to hear your views on our revised standards. You can comment or obtain a copy of these by contacting us by: Telephone: 01475 630930 In person: 14 Lothian Road, Greenock, PA16 0PG4 Email: info@larkfieldha.org.uk Website: www.larkfieldha.org.uk

01475 630930 info@larkfieldha.org.uk

Customer Feedback PERFORMANCE UPDATE This is our “report card” for 1 April 2017 to 30 September 2017. The report measures our performance in meeting our timescales, delivering satisfactory outcomes and implementing changes to improve our services.

During this time, we received 19 complaints and four compliments.

What we are doing to improve our customer service.

Complaints by service Reason

Number

Reactive Repairs Services

5

Major Repairs Contracts

6

Landscaping Maintenance Contract

2

Estate Management

3

Housing Services

1

Medical Adaptations

1

Alterations/Improvements

1

Total

19

• If a complaint is upheld, we will look to implement changes to improve our future customer service • Continue to engage with our reactive repairs contractors to ensure initial complaints are dealt with quickly by an on-site supervisor • Continue to engage with our major repair contractors to ensure initial snagging/follow up works are dealt with quickly • Continue to review our internal repair procedures and performance • Introduction of a text reminder for repairs appointments made for reactive repairs

Compliments and Complaints

Reactive Repairs Service

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We encourage you to let us know by phone, email, surveys and letter or face-to-face what you thought of the service you received.

The feedback you provide helps us improve our services.

Tenancy Support/Advice

1

We will:

Total

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Compliments by service Reason

Number

Stage One Complaints All 19 complaints were dealt with through stage one of our complaints process. We responded to 16 of these complaints (84%) within the required timescale (five working days) and 12 (63%) were upheld (i.e. found to be justified).

• Ensure that comments, feedback or complaints are accurately recorded • Ensure that someone takes responsibility to deal with a complaint if it cannot be resolved by the person you have contacted • Aim to resolve all concerns raised by customers as soon as possible • Always follow the Scottish Public Sector Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Guidelines

Stage Two Complaints We received no second stage complaints during this period.

www.larkfieldha.org.uk

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Bonfire Safety FESTIVE SAVING TIPS Plan early Be realistic and budget accordingly. Don’t forget the everyday bills. Remember that rent, council tax, utility bills and other existing debts still have to get paid, and the consequences can be severe if they’re not.

As we approach bonfire night, we would like to remind you of the laws regarding fireworks and bonfire safety.

Guidance from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) advises it is an offence:

Don’t bank on an overdraft Even if you need more money, don’t run up an overdraft without talking to your bank first!

Shop around Try as many different places as possible to find the best price.

Buy safe to be safe Whatever the deal, don’t buy from unauthorised lenders.

Read the small print Check for hidden extras in the credit agreement and work out the amount payable.

Do your own credit checks If you’re going to use a credit card, shop around and compare on Money Saving Expert first.

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• To set off fireworks between 11.00pm and 7.00am (or after midnight on bonfire night) • To modify, tamper with or misuse fireworks • To throw or set off fireworks in any public place • To sell fireworks to anyone under 18 years of age • For anyone under 18 years of age to possess fireworks in a public place • To cause unnecessary suffering to any domestic or captive animals If you have a bonfire at home ensure it is well away from buildings, vehicles, trees, fences, power lines, telecommunications equipment and sheds.

For further information please go to www.firescotland.gov.uk

Reporting Street Lighting Faults Street lighting faults should be reported to Inverclyde Council via its website at www.inverclyde.gov.uk.

Any urgent faults (e.g. a large section of street lights aren’t working, there are exposed wires or the lighting column has been damaged) should be reported by telephone on 01475 717171 (during office open hours) and 0800 373 635 out of hours.

PLEASE NOTE when reporting street lighting faults you will be asked for street name, town and unit number. The unit number is normally found on the front of the lighting column e.g. R1 (black letters on a white painted disc).

01475 630930 info@larkfieldha.org.uk

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Rent Arrears Policy Review

Get involved and have your say!

Rent is our main source of income. We can’t provide our service or maintain and improve our homes without it. It is a condition of your tenancy agreement that rent is paid in advance on or before the first day of every month.

Although nearly two-thirds of our tenants get help with their rent through housing benefit (or the housing element of Universal Credit), every tenant is responsible for making sure their rent is paid on time.

Paying rent is not a choice

WAYS TO PAY YOUR RENT There are a number of ways you can pay: By telephone – Pay by credit or debit card over the phone. Make sure you have your allpay reference number to hand.

Call allpay on 0844 557 8321(24 hour automated service) or call us on 01474 630930.

To download the allpay app for your mobile phone please refer to the www.allpay.net/app.

Pay by Direct Debit – Paying by Direct Debit is worry free and ensures your rent is paid each month. Payment is taken directly from your bank account. This is a paperless process and can be set up over the phone using your account number and sort code.

We know many of our tenants struggle to pay their bills due to benefit cuts and rising household costs. We provide support and assistance to help tenants meet their legal obligation to pay rent.

Unfortunately, if tenants continuously fail to pay their rent, we have no option but to take legal action, which could result in them losing their home.

Text – Debit or credit card payments can be made using your mobile phone – register first at www.allpayments.net/textpay/login.aspx

Preventing and managing arrears is a major challenge for us. We have reviewed our approach to make sure that it is effective and fair. This approach is set out in our revised Prevention of Rent Arrears and Debt Collection policy. It covers:

Online – Pay over the internet using either a debit or credit card by visiting the allpay website at www.allpayments.net.

Make sure you have a note of your allpay reference number.

• the help we will give to our tenants to prevent them falling into debt • what action we will take to help tenants manage any rent arrears • under what circumstances we would take legal action to end a tenancy You can read this policy on our website. To request a hard copy, please call our office on 01475 630930.

We value any feedback you may have. If you have any suggestions of how we could improve our policy, please contact us by: Telephone: 01475 630930 In person: 14 Lothian Road, Greenock, PA16 0PG Email: info@larkfieldha.org.uk Website: www.larkfieldha.org.uk

Pay by cheque or postal order – Please make the cheque payable to “Larkfield Housing Association”, write your name and address on the back and then hand it in or post it to the office. We will issue you with a receipt after each payment has been made. You will not be charged for using this facility. If a cheque is dishonoured we reserve the right to make a charge against your account to cover bank charges plus handling costs.

Pay by Person At a “Paypoint”: You can use your payment card to pay your rent at any shop or outlet where you see the “Paypoint” logo. At the Post Office: You can use payment card to pay your rent at any Post Office.

www.larkfieldha.org.uk

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We are not Bystanders The pledge is a powerful, public declaration to staff, our partners and our customers that we will do everything we can to provide a safe environment for our staff to work in and for our tenants to live in. Bullying and hate crime harm people and create divisions. We believe we are all entitled to be treated with respect and with dignity and that the workplace and the home are better places when we are.

REPAIRS TEXT REMINDERS We are always looking for ways to improve our services. As part of this commitment, we are trialling a text reminder service for day-to-day repair appointments.

We will now send you a text reminder the day before your appointment, which will remind you of the time slot for your repair. The text will also give you a number to call if the appointment is no longer suitable and you would like to re-arrange it.

In June 2017, Larkfield staff participated in a new campaign aimed at helping to stamp out abuse. These ‘No Bystanders’ signed a pledge that they will never be a bystander to hateful language and abuse. If they hear it, they will call it out and report it, and if they can, they will stop it.

They promised to stand up for fairness and kindness.

No Bystanders is a campaign that was developed by Stonewall UK. More can be found out about its work here www.stonewall.org.uk/ our-work/campaigns/ nobystanders

LARKFIELD IS A DISABILITY CONFIDENT EMPLOYER We hope this measure will improve our services and reduce the amount of missed appointments.

Disability Confident is a government scheme designed to encourage employers to recruit and retain people with disabilities and those with health conditions. The scheme has replaced the Two Ticks Positive about Disabled People scheme. This accreditation is recognition that we are committed to employing people with disabilities and those with health conditions.

14 Lothian Road, Larkfield, Greenock PA16 0PG t: 01475 630930 f: 01475 636111 e: info@larkfieldha.org.uk www.larkfieldha.org.uk Office Opening Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9am – 4pm Wednesday 9am – 12.30pm. Closed Wednesday afternoon We will produce this information on request in Braille, Audio Tape, Large Print and Community Languages.

Larkfield Housing Association Limited is a registered society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, Registered Number: 2509 R(S), Registered Office: 14 Lothian Road, Greenock PA16 0PG. It is a Charity registered in Scotland, Charity Number: SC032418; a Registered Social Landlord with the Scottish Housing Regulator, Registration Number: HCB 293; and registered as a Property Factor Id: PF000279. Part of the Link group © Link Group Ltd 2017.

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01475 630930 info@larkfieldha.org.uk