Residents' Annual Report | 2020

2020 RESIDENTS’

somewhere to feel at home

HOW DO WE GET OUR DATA? Page 05

LOOKING AFTER YOU Page 13

CREATING OPPORTUNITIES Page 21

HOW DO WE LISTEN TO YOU? Page 09

LOOKING AFTER YOUR HOME Page 17

CARE AND SUPPORT Page 27

Somewhere to feel at home

Welcome to our Residents’ Annual Report I am John Synnuck, Swan Housing Association’s Chief Executive and I would like to welcome you to our Residents’ Annual Report for the period from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020. Since we formed Swan back in 1994, we have grown to owning and managing over 11,500 properties in East London and Essex and this year, like every year, we have continued to challenge ourselves to provide even better services to you.

WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT?

HOW DO WE GET OUR DATA? Page 05

HOW DO WE LISTEN TO YOU? Page 09

LOOKING AFTER YOU LOOK OUT FOR OUR KEY PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS

New this year

Coming up in 20/21

Resident Feedback

Changing Lives, Creating Opportunities

Resident led improvement

Page 13

LOOKING AFTER YOUR HOME Page 17

CREATING OPPORTUNITIES Page 21

CARE AND SUPPORT Page 27

PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE Page 31

Our key focus has continued to be maintaining our existing homes to a high standard, providing excellent housing and care and support services together with investing in residents through our dedicated Resident Involvement and Community Development team. We’ve also completed the building of 279 new affordable homes, welcoming new customers to The Paragon Ilford, Blackwall Reach, Beechwood and 360 Barking.

This report provides you with a summary of how we performed in providing services to you. It tells you where we have met our targets but also where we did less well than target and explains how we plan to make things better in 20/21. It sets out progress on key projects to improve our services to you and also explains how we have spent the income we have received. It highlights how real customers, just like you, have shaped our services in 19/20 and I hope this will encourage more of you to get involved in 20/21.

It is impossible for me to introduce this report without commenting on our response to Covid-19, although we are reporting to you up to the end of March

2020, so this report actually only covers a few days of the official lockdown. These have been incredibly challenging times for all of us and I recognise that many of you will have been on the frontline of the Covid-19 response and that all of you will have been impacted in some way by the virus.

Like the rest of the nation, we have had to respond to an unprecedented crisis and I am proud of our staff who, whilst working hard to ensure everyone’s safety, kept key frontline services going through lockdown.

They continued providing housing, caretaking, repairs and care and support services throughout and ensured we could not only maintain but enhance lettings of accommodation to NHS staff caring for the nation, to ensure many more critical staff could live in accommodation next to where they were working. Our teams also adapted to provide extra services to you, for example advising customers whose income had been affected by Covid-19 and calling vulnerable residents regularly who wanted us to provide this support.

I know that, whatever the future brings, our dedicated staff will continue to work hard to provide you with the services you need and to improve our services based on your feedback.

John Synnuck CEO

02

2020

RESIDENTS’ ANNUAL REPORT

Somewhere to feel at home

Introduction to Swan’s Service A note from Pete Morley-Watts Having recently taken on my new role as Executive Director of Customer Experience, I am delighted to be working with a team that is committed to delivering excellent customer services and listening to residents so that we can work together to improve what we do.

This report explains how we provided services to you in 2019/20. As ever, it sets out how key areas of our service have improved – this year including how we handle complaints and Anti-social behaviour (ASB). I am particularly pleased to share with you how the work of our Scrutiny Panel has helped us review and improve our handling of ASB complex cases - see page 13.

It also highlights the excellent performance on planned repairs and gas servicing and how we have delivered some incredible outcomes in the first year of our new ‘Count Me In’ strategy engaging with well over 2,500 residents this year.

Critically though, this report also highlights areas where we have not met our targets and how we are working hard to improve services further and how we are working with you to do this. It also looks forward to 20/21 where we will be focusing on our new Corporate Strategy which has

Swan at a glance...

Key info

been developed to put you, our customers, at the absolute centre of our organisation more than ever before.

Background to this report: The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) is responsible for regulating social housing providers like Swan, to make sure that they are well managed and financially secure. We must comply with the Economic and Consumer Standards set by the RSH. These standards are: Consumer Standards Home Tenancy Neighbourhood & Community Tenant Involvement & Empowerment Economic Standards Governance & Financial Viability Value for Money Rent We must ensure effective governance arrangements are in place and that we manage our resources to ensure our financial viability is maintained.

Swan has a compliant rating for both Governance (G2) and Financial Viability (V2). Swan’s Board is responsible for ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. Key performance

04

G2 V2 Compliant Housing Association

information is considered by Swan’s Board and Committees to ensure we are meeting the standards.

We work with residents to set our Service Standards and ensure these are monitored throughout the year. This year we have updated our reporting to make it even easier for residents to understand where our data comes from, how we listen to you as residents, how we are looking after both you and your home and how we create opportunities for residents, so that they and the communities that they live in can thrive.

We welcome residents’ feedback so please do email us on info@swan.org.uk to get in touch with our teams with any questions you have.

Pete Morley-Watts Executive Director of Customer Experience

Governance Rating

Viability Rating

Consolidated Group income and expenditure account for the year ended 31 March 2020 Turnover: Operating costs: Operating surplus: Surplus on sale properties (now included in operating surplus): Interest payable: Surplus on ordinary activities before tax:

£170.5m £(141.0)m £32.6m £3.2m £(13.5)m £7.3m

Homes Owned and Managed

6,893

494

910

1,621

General needs and affordable

Supported Housing

NHS and Key Worker

Leashold and Shared Ownership

New Homes Let 2019/20

337

139

General needs

Mutual exchange

The average rent per week for our general needs homes is £118.51

Resident Profile

27%

Head of Household - BAME

70%

Head of Household - female

16%

Head of Household - disabled

19%

Head of Household - 60+

40%

Lets made to BAME household

HOW DO WE GET OUR DATA?

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06

Asking the right questions At Swan we take a robust approach to sourcing a wide range of feedback from our residents. Our main source of customer feedback is through the ‘STAR’ survey, transactional surveys and our complaints process. STAR is a national framework for collecting customer satisfaction in social housing. To ensure our feedback from you is meaningful, our STAR surveys are carried out….

• Regularly - we carried out four surveys during the year.

• Independently – surveys were carried out by tlf, who are a leading specialist in customer research.

You may also have been asked to complete one of our transactional surveys if you have used our services such as repairs, lettings, complaints or anti-social behaviour. By carrying out monthly surveys to test our key services, we can quickly adapt what we do by using the feedback we receive from you.

New for 2020/21 Our main surveys

are conducted from September each year and in 20-21 we will be updating our questions. This is to make sure you can give us feedback on how it feels to deal with us, so we can meet your expectations.

Andrea O’Callaghan Customer Services Director

As Customer Services Director, Andrea and her team are responsible for the collection and analysis of our data to ensure we are delivering the right service for our customers.

HOW DO WE GET OUR DATA?

Somewhere to feel at home

Customer Satisfaction at a glance What you told us We compare our satisfaction year by year to check how you feel about our services and to see if any changes we have introduced are having the right impact. Our annual STAR surveys ask you what you think about our services.

This year you told us your main concerns were, first how long it took us to do things (including repairs), and secondly how we communicated with you.

“I sometimes find that Swan don’t want to do a lot when it comes to repairs, unless it’s an emergency.”

Financial Performance

How are we dealing with these issues?

Repairs: We are working closely with Axis to ensure our repairs and maintenance service delivers the service you expect. This year staffing and skills shortages across the sector have had an impact. We have worked with Axis who have put a new planning and scheduling tool in place to help get their operatives out to Swan residents as quickly as possible. This tool has made an impact already and is expected to continue to do so into 20/21. You can read more about our repairs service on page 17.

Miss W, Basildon

“Generally, if I have any problem, they sort it very quickly.”

Mr. T, Tendring

“I call for repairs they take their time to do anything, but as soon as I miss the rent they are on my case.”

Mr A, Tower Hamlets

“Where I live the staff who look after the estates are brilliant and polite.”

Mr. S, Redbridge

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It’s good to talk: To make communication with

us easier, last year we introduced a ‘Live Chat’ facility on our website. Our team are now able to chat live online with residents and many residents are now using this as a way to communicate with us.

This year we have worked on our new

customer portal ‘My Swan’ to help you communicate with us at a time to suit you. The new customer portal will go live in 20/21.

At Swan we are committed to ensuring value for money for our residents. The way we operate as a business and our funding arrangements are structured to maximise the amount of ‘surplus’, or income we generate from our development programme and the day to day activity, so we can continue to invest in services for our residents and new homes to help as many people as possible feel at home with Swan.

Mar-‘19 Mar-‘20 RSH (Sector)** Mar-19 Reinvestment

4.6% 7.8%

6.2%

New social housing units

0.2%

3.3%

1.5%

New non-social

0.2%

3.6%

0.0%

Headline social housing cost per unit

£4,988

£4,962

£3,690

Operating margin social housing lettings

47%

44%

29.2%

Return on capital employed

2.5%

3.1%

3.8%

housing units

** RSH sector figures use median values as there are extreme outliers in the Global data – the median for each metric is the middle value in the dataset

How do we spend your rent?

The rent that you pay for your Swan Home is set each year in line with the Regulator of Social Housing’s Rent Standard. From April 2016 rents have reduced by 1% in line with The Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016.

How your rent is spent

Service charge breakdown (per £1 on average) How your service charge is spent

£1

£1

Interest paid on Bank Loans

£0.32

Communal Cleaning and Gardening

£0.30

Housing Management

£0.26

Communal Repairs

£0.22

Repairs and Maintenance

£0.26

Health and Safety

£0.19

Resident Involvement

£0.01

Utilities

£0.13

Security and CCTV

£0.03

Other

£0.13

Overheads £0.15

HOW DO WE LISTEN TO YOU?

Somewhere to feel at home

Count Me In!

We know that we need

to make it easy for everyone to have their say, that’s what our Count Me In Strategy sets out to achieve.

Count Me In is our Resident Involvement and Community Development Strategy aimed at ensuring that residents continue to be at the heart of everything we do at Swan. The strategy was developed in partnership with residents through consultation at SwanFest, the Big Say, Summer Conversations and RCC meetings.

It was agreed and signed off by our Operations committee in June 2019.

The strategy is a three-year commitment.

As part of the strategy we continue to explore ways to enhance our digital engagement offer, ensuring that residents are able to engage on the subjects that are important to them and can give us their feedback at a time that is convenient for them.

We will continue our commitment to local resident involvement but are revitalising this to make sure that it stays fresh and relevant to local people.

You can see how we engaged with over 2,000 people in the first year of Count Me In on page 20.

1 2 3 4

The strategy focuses around four key themes:

Somewhere to feel at home – aimed at making our communities stronger and work better

Championing our residents’ voice – listening to your views and being able to show the impact that this has

Fulfilling your potential - the employment and training we can help you to achieve

Giving something back volunteering opportunities for residents and staff that make a real impact for our communities

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Summer Conversations Our ‘Summer conversations’ consultation ran between July and September 2019, to gather resident views on what is important to them in how we communicate and offer opportunities for engagement. We received 399 responses which helped us to review and shape our engagement and communication methods.

We identified that, although we have a strong resident involvement offer, there was need for more digital engagement opportunities. Since then we have been working hard to ensure that we promote the digital offers that we have in place, such as My Say and Count Me In and have been exploring ways that we can deliver more resident involvement digitally.

Scrutiny Panel The Scrutiny Panel is tasked with helping ensure that Swan delivers the best possible services to residents. Twice a year, the Panel reviews performance data to identify trends and any areas that require improvement and further action.

Each year they are tasked with delivering two scrutiny reviews. These reviews are used to develop action plans for improvement and are then monitored by the Panel to ensure they are completed. During 19/20 the Panel carried out reviews on: Tenant Recharges and Resident Involvement.

HOW DO WE LISTEN TO YOU?

Somewhere to feel at home

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How do we listen to you?

At Swan, we know the importance of listening to our residents and giving you opportunities to shape our services. We have worked hard to develop a variety of different ways for residents to give us their feedback: • STAR survey • Repairs textback • Scrutiny Panel • Residents’ Consultative Committees • The Big Say We know that not everyone can attend a resident meeting, so we try to offer a wide range of ways for residents to give us feedback.

There are opportunities to give us feedback through our ‘My Say’ email panel, the new Count Me In digital platform and through text surveys which allow residents to engage at a time that suits them.

We also try to have engagement events that take place near where our residents live. We currently work with four Residents’ Associations alongside our two Resident Consultative Committees.

If you’re interested in getting to know your local neighbours and want to have an impact in your local community, why not sign up and attend these meetings?

If there isn’t a Residents’ Association in your area but you’re keen to see one set up, have a conversation with a member of our Resident Involvement Team who will be happy to help! We also have opportunities for residents to get involved in scrutinising performance through our Scrutiny Panel and through positions on our Operations

Committee. These two groups take a more involved view of engagement, looking at things like the strategic delivery of the organisation and reviewing performance and delivery in certain areas.

We have two Resident Consultative Committees (RCCs) (Essex and London) that meet on a monthly basis. They are made up of resident representatives from Resident Associations across Swan. They are tasked with reviewing Swan’s performance, agreeing policies and community grants and reviewing reports from the Assistant Director of Neighbourhoods and the Head of Supported Housing and Innovation. During 2019/20 the RCCs reviewed the Hate Crime & ASB policy, Tenancy policy, Rent Setting policy, Maintenance Repairs policy and Rent Payment & Arrears policy and signed off the Count Me In strategy. They have also helped to provide feedback upon the new Tenant Portal.

Caroline Richardson Head of Resident Involvement and Community Development

Resident Members of Operations Committee Four Swan residents sit on our Operations Committee which is a committee of Swan’s Board.

The Committee is tasked with monitoring service delivery at a strategic level. In 2019/20 the Committee examined in detail our key performance indicators, our approach to supporting residents on Welfare Reform and updates from the Scrutiny Panel.

The Committee receive regular updates on the Axis Partnership and how we are delivering our repairs and maintenance services,

progress against contractual and regulatory requirements for care and support, progress on our Equality and Diversity scheme and updates on the action plans we have on Housing and Support and Count Me In Strategies.

Committee members also receive updates on Swan’s community development projects, the impact of Universal Credit, the progress of Hera’s service improvement programme, Swan’s digital transformation programme and

the impact of planned and cyclical maintenance programmes on customer satisfaction.

The Committee has received deep dives (detailed reviews) on: The quality of decent homes and housing in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, including any recommendations from the Hackitt Review, Care and Support outcomes, NHS keyworker services, Leasehold Services including Hera, the Customer Portal Transition and Customer Feedback.

LOOKING AFTER YOU

Somewhere to feel at home

Anti-Social Behaviour Support

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What is County Lines?

County Lines is where illegal drugs are transported from one area to another, often across police and local authority boundaries (although not exclusively), usually by children or vulnerable people who are coerced into it by gangs.

Complaints This year, 8% more residents were satisfied with the way their report of ASB was handled

Last year we explained how our focus on

complex cases was really making a difference

to our performance on ASB. We have continued to ensure that all new tenants are aware of their responsibilities from the start of their tenancy and we continue to tackle complex cases in line with the review and recommendations from our resident Scrutiny Panel in 18/19.

This year we set ourselves the target to achieve 80% of residents being satisfied as to how their ASB case was handled – having achieved 75% satisfaction in 18/19. We were delighted to achieve an 8% increase in satisfaction with 83% of residents being satisfied with the way their ASB issue was dealt with. This shows how working with residents and our Scrutiny Panel really helps us to improve our services.

Tenancy Fraud: In 2019/20 we investigated 67 potential frauds and recovered 14 homes. While a number of reports come from concerned residents, we also use specialist software and work in partnership with local councils to tackle fraud and keep our homes for those with the legal right to live in them.

In 19/20 we received less complaints and more residents were satisfied with how our service handled their complaint.

Frontline stories County Lines drug and gang related crime hasn’t been far from the headlines in recent years and Swan’s Neighbourhoods and ASB teams often find themselves on the front-line supporting residents and communities affected by it. ASB Officer Shaun De Souza Brady manages complex cases in Essex.

I immediately visited the property and witnessed multiple tenancy breaches. We issued a caution for drug use and made a safeguarding referral. The response helped Swan to regain the confidence of the Managing Agent who immediately agreed to attend a joint meeting with Swan and the Police.

On one gated, mixed tenure estate in the north of Essex, Swan own just seven properties. The estate has gained a reputation for drugs. With multiple landlords on the estate and an external Managing Agent it was a challenging situation to tackle.

After the meeting, on behalf of Swan, I was able to contact everyone who had previously made a complaint. I started to gather evidence and leads about alleged illegal activity in our homes. The evidence included complaints of drug use, noise and criminal damage. It enabled us to secure an injunction. We then uncovered links to another property on the estate and, with assistance from the tenant, secured a second injunction. As more evidence was shared with us we suspected that there was County lines drug activity on the estate and in our properties.

The Managing Agents received complaints about the Swan residents living on the estate but they were not passed to Swan. The Managing Agent didn’t share Swan’s details with the people making the complaints. Many people assumed that Swan was failing to act against numerous reports of serious tenancy breaches.

Shaun says: “I first met the Managing Agent in September 2019.

We discussed the issues on the estate and, more specifically, the complaints about Swan. During a walk around the estate we saw a suspicious person enter one of Swan’s properties.

We shared our evidence with the Police who made arrests. By working in partnership with the Managing Agent and the Police we’ve been able to ensure there are better outcomes for the entire community living in the area including Swan residents.”

Of the 223 complaints received 63% related to repairs and 71% were upheld. Our average time to respond to a complaint was 5.4 days and 97% were resolved at stage one. Satisfaction with how we handled complaints was 92% and 95% of complainants were happy with the outcome.

As well as carrying out surveys, we use the feedback we receive from your complaints to review the services we provide. Last year we invited the Housing Quality Network (HQN) to carry out an independent assessment of our complaints process. They provide expert advice to social landlords and tested our processes against best practice within the housing sector.

We were pleased that HQN found our approach to dealing with your complaints to be customer focused, with feedback and complaints viewed as important throughout Swan.

Complaints

Target 2018/19 2019/20

Number received

N/A

265

223

Stage 1 complaints 98% 100% responded to within 6 working days

100%

People satisfied with 80% 91% how their complaint was handled

92%

LOOKING AFTER YOU

Equality and Diversity Our vision is to deliver a truly inclusive customer service offer that improves lives, as well as an employment offer which meets good practice.

We hold the Housing Diversity Network (HDN) Accreditation for excellence in equality and diversity. We were reaccredited in 2019 with eight distinctions for good practice.

If you would like further information you can see our Annual Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Report which will be published on our website later this year.

Warm in Winter This year’s Warm in Winter Campaign took place on 3 December 2019 and Swan residents across Essex (Basildon, Laindon, Chelmsford, Colchester, Harlow, Grays, Raleigh and Southend) were visited. The purpose was to undertake a welfare check to ensure that people were aware how to stay warm and safe in the colder weather. We also undertook a survey with residents to find out how they felt about their home, their environment and their well-being. A total of 60 visits were made to people aged over the age of 70, living on their own.

As a result, the personal safety of older people was improved and any repairs issues arising were reported to Axis for remedial action.

Somewhere to feel at home

Valued feedback

New this year: HouseProud Pledge

We told you last year about our new ‘onboarding team’ who help new residents become Swan Tenants.

We reported that we listened to feedback which said that residents were dissatisfied with the process and particularly with having to speak to a range of different staff to put all the new tenant arrangements in place. This year each new tenant has been assigned a dedicated onboarding officer, who helps them with every aspect of becoming a tenant whether it is setting up a rent account, understanding their tenancy agreement or raising repairs. This has resulted in a significant improvement in customer satisfaction which has increased from a 68% low during the year to an end of year figure of 78%.

We will strive to further improve and have set a challenging target of 85% satisfaction for 20-21.

We have signed the HouseProud Pledge

to demonstrate our commitment to LGBTQ+ equality and support and have pledged to make sure that LGBTQ+ residents can have input at executive / strategic level, increase LGBTQ+ visibility, and provide staff training to improve understanding of LGBTQ+ lives.

For more information about the HouseProud pledge and HouseProud’s ‘No Place Like Home’ research that led to the development of the pledge please see www.houseproud-lgbt.com

HouseProud

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Providing high-quality services to all our customers We provide a full range of Housing Management Services and also continue to invest providing expert teams to support our residents. These teams are specially trained to support you, our customers, with a range of issues from helping you with your income to dealing with Anti-Social Behaviour issues. This year the teams have continued to provide their high-quality support to customers: Welfare Reform: Our programme of Welfare Reform support delivered by our team of specialist Welfare Benefit and Welfare Reform officers has now been running for four years. Last year we told you that the team had carried out over 5,000 home visits since 2016 and have secured our customers £1,622,440 in benefits. In 19/20 we are delighted to confirm that the team secured almost another £1m in benefits for our customers: This work is vital as it helps our customers secure the support they need to protect their home and sustain their tenancy, giving them time to focus on other important areas of their lives. It also helps us maintain low levels of rent arrears.

  231 residents supported to apply for Discretionary Housing Payments to cover their rent shortfall

634 Home Visits Completed

  Residents supported to claim £980,000 of various benefits to sustain their tenancies and improve their finances.

2,953 Households contacted

LOOKING AFTER YOUR HOME

Somewhere to feel at home

We know repairs are important to you We know that how we help you look after your home is very important to you, so we compare our performance where we can against other social landlords. Swan’s performance relating to repairs is generally in the upper/ medium level when measured against how other landlords are doing.

We have continued to see excellent satisfaction results for planned improvement works such as decorating, kitchen, bathroom and other cyclical and planned maintenance services.

100% of Gas Safety checks were completed again this year.

With regards to day to day repairs, 99.9% of emergency repairs were completed on time and 99.9% of appointments were made and kept, exceeding targets in both cases. However, this year there have been challenges affecting the whole sector which have impacted on

our performance. At the start of the year there was a shortage of operatives and engineers. 96.7% of all repairs were completed on target, a slight reduction on last year and 92.0% of customers were satisfied with their last repair in our end of year satisfaction survey [2018/19: 94%].

This means that while satisfaction remains high, slightly less residents were satisfied and so in 20/21 we are committed to reviewing our customer experience as part of the development of our new Corporate Strategy which will be adopted in 20/21. As well as ensuring our repairs partner Axis has the right staff, we have also worked with them to bring in a new planning and scheduling tool. This has already made a big impact and helped us to allocate repairs during the Covid-19 lockdown period at the end of the year.

99.9% 96.7% Emergency repairs were completed

Repairs completed on target

95.5% 92% Appointments were made and kept

Satisfaction with most recent repair

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LOOKING AFTER YOUR HOME

Somewhere to feel at home

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How we looked after your home in 2019/20

£5.8m

100% of our homes meet the current Decent Homes Standard (DHS) and we have adopted a Decent Homes PLUS standard which has shorter life-cycle timescales for kitchens and bathrooms (20 years) than those set by the Government’s DHS (30 years). Overall, there was a 99.17% customer satisfaction rate with these works confirming that customers are extremely satisfied with how we are maintaining their homes for the long term and adapted to help them feel at home.

invested in planned works (including kitchens, bathrooms, windows, boilers, roofs, electrical works) and spent £187k on major adaptationworks and £46k on minor adaptation works.

Health and Safety are of paramount importance to Swan and we are committed to meeting all legislative, regulatory and best practice requirements. We again finished the year with 100% compliance for Landlord Gas Safety Records.

Fire: We carry out Fire Risk Assessments (FRAs) on an annual basis to all properties where there are shared communal areas. We also increase this frequency if work is being carried out to common parts of a property and if any changes or incidents have occurred, to ensure that any repairs and installations have not altered the fire integrity of the building.

In 2019/20, we were required to complete 647 Fire Risk Assessments. The majority were the standard annual review of an existing FRA, the rest were FRAs for new build properties. At the end of 2019 all FRAs had been completed on target i.e. within 12 months since the previous FRA was carried out and we also provided FRAs for newly constructed properties where required. All high priority actions were actioned with no items left overdue.

Swan has identified some ACM cladding in some of our homes. We are working hard to ensure the remediation works have begun and will be completed.

How did we do? Last year we highlighted the following areas for improvement:

We said we would increase availability for Saturday repairs: this was completed and is now well used by residents.

We will carry out gas servicing throughout the summer to increase capacity in colder months: we did this, and it helped us achieve 100% Gas Safety compliance at the end of the year again.

We will develop a suite of ‘key messages’ to help you understand our responsibilities and yours. We have created additional leaflets to help residents understand and carry out repairs that are their responsibility.

CREATING OPPORTUNITIES

Somewhere to feel at home

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2019/2020 Community Development Impact Number of vounteers involved in project delivery

167

£67,138 Secured £67,138 in-kind training and learning support

People took part in Regeneration and Development days

Number of groups using the community hubs

35

949 24 staff volunteers



We have supported community development projects and employment and training initiatives with free use of our Community Hubs to the value of £75,328

79

Community Development events, activities and programmes

2,846 residents taking part in all activities

2,846 Number of employment, skills and training events, activities and programmes held

31

61 formal resident involvement meetings held 1 Christmas Kindness campaign

£

29 people have secured paid employment as a direct result of our training and accredited learning programme

60 people benefitted from our Warm in Winter Campaign

66 residents who went on to other training and learning opportunities

399 residents responded to the Summer Conversations Campaign

336 people have taken part in our education and training activities

CREATING OPPORTUNITIES

Somewhere to feel at home

Community spotlight...

Beechwood Village Trust

Over the last year the Beechwood Village Community Trust has awarded three grants to the value of £12,932, to the following organisations:

Strengths in Communities CIC (Trading as Parents 1st) – £4,763.66 – for the delivery of two Workshops and a 10-week Parenting Support Programme

H & L Resources – £5,000 – To deliver the ‘Transform and Achieve’ Employment Training Programme





£12,932

Beechwood Boxercise – £3,168.46 – for the purchase of a Boxing Ring, equipment and Professional Fees

We have also commissioned a new Youth Club for young people aged 10 – 25 years old. This will be held on a Wednesday evening at the Beech Community Hub, hosted by Essex Boys and Girls Club. Additionally, as part of our Participatory City Project, we have supported Parkrun UK with £3,674, to set up a Junior Parkrun at Northlands Park, Basildon, which is open to children and young people aged 4 -14 every Sunday morning.

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CREATING OPPORTUNITIES

Somewhere to feel at home

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Case Study: Creating Opportunities Opportunities for Communities

“I have improved my communication skills and design ideas through participating in the project.”

Our new Skills and Employment Strategy aims to help residents fulfill their potential by offering a holistic employment and training programme that is accessible, fun and meaningful. We know supporting residents to gain jobs and new skills continues to be important, especially during these difficult and uncertain times. We offer the right mentoring, support and a helping hand so that our residents can move forward on their path to employment.

We are delighted that in 2019/20, we managed to support 366 people through our employment and training initiatives by delivering 31 employment and training projects. 29 people secured a job and 66 have progressed to further learning and development. We have clear objectives and a three year delivery plan that will continue to focus on: •

Removing barriers and building a skilled workforce

•

Building thriving communities through our regeneration schemes

•

Enhancing partnerships and building pathways

•

Delivering accessible learning that has a lasting impact

“This course has definitely changed my life, and my self-esteem has improved.”

Laura, who completed Level 2 Teaching Assistant Training and secured a job

A Think Big Project participant

We have been working with a range of local partners, skills and training agencies and contractors which has made a real difference in shaping our services. A few of our successful programmes are highlighted below: •

TFL Pan-London construction training programme, with TFL and Tower Hamlets Registered Housing Providers that offered entry level 2 qualifications and jobs

•

SIA Security, with Hornafrik, offered door supervision licence

•

Multi-trades construction training, partnering with the New City College and Hill Construction which resulted in residents gaining entry level 3 qualification and full-time jobs

•

Women in Construction Project, with Women in Construction Ltd provided accredited qualifications, CSCS and work experience

•

Level 2 Teaching Assistant Training, partnering with WEA delivered a bespoke sector-based qualification supporting people into a teaching career

“It’s a really good course which helped me gain the badge. I will be able to find a job upon completion.”

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t worked before or don’t have the relevant skills and qualifications. If you’re looking for support to find work and reach your potential, then please get in touch with our Employment and Training Manager Abdullah Hossain on 01277 844242 or ahossain@swan.org.uk

Mr Miah who attended our SIA Door Supervision Course Abdullah Hossain Employment and Training Manager

CARE AND SUPPORT

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Care and Support Report

Swan provides a range of care and support services to help people to live as independently as possible. These services support young people, older people, adults with learning disabilities and those needing support to come out of, or to avoid hospital care. This year our Supported Housing service achieved 91.9% customer satisfaction and Care Services received 100% customer satisfaction.

Key Highlights for 2019/20 for Supported Housing include: Our accredited Foyer services continue to provide high quality support for young people and their families. The aim of their work is to help young people who need extra support to learn to live independently. In 19/20 twenty young people successfully completed the Foyer programme and moved on to live independently. 52% of young people living in the Foyers are sustaining formal employment, training or education which is critical for their progress to independent living.

Again, this year we ran our successful residential activity at Thriftwood, Brentwood, Essex. We brought together young people from the Foyers with some of our learning disability customers, with fantastic results for everyone involved. We also included inter-generational activities again, with the young people working on a gardening project with the older residents in our extra care schemes.

Care Service key highlights 2019/20

In December 2019 we took over the care

and support provision at Dobson’s House, an extra care scheme. We have since delivered over 500 hours of individualised care and support, in addition to this we provide a 24-hour peace of mind service.

Our staff are passionate about their work and we have trained champions in End of Life, Dementia & Sensory Awareness which helped us be shortlisted as Regional Finalists in the Great British Care Awards for our ‘Workforce Development’.

We received 5 Goods in CQC inspection for Swan Care South and Swan Care North was inspected in December 2019 and we were delighted to receive an overall rating of ‘outstanding’ from

the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for our rapid response care service in Colchester which enables people who are in need of care and support in a variety of ways, to remain living in their own homes.

The domiciliary care service provided by Swan received the “outstanding” rating following a review carried out by the CQC inspection team in December 2019. Since April 2019, Swan has provided care that has enabled 1,991 people to be safely discharged from hospital and avoided 275 people being admitted to hospital. Its dedicated team of ‘Night Owls’ also travelled through the night to visit 227 people, preventing them from being admitted to hospital.

CARE AND SUPPORT

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Strategic Report As well as finding Swan’s Care and Support service to be responsive and well-led, the CQC’s report stated that: “We were repeatedly told Swan staff were exceptionally compassionate and kind”. The inspectors described the service as being “innovative” in its approach to care, noting that without the support of staff, many of the people using the service would have remained in hospital although there was no medical need for them to be there.

We were also recognised for our end-of-life care and support this year, winning the End of Life Care Award (2019) for our exemplary care in this area at the Essex Prosper Care Awards 2019. The Awards recognise excellence in Essex Care Sector.

Pete Morley-Watts in his previous role of Director of Care and Support said: “I am so proud that Swan Care and Support Services have won this award. Everyone on the team is dedicated to ensuring the people they care for can die according to their wishes. They frequently advocate for their clients and they ensure that a person’s final wishes are met whilst providing support for family and friends.”

New for 2020/2021 In the coming year our Supported Housing Teams will focus on working with external care providers to build networks to support customers further and to fill current empty homes. The Foyers are working to integrate more community and statutory services to enhance the support offered to the young people, i.e. mental health, sexual health services.

For care services, our aim is to increase our digital support and we are working

with New Care who provide our rostering and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to improve our real time communication. Digital care plans and e-mar charts will help improve compliance and reduce paper for both customers and the care team.

Across both services we

want to focus on continuing to really listen to our customers so we can ensure we maintain the high level of satisfaction achieved this year.

‘We were repeatedly told Swan staff were exceptionally compassionate and kind’

Satisfied with overall service (Target 80%).

67.8% Satisfied with repairs service (Target 70%).

79.2%

78.3%

Satisfied with quality of home (Target 84%).

32

Same as last year

2019/2020

Below target

How did we do?

Somewhere to feel at home

Above target

PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE

94.9%

95.5%

92%

Repairs completed at first visit (Target 96.5%).

Repair appointments made and

People satisfied with their last

kept (Target 98.5%).

repair (Target 90%).

ÂŁ104.64

100% Properties with a valid gas safety certificate (Target 100%).

Average cost of a repair (No target).

14.5

78%

Average number of days taken to re-let an empty home (Target 15 days).

Satisfaction with our letting service (Target 80%).

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34

Same as last year

Below target

Above target

PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE

99.2% % of rent collected (Target 100%).

92%

1.96%

People satisfied with the complaints procedure (Target 86%).

Current arrears as a % of rent due (Target 2.6%).

100%

223

83%

83%

Stage 1 complaints responded to within 6 working (Target 98%).

Number of complaints received.

Satisfied with ASB case handling (Target 80%)

People satisfied with how their report was dealt with (Target 80%).

somewhere to feel at home

Swan HA Pilgrim House Billericay Essex CM12 9XY

NU living Tramway House 3 Tramway Avenue Stratford E15 4PN

Hera Management Services Limited Tramway House 3 Tramway Avenue Stratford E15 4PN

Our main offices are open Monday - Thursday 9.00am - 5.15pm

Our main offices are open Monday - Thursday 9.00am - 5.15pm

Our main offices are open Monday - Thursday 9.00am - 5.15pm

Friday 9.00am - 5.00pm

Friday 9.00am - 5.00pm

Friday 9.00am - 5.00pm

Tel: 0300 303 2500

Tel: 0800 819 9390

Tel: 0345 683 8812

swan.org.uk

nuliving.co.uk

heramanagementservices.co.uk

@swanhousing

@nulivinghomes

@heramanagement

Repairs: 0800 783 2768 or 020 3597 2067 from a mobile (24 hrs a day)

In your language Please call 0300 303 2500 if you would like someone to explain any of these articles to you.