Social value report

Social value report 2020/21

Background

At Thirteen, we’ve been working to help improve the lives of people in our neighbourhoods for years.

We provide our customers with homes, support and opportunities to grow.

As a not-for-profit housing association, we focus on delivering our charitable objectives of providing housing, care and support for those who need it.

We manage more than 35,000 properties across the North East and Yorkshire, providing services for over 70,000 customers.

Our strength, capacity and ambition to deliver what our customers need means we can change things for the better.

Our people are passionate about what they do and thrive on making a difference.

By 2025, our commitment to our social purpose means we will invest over £1bn in improving our services, tenants’ homes and their neighbourhoods, as well as delivering new affordable homes For the last three years we have published Thirteen’s Social Value Summary, covering the impact our services have on communities, the local area, the economy and showing how we are doing our part for the environment.

For Thirteen, social value sits within the wider Environmental, Social and Governance framework.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

By constantly striving to improve our ESG, we know we can have a positive impact in line with a number of the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs), a globally recognised standard.

As a social housing provider, we know that housing is about much more than bricks and mortar. Within the UN’s SDGs, affordable housing is recognised as a universal social good and under the sustainable cities and communities goal, ‘access to adequate, safe and affordable housing’ is a core target.

Good housing contributes to an array of positive outcomes included in the UN’s sustainable development goals, a viewpoint which in endorsed in the ESG Social Housing Working Group’s The Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing.

THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development

No poverty

Zero hunger

Good health and wellbeing

Quality education

Gender equality

Clean water and sanitation

Affordable and clean energy

Decent work and economic growth

Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Reduced inequalities

Sustainable cities and communities

Responsible consumption and production

Climate action

Life below water

Life on land

Having a decent, affordable home is an important determinant of: • providing a route out of poverty (SDG 1) • good health and wellbeing (SDG 3) • providing the base from which children can access education (SDG 4) • reducing carbon footprint through the right energy efficiency and construction measures (SDGs 7 and 13) • supporting people into stable, suitable employment (SDG 8) • contributing to reducing inequalities (SDG 10)

Peace, justice and strong institutions

Partnerships for the goals

Why we measure social value

Social value, as set out in the social value act 2012, covers three key areas of impact: economic, environmental and social. The act makes it mandatory for public sector bodies to consider social value in their procurement activity. While it’s not mandatory for Thirteen, it is good practice and something we have committed to in our company values. We look at three areas: • Social: people and communities • Economic: local economy and enterprise • Environmental: the world around us

For Thirteen, social value is about increasing the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of the people we work for and the communities we work in.

We recognise that explaining what we mean by social value and therefore demonstrating what we are delivering is sometimes difficult. Work with colleagues and our customers suggests that demonstrating social value and what we’re delivering is best explained by understanding the difference we’re making.

The measurements we use are primarily tangible outcomes: what we have done and what it achieved.

We also use the HACT (Housing Associations Charitable Trust) model to evaluate our work. This allows us to translate some of the social value we generate into the equivalent monetary value: a universal language, which is understood by our partners, commissioners and funders.

In 2020-21, Thirteen’s work has continued across our support programmes. We have made particular investment in helping customers with employment, skills and money advice.

Summary This report provides a snapshot of the added value we create from our everyday activities and some of the great work we have done to help our customers and neighbourhoods: In any one month more than 4,700 people befitted from the services we provide over and above our usual landlord functions.

We invested

We have secured additional funding of around £90,000 via our contracts with Travis Perkins and NE Procurement.

The total social value recorded through HACT in 2019-20 was worth more than £5.52m.

£131,763 into

initiatives which directly helped customers and communities.

We put more than £2.04m straight back into the pockets of residents by supporting customers with money and benefits advice.

We put more than £98m into the local economy through our spending on staff and suppliers.

Social value outcomes 2020-21 We have By simply doing what we do, we know that the Gross Value Added (GVA) impact of our activities amounts to £157m in the North East and £204m in the UK. 1 By building 316 affordable homes, we contributed £33m of GVA to the North East and £37m to the UK. But our activities deliver much more. For instance, these 316 homes along with the 39 we built for sale, have delivered key benefits for the national and regional economy. 2

Supported the employment of

1,100

people.

Provided 12 apprentices, graduates or trainees.

National Housing Federation Local Economic Impact Indicator

1

2

Home Builders Federation.

Helped increase open space, community, sport and leisure spending by £286,201, which could for example, provide 15 five-a-side football pitches.

Generated

£4,278,815

in tax revenue – including £400,958 in council tax revenue.

Generated

£286,201 towards

education spending, which could provide 132 classroom spaces.

But we know that there is a bigger story to tell. We are capturing some of the difference we are making but not all. In 2021-22 we will be further developing our understanding of social value including what we are delivering directly and what we expect our partners and suppliers to help us with. In the meantime, the following is our social value story.

Supporting customers through the pandemic

People and community

Universal Credit

Financial inclusion

We were able to support 1,244 Universal Credit claimants in less than three months, compared to 3,459 for the full 12 months prior to lockdown. Helping 380 more customers during this period.

Many of our customers have very limited incomes and although managing with very low cash-flow makes some people an expert at budgeting, navigating complicated benefit systems, debts and unexpected outgoings means that there is often a need for us to support customers with their finances to help keep their tenancies secure.

Domestic abuse During the lockdown period, the team managed 160 new cases of domestic abuse. There was over 100% increase in referrals, compared to the same period in 2019.

Money advice We delivered money advice in different forms allowing us to offer support to 1,252 customers in this period, compared to 576 under normal circumstances. An increase in demand of 117%.

Supporting people and places to realise their true potential

Our teams provided 4,423 customers with specialist advice on debts, budgeting, benefits, and financial confidence.

79% of those customers were able to reduce their arrears within three months and the team assisted them to gain £2.04m in income, through unclaimed benefits, better budgeting and improved arrangements with creditors.

Throughout, we continued to measure social value outcomes through the HACT wellbeing questionnaire. By asking questions about how our customers feel about the change in their circumstances we can calculate a monetary equivalent that shows how much a person’s wellbeing has improved because of the improvements to their finances. Using this calculation, the team generated over £1.23m in added social value.

Over

£1.23m

in added social value.

Case Study

Debt problems A customer who received help from our teams to manage their debt told us: “When Thirteen rang me to arrange our appointment we were very ashamed at how much debt we were actually in and were reluctant to disclose everything, but our advisor was very reassuring and non-judgemental.

“It took me about 20 minutes to relax and realise that he was trying to help us rather than questioning how we had got to that point which meant a lot. He just kept reassuring us that now we had faced the problem, we were halfway there.

“We owed money to quite a few different people but after everything was paid in July we saw our debt reduce from nearly £18,000 to just over £17,000 - I can’t describe how that feels!

I’m sleeping better and instead of dreading payday I’m actually looking forward to it because of what is paid off and how much is owing in total. I also don’t dread opening post now because I know we are managing things and totals are coming down.

“If someone had said to me before the appointment that we would have cleared around £1,000 worth of debt I would never have believed it. We are doing more as a family because of the social budget we have and I can’t tell you how much it is benefiting us all. The kids know we have a certain amount each week and that we can plan things now instead of always saying ‘we will see’.

“We want to say a massive thank you. Of all the advice we’ve been given over the years, this is the one that has stuck and we can actually see huge results almost instantly - the feeling is amazing.”

Our community fund Thirteen’s community fund invested £131,763 in our communities to support a range of health, wellbeing and social activities for older people, children and local interest groups. Despite the pandemic meaning community activities were limited, the fund helped 68 community groups. Projects we supported included fitness classes, improvements to green spaces, food and care packs, home safety activities and a range of other social and community events across the Tees Valley.

Case study

Thirteen gets the wheels in motion People from across Teesside are being helped to get on their bikes thanks to funding from Thirteen.

Thornaby Funriders Group received £1,500 from Thirteen’s community fund to buy some new bikes and equipment for people in the community to borrow so they can try cycling before they commit to buying a bike themselves.

Thornaby Funriders regularly have around 150 people setting off on regular bike rides in and around the town, even heading as far as Dalton Park, near Peterlee. The emphasis is on fun while staying safe, with marshals taking groups of people out on rides of between 15 and 30 miles.

Support for customers In any one month, our teams gave a helping hand around 4,700 customers who needed support with anything from personal care to budgeting and tenancy management.

Employability team Extra care Support services Money and benefits advice Total

759 2,558 631 752 4,700

Examples of what our support services do include: 26

School View

Supported refuge accommodation for women fleeing domestic abuse Residential supported accommodation for young parents

Coney Avenue Hub

Residential supported accommodation and floating support for young parents

12

Stonemeadows

14

Parents with a Learning Disability

Learning disability support service

Newcastle Integrated Domestic Abuse Service (NIDAS)

Integrated support service providing refuge and outreach support for women fleeing domestic abuse

216

Homeless Service

Statutory homeless prevention and advice service

560

Rose House

Residential supported accommodation for young people aged 16-24 years

12

Anna Court

Young parents residential accommodation

12

Hartlepool Floating Tenancy support for young people Support Residential supported accommodation Penrith Road for homeless families Middlesbrough Shared housing service for vulnerable Shared single people aged 16-25 who are Accommodation homeless or at risk of being homeless. for Young People Resettlement Support for refugee families settling in Scheme the UK through a planned process

26

36 21 14 229

Case study

K gets a second chance 32-year-old K and was referred into Sunderland Move On service, run by Thirteen, in February 2019. He was initially discharged from prison to approved premises and was very anxious about becoming homeless in future. Before he was in prison, he had a very chaotic lifestyle and drug use often led to him offending. Before his drug addiction, he had been able to hold down jobs and had his own business.

K had a high-risk offending background which meant it was difficult for him to find a home in the Sunderland area. He got on well with staff at approved services, probation services and drug and alcohol services, taking weekly drug tests which all came back negative.

K moved in to his flat in March with just the basics and has since made it a home and somewhere he calls his safe space.

He has acted as a peer mentor to others and encouraged other people to prioritise their homes and tenancies.

During his time at the service, he has also been able to use our internal counselling service, which has proven very beneficial to his mental health. He has also opened a bank account, applied for benefits and registered with a GP to look after his physical and mental wellbeing, to help manage his accommodation longer term.

With the support of staff, in six months K got to a position where he was ready to move on and successfully found a new home with Thirteen.

K says his time with the Sunderland Move On service gave him a chance when no-one else would and has given him hope for the future and a sense of achievement.

Changing lives through the Thirteen Academy

Customer volunteers

In 2018-19 Thirteen established a Thirteen Academy, with the ambition to change lives and support young people through higher education. We began working with Teesside University and together we established a programme that would support people through an undergraduate degree course at the university. Working together we identified five career choices where Teesside has a shortage of skills and developed a package to support customers to train in the following areas:

In the last year, our involved customers gave more than 1,032 hours of their time across a range of activities, including helping to scrutinise our work and taking part in events and promotional opportunities. These 28 weeks of activity generated £1m of social value. Through volunteering, these customers also created another £16,604 in social value.

1. Health and social care 2. Transport, storage and communications 3. Hospitality 4. Wholesale and retail 5. Education

In 2019-20 we awarded funding to nine of our tenants to cover the cost of course fees (£9,250 per year). We supported four tenants with the cost of the full three years of their undergraduate course and five tenants for one year of their studies.

In 2020-21 we also awarded funding to four of the previous students to cover the fee cost for the last two years of study.

The customers we have supported have joined our involved customer group and one person has just been successful in joining one of our customer committees.

Case study

Sarah thrives at the Thirteen Academy Thirteen customer Sarah, 33, benefitted from a university place through the Thirteen Academy, run in partnership with Teesside University.

Generated £1m of social value.

ambassador for the University, both of which are fantastic in terms of experience and progression.”

She added: “I enjoy studying immensely, I love that my degree pathway means that I learn different elements of Business Management alongside the Human Resource management subjects.

A Thirteen Academy scholarship covers course fees at Teesside University and is a fantastic opportunity for those who live in a Thirteen home and have aspirations to study, but who might not have considered applying to university.

“The new Student Life building offers fantastic support and the library is a great learning environment. I can’t wait to be back on site and use these facilities again as soon as we safely can.

Working and studying from home during the pandemic has been challenging but challenging times often produce growth and progression.”

The second year BA (Hons) Human Resource Management student said: “Teesside University and Thirteen have had such a positive impact on my life.

Sarah, who has been inspired by the way everyone has had to adapt to new ways of working during the pandemic, has chosen to write about this subject for her degree dissertation.

“The Academy has already offered so many opportunities to better my future career prospects. I am working with Thirteen as part of the customer involvement team and as a digital

She added: “My advice to anyone thinking of applying to study to the Thirteen Academy, is that I would urge them apply and become a part of this auspicious opportunity.”

Local economy and enterprise Our strategic plan sets out our clear commitment to contribute to the economic regeneration of the Tees Valley region.

Thirteen’s key focus in this is to provide access to employment opportunities, education and training and upskilling in the community and our own workforce.

Case study

Beth’s apprenticeship story

The ‘Thirteen pound’ As a large business, we are a key local employer and have significant spending power to be able to boost the regional economy. To this end, 85.16% of our annual salary spend – more than £44m goes back into the Tees Valley.

60% of our supplier spend – more than £60m – goes to suppliers based in the North East.

Beth is one of Thirteen’s neighbourhood co-ordinators working with customers and residents in the Rossmere area of Hartlepool.

In 2019, Beth started her level three apprenticeship in housing and property management, which included the CIH level three certificate in housing practice.

She started the course as part of a group of existing staff who were looking to gain an apprenticeship qualification and completed the course with a distinction in December 2020.

Employability

Employee investment

Last year, Thirteen’s employability service provided intensive support to customers across the Tees Valley and County Durham. Around 740 customers received our help each month.

As well as supporting skills development in our communities, we are committed to developing our own workforce, spending £335,000 last year. We also spent £75,000 towards professional and academic qualifications.

The service supported 376 people into employment, 191 of whom were Thirteen tenants. 177 were supported into an education or training programme, progressing into training or education opportunities. This work is the equivalent of £4.63m in social value.

Additionally, we invested £792,924 in supporting 63 colleagues who were working towards a completion of an apprenticeship in a variety of technical and business-related subjects.

Beth said: “I was offered the chance to do the apprenticeship when I first started working at Thirteen and I was really happy to do it as I didn’t have loads of experience of housing and I wanted to better understand the theory behind the practical work that we do for our customers.

“There was a lot to learn and the course really helped with the theory behind the job, explaining why we do the things we do.

It also helped me to understand the context around policies and procedures, so it gave me a good grounding in the job.

“For anyone thinking of doing an apprenticeship, I’d say definitely go for it. It can be hard work, which you need to be aware of, but having that qualification can help to open lots of doors during your career.”

Thirteen colleagues lend support through volunteering Thirteen recognises the value that we can add by working with the local community.

Case study

Thirteen supports The Girls Network Thirteen has partnered with charity, The Girls’ Network, to take part in its award-winning mentoring programme. Over 50 women from a wide range of roles across Thirteen have signed up to become mentors for girls across the Tees Valley.

For Thirteen to be working with the charity and supporting girls in our local area is just fantastic. I think it is progressive and powerful and shows the commitment and passion the organisation has for the community and local area.

One of the Thirteen colleagues that’s signed up to be a mentor is learning and organisational development advisor, Rachel Summerhill.

Rachel writes about why she’s so keen to take part.

After we’d filled in our applications and had our initial training session earlier in the year, the matching process started in earnest and I was over the moon when I heard I’d been matched with a local college student.

When I heard about the work of The Girl’s Network, I thought it was such a worthwhile initiative and they make such a positive impact on young girls’ lives and futures through the work they do.

I couldn’t wait to sign up. I wanted to share my professional experiences and skills with a local girl, hoping to inspire her to maximise her own potential, overcome obstacles and seize opportunities.

We have such a strong network of female colleagues within Thirteen that have so much knowledge and experience and I’m so pleased that the organisation has given us the chance to share this.

We meet regularly on a virtual basis and face-to-face every two months at my mentee’s college. The whole experience has been brilliant so far, and I have developed my own skills as I coach and mentor. I found that my mentee and I have lots in common, from reading to history, even studying similar academic subjects. I’m a former student of the same college, so this is also giving me the chance to reconnect with it and give something back to them for the positive experience I had there.

We’ve started a ‘vision board’ together for my mentee to add everything she would like to gain from our sessions. These have included things like identifying and building on skills and strengths ready for university and the world of work and exploring the career path she would like to take.

Sometimes we just have a chat about anything and everything. I feel this is a powerful thing for a young person to have someone to talk to who will listen.

After the first session I felt incredibly energised! My mentee was so engaging, appreciative and positive and you could see the enthusiasm she had for the programme from the outset.

I feel like I’ve made such a positive impact through spending time and offering support and guidance to my mentee. I’m excited to be working with, and playing a part in guiding and supporting, her for the next year to help her maximise her potential.

Supporting local businesses to thrive after the pandemic Around 170 Thirteen customers provide essential and well-used services for us all in the heart of our communities.

These are the customers who rent commercial properties from Thirteen, running successful businesses including hairdressers and beauty salons, bakeries, pharmacies, newsagents and dog groomers. Each business is unique and their success is so important to us and the communities that they work in.

Many businesses had no choice but to temporarily close their doors due to the pandemic. Thirteen provided advice and assistance throughout, negotiating affordable payment plans and reassurance that Thirteen is committed to sustaining a commercial presence in our communities.

Case study

Hairdresser gets a helping hand Salon owner Alison has been cutting and styling hair for nearly 35 years from her much-loved salon in Hartlepool. Like many businesses, she has had a challenging year.

Alison said: “We would have never imagined how a pandemic would impact the business. However, the support has been excellent – from Thirteen and from the government, and that’s something I’m incredibly thankful for.

“I’ve had great support and I know that if I have any questions, the team at Thirteen are always there to help. I’m thinking about other businesses in the same position and wishing them all the best for the future too.”

The world around us

Protecting the environment by investing in measures which help reduce our impact upon it

Social value from the supply chain As part of our contracts with our suppliers Travis Perkins and Prosper, some of the money we spend with them is returned for us to invest in social value projects.

In 2019/20, this generated over £131,000 which we plan to invest in projects to develop how we build employment opportunities and skills for our customers even further, as well as work to reduce furniture poverty in the region.

Working closely with our other partners in the supply chain, we are able to make a real difference to individuals. For instance, at Raby Gardens in Hartlepool and Alma Street in Stockton, our regeneration work and development of 65 new properties with ESH Group3 meant that: • 45 students studying construction visited the site.

• STEM4 programme was delivered to 100 primary students.

• 200 students engaged in site safety talks at local schools.

• 9 apprentices worked on site through the programme.

• 1,169 students participating in Building My Skills workshops delivered by a range of business guests.

• 30 days of site-based work experience placements advertised to local training provider.

https://www.eshgroup.co.uk/social-value-new-template/

3 4

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

Carbon footprint

Measuring our emissions

At Thirteen, improving our approach to the environment and sustainability cuts across everything we do. We are taking definitive action to reduce the carbon footprint of the organisation and have set an ambition to reach net zero carbon on direct business emissions by 2035 and on all of our emissions by 2050, in line with government targets..

We have measured our carbon emissions in line with the Government’s Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) regulations.

We have adopted this approach as it provides reassurance of a recognised and robust methodology, which we can use to track the impact of our actions against our baseline position. The use of the intensity ratios, colleague numbers and turnover allows us to understand and mitigate the environmental impact of changes in colleague numbers and financial turnover.

Since we started our journey to reduce our negative environmental impact at Thirteen, we have come a long way.

We scoped out and measured what the baseline position would be for the organisation and we launched our Take Control campaign in 2020 with colleagues and involved customers. The campaign encourages everyone to play their part in helping us achieve our goals and become a much greener organisation.

Our customers are our priority, so what we’ve set out to do will be beneficial for them, resulting in savings on energy bills. We’re tackling issues such as fuel poverty and delivering sustainable homes that are fit for the future and right for our customers.

Thirteen is an early adopter in the sector in understanding and evaluating our emissions in relation to colleague numbers and turnover. Knowing this information in detail allows us to understand and mitigate the environmental impact of changes in colleague numbers and financial turnover.

Find out more: Thirteen recognised as top sustainable housing provider: (Click here)

Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from owned or controlled sources

Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy

In 2020/21 Thirteen emitted 4,323 tCO2e Scope 1 or 2 emissions, with intensity indicators of 2.94 tCO2e per total full-time equivalent employee (FTE) and 23.71 tCO2e per £million turnover.

Scope 3 emissions account for other indirect emissions, capturing value chain emissions

Adding Scope 3 emissions brings the total to 6,289 tCO2e with an intensity indicator of 4.28 tCO2e per FTE and

34.67 tCO2e per £million turnover.

Between 2019/20 and 2020/21: Thirteen’s emissions for Scope

When we add in the Scope 3

1 and 2 have fallen by 13.6%

emissions, this results in a total

(a reduction of 681 tCO2e).

emissions reduction of 11.6% (825 tCO2e).

1,016,000 kWh of energy was produced via photovoltaic panels on our office buildings and domestic properties, preventing the emission of 23.60 tCO2e within 2020/21.

Case study:

Investment at Norton’s Chesterton Court

The investment work at Chesterton Court in Norton has completely transformed the homes for our customers and now they’re warmer and more cost effective to run, with some of the homes benefitting from air source heat pumps to fuel the heating and hot water.

Air source heat pumps are safe and reliable for the customers, with no carbon monoxide, greenhouse emissions or fear of gas leaks. They work by extracting the heat from the

air outside the house and pumping it through the heat exchanger providing up to 30% renewable heat.

Thirteen’s investment team also fitted new windows, kitchens and bathrooms, with improvements made to the communal areas and roofing to ensure the homes remain wind and watertight.

Ecology Trees are the most effective natural way of helping to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and Thirteen is increasing biodiversity in the green areas we manage to support and protect the natural habitats of birds, bees and insects.

We’re also working with members of local residents’ groups, so the trees being planted will help to bring communal land back to life, providing fresh fruit for the community and create greener neighbourhoods and encourage customers to take pride in the area they live.

Case study:

One hundred trees planted in Middlesbrough A partnership project with Middlesbrough Council has seen one hundred trees planted in the town. The first trees were planted at Pennyman Primary School, where the children got their hands dirty and learned more about the environment.

The trees, which require limited maintenance will begin to bear fruit in the next year and form attractive mini orchards.

Learning about the environment and why trees are so important is such a valuable lesson for children and their families. This project is all about giving something back to the community and any produce from the trees will be shared between the communities living on the estates.

Thirteen Recycling Centre: Our strategy for waste management Thirteen opened a state-of-the-art, environmental centre in Billingham in 2020, which gives us control over how we manage and processes our waste. The centre is unique in the region and the housing sector.

In the six months since the centre has been open, we have gained control over the waste generated in day-to-day housing management. Waste generated through planned maintenance work, repairs, environmental improvements and getting homes ready for the next customer is all now redirected through the

Thirteen Recycling Centre

centre. This has significantly reduced the amount of waste going to landfill and by 2025 we are aiming to have 90% of all waste diverted from landfill.

Our environmental management system, which is in development, will provide a clear reporting mechanism for our performance on waste, providing assurance via the aspects, legal and risk register that all legal and control is in place operationally.

Since Thirteen’s recycling centre has been operating, from the waste materials generated through planned maintenance work, repairs, environmental improvements and getting homes ready for the next customer, it has reclaimed: General waste

Wood

Scrap metal

108.9 tonnes

58.3 tonnes

9.679 tonnes

Tyres

Fridges

TV monitors

83

114

117

Flo tubes

Soil and rubble

Mattresses

154

42.66 tonnes

222

Bulky furniture

Copper tanks

Paint tins

183

27

358

Gas boilers

Small waste electrical

Cardboard

49

4

tonnes

3.2

tonnes

Stock investment work In the last financial year, Thirteen invested over £33m on carrying out major works and improvements on over 3,000 properties. This includes energy efficiency improvements to homes:

43 air source

95 properties

21 properties

39 properties

heat pumps were installed

benefited from ‘fuel switch’ replacing storage heaters with full central heating systems

had their lofts insulated

had cavity wall insulation Solar PV systems across our properties generated

1,169

megawatts

Find out more: For more information about this report contact Michael Cook, head of insight and impact, on Michael.Cook@thirteengroup.co.uk