Two Talk - January 2023

The new year has arrived and with it, the optimism of a fresh start and new challenges!

I’m happy to share that we have had confirmation from our regulator that we have completed all of the follow-up work needed in relation to the repairs backlog (what backlog?!) and that they require no more from us on this issue. I’m sure as more consumer regulation is introduced, we will continue to be in a strong position and ensure we remain accountable for service quality and standards.

I was pleased to be able to thank the team for all the hard work that went into this ‘clean bill of health’, and for the efforts of our Centigen colleagues (led by Ian Harris) and our housing and assets teams. This is a team game in every sense!

Despite this good news, it’s important to remember that the cost-of-living pressures are continuing as we continue through the winter months. Although you’ll be glad to know that there are some small chinks of light at the end of the tunnel, as fuel costs are beginning to fall, and energy costs appear to be stabilising.

The crisis is still affecting certain costs, mainly food prices, so we have been pulling together resources to make more support available to both colleagues, through the reward scheme, and tenants, through the tenant support fund. We hope this will give everyone an extra helping hand during this time.

I would like to also express how heartened I’ve been by the work of our cost-of-living group, who have been helping tenants tackle the crisis and providing support through drop-in sessions, financial advice, and energy tips.

We are currently budgeting to provide more support in the next financial year through the tenant support fund and will continue to monitor the situation for our colleagues.

The recent launch of the reward and recognition scheme will provide extra support for colleagues, setting out a range of benefits and salary increases. The launch message is included in this Two Talk on page 12, so read on!

Finally, I saw my first snow drops today (30/1)! A pleasing sight every year although we know winter isn’t over just yet!

Confident with cyber : Vulnerability scanning

by James Osborne

As part of our Confident with Cyber series, each month we will cover a new cyber security topic and provide some useful tips and knowledge for staying safe both in the workplace and at home.

If you would like to suggest a cyber security topic you think you’d benefit from knowing more about or have any questions about cyber security, please get in touch with the IT team who will be happy to help!

You can also find more cyber security advice and guidance from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

January's topic is vulnerability scanning.

You may not be that familiar with this month’s confident with cyber topic, but it’s important to have knowledge of how it relates to cyber security.

We’ve explained in previous stories how software and devices must always be kept up to date to minimise risks of vulnerabilities - but first, what are vulnerabilities? How do you find them and how are they exploited?

What are software vulnerabilities?

A vulnerability is a bug or weakness found in a piece of software.

Essentially a mistake, a vulnerability can also be an unexpected or undesirable behaviour which occurs under unusual circumstances or through unintended usage of the software. These 'glitches’ can be fixed by the software supplier using solutions such as software updates.

Software vulnerabilities can be exploited by hackers who will try and get into an organisation’s systems and perform unauthorised actions. The vulnerability is the weakness that allows the systems and data to be compromised.

This issue can become more complex as an attack can happen based on multiple factors and multiple different vendors, with hardware and software all interacting together. This is partly why software vulnerabilities exist, as it’s impossible to test all the different permutations and potential use cases for all hardware and software.

How does vulnerability scanning work?

Vulnerability scanners can identify weaknesses in the real world in software by looking for already discovered software vulnerabilities from research and user reports. Scanning can also highlight any security risks within the software.

It might be as simple as knowing that a certain version of a software product has the vulnerability, or that if a certain type of crafted network packet (a formatted data string) is fired at a server (using internet connectivity) that a particular response indicates the vulnerability is present. Vulnerability scanners are (usually) non-destructive in their nature.

Vulnerability scanning is very useful to businesses as it can tell the system administrators what needs to be fixed and how urgently.

However, this is also a security concern as hackers can use the same scanning tools to identify the system’s weak points and give them a way into the system.

What about Two Rivers Housing?

Our organisation runs continuous vulnerability scanning of all our environments including external public scans (from internet), internal scans (from Rivers Meet) and website scans specifically on web servers.

The system we use ranks all found results using a recognised scoring system (CVSS) so the IT Team know what to address first.

Here is an example of a historical high-level scan showing two high risk vulnerabilities identified (which you’ll be glad to know are now fixed!).

Fixing identified vulnerabilities is a continuous process for the infrastructure team, which mainly involves applying fixes from the vendors or blocking specific actions or services that could enable the vulnerability to be exploited.

As an organisation that handles large amounts of information and data, it’s important that there are no security vulnerabilities that can lead to issues with systems and create security risks.

The Cyber Essentials Certification that our organisation holds requires this type of identify and remediate process to be in place and regularly to help identify and remove risks. This is important in ensuring our ability to deliver suitable cyber security.

Go the extra mile (or 10k!) with this year's TRH Challenge

Whether it’s running, cycling, swimming, or walking, this year, we want to see colleagues going the extra mile for the 5k challenge, so why not push yourself and go for a full 10k!

This year’s challenge will be taking place between 6 – 12 February and is open to those who are looking for more opportunities to get moving or improve their physical health.

If you would like to take part, please add your name, distance, and activity to the 2023 list saved on the S drive (S:\TRH Challenge).

Try to complete the challenge in one go so we can beat last year’s total distance of 253k!

Don’t forget to snap a picture of you completing the challenge or a screenshot of your distance and send it to the comms team for sharing.

We also have a number of Health and Wellbeing webinars that provide more advice on staying active. To access the webinars, simply enter your name and email address and use the password two2022.

Good luck!

Phil Jupp saves Christmas!

Those of you that are new to Two Rivers Housing may not have heard of the legend that is Phil Jupp!

One of our longest serving surveyors, Phil has come to the rescue of many of our tenants and, before the pandemic, was a regular feature in our colleague magazine. His heroics on the job have no boundaries and this tale is no exception.

Back in the spring of 2022, Phil was called to inspect one of our homes in Stroud. A fire had ripped through the property causing severe fire damage to the kitchen and smoke and water damage to other rooms throughout.

Thankfully, the family living in the property were able to get out unharmed. However, their home was now inhabitable, and they would need to be housed in temporary accommodation until we could restore the property.

Undeterred by the extent of the damage, Phil sprang into action – creating a plan to restore the property to its former glory.

Negotiating with insurance companies and contractors and navigating the tricky road to restoration, he worked tirelessly to reinstate the property.

Thanks to his hard work, the tenants were able to move back into their home in December –just in time for Christmas.

As some of you may know, Phil is somewhat of a shrinking violet when it comes to publicity, but we did manage to get a short comment from him: “Don’t forget to mention my amazing management of the works.” He told us before adding: “I’ve completed numerous projects since I was last featured in Two Talk – making me extremely good Value for Money for the company!”

Taking a moment of reflection, he told us that he would ‘like to thank his colleagues who played a supporting role in his triumph’ before swishing his cape and heading off to the next project that needed his attention.

Modest and humble as ever Phil – but thank you from some very grateful tenants!

88 more afforable homes on the way for the Forest of Dean!

We have signed two new contracts with local developers to provide 88 new affordable homes in the Forest of Dean!

The contracts have been signed with Cotswold Oak Homes and David Wilson Homes, which is part of Barrat Developments.

The contract with Cotswold Oak Homes will deliver four one-bedroom affordable homes at its development in Alvington, Lydney.

A further 84 homes will be built at the David Wilson Homes Hildersley Farm site in Rosson-Wye.

This will include a mix of affordable homes to rent and Shared Ownership properties.

Contact centre hits new record!

The last few months have been busy for our contact centre team. A combination of the bad weather, Christmas, and the impact of rising costs on our tenants has meant the contact centre has been put to the test as they try to resolve tenant queries as quickly as possible.

Being the first point of contact for most tenants, isn’t always easy. The team often bears the brunt of tenant frustrations, worries, and emotions – they never know what’s going to happen when they answer the phone.

Undeterred the team has continued to provide the great customer experience our tenants have come to expect from them and risen to the challenge of providing a high ‘first time resolution’ rate.

In December, they achieved a first time resolution rate of 82% - the highest percentage recorded.

This means that 82% of all tenant queries were answered and resolved on the very first call. Not only does this provide a great customer experience for our tenants, but it also provides a great customer experience for other teams who did not need to get involved with the query.

As always, the team is ready to listen to any changes they can make to help resolve more queries first time so, if you have any ideas, please get in touch with Molly Osborne or Natalie Wilce.

Great place to work!

Enhancing our reward offer

As we start the new year, we know that there are some big challenges ahead. The cost-of-living crisis continues to impact our tenants and there are real pressures on our organisation, including rising costs, the rent cap, regulatory changes and recruiting and retaining the best people to help us deliver on our mission.

We also recognise that our colleagues are not immune to these challenges and in June 2022, set out our aspirations to enhance our reward offering across the Group. This included a number of elements such as salary benchmarking, reviewing our pension schemes, and introducing a new electric car scheme.

Alongside this, we wanted to ensure that we were able to support all colleagues with current cost-of-living crisis that has seen energy and food prices soar. In January, we made a oneoff winter payment of up to £500 to all eligible colleagues. In addition to this, subject to the financial performance of the Group, we will be making a further payment of up to £250 to all eligible colleagues in March 2023.

The £500 payment represents an average increase of 2% in salary for colleagues across the Group. Combined with the additional payment of up to £250 (which is subject to the Group’s financial performance), colleagues will have received an average 3% salary increase by the end of this financial year.

We have presented a proposal to the Board in December for their approval. This was signed off and we shared the details with the Colleague Forum at their meeting on Wednesday 18 January.

This included the following:

• An annual cost of living pay award of 4% of basic salary will be awarded to all colleagues from 1 April 2023.

• The salary benchmarking recommendations will be applied from 1 April 2023.

• As a not-for-profit organisation, affordability is a key consideration in our approach. As a result, we have taken the decision to cap salary increases for 2023/2024 to a maximum of 7% overall (including the 4% cost of living uplift applied to all colleagues). We will provide details to individuals before the April pay day.

• We have also completed a review of our pension offering across the Group. We will provide the full details and set up briefing sessions, in the coming weeks, but from 1 April 2023:

• Our defined benefit schemes (including LGPS) will remain unchanged.

• We are enhancing our defined contribution scheme (SHPS). This will include a commitment to match your contributions from a minimum of 4% to a maximum of 10% plus 2%. For example, if you contribute 8%, we will contribute 10%.

We are enhancing our defined contribution scheme (People’s Pension). This will include a commitment to match your contributions from a minimum of 4% to a maximum of 8% to provide greater choice for colleagues.

• The enhancements to our defined contribution pension schemes will be partly funded through National Insurance savings delivered through the introduction of salary sacrifice and we will provide further details of this in the coming weeks.

• We are also looking to introduce a performance incentive scheme for our multitrade operatives and electricians, which will be taken to the Group Board for approval in February.

• Finally, as part of our ongoing commitment to reducing our carbon footprint, we will be introducing a salary sacrifice electric car scheme. We will share more details of the scheme in the coming weeks.

Despite the continuing pressures on our organisation, we are committed to enhancing our reward offering in a fair and balanced way that provides real benefits for our colleagues. We believe that these enhancements will help us attract and retain the best people and enable us to be there for our tenants for the long-term.

If you have any questions, please speak to your Assistant Director or email the people team on reward@2rh.org.uk.

Men's discussion group on at Kingsholm Stadium

Jasmine Ellicott has shared a poster from the Gloucester Rugby Foundation for their monthly Men's Group sessions for men wanting to chat in a supportive environment.

A warm welcome

David Hood has joined the Property Services team as a Stock Condition Surveyor.

Welcome to the team, David!

Andrew Coulthard has also joined the Property Services as a Stock Condition Surveyor.

Welcome to the team, Andrew!

Debbie Johnston has joined the repairs team as a Repairs Administrator!

Her previous job roles have found her handling complaints in the UK’s biggest building society call centre, spot-welding for Rover and BMW cars and working with special needs children and adults in the care and teaching assistant sectors.

Before that, Debbie worked at Hartpury College for two years, invigilating exams and supervising students handling exotic animals and accompanying them on zoo visits.

She has volunteered at various equine events while supervising rowdy agricultural apprentices! She has also used her animal knowledge to help take notes for dyslexic students in anatomy, zoology, and veterinary nursing lessons.

Debbie is a single parent and a Two Rivers Housing tenant living in Joy's Green. Her hobbies include: hiking, canoeing, gardening, wild swimming, and fundraising for Severn Area Rescue Association.

She also speaks fluent French, having lived in Belgium for three years at nine years old and attended a French-speaking primary school.

Bienvenue, Debbie!

What's on in February

Knife Angel at Gloucester Cathedral - Gloucester

1 - 28 February

Made from over 100,000 confiscated knives, which have been seized by 43 police forces from across the UK, the sculpture is a thought-provoking monument, which aims to inspire social change, raising awareness of violence and aggressive behaviour, as well as memorialising those who have lost their lives to knife crime.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition –Nature in Art, Wallsworth Hall, Gloucester

7 February - 2 April

Nature in Art will again be one of the first venues to show the world-renowned Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. On loan from the Natural History Museum in London, it features exceptional images which capture fascinating animal behaviour, spectacular species, and the breath-taking diversity of the natural world.

Chris McCausland: Speaky Blinder - The Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury

9 February

Star of the Royal Variety Performance, Would I Lie to You?, Have I Got News for You, QI, and Live at the Apollo... one of the UK's top stand-ups Chris McCausland is on tour with a stand-up show about life, family, and loads of other nonsense as well!

Lambing & Kidding - Adam Henson's Cotswold Farm Park, Guiting Power, Cheltenham

10 February

The much-loved visitor attraction’s annual lambing event is back and better than ever, with over 300 lambs expected to be born on the farm. There will be a mix of commercial and rare breed ewes giving birth, including Kerry Hills, Herdwicks and our county breed the Cotswolds. Plus, you’ll be able to participate in meeting and feeding the animals to exploring the beautiful Cotswold countryside.

The Big Hideout at WWT Slimbridge – WWT, Slimbridge, Gloucester

11 - 26 February

Spend this half term in the bird hides WWT Slimbridge and discover new adventures in bird watching.

It’s amazing what wildlife you can see when you hide in the right place. This half term, the bird hides have become hideouts. Bring all the family and take hiding to a whole new level with lots of activities to have a go at.

Medieval Tour of the Eastgate Chamber – Museum of Gloucester, Brunswick Road, Gloucester

22 and 25 February

Join Medieval Mercenary Sir Miles for a fascinating visit underground to the Eastgate chamber. Find out all about its history including the myths and superstitions surrounding it!

Recognition

Niall Hockey

The work Niall has been doing for the cost-of-living group has been really useful not only for our tenants, but also for our colleagues as we can understand more about the impact it's had on our tenants.

Niall quickly became involved when we first starting hearing about the rising energy costs and cost-of-living increases over the last six months and set up a new colleague group to help tackle the issue.

With this group, Niall has been able to bring different teams together and help everyone share their knowledge and advice on ways to help our tenants.

Nominated by Terri

Hibberd

nominations

Clive Wilce

First week back to work after the festive season and the housing team have been hit by the dreaded lurgy, leaving Clive as the only member of the housing team!

He was the main point of contact for the contact centre and worked extremely hard, going far and beyond what is expected of him.

Thank you Clive for everything you've done recently and for continuing to deliver a great customer experience!

Nominated by Justine Skitt

Recognition

Contact centre and income collection teams, Hannah Williams and Mark Lythaby

Hannah, Mark, and everyone in the contact centre and income collections teams deserve to be recognised this month for their incredible help and patience while Allpay introducted a new multi-factor authentication system.

The system had been causing problems and delays for the team when trying to make payments, but thankfully everyone stuck with it and was able to use the system again.

Nominated by Emma Watkins

nominations

I’d like to recognise Joel and Tim who picked up on a system alert that came out last Saturday evening.

There were several alerts from our network monitor tool, which looks for unauthorised or unusual activity, that could have been a sign of a cyber incident or attack.

Joel identified the alerts and Tim quickly diagnosed they were due to some services/ servers which IT had turned off earlier in the week, so were not harmful.

This shows excellent commitment to their roles and in helping to maintain cyber security for the organisation, even though it was their weekend and they were not working.

Well done both, it's much appreciated!

Nominated by James Osborne

Joel Norris and Tim Watkins