A home is about much more than a roof and four walls. It’s about security, it’s aboutneighbourhood, it’s about community and it’sabout choice.

And for Accent, being a first-class landlord is about much more than simply buildingproperties and renting them out. We want toprovide high-quality homes, in communitieswhere our residents are proud to live. We wantto work alongside our residents to provide theservices and support they are looking for toimprove their communities and move forwardwith their lives. We want to deliver services

that are second to none. In short we want to be a landlord of choice.

Over the past five years, we have worked hard toput improving homes, communities and lives at the centre of all we do. We are proud of how farwe have come. Our new business plan sets outhow we plan to build on these achievements in theyears ahead.

Our plan is built around three key themes: personal,modern and better. Together they make up ourvision of Accent into the future: a thriving, successfulorganisation, with our residents at our heart.

A personal, modern and better futureOur business plan until 2020

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Personal Our customers play a key role in shaping ourservices, from the customer service committeeswhich have helped draw up our business plan tothe individual residents and communities whowill help drive our improvements into the future.

Over the next six years, we aim to focus on high-quality services tailored to resident priorities.Our work will centre on:

• Investing in our homes, with an enhanced‘Accent standard’ to ensure our homes aregood quality and fit for the future.

• Investing in our communities, with serviceswhich help our residents and neighbourhoodsto flourish

• Providing support to our residents when theyneed it to stay in their homes or to deal with acrisis in their lives.

We will develop new opportunities for ourresidents to talk to us about what matters tothem, both through technology and through ourtenancy sustainment teams. We also plan todevelop our local scrutiny arrangements, so thatall of our communities can have their say abouthow we are doing. These local arrangements willbe complemented by the work of our nationalAccent Residents’ Panel, which will oversee the strategy of the whole board, including ourperformance on resident engagement, equalityand diversity. We have already introduced a singlerepairs contact centre and five regional customercontact centres. We will continue to focus on theperformance of these contact centres, to ensurewe provide the best possible way for ourresidents to speak to us quickly and efficiently.

Modern We aim to be a modern, forward-thinkingbusiness, focused on our customers and readyto take on new opportunities where they are ofreal benefit. To ensure we are best-placed for the years ahead, we aim to:

• Focus our services through our five mainoffices – in Bradford, Burnley, Middlesbrough,Peterborough and Camberley – and our fivecontact centres, with our specialist teamsproviding expertise for our more intensiveservices.

• Improve how we provide services digitally,using new technology to communicate withour residents and provide services.

• Support our residents to get better access tothe internet.

• Ensure we have a professional, enthusiasticand valued workforce, well prepared for thechallenges ahead.

BetterWe want to ensure that Accent is a well-runorganisation which provides great services. Todo this, we need to be financially robust andfocused on efficiency. Value for money is crucialin allowing us to deliver more for our residents ata time of tightening public spending. We havealready achieved savings of some £7m a year,through efficiencies and a streamlining of ourstructures. Value for money will continue to be a key priority in the years to come. We will lookto achieve the best outcome from every poundwe spend, seeking out opportunities for efficiencyboth big and small.

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Personal Our customers play a key role in shaping ourservices, from the customer service committeeswhich have helped draw up our business plan tothe individual residents and communities whowill help drive our improvements into the future.

Over the next six years, we aim to focus on high-quality services tailored to resident priorities.Our work will centre on:

• Investing in our homes, with an enhanced‘Accent standard’ to ensure our homes aregood quality and fit for the future

• Investing in our communities, with serviceswhich help our residents and neighbourhoodsto flourish

• Providing support to our residents when theyneed it to stay in their homes or to deal with acrisis in their lives.

We will develop new opportunities for ourresidents to talk to us about what matters tothem, both through technology and through ourtenancy sustainment teams. We also plan todevelop our local scrutiny arrangements, so thatall of our communities can have their say abouthow we are doing. These local arrangements willbe complemented by the work of our nationalAccent Residents’ Panel, which will oversee the strategy of the whole board, including ourperformance on resident engagement, equalityand diversity. We have already introduced a singlerepairs contact centre and five regional customercontact centres. We will continue to focus on theperformance of these contact centres, to ensurewe provide the best possible way for ourresidents to speak to us quickly and efficiently.

Modern We aim to be a modern, forward-thinkingbusiness, focused on our customers and readyto take on new opportunities where they are ofreal benefit. To ensure we are best-placed for the years ahead, we aim to:

• Focus our services through our five mainoffices – in Bradford, Burnley, Middlesbrough,Peterborough and Camberley – and our fivecontact centres, with our specialist teamsproviding expertise for our more intensiveservices

• Improve how we provide services digitally,using new technology to communicate withour residents and provide services

• Support our residents to get better access tothe internet

• Ensure we have a professional, enthusiasticand valued workforce, well prepared for thechallenges ahead.

BetterWe want to ensure that Accent is a well-runorganisation which provides great services. Todo this, we need to be financially robust andfocused on efficiency. Value for money is crucialin allowing us to deliver more for our residents ata time of tightening public spending. We havealready achieved savings of some £7m a year,through efficiencies and a streamlining of ourstructures. Value for money will continue to be a key priority in the years to come. We will lookto achieve the best outcome from every poundwe spend, seeking out opportunities for efficiencyboth big and small.

In particular we will:

• Ensure we use our housing assets in the bestpossible way. We will invest in our homessustainably and dispose of surplus stockwhere it is sensible to do so. We will invest any proceeds from disposing in stock intodeveloping or buying new homes.

• Look to make further savings on the goodsand services we buy. When we re-procureservices, we will use the Procurement for All consortium to provide more efficient andbetter services.

• Ensure our staff team is well placed to drive further improvements in performance.We are developing a new approach to target setting, linked directly to the budget-setting process, and improving access toperformance data. We are also streamliningour personal performance planning andinvesting in comprehensive training for ourmanagers.

Into the future

The next few years will be challenging for allsocial landlords. Welfare reform, changingpatterns of demand and the ageing populationwill all have an impact on our business andabove all on our communities. We will focus on ensuring our homes and communities are fit for the future. We will prioritise those serviceswhich make our homes and communities greatplaces to live, and which support our residentsin tough times. We will also invest in ourspecialist teams to help our business meet the challenges ahead.

Opportunities and growthThe housing market is changing, and we arewell-placed to help existing and future residentsby providing high-quality homes and services.We believe there will be increasing demand forgood quality rented housing, particularly asaccess to home ownership is squeezed, and forflexible and mixed tenure developments.

We will look to deliver new homes, both for rentand for sale, where the communities in which we work need them. But above all we will focuson our existing homes and communities. We willseek new partnerships to invest in our communitiesand we will target our spending on driving up thequality of our homes and the sustainability of theneighbourhoods where we work.

We will be looking to develop our services forolder people, to allow older residents to stay intheir own homes for longer, and to those whoneed extra support with managing their tenancies.

We will continue to work across a wide area,developing high quality services for all of ourhousing.

We will aim to manage our stock positively,investing actively in our communities, tacklingdeep-seated problems in those areas which facethem, helping our neighbourhoods to thrive anddisposing of homes where it makes sense to do so.We will continue to invest in our communities.We will offer locally tailored support to residentsthrough our tenancy sustainability teams and put5% of our turnover each year into communityinvestment schemes such as employment andskills training, debt advice and aids and adaptationsto help maintain residents’ independence.

Contacting us

Strategy & Regulation Team, Accent Group, Charlestown House, Acorn Park Industrial Estate, Charlestown, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD17 7SW

01274 717500 Twitter: @AccentGroup www.accentgroup.org

Our achievements Over the last five years, we have:

Our targets Over the next six years, we will:

• Invested more than £216m in our existing stock.

• Developed 1,432 new homes.

• Made efficiency savings and reduced ouroperational costs by £7m per year.

• Bought the goods we need more efficiently,making £2.9m of savings in 2012/13.

• Created a streamlined organisation, underour ‘Fit for the Future’ programme, with asingle governing board supported by fivecustomer service committees.

• Adopted a new resident engagementstrategy to allow more of our residents to get involved in shaping our services.

• Invest £320m in our homes, communitiesand services to ensure our residents areproud of living in an Accent home. We aim to ensure that 100% of our homes meet ourenhanced Accent standard by 2020.

• Grow and develop our business where it issensible to do so, delivering 525 new homesin the communities which need them most.

• Manage our assets to ensure good value formoney from our stock, investing across ourcommunities and seeking new partnershipsbut also disposing of stock and re-investingthe proceeds when it is sensible to do so.

• Ensure £22m of savings, and high performancethrough re-procuring goods and services,including repairs and maintenance, using the Procurement for All consortium.

• Make the best use of mobile working anddigital technology to provide accessible, high quality services.

• Improve tenant and staff satisfaction levels toabove 90% over the life of the business plan.

• Invest in our staff team, with a focus on goodtraining and development, comprehensiveperformance management and leadership. We aim to reduce staff turnover from 19.6%to 15% by 2020.

• Ensure a robust and successful business,maintaining our top governance and viabilitystatus with the regulator.

• Improve performance in the key areas of rentarrears and voids turnaround through ourinvestment in income management andtenancy sustainability teams. We aim to cutrent arrears from 4.29% of rents to 2.65%and voids from 1.8% to 1% by 2020.

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