Barony Annual Report to Tenants 2017-2018 · Annual Report to Tenants 2017/18 It has been another year of progress at Barony as we continued to invest in our communities and improve

Barony Housing Association Highlights and performance 2017/18

Annual Report to Tenants

Better homes, better lives

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Barony Housing Association

Welcome to the Annual Report to Tenants. This year we have combined our Annual Highlights with our Report to Tenants about how we have performed.

In each section you’ll also see feedback from our Scrutiny Panel, a group made up of customers which meets regularly to review Wheatley Group’s performance and services.

We hope you enjoy reading about what we achieved in the year and taking a look at how we performed on the key indicators we give the Scottish Housing Regulator each year.

Chair’s welcomeOur journey to excellenceHomes and communitiesYour repairs serviceRent and value for moneyEngaging with tenantsSupporting customers

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What’s inside?

INSIDE FRONT COVER


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Annual Report to Tenants 2017/18

It has been another year of progress at Barony as we continued to invest in our communities and improve our housing and care services.

Welcome from Barony Chair Martin Kelso

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One of the tangible benefits of joining Wheatley Group in 2016 was the ability to upgrade our homes and I’m pleased to report this work has gathered momentum over the past year with a further £444,000 of improvements carried out.

Our new repairs and maintenance service, delivered for us by our sister organisation in Wheatley, Dunedin Canmore, went from strength to strength. Closer working between tradespeople and housing staff has helped create a more efficient, more responsive repairs service which has far greater focus on getting things right for the customer. I’m delighted that tenants have told us they feel positive about the improvements.

Overall customer satisfaction with Barony is an important barometer of the progress we are making on our journey to excellence. I am delighted to report that 93% of tenants who were surveyed in 2017/18 said they were satisfied overall with Barony as a landlord. This is our highest ever result and is testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff at Barony.

In care, we were successful in securing high-ranking places on framework tenders in both West Lothian and Falkirk. This not only protects our current services, but creates an excellent opportunity for growth, especially in Falkirk where we are working in partnership with our sister organisation Loretto Care.

On behalf of the Board I would like to thank all our staff for the commitment, care and professionalism they showed throughout 2017/18 in delivering excellent services to the people we work for.

You can read more of Barony’s highlights for the financial year here.

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Our journey to excellence

93% tenants satisfied overall with Barony

We maintained high levels in all our satisfaction results with many areas of performance improving.

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92% tenants happy with the standard of their home when moving in

The Panel is pleased to see continued strong performance in overall customer satisfaction. Over the coming year we will monitor performance across all other aspects of customer satisfaction, including satisfaction with opportunities to participate and with rent as value for money.

Overall tenant satisfaction with Barony, at 93%, was the highest ever and up from 90.7% the previous year. Other performance highlights included:

100% of complaints were responded to within timescale for the second year running

tenants satisfied with the management of their neighbourhood increased to 92% from 88.2% the previous year

tenants satisfied with the quality of their existing home improved from 85% to 92%

anti-social behaviour cases resolved within timescale improved from 94.1% to 100%

tenancy sustainment, the number of tenants who stay in their home for at least a year after moving in, improved to 100% from 89.1%.

In care, we supported 992 people over the year and successfully tendered for a number of contracts with local authorities. In Falkirk we partnered with our sister organisation Loretto Care and together we were ranked in the top five on the framework for Self-Directed Support Services. We also secured a place on the framework for Housing Support, Mental Health and Substance Misuse Flexible Support Services in West Lothian Council. These successful tenders protect our existing services and create the opportunity for us to grow.

Four of our services were inspected by the Care Inspectorate during the year with three – Logie Road Care Home, Barony Housing Support Services Fife and Barony Housing Support Service in West Lothian – receiving ‘very good’ (5) grades for all themes inspected. Edinburgh Housing Support Service received one ‘very good’ grade and one ‘good’ grade (4).

Barony also secured Investors in People (IiP) with assessors describing staff as having “a clear line of sight in what they did and how that made a difference”.

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Our environmental team continued to make a difference to our neighbourhoods by being out and about each day, cleaning, tidying, weeding, cutting grass, clearing litter and removing graffiti.

Our Community Improvement Partnership (CIP) sees police and fire officers seconded to Wheatley Group to work closely with housing staff to keep local communities safe. It was further strengthened with a number of new roles including five new behaviour change officers to support young people in trouble to turn their lives around and two new fire safety officers.

Fire safety remained a top priority for us and we introduced a Stay Safe campaign to encourage all tenants to get a home fire safety visit.

We were delighted 92% of tenants reported they were satisfied with their neighbourhoods, up from 88.2%.

Homes and communitiesInvesting in neighbourhoods

We know local services and improvements are very important to tenants and we welcome the opportunity for tenants to improve their neighbourhoods. We will continue to review customer satisfaction with the management of neighbourhoods over the coming year.

overall satisfaction with neighbourhood, up from 88%

92%

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Our £1.5million programme to improve our homes over five years saw us invest a further £444,000 across our communities.

This included installing 64 new central heating systems, moving people from electricity to gas. We also replaced 19 boilers, put in new double glazing in 24 homes and carried out a range of common close improvements.

Size 1 Apt 2 Apt 3 Apt 4 Apt 5+Apt Total

House 10 0 32 6 0 48

High-rise 0 0 0 0 0 0

Tenement 2 105 39 0 0 146

Four-in-a-block 0 50 34 0 0 84

Other flat/maisonette 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total owned 12 155 105 6 0 278

No of lettable units 12 155 105 6 0 278

No. of lettable units Average weekly rent £

1 apartment 12 £110.88




5+ apartment 0 £0

Improving our homes

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Your repairs serviceMore tenants were happy with the repairs and maintenance service in 2017/18.

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Non-emergency repairsAverage time to complete non-emergency repairs (working days)

Repairs and maintenanceSatisfaction with repairs or maintenance in last 12 months

Gas safety Properties requiring a gas safety record which had gas safety check by anniversary date

5.8 days 100%

87.3%

6 days 100%

96%

2017/18

2016/17

Reactive repairsReactive repairs completed right first time

92.7%

2017/18

2017/18

2016/17

2016/17

2017/18

2016/17

The Panel is currently carrying out a review of the repairs service from the customer point of view, including repairs completed right first time and quality of repair. Our aim is to identify what works well and what needs to be improved. We will report our findings and recommendations later in 2018.

A total of 96% of tenants reported being satisfied with the service, up from 87.3% in 2016/17. Timescales for emergency and non-emergency repairs continued to improve, with emergency timescales reducing to 2.3 hours compared with 2.6 hours the previous year.

The improvements came after we rolled out our new repairs and maintenance service delivered by our sister organisation in Wheatley Group, Dunedin Canmore.

Improvements to the service include:

tradespeople becoming more multi-skilled so they can complete straightforward repairs during one visit

closer working between repairs and housing staff

greater focus on the customer with tradespeople taking more control of each step of even the most complex job.

75.5%

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Rent and value for moneyWe want our tenants to feel their home and services are good value for money.

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Value for moneyTenants who feel their rent represents good value for money

Rent collectedRent collected as a percentage of total rent due

Rent arrears Gross rent arrears

80.5%

85%

102.2%

98.8%

3.9%

3%

Rent lostRent lost through properties being empty

Re-let propertiesAverage length of time taken to re-let properties (calendar days)

0.5%

1.4%

20.8 days

18.2 days

2017/18

2016/17

2017/18

2016/17

2017/18

2016/17

2017/18

2016/17

2017/18

2016/17

We were pleased that 85% of tenants felt their rent represented good value for money, an improvement on 80.5% last year.

Our gross rent arrears improved from 3.9% to 3% this year.

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Engaging with tenantsWe continued to engage with customers across a range of channels, listening to their feedback and using it to improve services.

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Decision makingTenants who were happy with opportunities to participate

Keeping you informedTenants who were satisfied with their landlord keeping them informed about their services and decisions

83.7%

90%

93.2%

93%

We consulted customers formally on a new allocations policy – due to be introduced as part of MyHousing, our new housing advice, information and letting service later in 2018 – with their feedback influencing the final service. We also consulted tenants on three options for rent charges for 2018/19.

We held a range of community events across all our areas and continued to involve tenants in local decisions through our scrutiny panel and forums. Our ‘Snappy Chats’ – with staff out meeting customers face to face in the heart of their communities – have helped us build relationships and better understand our customers’ needs and priorities.

We also reached out to more tenants through online channels, growing our Twitter following and engaging around 1200 visitors a month on our new website. We simplified the sign-up process for our online self-service where people can pay rent, check their account, book a repair or request a service when and where they want.

2017/18 2017/18

2016/17 2016/17

The Panel carried out a review of online self-service. We believe the new, streamlined registration process has resulted in more customers using online self-service. We found the service easy to use and convenient for customers. We will continue to review the take-up of online self-service and customer satisfaction with the service over the next 12 months.

The percentage of tenants who felt Barony was good at keeping them informed about services and decisions remained high at 93%. A total of 90% of tenants were satisfied with opportunities to participate in Barony’s decision making, an improvement on 83.7% in 2016/17.

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Supporting customersWe supported our tenants and their families to get the most out of their lives through a range of services and projects, many of which are funded through the Wheatley Foundation, our charitable trust.

We meet with staff to find out first-hand how tenants are supported. We welcome the range of services tenants can receive, especially those which help with money, budgeting and longer term support which can help people who find themselves in challenging circumstances.

Overall satisfaction Tenants satisfied with the overall service

Medical adaptationsAverage time to complete approved applications for medical adaptations (calendar days)

ComplaintsComplaints responded to in full within SPSO timescales

90.7%

93% 2017/18

2016/17 11.7 days

22.9 days 2017/18

2016/17 100%

100% 2017/18

2016/17

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INSIDE BACK COVER

This included help with money, budgeting and benefits, access to bursaries to go to university and arts and sports projects. Jobs, training and apprenticeship opportunities are also available for our customers through Wheatley Group.

In 2017/18, 13 tenants were supported to manage their household finances and settle into their home and community through the My Great Start service

Barony helped two people receive upcycled furniture through Home Comforts to make their house more comfortable

We helped one Barony tenant secure a bursary to help them go into higher education.

Housing FirstBarony played a major role in 2017/18 in a new partnership between our parent company Wheatley Group and Social Bite to tackle rough sleeping in Scotland.

The Housing First programme aims to support people sleeping rough to move into a home and then to successfully sustain their new tenancy by giving them comprehensive and personalised support to deal with their issues.

Wheatley Group has pledged more than 200 homes over two years, with Barony providing care and support to the people given one of Wheatley’s homes in Edinburgh. This includes support with addictions and mental health as well as practical support with money and budgeting.

Working closely with our Group housing colleagues in Dunedin Canmore, Barony became the first to successfully resettle an individual as part of this national initiative in Edinburgh.

Contact PointScottish singing star Barbara Dickson helped Barony celebrate the 25th anniversary of our pioneering mental health support service, Contact Point.

Contact Point has drop-in centres in Buckhaven, Kirkcaldy and Edinburgh which provide a range of social, emotional and practical support to vulnerable people with mental health issues.

A refurbishment project began at Kirkcaldy Contact Point which will improve the environment for those using the service and staff.

Wheatley Group, Wheatley House,25 Cochrane Street, Glasgow, G1 1HLwheatley-group.com

Documents

Barony Annual Report to Tenants 2017-2018 · Annual Report to Tenants 2017/18 It has been another year of progress at Barony as we continued to invest in our communities and improve