Welcome to Oxbode’s Annual Report to Tenants 2010.

The new regulator for social housing - the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) - has recently

issued new rules which require every housing association to produce an annual report for

tenants in a defined format and this report follows that expectation.

The new regulatory framework not only sets out national standards that all landlords

must meet, but also requires landlords and residents to look at areas where a local offer

can be agreed.

A local offer means something that Oxbode agrees with its tenants and residents because

it is important to them. It may not be something that other landlords are doing, but that’s

what makes it local to us. This also means that its not about taking a one size fits all

approach to what we do or the services we provide. We might have different local offers

for people who live in a particular area, or for people who have disabilities or for families,

because they need and want different things.

In this report, we look at the six TSA National Standards and examine what we do well

alongside areas where we can improve. We also look at the opportunities for agreeing

local offers under each standard with our tenants and, where applicable, provide some

details about what we are currently doing to achieve this.

Please contact a member of staff if you would like to discuss anything detailed in this

report further.

Annual Report To Tenants 2010

A Charitable Housing Association

Building More than Houses…

...Building Communities through Partnership

2

Tenant Involvement and Empowerment - Which includes:

Customer Care - Good information, more choice, high standards of service, handling

things well if they go wrong, and most importantly listening !

Tenant involvement - Giving you the chance to get involved in what we do. Giving you the

chance to say how we can make things better and how you can check

that we are doing what we say we will do.

Diversity - Treating everyone fairly and with respect. Making sure that we

understand what our tenants need.

What we do well

• Service - Oxbode provide good

information to residents. We listen,

provide a high standard of service and

always endeavour to put things right if

they go wrong.

• Tenant involvement - There are a wide

range of opportunities to be involved

with Oxbode and to check on whether

improvements have taken place.

• Our staff profile reflects local communi-

ties

• Diversity - Staff are regularly trained on

equality and diversity issues

We can improve by

• Working with the Tenants Forum to

undertake more structured scrutiny and

undertake formal training for tenants

• Getting a wider range of people involved

with us - more families, younger people,

people with disabilities and people from

minority ethnic backgrounds

• Review our complaints procedures to

make sure they are widely publicised

and understood.

• Ensure that the person answering the

telephone always gives their name

Local Offers

• Reviewing, with tenants, a new set of

Service Standards

• Implement a system of more specific

standards for older and disabled

residents.

Evidence - Status Survey 2009:

• 83% of tenants were positive about the

services they receive.

• Tenant Forum members undertake

follow up visits to new tenants and

regularly review performance of

contractors.

• 85% of tenants thought Oxbode kept

them informed of issues important to

them as tenants.

• 79% of tenants thought Oxbode did

enough to involve tenants.

• Minutes of the Tenant Forum

3

Your Home

Making sure that your home is a safe, secure and comfortable place to live. Ensuring that

Oxbode offers an excellent repairs and maintenance service, cyclical maintenance program and

planned works program.

What we do well

• 100% of Oxbode homes meet the

Government’s Decent Homes Standard

• High levels of satisfaction with the

quality of our homes

• Comprehensive planned maintenance

programme that supports our business

plan

• Consistently meeting response times on

day to day repairs

• High levels of tenant satisfaction with

planned, cyclical and day to day

maintenance work

• Major repair contracts let through

rigorous tender processes with tenant

involvement at each key stage

We can improve by -

• Fitting carpets to all new build

properties

• Fitting Solar heating panels where

appropriate to all new build properties

• Investigate other options for

commissioning Occupational Therapist

services

• Upgrading replacement boilers with “A”

rated boilers

• Installing Co2 detectors as standard

• Installing de-scalers with all boiler

replacements

• Accurate and up to date stock condition

survey

Local Offers

• Consult with tenants to agree “Decent

Homes Plus” - i.e. a higher standard

• Offer a wider range of repairs and

maintenance services to older residents

• Consult with tenants on appropriate

standards in grounds maintenance

Evidence

• Satisfaction Levels are High :

Day to day - 99%

Aids and Adaptations - 100%

Boiler Replacements (planned) - 100%

Painting (cyclical) - 100%

Kitchen Replacement (planned) - 89%

4

Your Tenancy

We must follow the rules, and act fairly when we let homes, charge rent and manage your

tenancy.

What we do well

• We have a very good relationship with

our Local Authority partners

• We can signpost tenants in need of

support to relevant and appropriate

agencies

• Have worked proactively with Local

Authorities during the introduction of

Gloucestershire Homeseeker

• We comply with all rules associated

with rent setting

We can improve by -

• Making sure that when we let our

homes quickly, we ensure standards

continue to be met and tenant’s needs

remain paramount.

• Regularly update residents on how

rents and service charges are set.

Local Offers

• Introducing starter tenancies to make

sure that new tenants are fully aware

of their tenancy obligations

• Investigate “Golden Goodbyes”,

rewarding properties being left in a

clean and letable condition.

Evidence

• Low empty property turnaround times

• Low arrears levels

• Low average rent amounts - £82.90pw

compared to £92.35pw for the South

West Benchmarking Group.

Lettings

During 2009/2010 Oxbode re-let 32 homes and let 21 new homes meaning 53 homes were let to new

tenants. It took staff an average of 6 days to let these new homes, well below our own target of 10

days.

Of the 53 new tenants, 18% were from the BME community, 17% were homeless and 21% were under

25 years of age.

Rents

Total rental income for 2009/2010 £1,836,454.00

Average weekly rent £82.90

Rent arrears as a % of the rent charged for

the year

2.15 %

Number of people evicted for not paying

their rent

1

5

Empty property loss

and Bad Debts

1p

Estate Costs - Repairs

23p

Estate Costs - Services

2p

Estate Costs - Other

2pManagement Costs -

Staff

17p

Management

Costs - Office

8p

Depreciation

5p

Mortgage Interest &

Costs

28p

Management Costs -

Consultancy and

Professional Fees

6p Surplus for

Year

8p

The chart below shows the breakdown of how every £1 is spent

Repair Performance Information Oxbode HA 2009/2010 South West Benchmarking Club

Average 2009/2010

Jobs Completed Within Target Times

Emergency 100% 100%

Jobs Completed Within Target Times

Urgent 99.6% 94.9%

Jobs Completed Within Target Times

Routine 99.5% 93.7%

Tenant Satisfaction with individual

repair carried out 99% 89.3%

Question Result

(shown as a % of positive or satisfied responses)

Satisfaction with accommodation (quality) 94%

Satisfaction with the condition of your home 91%

Satisfaction with repairs service generally 82%

When you last contacted the office, was it easy to get hold

of the right person 91%

Were staff helpful when you last contacted the office 87%

Other results from the 2009 Customer Satisfaction

6

Name Position Membership Committee

Grenville Hague Chair of Oxbode and Chair of

Housing Management

Professional Housing Management

John Whittam Chair of Development, Finance

& Personnel

Professional Development, Finance &

Personnel

Kate Clemmow Vice Chair of Oxbode Professional Development, Finance &

Personnel

Graham Hobby Professional Development, Finance &

Personnel

Ann Evans Community Housing Management and

Development, Finance &

Personnel

Cllr Gordon Heath Community Housing Management

Canon Dr Jeni Parsons Community Housing Management

Mark Ravenscroft Community Development, Finance &

Personnel

Dave Eaketts Tenant Development, Finance &

Personnel

Shirley Kempson Tenant Housing Management

Valerie Woolger Tenant Housing Management

Board Membership

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

Oxbode Properties

Shared Ownership Properties

Leashold Properties

Westle Properties (Managed by Oxbode)

443

34

3

91

Number of Homes in management at the end of

March 2010

7

Your Neighbourhood and Community

Keeping the area where you live clean and safe, this includes taking a strong and supportive

approach to anti social behaviour.

What we do well

• We carry out regular estate inspections

on our major estates

• We have developed strong partnerships

with local authorities, the Police and

voluntary organisations

• We are involved in a wide variety of

community initiatives to help improve

the quality of life in our neighbourhoods

• Mutual Respect Contracts are used on

estates to promote neighbourliness

We can improve by -

• Carrying out inspections of all of our

housing schemes

• Communicate better with you about

what we are doing to tackle problems

or issues on estates

• Reviewing our landscape maintenance

contracts

Local Offers

• We want to agree estate standards with

residents who live in particular

neighbourhoods to help increase

satisfaction levels

• We want to discuss with residents the

frequency of inspections and agree

priorities for improvements

• Developing the use of starter tenancies

to help combat Anti Social Behaviour

Evidence

• The work we do with partner agencies

has resulted in no tenants being evicted

for Anti Social Behaviour

• 77% of you are satisfied with the

neighbourhood within which you live.

• Oxbode financially supports and sits on

the management board of ‘The Venture

- White City’

8

Value for Money

The way we manage our resources to provide cost-effective, efficient, quality services and

homes to meet tenants’ and future tenants’ needs.

What we do well

• We set and maintain our budgets so

that our income covers our costs

• Major contracts are tendered to provide

the best possible product or service for

the best possible price

• Buying in services where it is cost

effective and using procurement clubs.

• Benchmark costs with other

organisations

We can improve by -

• Consult those residents who have

shown an interest in how we spend

money

• More extensive benchmarking

• Exploring more opportunities with

partners for sharing services.

Local Offers

• Prioritising expenditure against tenants’

wish list items

Evidence

• 83% of tenants felt that their rent was

good value for money

• Identified savings in planned

maintenance costs

• Hired outside consultants to monitor

energy consumption and cost

• Selling the skills and services that staff

can offer to other organisations

• Buying in financial services from other

organisations instead of employing own

staff

• Undertaking stock condition surveying

in house

9

Governance and Financial Viability

Making sure that Oxbode has effective governance arrangements in place so that the business

is run properly and efficiently. The voluntary board should act in an accountable and

transparent manner.

Oxbode should also manage its resources effectively to ensure that the financial viability of the

association is maintained.

What we do well

• Residents are involved at a strategic

level through our Board and Tenants

Forum

• We have a good mix of people with

different skills on our Board

• We have strong performance, risk and

treasury management systems in place

• We have regularly reviewed standing

orders ,terms of reference and dele-

gated authority within the organisation

• We regularly report on meeting our

lenders requirements

• We have regularly reviewed internal

financial controls

• We review our financial plans yearly

with our accountants.

• We undertake regular internal audits by

an external organisation and check on

implementation.

We can improve by -

• Our Board could reflect the community

better

• Reviewing our training and induction for

board members.

Local Offers

• Explore how links between the resident

associations and the Forum can be

strengthened and made more effective

in prioritising ideas for improvements.

Evidence

• Recent adoption by the Board of the

National Housing Federation Code of

Governance

• Review of compliance against the Code

of Governance.

10

What does this mean ?

Oxbode are committed to work with residents to drive improvements in terms of and the

quality and cost of services.

What happens next ?

From our survey in September 2009, residents thought of Oxbode as a small association and

indicated that they saw a positive benefit generally in terms of the quality of services Oxbode

delivered, being small and locally based.

Therefore, for us, being small means working together to:

a) make sure our services are more responsive, and

b) making Oxbode more accountable in meeting residents expectations

Oxbode Housing Association Ltd - 9 Pullman Court Great Western Road Gloucester GL1 3ND

info@oxbodehousing.org.uk - 01452 505359 - www.oxbodehousing.org.uk

Your Feedback Needed

We would like to hear from you if you have any comments regarding this report to tenants,

as well as the main annual report. Please complete the enclosed feedback form and return to

the address at the bottom of the page. Alternatively you may prefer to e-mail your

comments and you can do this using the e-mail address, again at the bottom of the page.

This report is your report and contains information regarding our performance against the

standards set by the Tenants Services Authority. We have consulted a group of residents

from various areas on the layout and content of the report. If you would like to be involved in

next years report, please also indicate your intent on the feedback form.

Please contact a member of staff if you would like to discuss anything detailed in this report

further.