Residents - Swan Housing Association
Residents - Swan Housing Association
Residents - Swan Housing Association
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>Residents</strong>’<br />
Annual Report<br />
Summary<br />
2009/10
Contents<br />
Our Mission Statement:<br />
To create homes and communities<br />
that people want to live in.<br />
Page<br />
1 Purpose of Annual Report<br />
2 Message from the Chair and Chief Executive<br />
3 Chapter 1 : Tenant involvement and empowerment standard<br />
Customer service and choice<br />
Complaints<br />
Tenant involvement and empowerment<br />
Understanding and responding to the diverse needs of residents<br />
10 Chapter 2 : Home standard<br />
Quality of accommodation<br />
Repairs and maintenance<br />
14 Chapter 3 : Tenancy standard<br />
Allocations<br />
Rents<br />
Tenure<br />
18 Chapter 4 : Neighbourhood and community standard<br />
Neighbourhood management<br />
Local area co-operation<br />
Anti-social behaviour<br />
22 Chapter 5 : Value for money standard<br />
25 Chapter 6 : Governance and financial viability standard<br />
Governance<br />
Financial viability<br />
Cover image:<br />
Bow Cross Estate, Tower Hamlets
Purpose of<br />
Annual Report<br />
The regulator for housing, the Tenant Services<br />
Authority (TSA) requires us to issue an annual<br />
report to tenants every year. This is a summary<br />
of <strong>Swan</strong>’s full annual report which can be<br />
provided on request or viewed on our website<br />
www.swan.org.uk. The TSA measures and<br />
monitors the performance of all Social<br />
<strong>Housing</strong> Providers.<br />
The aim of our annual report is to let you<br />
know how well we performed in 2009/2010<br />
against the new National Standards. We have<br />
set out what we are doing to meet these new<br />
standards and provided details of the plans we<br />
have developed with residents to improve our<br />
services for the coming year.<br />
The report is set out in sections using the six<br />
National Standard headings.<br />
The standards are:<br />
• Tenant involvement and empowerment<br />
(customer care)<br />
• Home (maintaining your home)<br />
• Tenancy (allocating your homes<br />
and setting rents)<br />
• Neighbourhood and community<br />
(looking after the neighbourhood<br />
and communal areas)<br />
• Value for money<br />
• Governance and financial viability<br />
(ensuring we are financially secure)<br />
residents and residents working with us<br />
for the first time.<br />
A number of meetings were held where<br />
residents agreed the contents, reviewed the<br />
first draft and signed off the final version.<br />
<strong>Residents</strong> were keen that the annual report was<br />
jargon free and included information on:<br />
•<br />
Breakdown<br />
Anti-Social<br />
of<br />
Behaviour<br />
Homes owned<br />
(ASB) and numbers by<br />
and<br />
case<br />
Managed<br />
type.<br />
by <strong>Swan</strong><br />
• Value for money<br />
625<br />
682<br />
– costings for services<br />
provided. 33<br />
5,561<br />
1,348<br />
• Repairs/Gas performance.<br />
• <strong>Residents</strong>’ views on Estate Services.<br />
• Complaints – how many in the year, and<br />
response times.<br />
• Customer satisfaction information.<br />
• Lettings and empty homes information.<br />
1,373<br />
<strong>Residents</strong> also agreed the layout, colour<br />
448<br />
scheme, headings 81 and font size for the report.<br />
The report was also considered by the Resident<br />
Consultative Committees in London and Essex.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> owns and manages 10,727 homes<br />
and garages<br />
1,348<br />
33<br />
682<br />
529<br />
47<br />
625<br />
5,561<br />
We aim to work closely with our residents<br />
to continually improve our services. Thank you<br />
to those of you who have given up your time<br />
and worked with us this year to help develop<br />
our services.<br />
Developing <strong>Swan</strong>’s<br />
Annual Report<br />
We asked residents to work with us to develop<br />
this annual report. 14 residents came forward<br />
to join our new annual report editorial group.<br />
The group was a mix of previously involved<br />
1,373<br />
448<br />
81<br />
529<br />
General needs<br />
rented housing<br />
Keyworker housing<br />
Shared ownership<br />
housing<br />
<strong>Housing</strong> for older<br />
persons<br />
47<br />
NHS keyworker<br />
accommodation<br />
Forest Gate – London<br />
Borough of Newham<br />
Market rented housing<br />
Leasehold housing<br />
Supported housing<br />
Garages<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10 www.swan.org.uk<br />
01
Message from the Chair<br />
and Chief Executive<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> has had a busy and productive year. We<br />
are committed to involving residents at all levels<br />
in the running of our business and improving<br />
our services.<br />
In order to help us do this we have reviewed<br />
our governance structure. We replaced<br />
our Regional Boards with resident majority<br />
Regional Committees with plans to have 2<br />
resident representatives on our Board by<br />
Autumn 2010. We have entered into a formal<br />
14 year partnership with our repairs provider<br />
Axis, launched our new tenant and leaseholder<br />
handbooks and worked with residents to<br />
produce a DVD on how to access our services.<br />
We have started work to regenerate the<br />
Craylands Estate in Basildon. The regeneration<br />
of Bow Cross in Tower Hamlets is ongoing with<br />
the year seeing the opening of Priestman Point.<br />
We have also celebrated a successful first year<br />
working to improve the homes we manage<br />
at Forest Gate on behalf of London Borough<br />
of Newham.<br />
In January 2010 we were inspected by the<br />
Audit Commission who looked at our approach<br />
to resident involvement, gas safety and repairs.<br />
Inspectors also looked at more general areas<br />
of our business that affect the services they<br />
inspected. This included looking at the quality<br />
and costs of our services and how we compare<br />
with other <strong>Housing</strong> <strong>Association</strong>s.<br />
We achieved a positive result from the Audit<br />
Commission. They found that we did well on<br />
providing easy access to services, involving<br />
our residents in developing our services and<br />
in carrying out gas servicing to homes, with<br />
strengths outweighing weaknesses in all these<br />
areas. However, the picture was more mixed<br />
for repairs, our approach to ensuring value for<br />
money, and in how <strong>Swan</strong> meets the varying<br />
needs of different residents.<br />
To help <strong>Swan</strong> improve its service to all<br />
residents, the Audit Commission made some<br />
recommendations.<br />
The action plan we developed with residents to<br />
address the areas of weakness that the Audit<br />
Commission found is available on our website<br />
www.swan.org.uk.<br />
In October 2009, <strong>Swan</strong> was the first<br />
organisation in Essex to receive accreditation<br />
under the Quality Assessment Framework for<br />
our work in supporting people. This means<br />
that <strong>Swan</strong> has been accredited as providing an<br />
‘Excellent’ service for Floating Support and are<br />
considered leaders in this area of work.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> has been independently assessed<br />
as achieving the Charter Mark and Quality<br />
<strong>Housing</strong> Services standards. These standards<br />
demonstrate that we are striving to achieve high<br />
standards in customer care.<br />
We are looking forward to working with you<br />
in the coming year to continue to improve<br />
our services, have more of you involved in<br />
monitoring what we do and developing local<br />
offers to meet residents’ needs.<br />
We hope you find this report useful.<br />
Richard Frost<br />
Chair<br />
John Synnuck<br />
Chief Executive<br />
02 www.swan.org.uk<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10
1<br />
Tenant<br />
involvement and<br />
empowerment<br />
standard<br />
Our Values<br />
Imaginative:<br />
We create solutions, breakdown<br />
barriers, achieve against the<br />
odds – make sure things happen.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10 www.swan.org.uk<br />
03
Customer service<br />
and choice<br />
TSA national standard for<br />
customer service and choice<br />
Registered providers shall:<br />
• Provide choices, information and<br />
communication that is appropriate to<br />
the diverse needs of their tenants in the<br />
delivery of all standards.<br />
Our Service Offer – How we<br />
are meeting the standard<br />
We offer a range of choices for you including:<br />
• 2 hour repair appointment slots, a range of<br />
rent payment methods and the option of an<br />
enhanced cleaning service.<br />
We provide information to meet the needs<br />
of our residents by offering:<br />
A range of translation services including a DVD<br />
in our most commonly used languages and<br />
leaflets in Makaton.<br />
How did we do<br />
Performance from April 2009 to March 2010.<br />
Answering the phone<br />
<strong>Swan</strong><br />
We promised to answer 90% of calls<br />
within 20 seconds.<br />
We answered 85.6% of calls within<br />
20 seconds.<br />
Axis – Our Repairs Partner<br />
Axis received 89,853 telephone calls in 2009-10.<br />
They answered 91.24% within 20 seconds.<br />
Responding to letters<br />
We promised to answer letters within<br />
10 working days.<br />
Letters responded to in 10 working days<br />
100%<br />
100%<br />
90%<br />
90%<br />
We provide a number of ways for you to<br />
access our services by:<br />
0300 303 2500 phone number for cheaper access<br />
to <strong>Swan</strong>, a freephone number for Axis to report<br />
repairs 0800 783 2768, e-mail, text, our offices<br />
and our website.<br />
We have worked with you to agree a<br />
number of service standards. These are set<br />
out in our:<br />
Service standard leaflets available on our website<br />
www.swan.org.uk and in our office receptions.<br />
Our standards are monitored by a group of<br />
residents who carry out quality checks and mystery<br />
shopping and by the Quality <strong>Housing</strong> Services<br />
inspectors who visit our reception areas and audit<br />
our services.<br />
Target<br />
Target<br />
Performance<br />
Performance<br />
95%<br />
95% 100% 100%<br />
Seeing customers at the offices<br />
We promised to see 95% of visitors to our<br />
offices within 5 minutes.<br />
Visitors seen within 5 minutes<br />
Target<br />
Target<br />
Performance<br />
Performance<br />
04 www.swan.org.uk<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10
Annual resident<br />
satisfaction survey<br />
Annual resident satisfaction survey<br />
We carry out an annual tenant and leaseholder<br />
satisfaction survey using a company called<br />
“The Leadership Factor”. We also carry out<br />
service specific satisfaction surveys covering<br />
anti-social behaviour, complaints, lettings,<br />
rent recovery, repairs, resident involvement,<br />
and floating support.<br />
We analysed the results of the annual survey<br />
completed in July 2009 and developed an<br />
action plan to address the areas which needed<br />
the most improvement. This plan is on our<br />
website at www.swan.org.uk<br />
Getting better in 2010/2011<br />
You told us that our ability to solve problems<br />
was our biggest weakness.<br />
In response to this we set up a “Right First<br />
Time” project in partnership with residents<br />
and Axis, our repairs partner. We consulted<br />
with staff and residents to identify changes<br />
that we could make to provide you with more<br />
effective help at the first point of contact.<br />
We also looked at other similar housing<br />
organisations to see if we could learn from<br />
good practice. The final proposals will be<br />
considered by the Regional Committees<br />
and Board in November 2010.<br />
How satisfied are you with the<br />
overall service provided by <strong>Swan</strong><br />
76% 75% 78% 86%<br />
2008/<br />
09<br />
2009/<br />
10<br />
<strong>Swan</strong><br />
overall<br />
target<br />
General Needs<br />
Top<br />
performance<br />
average<br />
How satisfied are you with the way<br />
your landlord deals with repairs<br />
and maintenance<br />
68% 66%<br />
75%<br />
2008/<br />
09<br />
2009/<br />
10<br />
<strong>Swan</strong><br />
overall<br />
target<br />
General Needs<br />
84%<br />
Top<br />
performance<br />
average<br />
How satisfied are you with the<br />
opportunities for participation in<br />
management and decision making<br />
63%<br />
78%<br />
57% 55%<br />
<strong>Swan</strong><br />
2008/<br />
09<br />
2009/<br />
10<br />
overall<br />
target<br />
General Needs<br />
Top<br />
performance<br />
average<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10 www.swan.org.uk<br />
05
Complaints<br />
TSA national standard<br />
for complaints<br />
• Have an approach to complaints that<br />
is clear, simple and accessible that<br />
ensures that complaints are resolved<br />
promptly, politely and fairly.<br />
Our Service Offer – How we<br />
are meeting the standard<br />
Our complaints policy and procedure<br />
are available on the <strong>Swan</strong> website<br />
www.swan.org.uk, the Web4residents<br />
website and in reception areas.<br />
We review complaints each month and<br />
report performance against our targets to<br />
the Resident Consultative Committees,<br />
Regional Committees and the Board.<br />
Outcomes are also published in our resident<br />
newsletter “The Communicator”.<br />
We offer compensation for service failures<br />
and ask for your views at the end of the<br />
complaints process.<br />
We compare our performance with other similar<br />
housing organisations through a HouseMark<br />
benchmarking club.<br />
Following recommendations from the Audit<br />
Commission Inspection we:<br />
• Reviewed our complaints leaflet to include a<br />
flowchart so it is easier for you to understand<br />
the process.<br />
• Have relaunched our service standard<br />
leaflets following consultation with you.<br />
How did we do<br />
Performance from April 2009 to March 2010.<br />
2008/09 2009/10 Target<br />
Total number<br />
of complaints<br />
received 264 333<br />
Acknowledged<br />
within 3<br />
working days 92% 98% 95%<br />
Stage 1<br />
response within<br />
10 working days 86% 96% 95%<br />
We have improved our performance since last<br />
year and exceeded our target to respond to<br />
complaints within 10 days.<br />
Getting better in 2010/2011<br />
• We will continue to review your feedback<br />
to help us improve our services. We will be<br />
checking the quality of complaint responses.<br />
• We will seek to increase satisfaction with<br />
the outcome of complaints to 70% for the<br />
coming year.<br />
• We will develop a text messaging feedback<br />
service to better understand your views.<br />
• We will work towards achieving the<br />
Government’s “Customer Service<br />
Excellence” standard award.<br />
06 www.swan.org.uk<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10
Involvement and<br />
empowerment<br />
TSA national standard<br />
on involvement and<br />
empowerment<br />
Registered providers shall support<br />
co-regulation with their tenants by:<br />
• Offering a wide range of opportunities<br />
for tenants to be involved in the<br />
management of their housing, providing<br />
opportunities to agree local offers for<br />
service delivery and arrangements to<br />
scrutinise performance.<br />
• Providing support to tenants to build their<br />
capacity to be more effectively involved.<br />
Our Service Offer – How we<br />
are meeting the standard<br />
We meet this standard and have a Resident<br />
Involvement Strategy and Service User<br />
Involvement Strategy which have been<br />
developed with staff and residents. They show<br />
resident involvement objectives and how local<br />
needs and aspirations can be met over the next<br />
three years.<br />
You can get involved in your local area to<br />
help improve our services in a number of<br />
ways including estate inspections, residents’<br />
associations and the supported housing<br />
service user forum.<br />
Details of how you can access our involvement<br />
structure can be found on www.swan.org.uk<br />
Community development events and<br />
fun days<br />
We can provide a Community Grant of up<br />
to £500 to community, voluntary or resident<br />
groups to set up a project in their area where<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> residents are likely to benefit.<br />
To ask for a grant application form call the<br />
Resident Involvement team on 01277 844 242<br />
or download one from <strong>Swan</strong>’s website at<br />
www.swan.org.uk<br />
What has your involvement in our<br />
service improvement programme<br />
helped us to achieve<br />
Mystery Shopping Programme<br />
We have developed a residents’ mystery<br />
shopping programme involving 14 residents<br />
from the Customer Feedback Panel. Below is<br />
a summary of the changes we have made to<br />
improve our services since the mystery shop in<br />
January 2010.<br />
You said<br />
You were put through to the wrong department<br />
and felt that the staff did not want to help.<br />
We have now<br />
Trained 150 members of staff on our telephone<br />
handling system called Contact Manager. This<br />
system logs all calls coming into <strong>Swan</strong> and also<br />
those made by us. New call guidance scripts<br />
help provide better information for staff to help<br />
residents.<br />
Re-launched the Customer Feedback Panel<br />
Through the Customer Feedback Panel we have:<br />
• Developed the new regeneration service<br />
standard leaflet.<br />
• Improved information provided on our<br />
rent statements.<br />
• Developed our Decent Plus Homes Standard.<br />
• Produced our DVD for residents.<br />
• Implemented our new tenant reward scheme<br />
– StarCard.<br />
Set up the Resident Repairs Quality Panel<br />
This panel has helped us scrutinise the quality<br />
and delivery of our repairs service, including the<br />
work to monitor our repairs partnering contract<br />
with Axis.<br />
Resident Suggestion Scheme<br />
As a result of our Resident Suggestion Scheme<br />
we have installed a British Heart Foundation<br />
charity bin on Turners Road in Romford. This will<br />
benefit the environment but also provides a great<br />
service for the Heart Foundation.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10 www.swan.org.uk<br />
07
Involvement and<br />
empowerment<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> resident involvement<br />
How we support you to get involved<br />
annual satisfaction survey results<br />
• We provide support through our dedicated<br />
resident involvement team.<br />
• We currently spend £40.70 per household<br />
each year to support resident and service<br />
user involvement.<br />
• We have a residents training programme to<br />
help build skills and expertise.<br />
• We provide travel allowances, assistance<br />
with child care/carer’s costs and help with IT.<br />
How we report back to you<br />
We feed back to you through leaflets, our<br />
website and our various Resident Committees.<br />
How did we do<br />
Performance from April 2009 to March 2010.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> resident involvement<br />
annual satisfaction survey results<br />
43%<br />
4%<br />
8%<br />
Very satisfied<br />
Fairly satisfied<br />
Neither satisfied<br />
or dissatisfied<br />
84% of involved residents were either fairly or<br />
very satisfied that their views are taken into<br />
account by <strong>Swan</strong>.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> We benchmarked resident involvement<br />
performance and satisfaction<br />
annual through the satisfaction HouseMark survey Benchmarking results club and<br />
we compare well with other providers.<br />
2% 2% 13%<br />
4%<br />
Fairly dissatisfied<br />
Very dissatisfied<br />
No opinion<br />
08 www.swan.org.uk<br />
41%<br />
48%<br />
Very Good (48)<br />
Getting better in 2010/2011<br />
Fairly Good (35)<br />
We will be building on the<br />
recommendations Neither (2) made by the Audit<br />
Commission Short Notice Inspection:<br />
Fairly Poor (2)<br />
• We have already set up two youth forums,<br />
Very Poor (0)<br />
developed a black and minority ethnic (BME)<br />
residents’ No Opinion action (13) plan and set up an Asian<br />
Women’s group.<br />
• Develop a value for money framework<br />
involving residents.<br />
• Develop a public relations strategy to<br />
promote the work the resident involvement<br />
team does.<br />
• Involve residents in setting the annual budgets.<br />
• Continue to review our websites with<br />
residents and service users.<br />
• Work with residents to produce monthly<br />
performance reports.<br />
Helping us to perform better<br />
Many of you are involved in helping us keep<br />
a check on how we perform. As well as<br />
learning from complaints we have developed a<br />
residents’ scrutiny framework. If you would like<br />
to join our resident Mystery Shopping Panel,<br />
become part of our <strong>Residents</strong>’ Quality Panel<br />
for repairs or join us on our monthly estate<br />
inspections to help score our cleaning services,<br />
please call us on 0300 303 2500 or e-mail<br />
us at involvement@swan.org.uk<br />
There are also places on our London and Essex<br />
Resident Consultative Committees who look at<br />
the performance of all service areas including<br />
repairs, rents, complaints, empty homes, antisocial<br />
behaviour and estate services every month.<br />
“Local Offers” – What are they<br />
Local offers are additional standards agreed<br />
with residents that are tailored to meet local<br />
needs and priorities and help us improve our<br />
services. An offer may apply to all residents, an<br />
estate, or to a group of tenants such as older<br />
persons or those with a disability.<br />
What have we done so far<br />
We have set up a resident and staff project group<br />
to oversee the development of local offers.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10
Resident profiling<br />
information<br />
We have identified your priorities for local<br />
offers by:<br />
• Using what you have told us in satisfaction<br />
surveys and consultation exercises. Over<br />
1000 residents replied to our survey after the<br />
Short Notice Inspection and your views are<br />
built into each chapter.<br />
• Consulting you through the residents’<br />
conference, focus groups and Resident<br />
Consultative Committees.<br />
• Speaking with staff who work closely<br />
with you.<br />
You can see our progress on local offers by<br />
visiting our website www.swan.org.uk<br />
All local offers will be in place by April 2011.<br />
Going forward – Local Offers<br />
agreed with residents so far<br />
Set up a resident inspection team.<br />
We will be training a group of residents to carry<br />
out regular checks of <strong>Swan</strong>’s services.<br />
Understanding and<br />
responding to the<br />
diverse needs of<br />
tenants<br />
Registered providers shall:<br />
• Treat all tenants with fairness<br />
and respect.<br />
• Demonstrate that they understand<br />
the different needs of all tenants.<br />
Service Offer – How we are<br />
meeting the standard<br />
Equality and diversity issues are central to the<br />
way we develop policy and deliver services.<br />
We aim to treat our customers with fairness<br />
and respect and encourage residents to raise<br />
equality and diversity issues through resident<br />
involvement opportunities and by providing a<br />
variety of activities such as celebrating cultural<br />
and religious festivals including Eid, Diwali,<br />
Christmas and Black History Month.<br />
We use resident profiling and equality<br />
monitoring data to:<br />
• Deliver tailored services that meet the needs<br />
of individuals.<br />
• Review access to our services and levels<br />
of satisfaction by equality group (across<br />
equality strands).<br />
• Provide documents in accessible formats.<br />
• Involve residents in our Diversity Action<br />
Forums to deliver real equality outcomes.<br />
How did we do<br />
Performance from April 2009 to March 2010.<br />
Resident profiling information.<br />
We use our resident profiling data to help us<br />
tailor our services. An action plan has been<br />
developed to help us do this. We hold resident<br />
profiling information for 81% of households.<br />
Ethnicity<br />
Overall ‘White British’ is the majority ethnic<br />
community of residents living in our homes. The<br />
second largest ethnic community is Bangladeshi.<br />
Further details of the breakdown of our resident<br />
profiling information can be found in our full<br />
annual report at www.swan.org.uk<br />
Getting better for 2010/2011<br />
Since our Short Notice Inspection in January<br />
2010 we have used the resident profiling<br />
information to further improve the way that we<br />
provide our services to the diverse communities<br />
we serve.<br />
Promoting equality and inclusion remains<br />
central to everything we do at <strong>Swan</strong>.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10 www.swan.org.uk<br />
09
2<br />
Our Values<br />
Insistent:<br />
We go the extra mile for our<br />
residents; we put energy into what<br />
we do because we believe in it.<br />
Home Standard<br />
10 www.swan.org.uk<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10
Quality of<br />
accommodation<br />
TSA national standard for<br />
quality of accommodation<br />
Registered providers shall:<br />
• Ensure tenants’ homes meet the<br />
Government’s Decent Homes Standard<br />
by 31 December 2010.<br />
Our Service Offer – How we<br />
are meeting the standard<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> is compliant with the current Decent<br />
Homes Standard, with less than 1% of homes<br />
being classified as non decent. This means<br />
all homes are warm, weatherproof and have<br />
reasonably modern facilities.<br />
Getting better in 2010/2011<br />
We will:<br />
• Build homes that exceed the Decent Homes<br />
Standard and meet your needs.<br />
• Work with you to develop a ‘Decent Homes Plus’<br />
Standard and produce a booklet for residents.<br />
• Upgrade the Telecare system at our Older<br />
Persons sites. This is the alarm system that<br />
enables older tenants to live independently.<br />
• We will exceed the Government Standard on<br />
Fuel Poverty by providing additional insulation<br />
to ensure our targets exceed those required.<br />
We have developed an Asset Management<br />
Strategy which sets out how we make<br />
decisions on developing, retaining and investing<br />
in our homes. This ensures that we meet the<br />
standard now and in the future.<br />
How did we do<br />
Performance from April 2009 to March 2010.<br />
We spent £2 million on planned works during<br />
the year and installed:<br />
• 120 new kitchens.<br />
• 55 new bathrooms.<br />
• 131 new boilers/full central heating systems.<br />
• Loft insulation to 100 homes and wall<br />
insulation to 20 homes. This provided an<br />
average fuel saving of 25% per home.<br />
We achieved a 90% satisfaction rating<br />
for works completed under our planned<br />
programme against our target of 85%.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10 www.swan.org.uk<br />
11
Repairs and<br />
maintenance<br />
TSA national standard for<br />
repairs and maintenance<br />
Registered providers shall:<br />
• Provide a cost-effective repairs and<br />
maintenance service, offer choices<br />
to tenants and have the objective of<br />
completing repairs right first time.<br />
• Meet all statutory requirements that<br />
provide for the health and safety of<br />
residents in their homes.<br />
Our Service Offer – How we<br />
are meeting the standard<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> meets this standard and has a 14-year<br />
partnering contract in place with Axis to deliver a<br />
value for money responsive repairs service.<br />
To keep your home in good repair we will<br />
give you:<br />
• A phone number to report repairs that you<br />
can call 24 hours a day.<br />
• Your repair’s priority and timescale<br />
for completion.<br />
• A 2 hour appointment slot.<br />
• An emergency out-of-hours service.<br />
• An order number for each repair you report.<br />
We offer a new way to order non-urgent repairs<br />
on our website www.swan.org.uk through the<br />
introduction of pictorial options to help identify<br />
and diagnose the repair.<br />
We have a Health and Safety Committee<br />
overseeing compliance with legislation including<br />
fire risk assessments, Legionella control,<br />
asbestos, gas, and electric safety.<br />
How did we do<br />
Performance from April 2009 to March 2010.<br />
Repairs/Gas performance jobs completed in target<br />
Priority 2008/09 2009/10 Target Top performers<br />
average<br />
Immediate 99.9% 99.7% 99% not available<br />
Emergency 99.9% 99.59% 99% 97.2%<br />
Urgent 99.9% 98.97% 97% 96.4%<br />
Routine 99.5% 98.22% 97% 97%<br />
Gas safety check 98.7% 99.8% 100% 100%<br />
Gas repairs 98.7% 82% 95% not available<br />
Repairs completed at 1st visit 93% 90% 91%<br />
Appointments made and kept 62% 90% 98%<br />
12 www.swan.org.uk<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10
Repairs and<br />
maintenance<br />
The Audit Commission found that our repairs<br />
service had a balance of strengths and<br />
weaknesses, while the gas safety service<br />
was considered good.<br />
• 18,000 repair requests were made of which<br />
98.7% were completed on time.<br />
• Our partnership with Axis has generated cost<br />
savings including:<br />
– £100,000 on general repair expenditure.<br />
– £36,000 by transferring the out of hours<br />
service to Axis.<br />
– £16,000 by checking smoke alarms and<br />
immersion heaters at the same time as the<br />
gas service is undertaken.<br />
• To deliver “right first time” repairs we asked<br />
you for feedback through our repairs quality<br />
check. You told us 93% of repairs were<br />
completed right first time. Of those that were<br />
not, you told us this was due to:<br />
– Axis needing to obtain parts. We have<br />
now identified the most commonly used<br />
parts to ensure these are stocked on the<br />
Axis vans.<br />
– repair timescales were not fully explained.<br />
We have provided refresher training for<br />
Axis staff.<br />
– you not being able to stay in all day.<br />
We now provide 2 hour time slots.<br />
– works poorly completed and another person<br />
had to come back and rectify some of the<br />
work. We now use performance reports to<br />
review individual staff performance.<br />
• Our performance in March 2010 on keeping<br />
appointments was 62%. By July 2010 this<br />
had risen to 93%.<br />
• We spent 32% of our budget on day to day<br />
repairs and 68% on major repairs.<br />
• Our average cost of a repair was £103 which<br />
compares well with other housing providers.<br />
• We introduced call recording for the Axis Call<br />
Centre to help improve customer satisfaction.<br />
Getting better in 2010/2011<br />
We will:<br />
• Set aside £150,000 to fund major adaptations.<br />
• Send a text to you the day before and<br />
another text 30 minutes before a repairs<br />
operative is due to call at your home.<br />
• Improve our website to enable residents to<br />
book and manage appointments online.<br />
• Provide a 2 hour time slot for appointments<br />
for post inspections.<br />
• Offer repairs and gas servicing to<br />
leaseholders at a competitive cost.<br />
• Review 80 recorded telephone calls each<br />
month to ensure that telephone answering<br />
meets the standards we expect. Calls will<br />
be scored out of 40 with an acceptable<br />
standard set at 30 and above. The Resident<br />
Quality Panel expect that 75% of calls meet<br />
the standard.<br />
Going forward – Local Offers<br />
agreed with residents so far<br />
Provide an online system for tracking<br />
repairs.<br />
Develop a ‘Decent Homes Plus’ Standard<br />
for our homes.<br />
Offer residents the option to purchase<br />
additional units or better quality units<br />
when kitchens are renewed.<br />
Provide a Rapid Response Team on the<br />
Exmouth Estate in Tower Hamlets.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10 www.swan.org.uk<br />
13
3<br />
Our Values<br />
In Touch:<br />
We listen and respond to our<br />
residents and involve them<br />
in decision – making, we are<br />
aware of the latest developments<br />
in housing.<br />
Tenancy<br />
standard<br />
“ Staff are always on hand, we’ve got a lot of freedom<br />
and people respect each other. I love it.”<br />
Miriam Ojera<br />
14 www.swan.org.uk<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10
Allocations<br />
TSA national standard<br />
for allocations<br />
Registered providers shall let their homes<br />
in a fair, transparent and efficient way. They<br />
shall take into account the housing needs<br />
of tenants and potential tenants. They shall<br />
demonstrate that they contribute to local<br />
authorities’ sustainable communities plans.<br />
There should be clear application,<br />
decision-making and appeals processes.<br />
Our Service Offer – How we<br />
are meeting the standard<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> meets this standard and developed its<br />
Allocations Policy in consultation with residents<br />
on the transfer list and a focus group which<br />
included residents and staff. The policy is<br />
available on our website www.swan.org.uk or<br />
on request.<br />
All homes that become available for tenant transfer<br />
are let through a web based Choice Based<br />
Lettings scheme that we developed with residents.<br />
We provide advice and information on available<br />
housing options for those who would like to move.<br />
All our homes meet our ‘lettable’ standard, which<br />
was agreed by residents. We issue new tenants<br />
with a welcome pack for their new home.<br />
We publish details on how all our homes are<br />
let in “The Communicator” and on our website<br />
www.swan.org.uk<br />
How did we do<br />
We made the best use of available<br />
housing by:<br />
• Using chain moves to give more of you<br />
the opportunity to transfer.<br />
• Offering downsizing payments of between<br />
£1,000 to £4,500 to help free up family<br />
sized homes.<br />
• Tackling overcrowding by giving adult children<br />
the chance to move into their own flat.<br />
• Promoting the use of mutual exchanges.<br />
• Successfully meeting our challenging target<br />
of re-letting our homes within 17 days.<br />
• Giving you the opportunity to change how we<br />
do things, through our reviews and surveys.<br />
We contributed to the local authority’s<br />
strategic housing function and sustainable<br />
communities by:<br />
• Developing a Homelessness Strategy to<br />
assist our local authority partners in tackling<br />
homelessness.<br />
• Introducing local lettings plans for estates<br />
with sustainability concerns in Tower<br />
Hamlets and Tendring.<br />
• Chairing the Tower Hamlets Common<br />
<strong>Housing</strong> Register Forum which manages<br />
how social homes are let in the borough.<br />
• Undertaking assessments on new tenancies<br />
to ensure appropriate support is in place<br />
to reduce the chances of someone losing<br />
their tenancy.<br />
• Supporting sustainable communities. 94%<br />
of <strong>Swan</strong> tenancies lasted more than a year.<br />
Homes available to let<br />
501 homes became available for letting in the<br />
year. Of these 311 were existing homes and 190<br />
newly built.<br />
Time taken to turnaround<br />
empty properties<br />
25<br />
20<br />
15<br />
10<br />
5<br />
0<br />
20.6 20.5<br />
18.7<br />
18.5<br />
17.2<br />
14.7<br />
2008/09 2009/10<br />
Top Performers<br />
average<br />
London Essex Overall<br />
27<br />
Target<br />
17 days<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10 www.swan.org.uk<br />
15
Rents<br />
Lettings Satisfaction Survey<br />
Each summer we survey those on the transfer<br />
list to see how good our lettings service is and<br />
then publish the results in “The Communicator”<br />
and on our website www.swan.org.uk<br />
87% of people told us they understand their<br />
banding and 58% were satisfied with the<br />
lettings service overall.<br />
Feedback from residents moving into newly<br />
built homes<br />
84% of residents moving to a newly built home<br />
were satisfied. This compares favourably with<br />
the Home Builders Federation survey which<br />
achieved only 77% satisfaction.<br />
Getting better in 2010/2011<br />
We will:<br />
• Continue to carry out a yearly review and<br />
survey of transfer list applicants with results<br />
published each autumn.<br />
• Monitor the impact of the new <strong>Swan</strong> web<br />
based Choice Based Lettings system,<br />
HomeKey and publish regular updates in<br />
“The Communicator” and on our website.<br />
Going forward – Local Offers<br />
agreed with residents so far<br />
Develop local lettings plans for our new<br />
developments – We will work with the local<br />
councils to introduce local lettings plans for<br />
new developments to help them succeed.<br />
Develop a ‘Space Saver’ scheme that<br />
offers home assessments to those living<br />
in overcrowded accommodation.<br />
Develop a ‘Keep in Touch’ scheme providing<br />
regular contact for those who want it.<br />
Extended moving in time for those who<br />
need support.<br />
TSA national standard<br />
for rents<br />
Registered providers shall charge rents<br />
in accordance with the objectives and<br />
framework set out in the Government’s<br />
Direction to the TSA of November 2009.<br />
Our Service Offer – How we<br />
are meeting the standard<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> meets this standard by providing rents that<br />
are reasonable and service charges that cover<br />
the costs of the service you receive. We set rents<br />
using government guidelines depending on the<br />
number of bedrooms in your home, value of your<br />
home and the average wage for the area you live<br />
in. This formula aims to harmonise the rents for<br />
similar sizes of property, irrespective of who your<br />
landlord is.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> provide a welfare benefit service for<br />
residents. Last year this service received 760<br />
referrals and helped residents claim an additional<br />
£921,270 in benefits, rebates and tax credits.<br />
We provide training for residents on<br />
money management.<br />
How did we do<br />
Average rents<br />
Average rent costs in 2008/09 for <strong>Swan</strong><br />
properties in Essex and London compared<br />
against local councils and other registered<br />
providers are shown in the graphs on the<br />
next page.<br />
The rent levels shown do not include service<br />
charges and show the average rent per property<br />
size for all occupied properties.<br />
A recent survey showed that 83% of those<br />
surveyed confirmed they understood the rent<br />
increase letters <strong>Swan</strong> provides.<br />
Provide a handyperson service for all<br />
new sheltered housing tenants within<br />
48 hours of moving in.<br />
16 www.swan.org.uk<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10
Bedsit<br />
1 Bedroom 2 Bedroom 3 Bedroom 4 Bedroom<br />
Bedsit 1 Bedroom 2 Bedroom 3 Bedroom 4 Bedroom<br />
Rents<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> in Essex<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> in Basildon<br />
Other registered providers<br />
in Basildon<br />
Tenure<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> in London<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> in Tower Hamlets<br />
Other registered providers<br />
in Tower Hamlets<br />
Essex rent levels<br />
140<br />
120<br />
100<br />
80<br />
60<br />
40<br />
20<br />
0<br />
London rent levels<br />
140<br />
120<br />
100<br />
80<br />
60<br />
40<br />
20<br />
0<br />
£58.95<br />
£58.93<br />
£58.85<br />
Bedsit<br />
n/a<br />
Bedsit<br />
£63.59<br />
£69.30<br />
£66.70<br />
£66.02<br />
1 Bedroom<br />
£81.72<br />
£80.41<br />
£75.61<br />
1 Bedroom<br />
£83.78<br />
£83.14<br />
£82.70<br />
2 Bedroom<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> in Essex<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> in Basildon<br />
Other registered providers<br />
in Basildon<br />
£94.18<br />
£93.41<br />
£85.28<br />
2 Bedroom<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> in London<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> in Tower Hamlets<br />
Other registered providers<br />
in Tower Hamlets<br />
£94.79<br />
£95.42<br />
£93.84<br />
3 Bedroom<br />
£101.76<br />
£99.22<br />
£97.03<br />
3 Bedroom<br />
£102.75<br />
£102.63<br />
£101.04<br />
4 Bedroom<br />
£119.76<br />
£123.78<br />
£110.67<br />
4 Bedroom<br />
Getting better in 2010/2011<br />
• We will set up an income management focus<br />
group to look at how we can further improve<br />
our service.<br />
• We will review changes to welfare benefit<br />
legislation which directly affects our residents<br />
and tailor our welfare benefit advice service to<br />
help you.<br />
TSA national standard<br />
for Tenure<br />
Registered providers shall offer and issue<br />
the most secure form of tenure compatible<br />
with the purpose of the housing and the<br />
sustainability of the community. They shall<br />
meet all applicable statutory and legal<br />
requirements in relation to the form and<br />
use of tenancy agreements.<br />
Our Service Offer – How we<br />
are meeting the standard<br />
We meet this standard and use a number<br />
of tenancies depending on the type of<br />
housing you live in. These include secure<br />
and assured tenancies, assured shorthold<br />
tenancies and licences.<br />
As agreed with residents all new <strong>Swan</strong> tenants<br />
moving into general needs housing are offered<br />
a starter tenancy, which is a type of assured<br />
shorthold tenancy. This converts to a more<br />
secure tenancy, an assured tenancy, after a<br />
probationary period of 12 months.<br />
Existing tenants who transfer to another <strong>Swan</strong><br />
home are offered the same type of tenancy<br />
they already have. All new tenants receive a<br />
tenants handbook and a DVD.<br />
How did we do<br />
Performance from April 2009 to March 2010.<br />
• <strong>Swan</strong> aims to complete tenancy audits for 20%<br />
of its homes each year. Last year we visited over<br />
600 homes and took appropriate legal action in<br />
the few cases where that was needed.<br />
• We are part of the National Fraud Initiative<br />
and cross check our data with others to<br />
expose tenancy fraud. This helps ensure<br />
there are as many homes available as<br />
possible for those who need them.<br />
Getting better in 2010/2011<br />
• We are reviewing our tenancy agreement<br />
to check it is fair and easy to read and<br />
understand. We are doing this by meeting<br />
with a number of tenants to discuss both<br />
the content and appearance of the new<br />
agreement before we carry out consultation<br />
with all tenants later in the year.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10 www.swan.org.uk<br />
17
4<br />
Our Values<br />
Imaginative:<br />
We create solutions, breakdown<br />
barriers, achieve against the<br />
odds – make sure things happen.<br />
Neighbourhood<br />
and community<br />
standard<br />
Our estate cleaning work is agreed<br />
with residents.<br />
18 www.swan.org.uk<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10
Neighbourhood<br />
management<br />
TSA national standard<br />
for neighbourhood<br />
management<br />
Registered providers shall keep the<br />
neighbourhood and communal areas<br />
associated with the homes that they<br />
own clean and safe. They shall work in<br />
partnership with their tenants and other<br />
providers and public bodies where it is<br />
effective to do so.<br />
Our Service Offer – How we<br />
are meeting the standard:<br />
We feel we meet the main requirements of<br />
the standard by:<br />
• Having an in house Estate Services team<br />
that maintains communal areas to a high<br />
standard as measured by residents through<br />
surveys and estate inspections.<br />
• Carrying out bi-monthly inspections with<br />
residents, <strong>Swan</strong> staff and Axis.<br />
• Having the Police, Essex County Council and<br />
the local authorities attend inspections on<br />
some of our larger estates.<br />
• Tailoring the cleaning schedules and<br />
specifications for individual estates/blocks<br />
in consultation with residents and displaying<br />
these on estate notice boards.<br />
How did we do<br />
Performance from April 2009 to March 2010.<br />
The average cost for communal cleaning in flats<br />
was £5.28 per week.<br />
The results from our annual satisfaction surveys<br />
showed that:<br />
Getting better in 2010/2011<br />
We will:<br />
• Develop a new combined Neighbourhood<br />
Management policy to cover estate services<br />
and anti-social behaviour (ASB).<br />
• Carry out a full review of the cost of<br />
delivering our estate services to residents.<br />
• Hold estate inspections at a range of times<br />
to encourage more residents to attend.<br />
• Better publicise the availability of<br />
environmental improvement grants to<br />
encourage residents to make suggestions for<br />
improving their local areas.<br />
• Develop a guide to help residents and<br />
staff measure the cleaning standards in our<br />
communities.<br />
Going forward – Local Offers<br />
agreed with residents so far<br />
Carry out estate inspections at weekends<br />
and evenings involving residents and other<br />
agencies where requested.<br />
Set up a low cost gardening scheme for<br />
older persons and those with a disability<br />
– If you cannot manage your garden you will<br />
be able to purchase a low cost garden service<br />
from us.<br />
Expand our CCTV service – If a group of<br />
residents asks for this we will investigate the<br />
feasibility and advise you of the costs.<br />
Develop a Parking Policy for Bow Cross in<br />
Tower Hamlets – If you live in Bow Cross, we<br />
will work with you to develop a Parking Policy<br />
to tackle the problems of limited parking in<br />
the area.<br />
• 92% of residents felt that internal and external<br />
cleaning was of a good or excellent standard.<br />
• 93% of our residents felt that our caretaking<br />
and cleaning service provides value for money.<br />
• 74% of residents were satisfied with their<br />
neighbourhood as a place to live.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10 www.swan.org.uk<br />
19
Local area<br />
co-operation<br />
Anti-social behaviour<br />
(ASB)<br />
TSA national standard for<br />
local area co-operation<br />
Registered providers shall co-operate with<br />
relevant partners to help promote social,<br />
environmental and economic well being in<br />
the areas where they own properties.<br />
Our Service Offer – How we<br />
are meeting the standard<br />
We work closely with others to address local<br />
community issues. This includes youth projects<br />
and training opportunities.<br />
By working with others we can help you benefit<br />
from initiatives such as helping overcrowded<br />
families and emergency domestic violence<br />
transfers.<br />
Our Supported <strong>Housing</strong> team works with other<br />
landlords to provide services for residents and<br />
to help them stay in their homes.<br />
How did we do<br />
Performance from April 2009 to March 2010.<br />
We worked closely with other landlords and<br />
organisations to:<br />
• Promote clean up days and recycling, waste<br />
disposal and to ensure open spaces are<br />
effectively maintained.<br />
• Tackle anti-social behaviour by working with<br />
local Crime and Disorder Partnerships.<br />
• Part fund a mediation service for homeless<br />
people in the Maldon area.<br />
• Help people with disabilities access services<br />
through the government trailblazer scheme<br />
“Right to Control”.<br />
Getting better in 2010/2011<br />
We will:<br />
• Part fund a Family Intervention Project<br />
Worker in Tower Hamlets to work with those<br />
families who are at threat of eviction.<br />
• Work with residents to signpost information<br />
on credit unions.<br />
20 www.swan.org.uk<br />
TSA national standard<br />
for anti-social behaviour<br />
Registered providers will work in partnership<br />
with other public agencies to prevent<br />
and tackle anti-social behaviour in the<br />
neighbourhoods where they own homes.<br />
Our Service Offer – How we<br />
are meeting the standard<br />
• We have signed up to the Government’s<br />
Respect Standard.<br />
• <strong>Residents</strong> monitor our performance at Estate<br />
<strong>Residents</strong>’ Boards and the London and<br />
Essex Resident Consultative Committees.<br />
• We have an Information Sharing Protocol in<br />
place with local councils and staff attend<br />
multi-agency partnership meetings.<br />
How did we do<br />
Performance from April 2009 to March 2010.<br />
• Our residents’ ASB Group asked us to<br />
develop a guidance note on the most<br />
frequently asked questions about ASB.<br />
• Set up fortnightly surgeries in partnership<br />
with the Police at our Exmouth Estate for<br />
residents to report ASB.<br />
• Introduced an out-of-hours telephone<br />
service for residents to report ASB when<br />
our offices are closed.<br />
• Introduced an on-line reporting form for<br />
incidents of ASB.<br />
• Our ASB satisfaction survey for the year found<br />
that only 47% of residents were satisfied with<br />
the way their anti-social behaviour case had<br />
been handled. When compared to others our<br />
performance is less than we would like to see.<br />
We have worked hard to improve satisfaction and<br />
at the end of July 2010 this had risen to 69%.<br />
• 77% of residents found our staff to be<br />
helpful and responsive, compared to the<br />
average top performing organisation which<br />
was 86%.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10
Anti-social behaviour<br />
(ASB)<br />
How did we do<br />
Performance from April 2009 to March 2010.<br />
Type of ASB reported (329 cases in<br />
2009/2010)<br />
100<br />
90<br />
80<br />
70<br />
60<br />
50<br />
40<br />
30<br />
20<br />
10<br />
0<br />
93 40 21 21 21 5 21 6 7 11 18 1 3 2 59<br />
Number of cases<br />
Noise<br />
Verbal abuse<br />
Hate related<br />
Vandalism and<br />
damage to property<br />
Pets and animal<br />
nuisance<br />
Vehicle nuisance<br />
Drugs/substance<br />
misuse/dealing<br />
Alcohol related<br />
Action taken to deal with ASB<br />
Domestic<br />
violence/abuse<br />
Physical violence<br />
Litter/rubbish/<br />
Fly-Tipping<br />
Garden nuisance<br />
Misuse of<br />
communal areas<br />
Prostitution/sexual<br />
acts/kerb crawling<br />
Other criminal activity<br />
Getting better in 2010/2011<br />
We will:<br />
• Develop an ASB minimum standards pledge<br />
with our partner agencies working in<br />
Tower Hamlets.<br />
• Develop new information packs with details<br />
of victim support, domestic violence, hate<br />
crime and other support agencies.<br />
• Our new ReACT IT system will help<br />
us effectively record and monitor ASB<br />
cases and help us achieve our customer<br />
satisfaction target.<br />
• Provide information on what we spend each<br />
year on ASB.<br />
• Set up local focus groups on the Exmouth<br />
and Bow Cross estates to address issues<br />
of ASB.<br />
Going forward – Local Offers<br />
agreed with residents so far<br />
Provide better feedback through our website<br />
on reports of ASB, including those made<br />
anonymously, to encourage residents to<br />
come forward.<br />
Provide area specific anti-social behaviour<br />
reports to each <strong>Residents</strong>’ <strong>Association</strong> and<br />
Estate <strong>Residents</strong>’ Board.<br />
250<br />
200<br />
150<br />
100<br />
50<br />
0<br />
228 56 40 5<br />
Early interventions from Neighbourhood team<br />
Referal to other agencies including mediation<br />
Acceptable behaviour agreements/contracts<br />
Legal action taken<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10 www.swan.org.uk<br />
21
5<br />
Our Values<br />
Insistent:<br />
We go the extra mile for our<br />
residents; we put energy into what<br />
we do because we believe in it.<br />
Value for<br />
money standard<br />
How we make best use of our resources.<br />
22 www.swan.org.uk<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10
Value for money<br />
TSA national standard<br />
for value for money<br />
Registered providers shall have a<br />
comprehensive approach to managing<br />
their resources to provide cost-effective,<br />
efficient, quality services and homes<br />
to meet tenants’ and potential<br />
tenants’ needs.<br />
Our Service Offer –<br />
How we are meeting<br />
the standard<br />
We have developed our value for money<br />
strategy with residents. This can be found<br />
on our website www.swan.org.uk<br />
To support this strategy we established<br />
our Service Improvement Committee.<br />
The Committee is made up of Board<br />
Members, residents and <strong>Swan</strong> employees.<br />
The purpose of this Committee is:<br />
• To demonstrate ongoing value for<br />
money (VFM) in service delivery.<br />
• To manage our growth in a cost<br />
effective way that provides you with<br />
good quality services.<br />
• To involve you and other stakeholders<br />
in our value for money reviews.<br />
Our staff Value for Money Review Panel<br />
meets regularly to discuss how we can<br />
better use the resources we have.<br />
We want to show you how expenditure<br />
has been prioritised in relation to each of the<br />
standards, in the delivery of local offers and<br />
in meeting other needs such as investment<br />
in any new homes we build.<br />
How did we do<br />
Performance from April 2009<br />
to March 2010.<br />
We retendered a number of contracts including<br />
the contract for our office photocopiers. Over<br />
a 5 year period, the new contract will save over<br />
£300,000 which will be reinvested in services<br />
to tenants.<br />
We set a number of value for money targets.<br />
These ranged from savings on operating<br />
costs, through to answering telephones.<br />
The purpose of these targets is to work in a<br />
more efficient way and save money that can be<br />
re-directed to other services. Our objective is to<br />
increase the quality of our services without any<br />
increase in cost.<br />
Cost Targets<br />
Build your new homes<br />
for only 95% of the full<br />
budgeted cost.<br />
Save 3% on all<br />
operating costs.<br />
Save 8% on staff costs.<br />
Keep the average cost of<br />
borrowing below 4.10%<br />
Receive £50,000 of<br />
revenue grant to support<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Foundation.<br />
Met<br />
Yes<br />
We achieved<br />
2.4% in savings.<br />
We achieved<br />
6.2% in savings.<br />
Yes<br />
Yes<br />
During the year we spent over £124 million on<br />
providing services and building 395 new homes.<br />
This money was used for housing management,<br />
repairs and maintenance, resident involvement<br />
and interest payments on loans and overheads.<br />
In our annual survey 70% of residents said they<br />
received good value for money for their rent.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10 www.swan.org.uk<br />
23
How your rent is spent (per £1)<br />
Interest paid<br />
on bank loans<br />
2010 2009<br />
26p<br />
28p<br />
<strong>Housing</strong> Management 22p 19p<br />
Repairs & Maintenance 22p 20p<br />
Resident Related Costs 2p 1p<br />
Overheads (incl. office costs, non<br />
housing staff costs, marketing and<br />
IT.)<br />
28p<br />
31p<br />
£1.00 £1.00<br />
We compare our services against other similar<br />
housing providers to see whether we provide<br />
a good level of service for a reasonable cost<br />
compared to others. These results will be<br />
published each year in “The Communicator”.<br />
Here are some examples of our value for<br />
money achievements:<br />
Former tenants arrears<br />
We saved £18 per case by tracing former<br />
residents ourselves. The total saved this year<br />
was over £4,000.<br />
Fuel Poverty<br />
“Climate Energy” installed free or reduced cost<br />
insulation. We also obtained low energy light<br />
bulbs for new tenant decoration packs.<br />
Out of Hours Service<br />
Axis now provides our out of hours service.<br />
This has saved £36,000.<br />
Repairs courses for residents<br />
During the year Axis held free repairs<br />
workshops for residents. These residents are<br />
now able to undertake minor repairs to their<br />
property which are their responsibility. This<br />
saves residents unnecessary repair bills and<br />
reduces calls to the Axis free phone number.<br />
Gas Servicing and Repairs<br />
By being a member of a bulk purchasing club<br />
Axis buy the same quality radiators and boilers<br />
cheaper than before. This saved over £12,000.<br />
Golden Goodbye scheme<br />
This scheme has saved over £10,000 by<br />
reducing the time properties are empty, saving<br />
repair costs and rewarding those of you who<br />
have looked after your home.<br />
Targeting graffiti<br />
Using anti-graffiti paint in communal areas<br />
in our new homes makes long term savings<br />
on re-painting costs.<br />
Getting better in 2010/2011<br />
• We will complete our service reviews on<br />
value for money in estate services and<br />
service charge administration.<br />
• Develop a Value for Money Toolkit with<br />
residents to help you tell us how we can<br />
achieve better value for money.<br />
• Continue to benchmark our services to<br />
compare ourselves against others and report<br />
these results to you.<br />
Going forward –<br />
Local Offers agreed<br />
with residents so far<br />
Provide regular information on costs<br />
and satisfaction with our services.<br />
Set up an independent resident led<br />
Contractor Monitoring Board.<br />
Involve residents in the procurement<br />
process for repairs and estate services.<br />
Report how money is spent on all services in<br />
a block or where a service charge is paid.<br />
Compare our costs with other social<br />
landlords in Tower Hamlets.<br />
24 www.swan.org.uk<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10
6<br />
Governance<br />
and financial<br />
viability standard<br />
Our Values<br />
In Touch:<br />
We listen and respond to our<br />
residents and involve them<br />
in decision – making, we are<br />
aware of the latest developments<br />
in housing.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10 www.swan.org.uk<br />
25
Governance<br />
Financial viability<br />
TSA national standard<br />
for governance<br />
Registered providers shall ensure effective<br />
governance arrangements that deliver their<br />
aims, objectives and intended outcomes for<br />
tenants and potential tenants in an effective,<br />
transparent and accountable manner.<br />
Our Service Offer – How we<br />
are meeting the standard<br />
The work of <strong>Swan</strong> is overseen by a Board of<br />
independent members supported by a range<br />
of committees and resident majority Regional<br />
Committees in London and Essex.<br />
The adoption of an appropriate governance<br />
standard is central to <strong>Swan</strong>’s governance<br />
structure. We have adopted the new 2010<br />
National <strong>Housing</strong> Federation Governance<br />
code, – “Excellence in Governance” – which<br />
has been prepared to meet the new regulatory<br />
framework. We feel this is the most appropriate<br />
and relevant code for <strong>Swan</strong>.<br />
The governance code seeks to guide<br />
organisations in developing and maintaining an<br />
effective leadership team, which directs and<br />
controls its operations whilst observing the<br />
highest standards of conduct.<br />
As required by the code, <strong>Swan</strong> continues to<br />
maintain clearly established roles for its Board,<br />
Chair and Chief Executive as well as senior<br />
management and staff. We undertake regular<br />
assessments of our performance.<br />
How did we do<br />
Performance from April 2009 to March 2010.<br />
• Board members were trained on the new<br />
regulatory framework.<br />
• New code of governance adopted by the Board.<br />
• Our risk framework was regularly reviewed<br />
and considered by the Board.<br />
Getting better in 2010/2011<br />
• Two places have been set aside on <strong>Swan</strong>’s<br />
Board for residents to be elected from the<br />
Regional Committees in September 2010.<br />
26 www.swan.org.uk<br />
TSA national standard<br />
for financial viability<br />
Registered providers shall manage their<br />
resources effectively to ensure their<br />
viability is maintained.<br />
Our Service Offer – How we<br />
are meeting the standard<br />
Each year the Tenant Services Authority<br />
produces a Group Viability Report, the purpose<br />
of which is to form an annual assessment of<br />
the financial viability of <strong>Swan</strong>. This year’s report<br />
confirms that <strong>Swan</strong> meets the expectations of<br />
the TSA.<br />
How did we do<br />
Performance from April 2009<br />
to March 2010.<br />
• We have sufficient funding in place to meet<br />
our Business Plan.<br />
• We have a good track record and experience<br />
in developing large complex regeneration sites.<br />
• Regeneration schemes do not depend on<br />
new property sales.<br />
• Our 2008/09 audited accounts and<br />
management letter raised no issues of concern.<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10
5 year financial summary<br />
For the year ended 31 March 2010<br />
Income & expenditure account<br />
2010<br />
£’000<br />
2009<br />
£’000<br />
2008<br />
£’000<br />
2007<br />
£’000<br />
2006<br />
£’000<br />
Total turnover 66,259 53,816 36,694 29,556 25,889<br />
Income from lettings 41,412 35,799 29,581 26,622 22,395<br />
Operating surplus 13,243 13,407 7,762 8,705 6,926<br />
Surplus/(deficit) for the year (432) (379) (3,597) (1,505) (2,607)<br />
Balance sheet<br />
<strong>Housing</strong> properties, net of<br />
depreciation & grants<br />
496,653 451,242 463,244 362,433 305,806<br />
Other fixed assets 4,614 4,548 5,093 3,922 3,068<br />
Net current assets/(liabilities) 44,726 52,038 (358) (19,332) (11,361)<br />
Total assets less current liabilities 545,993 507,828 467,979 347,023 297,513<br />
Loans (due over 1 year) 400,009 387,559 344,873 236,983 205,712<br />
Reserves 145,984 120,269 123,106 110,040 91,801<br />
Accommodation figures 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006<br />
Total housing stock at year end<br />
Owned<br />
Social housing 8,020 7,943 6,846 6,331 5,700<br />
Non social housing 1,142 1,162 1,154 1,155 411<br />
Managed on behalf of others<br />
Social housing 1,367 1,374 111 121 130<br />
Non social housing 198 198<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> Annual Report 2009/10 www.swan.org.uk<br />
27
Speaking your language<br />
0300 303 2500<br />
0300 303 2500<br />
303 2500<br />
0300<br />
0300 303 2500<br />
2500<br />
0300 303<br />
0300 303 2500<br />
0300 303 2500<br />
0300 303 2500<br />
<strong>Swan</strong> <strong>Housing</strong> <strong>Association</strong><br />
Pilgrim House<br />
High Street, Billericay<br />
Essex CM12 9XY<br />
0300 303 2500<br />
www.swan.org.uk