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2019-2020 ANNUAL REPORT

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Page 1: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

2019-2020ANNUAL REPORT

Page 2: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

ContentsA word from our chair 3

Luton Lets Squared 12

Meet the board 4

HMOs 8

Hostels 10

Homes Squared 5

General needs (independent) 5

Supported 8

Property Developments 14

Maintenance and Repairs 13

Purposeful Employment 15

Cleaning and Gardening Squared 17

Open Minds 19

Marketing and Communications 22

People Excellence (HR) 20

IT 23

Financial Accounts 24

Squared Annual Report | 2019-2020 2

Page 3: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Mr Glyn Early Chair, board of directors

Tackling issues A great example of this is the launch of Luton Lets Squared, our joint venture with Luton Borough Council. You can read on page 12 how this new kind of housing agency aims to help people on low incomes to secure better-quality rental accommodation.

Our housing team is in the process of being integrated into one department to help us provide seamless support to customers. And we continue to work closely with our customer involvement group to find more ways for our customers to influence the things we do.

We’ve also been working with the police, other housing associations and support groups to tackle issues such as anti-social behaviour, domestic violence and drug trafficking. While a variety of partnership projects are helping our customers, EU migrants and other local people to gain the education and training they need to reshape their lives.

Moving forward with meaningful work A key focus for this year has been developing our Purposeful Employment service (see page 15). It’s designed to help people develop the confidence

and skills to secure employment that really means something to them, beyond being just a job. It will provide a wide array of opportunities for our customers, including education, training, coaching, advice and business start-up support.

Investing in our team Our team has also been strengthened this year. We’ve appointed a permanent Marketing and Communications Director to ensure our activity in those areas pays dividends for our customers and community. We’ve enhanced our digital team to enable us to communicate, collaborate and support customers and team members more easily, wherever they’re working. To build on performance and efficiency our Maintenance and Repairs team has also undergone a number of changes this year. And our HR team, now known as our People Excellence team, continues to provide a wide range of support to enable our people to be the best they can be.

As we move into a new world where future realities are less certain, we feel well placed to handle what life throws at us. And to help our customers build the capabilities and resilience to progress and thrive.

A word from our chair

Squared Annual Report | 2019-2020 3

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This year started in much the same way as most years, unbeknown to us what was in store. No one could have predicted the unprecedented times we have found ourselves in and the impact Covid-19 would have. Fortunately, we were very well set up for agile working at Squared enabling many of our team members to work from home relatively easily during the lockdown period.

Below outlines some of the highlights from last year.

Page 4: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Meet the board

Glyn Early Glyn is a retired managing director of a longstanding family building firm and brings practical experience of house building and public service contracts, as well as local knowledge and an interest in supporting local charitable organisations. He joined the Luton Community Housing Board in 2012 and become our chair in May 2019.

Passionate about inspiring lives and committed to providing affordable housing in Luton and South Bedfordshire, our board provide a wealth of experience and knowledge to help guide Squared forwards.

Peter Rickard Peter has been a tenant with us since 1971. He joined our board as a tenant representative in 2007, bringing practical experience of being a tenant.

Iain Smith Iain joined the Board in 2017 after taking early retirement from his job at Hampshire County Council. For the bulk of his career he worked as a solicitor in local government initially specialising in commercial property. Iain has also worked for Councils in Glasgow and Manchester. He has extensive experience of leases of various types of commercial property and regeneration projects. During a career break he obtained an Ll.M. in European Union Business Law at the University of Amsterdam. As an Independent Custody Visitor, Iain visits police custody suites to report on the treatment of detainees.

David Cheesman David spent many years as Head of Research at the Housing Corporation (now Homes England). He’s been a visiting professor at Sheffield Hallam University and is now a policy adviser at the Financial Conduct Authority. David has lived in Luton since the 1980s and was our chair from 2011 until 2018.

Mostaque Koyes Mostaque is a director of a leading local business and has a wide network of influential contacts. He became an official board member in May 2017. By sharing his experience, Mostaque aims to make a sustainable difference to Luton residents.

Sarah Markham Sarah works for Luton Borough Council (LBC) as Head of Housing Operations and has also been a trainer. She has previous experience of working within other housing associations too and joined our Board in 2012.

Vinod TailorVinod, a former High Sheriff of Bedfordshire for 2017-2018, has lived in Bedfordshire since around 1972. He worked in the banking and financial sectors for 40 years, and is involved in several organisations in Bedfordshire, London, India and Africa. Vinod is an active member of the community and is very interested in local affairs. He became an official board member in May 2018.

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Page 5: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Working together for a stronger future

Homes for Independent Living

As one united housing team, we can ensure a smoother transition for customers when they’re ready to move from homes with support to homes for independent living. We’re also working with other people and groups to improve how we support our customers and communities.

Collaborating for improvement We invited a consultant to review our policies and procedures, this year, making them clearer for team members and customers to follow. We’re also working with our new Property Maintenance and Facilities Manager to streamline services and our new Employability Development Manager to help our customers find fulfilling roles.

Keeping customers involved Customers are helping us to improve too. Our customer involvement group has continued to hold regular meetings and evolve this year and we are anticipating there will be even more opportunities for our customers to be involved in the future.

Following customer feedback from our Star survey, Robert Allen Court is now supported by three Squared team members. This allows us to spend more time with our customers, including individual weekly visits (or phone calls), two individual visits per year from their Customer Relationship Manager as well as bi monthly group meetings to discuss any current issues and share any future plans.

A joint approach to anti-social behaviour We’ve been working in a task group with the police and other housing associations to tackle anti-social behaviour in affected areas. We’ve also added security gates to some of our blocks of flats to prevent and deter anti-social behaviour further. This year we’ve successfully obtained one injunction due to anti-social behaviour, three other cases were also received and closed during the year.

Help stop drug supply in its tracks County Lines is a project we’ve focussed on this year to help the police break down the lines of supply for banned drugs in Bedfordshire. County Lines is a policing term used to describe a model adopted by certain organised crime groups for the distribution and supply of drugs.

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Page 6: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Success stories

Tackling domestic abuse together In February 2020, we launched a campaign to raise awareness of the support available to victims of domestic abuse. We ran a workshop with Luton All Women’s Centre, which led to a customer moving forwards with her life after years of abuse. We also supported two other victims of abuse too.

We aim to continue the campaign this year. This will include training our team members to help them identify people who may be experiencing domestic abuse and understand how to hold the difficult conversations it may involve to support them.

Increased online access We continue to encourage people to use our online customer portal, which makes it easier for customers to access their rent account, request transfers and register compliments and complaints. To date, 249 customers have registered, and we’ve had good feedback on how easy it is to use.

*Names have been changed in the following success stories.

Together, in the right home Sarah was renting one of our one-bedroom flats. Due to health issues, it became unsuitable for her and would have left her housebound. She temporarily moved in with her partner, who was caring for her, in another housing association property. But this wasn’t suitable for her disabilities or large enough for the family.

When a larger adapted property became available, we offered it to Sarah. Her partner gave up his housing association tenancy and moved in with her as a joint tenant. Since then, we’ve adapted the bathroom to a wet room and they’re very happy in their new home.

Overcoming debt, anxiety and depression We noticed the direct debits for Albert’s rent had stopped and, after several attempts, managed to talk to him. He’d had to stop working due to health issues and also had anxiety and depression, which had led him to avoid issues and allow debts to rise.

We showed Albert how to apply for benefits and a discretionary housing payment to go towards his arrears. We also granted him a payment from our tenant welfare fund, gave him food bank vouchers and referred him to agencies that could support him.

Universal Credit is now paying us direct for Albert’s rent and he’s working again and getting on top of his debts. He’s still in arrears with us but is paying them off and we’ll continue to support him to sustain his tenancy.

Our Customer Relationship Managers are on hand to support any of our customers in need of support like Albert.

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Page 7: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

The people we’ve helped this year

SUCCESSFUL

INTERNAL

INTERNAL

CUSTOMERS WHO MOVED

TO COURT IN THECASES REFERRED

(DOWN FROM 6 THE PREVIOUS YEAR)

REFERRALS TO OUR

ONTO ACCOMMODATION THEY HAD

FINANCIAL YEAR

MENTAL HEALTH

PURCHASED/PRIVATE RENTING

THERAPY SERVICE

PAYMENTDISCRETIONARY

TRANSFERS TO

TRANSFERS TO

ARRANGEMENTS

HOUSING

PREVENT

PREVENT

TO PREVENTPAYMENTS (DHP)

UNDER OCCUPATION

OVERCROWDING

COURT ACTION8

12

2

2

7

63

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Page 8: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Our HMOs

Our houses for multiple occupation (HMOs) are a lifeline for many people. We partner with a range of organisations to ensure as many local people as possible get the homes they need to move on with their lives.

Away from the streets One of the most important ways we support people is to help them make the first crucial step away from homelessness. We continue to partner with Luton Borough Council’s rough sleepers’ team and other local agencies to help people make this transition.

Many of the people we support suffer from mental health issues, drug or alcohol misuse, domestic abuse or exploitation. Our role is to provide them with safe, supportive accommodation. In doing so, we’re helping Luton Borough Council achieve its objective of halving the number of people sleeping rough in Luton by 2022.

A positive new start We’re also working with NOAH and Keystage Housing on a project to help EU migrants to move forwards with their lives by gaining education and training. We support them in applying for full time employment too, so they’re able to secure private rented accommodation.

Education for employability This year, seven of our customers attended a training course with Diverse FM, which provides various charitable services. As it was so successful, eight more places have been offered for our customers. The training is an 8-week course through Diverse FM’s Building Better Opportunities project, which tackles worklessness.

The course covers various areas, including employa-bility, health and safety, fire safety and food hygiene. Those who complete it will be offered a place on an in-tensive one-week security course with an exam at the end. If they’re successful, they’ll gain a SIA card and will be qualified to work in the security industry.

Giving back to other students Eight of our customers have also supported the education of students at the University of Bedfordshire. They observed student social workers in role plays and gave valuable feedback, explaining how it felt having been involved with several agencies throughout their lives.

Providing a support hubWe offer a friendly hub of support in Luton for customers to turn to. They can, for example, get advice on a drop-in basis, join us for breakfast or use our computers and play table tennis while observing social distancing guidance. We’re also beginning to offer training and peer mentoring too to help customers stay on a positive path forwards.

Providing a place to call home

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Page 9: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Living life to a new beat James was sleeping rough when he was referred to us from Luton Borough Council. He was suffering from anxiety and depression, with cannabis use and his family history as strong contributing factors.

Initially, James avoided eye contact and hardly left the house. His key workers took things slowly and responded quickly to any contact from him to ensure he felt supported. He spent a lot of time developing his own music and he was encouraged to join groups run by team members as well as supporting him in addressing his housing and mental health issues.

James has now settled and is engaging well with our team members. He’s also begun sharing his music over WhatsApp and is learning to manage his mental health.

From bail to boxing training When Matt came to us, he was on police bail for the possession of a bladed item and driving a car without a licence and insurance. He’d lost his job as a result, was smoking cannabis to try to escape his problems and was also suffering from anger issues.

During one-to-one weekly sessions with his support worker, Matt decided to face his fears, go to court and take his punishment so he could put it behind him. He also attended the regular counselling sessions we provided to help him tackle his problems with anger.

Matt says he’s feeling much better and we’ve seen a significant positive change in him. He’s keeping to his strict bail conditions and has become very motivated to train as a boxer. Having won his first fight, he has been spotted by coaches. This has led to him significantly reducing his cannabis use and he’s very proud of his achievements.

Success stories *Names have been changed in the following success stories.

A year of progressionWe’ve provided accommodation in houses of multiple occupation to 111 new customers over the last year and it’s great to see how many have flourished.

WERE PREVENTED

ARE NOW IN EITHERMOVED ON TO EITHER COUNCIL

WERE PREVIOUSLY WERE RECONNECTEDFROM BECOMING

FULL-TIME ORACCOMMODATION OR HOUSING

ARE NOW ABSTINENT AFTER PREVIOUSLY HAVINGDRUG OR ALCOHOL DEPENDENCY, AND FOUR OF THEM

ARE IN FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT

STREET TO THEIRHOMELESS HOMETOWNHOMELESS

PART-TIME EMPLOYMENTASSOCIATION ACCOMMODATION

49

2243

32 6

6

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Page 10: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Our HostelsFoundations for new beginningsThe people we support through our hostels are some of the most vulnerable people in our community. Our Housing team work as one, to help people turn their lives around, including young people leaving care, asylum seekers and young mums and babies.

Better equipped for support To ensure we’re up to date and providing the best service possible, we’ve revised our team member training this year. Added to the schedule is training on being an appropriate adult, report writing, effective communication, self-harm awareness and drug and alcohol awareness. We’ve also increased the frequency of some sessions and adjusted how some training is delivered to improve its effectiveness.

Learning by sleeping out Last year, six of our team members went beyond classroom training. They did a sleepout from 8pm to 7am to get some actual experience of what many of our customers and other homeless people have gone through.

The team also used the sleepout to fundraise, and they beat their £1,000 target by raising £1,509. This has paid for customer activities, including trips to London and Woodside Farm and a go-karting session.

Working with TV to raise awareness Over the last year, some of our customers have featured on two different TV programmes, to help raise awareness of the issues they face and the support we can provide.

One of our customers was on BBC Look East News as part of its focus on homelessness in the run up to Christmas where she shared her experience. Describing the help we gave her, she said: “They’ve given me confidence in myself. They believed in me when I didn’t.”

The other programme was a BBC3 documentary about one of our mother and baby hostels for homeless young mums and their children. With 130,000 children now growing up with no fixed abode, the government has described the situation as a national crisis. The documentary followed the lives of a few of our customers who shared their stories.

Customer-centred support Our other plans for this year include reviewing our policies and procedures to ensure we have a streamlined, customer-focused approach. We’re also applying for more funding for activities that will help to broaden our customers’ experiences and prospects and build positive mental health and wellbeing. And our weekly team meetings ensure we are on top of any arrears in housing benefit and personal contributions so that we can help our customers stay on track.

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Page 11: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Gaining independence Ankith returned to living in a hostel with us in February 2019 after an unsuccessful move back to his family home. During this stay, he decided to return to education and managed to achieve GCSEs in maths and English.

This was a huge achievement for Ankith during a time when he was also learning to handle his mental health and finances. It motivated him to get support with creating his CV and applying for a job. Ankith started a full-time job in December 2019 and is managing to cope with public transport and long night hours. He’s also moved successfully to one of our houses in multiple occupation properties.

Another success story*Names have been changed in the following success story.

A year of achievements As we look back on another year, it’s wonderful to see so many successes. Of the 175 people living in our hostels this year:

In addition 11 people have moved from hostels into Local Authority social housing with

their own tenancies.

WERE REFERRED TO US BY OTHER AGENCIES SOWE COULD PROVIDE THE SUPPORT THEY NEEDED

146

STARTEDPAID WORK10

STARTED A DEGREECOURSEAT THE UNIVERSITY

OF YORK1BEGANVOLUNTEERING 7

BEGANCOLLEGE COURSES 30

MADE PLANNED MOVES TO OTHERACCOMMODATION, INCLUDING

10 TO OUR HMOs(six more than last year) 89

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Page 12: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

New housing agency opens doors for people on low incomesWe’ve entered into a joint venture with Luton Borough Council to create a new kind of housing agency that helps people on low incomes to secure better-quality rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially on 5th December 2019, providing housing for all from its new offices at Belmullet House, 39 Upper George Street, LU1 2RD.

Overcoming obstacles together Luton Lets Squared was created to provide a new route to renting homes from private landlords for people who are on benefits and low incomes. Very often, people in these circumstances find it hard to get high-quality accommodation because of the challenges of providing a deposit, references and other criteria.

With a different philosophy from other high-street letting agents, Luton Lets Squared offers a wide range of services that are rarely seen elsewhere. And, unlike other agencies, staff don’t receive commission on

the properties they let, underlining its commitment to support those who find it most difficult to secure suitable housing.

Improving housing standards in Luton As well as providing expert services to its customers, a major goal for Luton Lets Squared is to improve property standards in Luton. It also hopes to reduce the risk of tenants being at risk of rogue landlords.

Regarding its launch, the council says: “Luton Lets Squared is an exciting initiative that brings together the accumulated knowledge and experience of two valued organisations. Affordable accommodation is vital for everyone in the town – irrespective of who they are – and for many a dependable, secure home is the first step towards lifting themselves out of financial hardship. As the Council seeks to tackle poverty in the town, Luton Lets Squared will have a vital role to play.”

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Page 13: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Building on our performance and efficiency

Maintenance and Repairs

Our maintenance and repairs team has undergone much change this year in a focused effort to improve how it serves our customers and supports the business.

A bigger team for better results As our overall performance levels for completed repairs and maintenance jobs had reduced, we recognised that we needed to expand the team, so we’ve made a number of appointments over the last year.

Our new Property Maintenance and Facilities Manager provides greater technical input and a focus on developing and managing the team. We’ve also added to our general maintenance team with a candidate who was recommended to us by a tenant – a lovely example of reciprocity in our close relationship with our customers.

Providing meaningful jobs In support of Squared’s Purposeful Employment initiative, we invited one of our HMO tenants (house in multiple occupation) to start working with us as a volunteer. He then moved on to part-time employment with us and is now a fulltime member of our maintenance team and also qualified to rent one of our properties.

Greater capabilities These appointments have enabled us to expand our skillset and complete more work ourselves, such as fencing, which was previously subcontracted. We also completed a refurbishment project at our Stewart House hostel this year.

Extra support for improved performance To free up property lettings team members, who had historically helped to schedule work on our hostels, we’ve also appointed a second repairs administrator. All of this, along with the new software we’re introducing, means we expect even better performance from our team in the future – for both the business and our customers.

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Page 14: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Creating spaces where people can thrive Providing enough of the right homes with the right support for the people who desperately need them, is a challenge we continue to face. Our approach is to consider how we can make more of what we’ve already got, and find more opportunities to create new homes.

Adding to and improving our HMOs This year, we’ve been able to provide nine more houses for multiple occupation (HMOs) – an increase of 37 rooms since last year. In total, we now have 37 HMOs providing accommodation to 177 customers, including people with varying and complex support needs.

In 2019, we refurbished three of our HMOs to an excellent standard, and in 2021 we are planning other refurbishment projects. We’re also replacing one of our mother-and-baby units with a newly refurbished house, which is a huge improvement on the current accommodation.

A new hostel and extra bed spaces We provided nine more beds in hostel accommodation this year too by opening Stewart House as a temporary hostel for single homeless people in Luton. And we’ve created six more bed spaces for people who are vulnerable and street homeless to help them gain stability.

More homes for the future During this financial year, we plan to buy five more properties and are continuing to explore opportunities for developing or redeveloping four more sites across Luton. We’re also in the process of buying four one-bed flats for a new project that supports people with mental health issues. And we’ve purchased a site in Luton to develop into supported housing.

To increase the number of homes for independent living that we can provide, we have a long-term project looking at how we can redevelop several of our current sites.

Property Developments

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Page 15: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Purposeful EmploymentHelping people move on with meaningful work Too many people are unable to improve their lives because they lack the skills, confidence and support to secure employment that means something to them. We believe in helping people to find opportunities for earning a living that are more than just a job; Purposeful Employment is our new service that will help us to do that.

We see purposeful employment as employment that offers prospects and job satisfaction. It pays a real living income, improves self-esteem and leads to a healthy outlook that reduces people’s reliance on benefits and helps them make the most of their life.

Our Purposeful Employment service is based on our coaching philosophy. Our experienced team will work with customers to help build their skills and personal qualities by focusing on their motivations, self-confidence and self-esteem. They’ll also support them in creating and implementing plans to become ready for work.

Following get to know you sessions customers will be able to consider their own aspirations and the best route to achieve them.

Purposeful Employment will provide the following opportunities for our customers.

Moving Forwards programme This comprehensive back-to-work programme is designed to help people get into full-time employment for the first time or get back into work after a long period of unemployment. Customers will gain the tools they need to succeed through one-to-one sessions, training, workshops and a work experience placement.

Enrolling into education We’ll identify which customers would benefit from formal education and will refer or signpost them to relevant educational services. We’ll also provide support along the way, helping them with any phone calls, applications, emails and so on to secure their places.

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Page 16: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Apprenticeships We provide some social enterprise services in house and will work with various teams to source new ways of securing apprenticeship placements. These may be with Squared or with other organisations in Luton.

Giving Back volunteer scheme Our volunteer scheme is for people who have spare time and want to teach others or just make a difference. They’ll help customers to not only gain new skills or update existing ones, but to develop knowledge in specific areas and understand how the working environment operates today.

Business start-up support We’ll help customers to identify their true passions and aspirations, which could then lead to them running their own business.

Upskilling For customers thinking about starting their own business, we’ll help them work out the skills they need and how to gain them. We’ll build on the relationships we have with other services to provide upskilling workshops and will also offer online support. Based on the level of interest, we’ll hold at least five upskilling sessions in the first year, covering topics such as cookery, gardening, upcycling, music and art.

Workshops We are planning to host a series of workshops, either one-to-one or in groups, based on existing accredited materials covering a wide variety of topics including CV writing, communication skills and relationship building.

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Page 17: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

This social enterprise is a great example of what can be achieved through teamwork and an entrepreneurial spirit. It empowers customers and other local people that are unemployed by providing opportunities for training and work. It supports our maintenance and homes teams and raises much-needed funds for other services.

Making our homes more appealing During this financial year, CGS met its service delivery targets for cleaning and gardening at our empty properties. By improving the quality and cleanliness of the properties we need to re-let, it’s helped to significantly reduce the length of time they remain empty.

New services create more value The waste clearance service that we introduced last year has also had a good start. We responsibly removed over 72 tonnes of general household waste last year. We’ve now introduced a new service to help maintain overgrown trees across all our estates at a moderate cost. This is not only improving outdoor spaces for customers but is creating value for money for Squared.

Increased community investment As a social enterprise, any profit that CGS makes is reinvested in Squared to fund extra support services for our customers and the local community. Last year’s budget showed that we have a strong social return on investment – for every pound CGS spends, 21p is used to create positive impact for the community.

Nurturing new futures As well as raising funds for extra services, Cleaning and Gardening Squared makes a big difference to the people who work there.

Far-reaching results

Cleaning and Gardening Squared

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Page 18: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

This year, CGS:

PEOPLE WITHSUPPORTED 2

HOUSING NEEDS,WHICH RESULTED IN THEM SECURING IMPROVED ACCOMMODATION

IMPROVED RESPONSIVENESS - DURING THELAST QUARTER, RESOLVED AROUND 70% OF COMPLAINTS OR

CONCERNS WITHIN 72 HOURS AND 100%

THEY WERE RECEIVEDWITHIN THE WEEK

OFFERED ALL EMPLOYEES

PATTERNS SO

MEET OTHER

COMMITMENTSCHILDCARE

THEY COULD

FLEXIBLE WORKINGPROVIDEDSECURESUSTAINABLE EMPLOYMENT

FOR 13PEOPLE

IN GARDENING

HELPED 5 PEOPLE TO

CITY & GUILDS

IMPROVE THEIR EMPLOYABILITYBY GAINING ACCREDITED

QUALIFICATIONS

8 ATTENDED TRAINING

GAINED SKILLS ANDCERTIFICATE

COURSEWITH BRITISHINSTITTUE OF CLEANING SCIENCE

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Page 19: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Opening doors to improved mental health

Open Minds

Over the last five years, we’ve worked with the

University of Bedfordshire, Mary Seacole Housing

Association and Signposts Luton to fill a significant

gap in mental healthcare. Funding for Open Minds

ended in November 2019, but we’re really proud of

the service we provided and will work hard to keep

the lines of communication open.

Open Minds offered talking and CBT therapies to vulnerable people living in hostels, or those at risk of being made homeless, in the Luton and Dunstable area. In particular, it provided crucial help for people with issues including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, relationship problems, low confidence and issues from childhood.

Learnings helped improve commitment For the second phase of Open Minds, which ran from December 2016 to December 2019, we drew on learnings from the pilot phase in 2013-2015. All clients, for example, attended a motivational interview and preparation session where they received important information about the therapy.

Introductory sessions like these have been reported to reduce dropout rates, and this proved to be the case for Open Minds. The number of clients ending therapy early was low in the second phase of the project with only 16 people (28%) not finishing their agreed course. This was a significant achievement considering that the dropout rate in similar services, such as IAPT, is typically around 50%.

Open Minds supported 61 people in total. Of those: 41 completed the course of treatment agreed with

their therapist. 16 interrupted therapy at various points. 4 were referred to another, more suitable, service

such as a substance misuse agency.

Thank you to our partners We’d like to extend a huge thank you to the Big Lottery for funding Open Minds for five years consecutively at a cost of over £500,000. We’d also like to express our sincere gratitude to the University of Bedfordshire’s Department of Psychology, Mary Seacole Housing Association and Signposts Luton. We really appreciate their valuable support and collaboration in successfully providing the Open Minds service.

We had hoped to secure funding to continue our Open Minds service and develop a second service to support parents living in our hostels with children. Unfortunately, funding for this isn’t available at the moment, but we’ll continue to look for opportunities and work with our partners on ideas for future services. We are continuing to offer an in-house mental health therapy service for our customers who can benefit from individual sessions with our highly trained therapist.

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Page 20: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

People ExcellenceA bright new start for all As we begin a new era as Squared, we’ve focused on moving forwards and transforming together, so we can make a unified effort where each department and each person’s strengths play an important part in our success.

More than just HR As part of our rebrand, our HR team is now known as People Excellence Squared. This makes it easier to package and sell our services to other organisations so we can contribute to raising funds to reinvest in Squared services.

It also reflects that we do more than just HR. We provide training, coaching, advice and any other support people need to be the best they can be. In particular, we’ve been helping our managers to strengthen their skills and achieve their business objectives through their people. To support this, the People Excellence team have been partnering with our operational departments to help drive their people plans.

We have continued to provide practical, business focused advice to a range of small organisations in addition to Squared. From day to day operational support with policies, recruitment or performance management through to senior management development, we work with business leaders to maximise their peoples potential.

Evolving together In May 2019, we held our team member conference at Woburn Safari Park. It focused on how we could work as a team to evolve as an organisation. We refined our vision and mission and added two exciting new brand values – play and innovate – to our existing values, which are understand, grow, recognise and deliver. These values now fully represent what we’re about as an organisation and highlight behaviours that will move us forward to our next chapter.

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Page 21: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Fair and Squared As ever, we’ve had a strong focus on inclusion and ensuring we treat everyone fairly. 93% of our customers stated that they think Squared team members accept people whatever their background. And we were really pleased to be reaccredited with Leaders in Diversity status in March 2020.

The Leaders in Diversity assessor’s report said: “Squared has continued to make progress and embrace FREDIE. The culture of the organisation is very inclusive, which is supported by staff, leaders and tenants. The embracing of the coaching model has reinforced an inclusive culture and the various behaviour models have helped staff to better understand their colleagues. Staff are well trained and remained committed to delivering wider outcomes for its ‘customers’.”

All set for agile working Homeworking became a global norm during the Covid-19 pandemic. Fortunately, our agile working approach meant we were already set up for it. All team members have a laptop and mobile so they can work wherever they choose. Whether that’s at one of our sites, homeworking or out and about with customers (while always following government guidelines for social distancing). 

With more of our people working in an agile way this year, we’ve seen savings in time and travel costs. By providing our team members with this flexibility, we are pleased to hear it’s leading to increased wellbeing which in turn leads to improved performance.

Going digital  To support our agile working, we’re continuing to make good use of digital tools. We’ve been encouraging the use of Microsoft Teams to enable colleagues to meet up virtually, and Workplace is now our main tool for communication between team members. We use its functions such as Knowledge Library to host key information where everyone can easily access it. The senior team also uses it to give regular updates to all team members, so everyone’s kept informed at all levels.

Ensuring everyone has a voice We want to make sure every team member can easily have a say in what we do and how we run our business. So we’ve started using a survey tool called Engagement Multiplier. It lets us manage our own engagement surveys while still keeping responses anonymous. This means we can be much more efficient in gaining opinions and we can respond directly to any comments.

We’re not only using it for our bi-annual surveys, but also for pulse surveys that enable us to get real-time feedback from team members on current issues.

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Page 22: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Marketing and Communications All Squared for the future In September 2019, we rebranded to become Squared. To build on this new positioning, we’ve worked hard together on a marketing programme designed to strengthen our organisation and the services we’re able to offer.

Bringing benefits for all Our marketing focus has two crucial aims:

1. To raise our profile locally and in our sector, so more people know they can turn to us for help and more organisations are likely to consider us as partners for projects.

2. To help maximise our income so we have more money to put back into supporting even more local people in need.

Well-coordinated campaigns In November 2019, we appointed a permanent Marketing and Communications Director to ensure our marketing activity is well planned and executed. We’ve also pulled together across Cleaning and Gardening Squared, Homes Squared and Luton Lets Squared to work on our marketing as a team and so maximise our efforts and results.

Coming alive online Our comprehensive new website is our shop window – it’s where customers look for information and where people go to find out about us and what we offer and achieve. Over the last year, we’ve concentrated on extending its content to include topical issues and case studies telling our customer success stories.

We’ve also developed and launched a website and supporting materials for our new joint venture with Luton Borough Council, Luton Lets Squared.

Sharing our story We were due to hold an event in March 2020 to increase the brand awareness of Squared but, unfortunately, had to cancel it due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We’ll rearrange it for 2021 though and have been working on raising our profile in other ways.

We’ve been telling our story in sector publications such as Parliamentary Review (March 2019), for example. And we’ve entered awards – we were shortlisted for the National Centre for Diversity small to medium business award this year.

We’ve also been more active on social media to ensure we’re joining relevant conversations and keeping people informed.

A brand you can rely on Having a strong, consistent brand is really important in fostering trust in our organisation and setting expectations about what we can offer. So, to help Squared become more distinctive, recognisable and memorable, we’ve been doing further work to define our branding and tone of voice.

We’ve also been improving our internal communications so we can better serve our customers and one another. Establishing integrated and adaptable communications that meet our customers’ needs has been really important during the pandemic. We’ve used a range of channels to keep customers informed during this unprecedented period, including email, social media, our website and our tenant portal.

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Page 23: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

ITReady for a digital future We live in a world where our lives are built around increasing digital services. From TV to shopping, information sharing, conferencing and more, people want online services that are easy to use and allow them to do things quickly and securely.

To meet the expectations of our team members and customers in terms of our services and facilities, we’ve created a digital team. Its role is to ensure our day-to-day operations can rely on a digital platform that supports our services, while also exploring digital advances and the benefits they could offer.

Equal access for customers We don’t want our customers to be disadvantaged in an evolving digital world, so we’ve continued to improve all broadband connections to our HMOs and hostels. And, where possible, we’ve replaced ADSL lines with faster fibre networks.

Improved efficiency, mobility and service We also realised that our housing software wouldn’t support the business for future digital growth. So we explored several options and have negotiated a five-year partnership with Castleton Technology.

This will see a complete refit of our existing systems to a fully hosted, integrated set of solutions. These will improve our efficiency by enabling our team members to be more mobile and avoid duplication. They’ll also help us to provide a better service, particularly by communicating better.

A full IT overhaul Community is a cloud-based housing management system designed for smaller social housing providers. We now have its three core modules: Housing Management, which has full reporting capability; Agile, which enables mobile working; and Electronic Document and Records Management (EDRM). We’ve also chosen its Financials module to complete the overhaul of our improved back-office systems.

Easier communications with customers We’re not overlooking digital engagement with customers either. We plan to use a tenant portal platform called Communications Manager to make it easier for people to get in touch and for us to reply. It will allow us to have instant conversations with customers via text messaging.

We’re also looking at options for two-way communications with customers through Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri and Google Nest and similar platforms. Other digital progressions that we’re exploring include intelligent social housing software to improve aspects such as gas safety, boiler maintenance, mould monitoring, carbon reduction and identifying fuel poverty.

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Page 24: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Squared Annual Report | 2019-2020 24Return to contents

Financial AccountsOur success in numbers

% of income spent on direct expenses

31 March 2020 31 March 2019

Turnover

Direct expenses

6,198,508

4,295,100

5,684,489

3,981,890

69%2020

70%2019

69%2020

70%2019

Maintenance expenditure 2019/20

2019/20

2018/19 £48,138

Cyclical repair expenses

Major repair components capitalised

Property improvements

Total planned maintenance

£47,1992019/20

2018/19 £220,013

£249,754

Major repair expenses*

2019/20

2018/19 £77,452

£-2019/20

2018/19 £77,461

2018/19 £423,064

£113,503

£410,456

2019/20

2018/19 £423,064

Total planned maintenance Routine maintenance

Total maintenance

£410,4562019/20

2018/19 £430,713

2018/19 £776,315£422,752£833,208

2019/20

2018/19 £48,138

Cyclical repair expenses

Major repair components capitalised

Property improvements

Total planned maintenance

£47,1992019/20

2018/19 £220,013

£249,754

Major repair expenses*

2019/20

2018/19 £77,452

£-2019/20

2018/19 £77,461

2018/19 £423,064

£113,503

£410,456

2019/20

2018/19 £423,064

Total planned maintenance Routine maintenance

Total maintenance

£410,4562019/20

2018/19 £430,713

2018/19 £776,315£422,752£833,208

49%2019/20

45%2018/19

51%2019/20

55%2018/19

49%2019/20

45%2018/19

51%2019/20

55%2018/19

Planned % Reactive%

* All major repairs capitalised 2019/20

Page 25: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

Squared Annual Report | 2019-2020 25Return to contents

2020

2020

2019

2019

£’000

£’000

£’000

£’000

Income 2019/20

Expenditure 2019/20

Income

Expenditure

Rent receivable net of voids 3,833 3,606

Services 423 265

Fees from schemes managed by agents

Donations and other income

100

32

125

15

Housing grant released to income 164 164

Routine maintenance 497 542

Cleaning and Gardening services 259 198

Private Leasing Scheme - landlords’ rent/incentive 1,003 915

Office rental income

Luton Lets Squared

67

84

65

-

Cleaning and Gardening services 286 199

Service charges receivable net of voids 1,162 981

Management 2,453 2,588

Open Minds - Big Lottery Fund Grant 62 92

Depreciation of housing properties 424 401

Embrace Life income - 39

Development overheads not capitalised - 10

Health and Wellbeing grants 300 300

Rent loss from bad debts 116 126

HR Consultancy income 7 19

Open Minds - Big Lottery Fund Grant 59 124*

Other social housing activities 129 80

Luton Lets Squared 84 -

Embrace Life costs - 46

Office rental costs 59 23

Interest payable 370 303

Other social housing activities

Surplus/(deficit)

400

25

88

54

6,174

6,199 5,684

5,630

* Restatement of prior year accounts for additional costs incurred in 2018/19

Page 26: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

62%

3%

1%

19%

0%

1%1%

2%0%

4%

5%

2%

0%

Squared Annual Report | 2019-2020 26Return to contents

43%

5%

1%

7%

9%

2%

7%

18%

0%

0%

1%

7%

Rent loss from bad debts2%

Development overheads not capitalised0%

Management43%

Private Leasing Scheme - Landlords’ rent/incentive18%

Embrace life income0%

Cleaning and Gardening services5%

Interest payable7%

Services7%

Depreciation of housing properties7%

Routine maintenance9%

Open Minds - Big Lottery Fund Grant1%

Office rental costs1%

Income 2019/20

Expenditure 2019/20

Rent receivable net of voids62%

Housing grant released to income3%

Donations and other income0%

Open Minds - Big Lottery Fund Grant1%

HR Consultancy Income0%

Luton Lets Squared1%

Service charges receivable net of voids19%

Embrace life income0%

Health and Wellbeing grants5%

Fees from schemes managed by agents2%

Cleaning and Gardening services4%

Office rental income1%

Other social housing activities2%

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Squared Annual Report | 2019-2020 27Return to contents

Source of rent income

0

£500,000

£1,000,000

£1,500,000

£2,000,000

£2,500,000

£3,000,000

£3,500,000

2020 2019

Government

Tenant

£3,2

14,7

01

Grand Total Grand Total£4,846,608 £4,389,936

£2,9

65

,96

0

£1,6

31,9

07

£1,4

23,

976

2020 20202019 2019£’000 £’000£’000 £’000

Income and Expenditure Account For The Year Ended 31 March 2020

Balance SheetAt 31 March 2020

TurnoverTangible fixed assets

Current assets

Total assets less current liabilities

Net current assets/liabilities

6,199 5,684

Operating costs (5,808) (5,327)*

Operating surplus 395 357

Interest payable and similar charges

(370) (303)

Housing properties - depreciated cost

25,973 24,648

Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

(1,256) (1,319)*

Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year

(25,659) (23,275)

(1,256)

404

27,802

(1,319)

(586)

25,393

Gain/(loss) on property disposal 4 -

Investment properties 427 427

Capital and reserves 2,143 2,118

Debtors due within one year 605 588

Total net assets 2,143 2,118

Other tangible fixed assets 998 904

Cash and cash equivalents 1,055 145

27,398 25,979

Total net assets 2,143 2,118

1,660 733

Surplus for the year 25 54

* Restatement of prior year accounts for additional costs incurred in 2018/19

* Restatement of prior year accounts for additional costs incurred in 2018/19

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Squared Annual Report | 2019-2020 28Return to contents

0

30

60

90

120

150

Average general needs rents by property size At 31 March 2020

2020

Bed

sits

£69.

16 £79.

26 £1

00

.93

£115

.00

£12

4.0

6

£136

.65

£68

.55

£78

.43 £9

9.6

6 £114

.24

£12

1.37 £1

35.4

3

£98

.39

£97.

46

1 be

d fla

ts

2 b

ed p

rope

rtie

s

3 be

d ho

uses

4 be

d ho

uses

5+

bed

hous

es

Ove

rall

aver

ages

2019

* rents exclude service charges and Luton Lets Squared** rents include affordable rents

*** rents are annualised for 53 weeks of 2019/20

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Squared Annual Report | 2019-2020 29Return to contents

Units let by Type

Relets during Year 2019/20

Number of units y/e

31 Mar 2020

Lets as Percentage

of Stock Count

General Needs

Sheltered

Homes with Support (hostel) Bedspaces*

Private Leasing Scheme*

Luton Lets Squared

TOTAL

Bedsits 4 1 25%

18 0 0%4 bed properties

127 9 7%2 bed properties

118 8 7%1 bed flats

2 0 0%5+ bed properties

28 4 14%Owned and managed

62 96 155%Owned and managed

242 154 64%Managed on behalf of private landlords

14 0 0%Managed on behalf of private landlords

15 6 40%Not owned - Managed

795 281 35%

Subtotal owned and managed 388 25 6%

Stock managed by others on our behalf

74 n/a n/a

360 21 6%

91 3 3%3 bed properties

* includes moving between rooms

Page 30: ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 · rental accommodation. Called Luton Lets Squared, it handles social lets, lets on private-rented schemes and also property sales, and it opened officially

LUTON COMMUNITY HOUSING LTD TRADING AS SQUAREDLUTON COMMUNITY HOUSING LTD TRADING AS SQUARED

© Copyright Squared 2020

Follow us w j k

Registered Office: Bramingham Business Centre, Unit B2, Enterprise Way, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU3 4BU

Registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 with charitable status: Registration No 19688R. A member of the National Housing Federation. Homes England: Registration No.L1518.

Meet our amazing team who make everything at Squared happen.

Meet the team HERE

Acknowledgements:We would like to thank all the agencies, advisors, specialists and working partnerships who have supported us over the last year.