Download - Corporate Strategy 2016
2016 - 2020
CORPORATE STRATEGY
viability
growth
lead
ersh
ip
support
customers
2
mission vision values
Homes people choose
PridePassionRespect
InnovationTeamwork
Deliver quality homes, build
communities & improve lives
indexintroduction
strategic objectives 2016-2020
who we are
schedule of awards
46910
In delivering our vision, we expect to achieve a number of key outcomes:
Provide a choice of good quality homes and services.
Deliver excellent services tailored to the needs of individual residents, with
additional support for those who need it.
Support the development of vibrant, sustainable communities.
Continue to provide new homes, working within financial constraints.
MACDONALD C
OU
RT
I am delighted to be introducing the new
Corporate Strategy for Town & Country
Housing Group to take us through to 2020.
The rapidly changing landscape for social
housing and some of the biggest challenges for the
social housing sector in memory has energised the
Board, executives and staff at Town & Country and
this strategy sets out how we intend to respond to
those challenges.
We intend to remain a housing business with
a social purpose. We will adopt a commercial
approach to driving an efficient housing business,
through being an excellent organisation,
maximising resources and investing in commercial
ventures to provide surpluses to invest in affordable
housing and services.
We will build on our strong reputation as an
efficient, well managed and financially sound
business. Our well documented track record of
innovation means we will be able to continue to
deliver on our social purpose as well as responding
positively to the agenda of efficiencies, increasing
the supply of new homes and providing access to
home ownership for more people.
This strategy sets out our focus and objectives
for the next five years to ensure we are well
positioned in the new environment and remain on a
sustainable footing for the future.
Bob HeapyChief Executive
Pride in everything we do
Passion for excellent customer services
Respect for everyone
Innovation for improvement and value for money
Teamwork for results
ICS
SERVIC
EMARK TEAM
4
Over the last five years Town &
Country Housing Group has
made significant progress as a
business. We have increased
our financial strength and become more efficient.
We have high operating margins and in 2016
maintained our credit rating of AA-; we have
continued to grow and regenerate some of our
neighbourhoods delivering 323 new homes in
2015/16; and we continued to improve our service
offer to our residents with customer satisfaction
for repairs now at 94% and overall satisfaction at
82%. We have invested in information technology
which has allowed us to work more effectively and
we are constantly striving to make it easier for our
customers to interact with us.
We have sophisticated internal controls and risk
management tools to help us manage the business.
Our internal ‘tramlines’ enable us to manage our
business comfortably within our financial covenants
Introduction
and manage risk within clearly defined parameters.
Recent changes in our operating environment,
such as falling expenditure on public services, the
continued constraint on welfare benefits and the
reduction in social rents will provide significant
challenges and pressures on the social housing
sector. Town & Country will not be isolated from
these challenges, but we are in a strong position to
respond positively to them.
We recognise and support the need for the
government to manage public finances effectively,
particularly the costs of welfare benefit. Through
our charitable Foundation, utilising our experience
and working with partners, we will assist in
providing additional support for those who need it,
particularly by helping people to move from benefits
into work.
We also recognise and support the government’s
drive to provide opportunities for people to own
a home they can afford, and we can and will
support that aspiration by delivering routes into
home ownership through voluntary right to buy,
shared ownership, rent to home buy, starter
homes and outright sale. We can help people
through that journey into home ownership as their
personal situations change. We also realise that
there will always be people who will never be able
to own their own homes and therefore a key part
of our work is to continue to provide affordable
homes for rent. So we also intend to remain
true to our values and as a minimum protect
the number of social rented homes that we own
and manage by replacing those lost through the
extended right to buy.
We will continue to work with our residents to
ensure our homes and services are of high quality
and continue to meet the needs of our customers.
We anticipate that we will manage many more
interactions with our customers on-line, but
will ensure we are able to continue to provide
direct support to those most vulnerable living in
our homes. Our ‘older persons offer’ has seen
us transform outdated sheltered schemes and
deliver popular state of the art accommodation for
independent living for the elderly.
Over the next five years we will continue to improve
efficiency and deliver cost savings. We will be looking
at new more efficient delivery models, smarter
procurement and further investment in information
technology. A more efficient business will help us to
deliver greater surpluses to allow us to increase the
supply of new homes.
Our focus of operation and growth will remain
within Kent and East Sussex. Our successful stock
rationalisation strategy has seen us exit much
of London, Surrey and West Sussex. This has
allowed us to focus on effectively managing key
local relationships to deliver growth in our core
geographical area. It has also helped us to achieve
the high levels of efficiency in our operations
through geographical concentration.
Our Corporate Strategy is
based around five key themes:
Viability - Customers - Support -
Growth - Leadership
6
ob
jectives
ob
jectives
viabilityContinued viability, innovation, efficiency and financial capacity
growthGrowth and asset investment
Achieve sustainable growth from the
delivery of new homes and new forms of home
ownership.
Ensure we at least maintain the total number of social
rented stock
strategic objectives 2016 - 2020
measures
Maintain financial strength and resilience.
Deliver efficiency and value for money through innovation in all we do to maximise financial
capacity for reinvestment in services and new
homes
• Reduce our operating cost per unit in real terms each year to achieve our business plan position.
• By 2020 achieve gearing below the 52% tramline and surpluses in excess of the 5% tramline
• Continue to monitor the roll out of Universal Credit and the impact of the benefit cap and other benefit changes on our customers.
• Ensure that rent and service charge collection is at least 99.8% (31 Mar 2016 at 99.5%)
• Ensure void processes are effective and void income loss remains at or below 0.6% (31 March 2016 at 0.7%)
• Review the current model for delivering responsive maintenance and voids servicing by March 2017 to deliver improved efficiency on responsive repairs budgets
• Introduce a new ‘Smart Procurement’ approach to deliver annual real terms efficiency savings
• Identify the potential for partnerships with others to share costs and add value
• Deliver in excess of 2% growth in homes annually (including private sale)subject to business plan capacity and commercial tramlines
• Increase return on assets by identifying low performing assets which can be disposed of when void to reinvest in new housing and improved energy performance of our existing stock.
• Continue to rationalise our stock to focus on our core operating areas of Kent and East Sussex through acquisition, swap or transfer.
• Replace homes sold through the extended right to buy one for one to maintain the profile of the rented stock
• Ensure our homes continue to meet the Decent Homes Standard or equivalent standard.
• Grow our leasehold and private rented management functions by delivering services for other providers.
measures
7customersKeeping residents at the heart of our business
Be an excellent landlord, deliver efficient, excellent core services and listen to the views of our residents
• Deliver ‘brilliant basics’ and improve customer satisfaction with repairs to 95% (31 Mar 2016 94%) and overall satisfaction to 84% (31 Mar 2016 82%)
• In 2016 review our operational structure to ensure it is fit for purpose and delivers excellent, efficient services
• Utilise technology to ensure our customers have the opportunity to engage with us in the most appropriate and effective way. Enhance the channels through which residents can interact and transact with us to maximise online transactions and by 2018 have 30% of our customers signed up to ‘My Home Online’ (31 March 2016, 20% of our residents had signed up)
• By the end of 2016, deliver a root and branch review of our service charge process. Ensure service charge variances are contained to within 5% and achieve an overall satisfaction rating with service charges of 60% by 2020
• Increase the percentage of customers who are satisfied that we have taken their views into account to 60% (measured 2013 at 57%)
• Research and by 2017 develop approaches for tenants and shared ownership customers who want to move on to own their home outright
strategic objectives 2016 - 2020ob
jectives
measures
leadershipEffective governance, leadership and people
Provide excellent governance and
leadership, be the local employer of choice to attract and retain the
best talent to deliver our outcomes
• Ensure the governance review implemented in 2014 is reviewed in 2017 to ensure it remains fit for purpose
• Implement a staff development programme, which includes increasing and developing skills that will be needed in the new operating environment
• In 2016/17 deliver an effective succession plan for Board retirements in 2017
• In 2016/17 deliver a succession plan for the executive and leadership group
• In 2017 modernise our brand, building on our new communications strategy
• Retain Best Companies and IIP accreditation• Fill at least 35% of vacancies with internal
candidates from April 2017• Introduce new ways of promoting jobs to our
residents, e.g. using social media. We will monitor applications and report to board.
• Promote our achievements, best practice and innovation through multi media channels
• Review our approach to equality and diversity for both customers and staff, including producing a new strategy by March 2018.
ob
jectives
measures
8ob
jectives
supportSupporting the most vulnerable in our homes
strategic objectives 2016 - 2020
Provide appropriate support for those
most vulnerable in our homes
• Ensure that 6% of annual operating costs is utilised for ‘support’ of residents through both core business and our charitable arm, The Foundation focusing on key themes of:
• Continue to deliver an effective response to fuel poverty and by 2020 ensure our homes have an average SAP rating of 70 (In March 2016 the figure was 68.2)
As well as providing good quality housing,
we are immensely proud of our partnership work
with the wider community, much of which has been
led by the Town & Country Foundation.
The work we have been involved in includes:
~ Learning, skills, employment and enterprise ~
~ Community development and cohesion ~
~ Community wellbeing ~
~ Developing support and services for families ~
work of the Foundation
measures
1. Learning, skills and employment2. Health and wellbeing3. Financial inclusion
9our awardsThe business is in very good health and we are
very proud of our achievements:
We have been named as one of the Sunday Times 100 Best Not for Profit
Organisations to work for both 2015 and
2016.
Our Resident Scrutiny Panel has delivered several
excellent service reviews and in 2015 won ‘The Most
Inspiring Newcomers’ Award at the Customer Scrutiny Inspection Awards and in 2016 were shortlisted in the TPAS (the Tenant Participation Advisory Service) ‘Excellence in
Scrutiny’ Award.
We were the regional winner
in the 2015 Homeswapper Star Landlord
Award.
The Foundation was highly commended
in the ‘Charity Partnership’ Small Business’ category of the Third Sector’s
Business Charity Awards in 2014.
We were highly commended in the Placemakers of the Year Awards in 2015 for the Spa Meadows
development.Awards won by individual
Town and Country staff have included the ‘Green Social Housing Champion of the Year’ Award at the
2014 Sustainable Housing Awards and the Office
Angels Professional of the Year Award for 2015.
Town & Country won three awards at the Kent
Housing Group excellence
awards in 2015.
Our customer contact centre was
highly placed in the London and
South East Contact Centre Forum
awards in 2015.
Sun
day
Tim
es
TPAS Award
Placemakers
Ho
mes
wap
per
Staff Awards
Contact Centre
Charity Award
Excellence
Shortlisted at this year’s Housing
Innovation Awards in the ‘Most Innovative IT System’ category.
We are Investors in People
accredited.
AccreditedIn 2016 we retained a AA- credit
rating.
AA-rating
We retained our Institute of Customer
Services (ICS) ‘Service Mark’ in 2015. We were the first housing
association to receive this accolade.
Ser
vice
Mar
k
Inno
vatio
n A
war
d
10 Who we areTown and Country is an independent provider of housing and related services in the South East of England.
We own 9,247 homes and in addition we own the freehold interest for 455 leasehold properties.
Social rented(general needs)
Sheltered housing
Affordable Rent homes
Market rented
Intermediate rented
Shared ownership
Outright market
sale
Supported housing
The following map shows where our homes are located:
Jargon Buster
List of terms and definitions
AssetsAn asset is something that is owned by a company and has a monetary value, for example property. Decent Homes StandardThis sets out the standard that social housing should meet in terms of having modern facilities, being in good repair and being energy efficient.
Financial covenantsThese are the conditions included in loan agreements (for example something that will or will not be carried out as a condition of the loan). GearingThis is the amount of money owed as a percentage of the company’s assets minus any money owed on them.
GovernanceThe way an organisation is managed or run, including the way decisions are made.
Operating environmentThe outside factors that affect our organisation, such as market conditions and political changes. Operating marginThis is the percentage of a company’s income that is left after paying its operating costs such as wages. Return on assetsThis is the surplus generated by a company as a percentage of the value of the assets owned by a company. TramlinesThese are our financial limits that we will always try to remain within.
Internal controlsThese are the processes we have in place to give assurance that we are meeting our obligations and objectives and we are working efficiently and effectively.
Stock rationalisationThis is our programme for reducing the number of local authority areas in which we own housing so that we can focus on a smaller number of core areas.
Financial InclusionDelivering income and money advice, support and training
viability
growth
customersle
ader
ship
support
Monson HouseMonson Way
Tunbridge WellsKent TN1 1LQ
01892 501480www.tchg.org.uk