on the house + annual report 2011

e d i t i o n 1 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 1

housing news for Winchester City Council tenants and leaseholders

Tenant News, produced by Tenantsfor Tenants can be fou nd at the back of this edition

I am delighted to introduceyour Annual Report, whichdetails how well WinchesterCity Council, your Landlord,performed between April 2010and March 2011.

I am heartened that so many of youexpressed satisfaction with the housing service in arecent survey. We have improved the time taken to reletproperties and reduced rent arrears. However, someareas need improving. A small number of properties didnot receive an annual gas safety check. This is notacceptable and I have challenged officers to make sure it does not happen again.

There are several challenges facing the Council in thecoming year. The Government plans to change waycouncil housing is financed. While there will be somedisadvantages, overall it should mean we have moremoney from April 2012 to fund repairs andimprovements. I am still challenging the Governmentto ensure Winchester and our tenants get a fair deal.

I must thank tenants who have been involved inmeetings with TACT, residents’ associations, taken partin surveys and given us direct feedback. Your views arevery important to us and my aim is to ensure weprovide housing services you need and not those thatwe think you need!

The current regulator forsocial housing, the TenantsServices Authority (TSA),requires us to issue anannual report to tenants every year. Thisannual report sets out how well the Council isdoing against its service standards. The reportgives details of achievements in the last yearas well as areas we need to improve on.

Our successes in 2010-2011

Empty homes re-let in 26 days – almost twice asfast as last year, increasing rent collected by£150,000

85% of tenants happy with our housing services

97% of sheltered residents happy with our services

Service Standards reviewed and agreed by tenants

Management costs significantly lower thanaverage compared to social landlords.

This year, tenants have had a direct role in producingthis report. The Winchester district wide tenantsgroup TACT (Tenants and Council Together) havehelped produce the report. Its response, giving theirview on the Councils work over the last year, is on theback page.

What is this report about?

Annual Report2010-2011

Cllr Tony CoatesPortfolio Holder for Landlord Services

and Strategic Housing

houseSpecial Edition

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LDS0252-1419 Annual Report oct 2011:Layout 1 04/10/2011 13:46

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If you have any particular needswhich affect how you are able touse or be involved in our servicesor how you would like to receive

information - for exampletranslation, interpreters, Braille,

audio tape, large print, sign language - please contact theCustomer Service Centre either bytelephone: 01962 840 222 or by

email: [email protected]

Winchester City Council, City Offices, Colebrook Street,Winchester, SO23 9LJ.telephone 01962 840 222 fax 01962 841 365email [email protected] website www.winchester.gov.ukTelephone calls may be recorded.Printed on 75% recycled paper.

T E X T P H O N EThis facility is available for readerswho are deaf or hard of hearing.Please telephone 01962 878 982.

thebigwordtelephone interpreting service

The Council uses a 24-hourTelephone InterpretingService, which also provideswritten or recordedtranslations.

If you, a relative or aneighbour would like to talkto the Council through aninterpreter, please contactyour Area Housing Manageron 01962 840 222.

A summary of the last year

Priorities for this year

In addition to the successeshighlighted on the front page, we have also worked on:

Decent HomesAll homes comply with theGovernments “Decent Homes”standard. However, there is more todo, with many homes still havingkitchens and bathrooms over 30years old.

Rent CollectionWe collected 99% of all rent due,which remains one of the highestamounts for all councils nationally.

Service StandardsWe consulted with tenants on servicestandards through last years annualreport, through tenant groups, theTenant Satisfaction Survey and anumber of Focus Groups. The general

agreement was that existing standardswere reasonable.

Tenant SatisfactionThe Tenant Satisfaction Surveycompleted in 2010 showed tenantsatisfaction with Council servicesremained high at 86% for generalneeds tenants and 97% forsheltered tenants.

Estate ImprovementsA programme of estateimprovements were completed,including additional car parking,security measures, smartening upcommunal areas and better lighting.Tenant groups were consulted onwhat improvements they wantedand as a result over £150,000 ofworks were completed.

Maintaining Decent HomesWe will be investing over £8.5 millionon maintaining and improving yourhomes this year.

Housing Finance ReformThe Government has announced itsintention to abolish the currentsystem for funding housing. Councilswill retain all rent paid locally but willhave to take on a share of currentnational housing debt. WhilstWinchester is being asked to take ona greater share than most (inrecognition that rents are higher inthis area), this should mean moremoney to fund repairs to your homes.We will keep you posted once moreinformation is available.

New Repairs ContractorsWe have recently appointed Osborneas the Council’s Responsive Repairsand Voids contractor (replacingSerco). We will be working hard toensure current tenant satisfaction

with the repairs service is maintainedand improved. You may also beaware that Kinetics, the gas servicingcontractor has recently gone intoadministration and the Council willshortly be appointing a newcontractor for this work.

Gas ServicingLast year 99% of homes received theirannual gas service and safety check.However, we were unable to gainaccess to a small number of propertiesdespite help from the Court. Gainingaccess to 100% of properties will be akey priority this year.

Tenant InvolvementWe have agreed changes to theway we work with tenant groupssuch as TACT. We will hold fewermeetings in 2011 but will beworking with communities thatdon’t have residents associations tomake sure tenants can get involvedwhen they want to.

on discOn the house is

available in large print or on CD(audio). Please call David Lumby or Kirstin Andrews on Freephone 0800 716 987.


We have organised a network of Focus Groups across the District that willhelp us (Landlord Services) review our current housing services and plan fornew ones in the future.

These Groups are informal ways of finding out what people think about thehousing service and what changes tenants would like to see happen to makeit ‘even better’.

Each Group is made up of between 5 and 8 tenants from specific areas whodiscuss a series of set questions and make their views known.

Currently we are concentrating on rural areas of Winchester and have established Groups in Wickham and Denmeadbut more will be meeting during the course of 2011.

If you are interested in taking part in a focus group in your area, contact us on freephone 0800 716 987.

A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 1 0 - 2 0 1 1 p a g e 3

National and Local Standards

The Council’s Local Standards – Our Offer to You

Reviewing Our Standards

Focus Groups to Review Local Standards

We have developed a wide range of local standards in recent years. Last year we consulted tenants who haveendorsed the standards we offer. They are set out in your Tenants Handbook. We have also summarised allstandards in a special leaflet that is available on the Council’s website and in the Council’s reception. For a printedcopy, just phone freephone 0800 716 987.

The standards have been developed through close working with tenants groups and taking account of feedbackfrom tenants surveys.

Over the last year, the Council has consulted tenants on their views of our local standards and what additionalservices you would want to see if money can be found. This has included a consulation in last year’s Annual Report,a detailed tenant survey of over 30% of all tenants, discussions with tenants groups and also a series of FocusGroups. This consultation has confirmed that tenants support the existing standards. No significant demand forchanges to services has come forward, although we continue to review this through the focus groups.

The Tenants Services Authority has set down national standards that all social housing tenants can expect from theirlandlord. In addition, all landlords are expected to agree local standards with their tenants.

This report shows how we are performing against each of the national standards and also provides feedback on theresults of the Tenant Satisfaction Survey completed in November last year.

National Standards

The National Standards are:

Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard See page 4Home Standard See page 6Tenancy Standard See page 8Neighbourhood and Community Standard See page 9Value for Money Standard See page 10

Meeting of readers panel


Tenant Inspectors reviewing services


Tenant Involvement and Customer Care

Summary of our Standard

Customer Service, Choice and Complaints

Involvement and Empowerment

Understanding and Responding to Diverse Needs of Tenants

We aim to adapt services to meet the needs of tenants.Last year 119 of our tenants received all ourcommunications in larger print, others receivedtranslated versions and housing staff were trained toimprove their awareness and skills in understanding andresponding to tenants needs.

We aim to provide tenants with accessible, relevant and timely information about our services, howwe perform and how tenants can get involved with making our services better.

In the last year, we have consulted tenants on service standards through surveys, meetings and focus groups. We have tested tenant opinion on services through the tenant satisfaction survey, the results of which have beenreported in On the house and are also included in this report.

The Landlord Services team has also been independently reassessed for a third time as complying with theGovernment’s Customer Excellence standard.

In the last year, we have worked with TACT to restructure and modernise our tenant involvement work, reducingthe number of meetings but improving the ways in which tenants can scrutinise and challenge services they receive.Tenants are directly involved in “mystery shopping”, “proof reading”, monitoring contractors and inspectingservices. A training programme for all tenants has also been successful, focussing on life skills including “How toget that Job”, “Maximising Income”, “Budgeting” and “Healthy Cooking on a Budget”.

Tenant InspectorsIn March 2011, a group

of Winchester tenants

worked with tenants

from A2 Dominion and

First Wessex to inspect

and review each

others services.

Play SchemesWe introduced weekly play sessions at one of ourtemporary accommodationschemes in partnershipwith Sure Start, topromote social inclusion,develop parenting skillsand encourage a sense ofcommunity.

MysteryShopping

Did you know that 11Tenants carried out 4mystery shops last yearcovering contacting theCouncil, writtencommunication,complaints and repairs.



What you think of usGeneralTenants

Response

Older Persons

Response

OurNational

Rank

% of respondents very orfairly satisfied with theservices/overall serviceprovided by us

85.4% satisfied 96.6% satisfied Top 25%

% of respondents very orfairly satisfied that theirviews are being takeninto account by us

63.6% satisfied(29.2% neither

satisfied orunsatisfied, or

had no opinion)

62.6% satisfied(29.1% neither

satisfied orunsatisfied, or

had no opinion)

Top 25%

ServiceTotal

NumberUpheld In Target

HousingManagement 19 11 95%

SupportedHousing 7 3 57%

Rents 1 0 0%

PropertyServices 57 44 91%

TOTAL 84 58 88%

Complaints

Responding to youIn 2010/2011 our average time to respond to a letter is 9 days

78% of letters are answered within 10 days

93% of letters are answered within 20 days

92% of calls are answered within 20 seconds

Poppy Mason ofWinchester said: “I found the tenant training on money management reallybeneficial, it helped me tobudget my finances and helpedto calculate what was comingin and out”.

We review all complaints to ensure lessons arelearnt and examples of changes made include:

� Notice boards at sheltered schemes and otherlocations are inspected and updated more regularlyto ensure information is up to date and correct

� A breakdown of what is included within servicecharges was provided to sheltered residents atscheme meetings as a result of charges beingchallenged

� Door entry systems have been installed to a numberof schemes following incidents of anti socialbehaviour

TenantComment

Tenants Annual General Meeting


Maintaining Your Home

We shall ensure all our homes continue to meet the Government’s minimum Decent Homesstandard, provide cost-effective repair and maintenance, and work with other partners to ensurehomes are adapted to meet customer needs.

Quality of Accommodation

Decent Homes - The Council met the Decent Homes standard in 2009and continued to maintain all properties at that standard last year.

The Decent Homes standard is a relatively low standard. For example, evenif your home has a kitchen which is 70 years old and in a poor conditionyour home may still meet the Decent Homes standard. Likewise, if yourhome has a kitchen and bathroom which are both over 30 years old and ina poor condition, your home may still meet the Decent Homes standard.

Currently within the Council’s 5050 homes, we have 1250 kitchens and2400 bathrooms which are over 30 years old. We also have over 1000homes with boilers that will need replacing in the near future.

Disabled Adaptations - We continue to experience very high demandsfor disabled adaptations. These works can range from simple grab rails andramps, to building extensions costing tens of thousands of pounds for themore complex cases. Last year we completed £865,000 worth of disabledadaptation works.

Responsive and EmptyHomes Repairs Contractor –From the 1st August 2011, GeoffreyOsborne Ltd. assumed theresponsibility for all minor repairworks to your homes and to emptyproperties. Although Osborne havereplaced Serco and JAD BuildingContractors to carry out these typesof work, the vast majority of the staffopted to transfer to Osborne as theirnew employer, so many of the staff’sfaces should still be familiar to you.

Gas Servicing – For safetyreasons, every gas appliance needschecking at least once a year. Ourlatest gas servicing performancestands at 99% (target 100%). Thismeans there is still a smallpercentage of properties where wehave been unable to service theappliances within 12 months of thelast service. This is despite running a10 month servicing cycle and takingfirmer action against tenants whodon’t let us in .

The target remains 100% and wewill be doing everything possible toachieve and maintain this target.

New kitchen


Repairs and Maintenance


Making life easier624 tenants receivedDisabled Adaptationsthroughout the year.These included:152 Showers17 Stair lifts15 Assisted Access Works (eg. ramps)1 Major Building Change

Updating your homeFitted during the year:

155 New Kitchens

202 New Bathrooms

510 Heating Upgrades

179 Insulation upgrades

265 New Front Doors



How we perform against our standards Target 2009/10 2010/11

LocalComparison

% of non decent council homes 0 0 0 Top 25%

Energy Efficiency of Housing Stock (SAP rating)

75 75 75 Top 25%

Responsive Repairs - % of jobscompleted within target

95% 91% 89% Bottom 25%

Responsive Repairs - Average time to complete a repair

8 days 8.3 days 8.1 daysAbove

Average

Gas Servicing - % of homes with a current gas servicing certificate

100% 98.94% 98.94% Bottom 25%

What you think of usGeneral Tenants

ResponseOlder Persons

ResponseOur National

Rank

% of respondents very or fairly satisfied with theoverall quality of their home


% of respondents very or fairly satisfied with theway we deal with repairs and maintenance


TenantCommentPaul Bungey ofMartyr Worthy said:

“I was directlyinvolved in meetingswith contractors andraised a number of concerns withperformance. The Council andcontractors responded well, but stillhave some work to do!”

Winnall flats – undergoing external painting, roofreplacement, upgrading of insulation and of the digitalaerial system.


Lettings - All of our available homes were advertised through theHampshire Home Choice Lettings Scheme. We let 389 homes in the year,of which 72 were let to existing Winchester City Council tenants,transferring to another one of our properties.


Tenancy

We will let our properties in a fair, open and efficient way,support tenants to maintain their tenancies and chargeaffordable rents in line with government policy.

We collected 98.91% of rent due.

We referred 49 tenants to our Money Advice Service, runby the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). The CABspecialist debt advisor helps tenants to manage theirdebts without loosing their home.

5 tenants were evicted for not paying their rent.

We offer 8 ways to pay your rent, including through our website atwww.winchester.gov.uk/doitonline/payforit and we send you quarterlyrent statements showing all the transactions on your account.

Re-Letting properties - A keypriority for the year was for us toimprove the time it takes us to re-letempty properties. This includescarrying out the necessary repairs,advertising the property onHampshire Home Choice andsigning up the new tenant.

Rents

Tenancy

Mutual Exchanges - “Homeswapper” is our online service you can usefree of charge for mutual exchanges.

(www.homeswapper.co.uk)

• 492 of our tenants are currently registered on “homeswapper”

• 71 of our tenants swapped homes during the year

• 25 of our tenants with a 3 bed house want to swap for a smaller house

• 1 of our tenants with a 4 bed house wants to swap for a smaller house


Type Bed-sit 1 bed 2 bed 3 bed4 &

above bed

Average weeklyrent £67.71 £79.16 £91.55 £104.92 £114.78

% of our homes 1.3% 32.25% 33.15% 32.20 1.1%

Mr & Mrs Jefferys of Winchester said: “We are very happy in our newhome, any moving in teethingproblems have been very quicklysorted out.” Allocations

Our average rent is£91.75 a week

We now visit all our tenants (ortheir representatives) before theirtenancy ends to carry out aninspection and to give help andadvice on moving.

We let our emptyhomes almost twice as

quickly as the previous

year, and thisgenerated anadditional £150,000

income through rents.

TenantComment

Average time it takes us to re-let

our properties2009/10 43.5 days(Bottom 25%)2010/11 25.63 days(Above Average)



Neighbourhood and Community

We will work with other agencies to make our estates and homesclean, safe and peaceful environments for people to live in.

Neighbourhood Management

Local Area Co-operation


Anti Social Behaviour - We worked with local residents, the Police andother partner agencies to evict 2 households for anti-social behaviour.Thanks to the support from local residents, we were able to take swiftlegal action and obtain a positive outcome for the community.

We referred 22 cases of neighbour nuisance to our assessment service forindependent advice and assistance:

� 13 cases were successfully resolved through the intervention of theassessment service, including 2 cases which underwent mediation,

� Only 5 cases were passed back to us for further action as they couldnot be resolved informally,

� In 4 cases, the tenants declined to be assessed.

Domestic Abuse - We helped 15 tenants who had experienced domesticabuse. In all cases we worked closely with other agencies to ensure thesafety and well being of the tenant and their families. In 2 cases, wesupported the tenant to be re-housed due to the serious or lifethreatening nature of their case.

With the help of tenants and partner agencies, we impact assessed andreviewed our Policies and Procedures for Neighbour Nuisance andDomestic Abuse.

Estate Walkabouts – Estatewalkabouts take place in 19 areasacross the Winchester district, usuallytwice a year. Tenants and councilofficers work together to identify andresolve local concerns with theirneighbourhoods.

Estate Improvements – We askedyou for suggestions on how wecould improve your neighbourhood.We received lots of really goodproposals addressing problems suchas lack of car parking, poor lightingand security, rubbish disposal, wornout communal flooring. These are ajust few of the projects completed:

Tenant CommentJoan Dowling of Denmead said:

“It was great to see money beingspent on improving local estates,and residents groups havingsome say on this. The clean up at Denmead has made a bigimprovement to our estate!”

� Noticeboardsat Gordon Avenue,Highcliffe

� Replacementflooring at Forder Court,Winchester

� Refurbishmentof bin stores atWoolfordClose,Stanmore

� Solar floodlighting atGordon Avenuegarages,Highcliffe.

How well are we doing?87.9% of our tenants arevery or fairly satisfied withtheir neighbourhood as aplace to live


Annual cost per propertyOur Average

CostLocal Average

CostHow we compare locally

Housing Management £177.72 £278.87 Top 25%

Resident Involvement £35.52 £41.96 Above Average

Repairs and Empty Property Servicing £507.00 £728.00 Top 25%

Estate Management £98.91 £210.99 Top 25%

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Value for Money


Value for money is a balance of good performance, good quality with reasonable costs. We have shown you ourperformance and what you think of the services we provide in the earlier pages. This table shows how our costs aresignificantly lower than average costs for other social landlords in the South East of England.

Payment toGovernment

(“NegativeSubsidy”)

Maintenanceand Major

Repairs

Overheads(offices, IT, legal

support etc)

EstateManagement

(grounds, cleaning,estate improvements

etc)

CouncilHousing

Staff

39p 33p 13p 8p 7p

We will explain how tenants rents are spent and how tenants canget involved in prioritising our spending.

How Your Rent is Spent

In the last year, each £1 of rent you pay has been spent in the following areas:

Our Costs in 2010/2011

Reducing Costs

Because we have reduced

the number of days it

takes to re-let our homes

we have generated an

extra £150,000 in income.

More EfficientAll new boilers installed areenergy efficient “A” gradedboilers. With each installationthe Council also “tops up”insulation to 25cm, wayahead of minimum nationalstandards.

Better QualityThe Council commissions

the Citizens AdviceBureau to provideindependent financialadvice to tenants who are

in arrears or experiencing

financial hardship.

TenantCommentJudith SteventonBaker ofKingsworthy said:

“I am involved in regularlychallenging the Council on thecost of their services and incomparing them with others.There is more they could do toimprove services, but I thinkoverall we get a good deal –better than the housingassociations I work with!”

Tenant ScrutinyPerformance against keyindicators and budgets isreviewed and challengedby TACT 3 times a year.



Older Persons Housing


We provide support to 850 olderresidents in sheltered flats andbungalows across the district providinga safe, secure and supportiveenvironment where tenants can chooseto join in regular social activities. Theseproperties allow residents to remain intheir own home, but with thereassurance of a link to the communityalarm service as well as easier access,well maintained grounds and goodcommunal facilities.

This service provides an emergencylifeline to the Council’s shelteredhousing schemes and also to privatehouseholds and other landlords.During the year we monitored 2,970properties, including:

950 Council propertiesdesignated for older persons,

50 in sheltered schemesbelonging to other organisations

1,970 in private properties, ofwhich 970 are in the WinchesterDistrict and 1,000 in theEastleigh Borough Council area.

We provide an out of hours’ repairshotline to all Council tenants whichhandled 3,201 calls during the year.

Last year, 696 calls received anemergency visit from Council staffand the average response time was30 minutes.

The service has recently beenaudited by the Telecare ServicesAssociation and is fully accredited tothe latest service standards.

Our Extra Care schemes, MatildaPlace and Victoria House are bothbased in central Winchester andhave 44 flats. Cover is provided 24hours a day by care assistantsproviding personal care as required,including help with bathing, dressingand meal preparation.

We recently introduced a respite careservice within Victoria House to

enable carers to have a break whilsttheir loved ones are being cared for.

Staff received specialist training incare services including managingissues such as dementia and end oflife care.

A number of special events havetaken place at the Extra Careschemes through the year includinga Royal Wedding ‘Street Party’.

The City Council aims to promote independence and choice forolder people by providing quality housing and support.

Sheltered Housing Service

Community Alarm & Telecare Service

Extra Care Service

We offer opportunitiesfor residents ofSheltered Housing tohave their say throughScheme InformationSharing Sessions, theSheltered HousingForum and OlderPersons Focus Groups.

Tenant CommentPatricia Moorefrom DanemarkCourt,Winchester said:

“I didn’t think I would be thispleased to be in shelteredhousing, it couldn’t be better,there is always somebody therefor you and it is the best move Ihave ever made.”

Get Fit 1-2-1 runs in 8sheltered schemes, givingtenants the chance to getto get together and keepfit at the same time.


w w w. w i n c h e s t e r . g o v. u kp a g e 12

TACT has been directly involved in reviewingperformance for the last year.

Cllr Tony Coates Portfolio Holder for LandlordServices and Strategic Services, is wellaware, like TACT, of the many problemsfacing Winchester City Council.

It is by working together, and focusing onwhat is important to council tenants, that ithas been possible to achieve much of whatTACT has sought to improve on regardingbest value for tenants.

Our Relationship with our Landlord

Winchester City Council has one of the best workingrelationships with its tenants. Having spoken to manytenants from different parts of the country, I know thisto be the case.

The fly in the ointment comes from the Governmentrestrictions, and lack of final information regarding thechanges facing councils, when ‘Self Financing’ comes intobeing next year.

The forthcoming changes have taken up time andmoney, preparing the information the Governmentrequires. Hopefully, over time, the Council and its tenantswill reap the benefits, but it will not happen over night.This leads me back to the report itself. The report asmentioned on the front page seeks to give you anhonest and helpful view about how well Winchester CityCouncil is doing against the required service standards.

The Annual Report

Included in this report is information on performancelevels, partly due to results of the tenant surveys. Sothank you for taking the time to fill them in.

Winchester City Council has tried hard and like manyschool reports, could include the comment “has workedhard to try and achieve their full potential”.

As the report covers all the sections of how the Councilhas performed, and to encourage you

The Tenants View – A Response

Now turn the magazine over to read

Members of the TACT Readers Panel:Left to Right: Ken Gore (Winnall), Polly Mason(Stanmore), Joan Dowling (Denmead), David Cruden(West Meon), Sandy Comlay (Denmead), Sue Harding(Compton), Alan Rickman (Weeke)

to read it, I think you should form your own opinions, ifthe Council could use all their rent money they could doso much more for tenants.

Self financing will allow this, but there is a high price topay, in the region of £160 million of new debt to payback to the Government.

The Government reserves the right to re-visit thescheme as a safety measure one might ask for thebenefit of whom?

The Future

Future Annual Reports will be more positive, with moreimprovements being able to be made to council properties,and dare we say new council homes being built?

But for now TACT feel this is a report that has fairlygiven a true picture of the Council’s efforts over the pastyear, and that they have endeavoured to do their bestfor the council tenants. In most cases they havesucceeded, with the odd exception, and I feel that is foryou to decide what those might be, and let TACT knowand we will pass on the information.

Alan Rickman - TACT Chairman


on the house + annual report 2011

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housing news

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producingthis report

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