Grapevine Richmondshire's Newsletter for Tenants
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Summer 2021 | Richmondshire’s Newsletter for Tenants Grapevine… Inside this issue: • Help is at hand... • Sheltered housing Welcome to the • Quick ticks • Did we get something wrong? Summer 2021 • Please help us, help you... • Lifeline gets and upgrade... • Let us help you lose... edition of our • Can i go to my council office? • Garden competition 2021 • Improvements, tenants newsletter, improvements, improvements! • Action stations on Grapevine. climate change! • The world of community As you know last year’s Newsletter was dominated by the safety in Richmondshire impact of Covid 19 informing you how the council were • What else has happened at responding to the effects of the pandemic on services our sheltered housing provided. This year we are, like everyone, hoping for scheme? some more normality in our lives, whilst adapting to new • Are you in debt? ways of working. In this edition we have included information which we hope you will find interesting and useful as well as asking for your help in certain cases. In one particular area we are asking if you can help the council in its ambitious plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030. You can do this by helping us reduce the amount of paper we use. If you have an email address and would be happy to receive future copies of the Grapevine Newsletter, together with letters and information from landlord services regarding rent/ rent queries, tenancy issues and allocations send your details to the email address: [email protected] remembering to provide your name, address and email address. If you are also happy for your email details to be used to communicate with you about rent queries and accommodation offers please state this in your email. This edition of Grapevine also includes a word search competition with a £25.00 gift voucher for the winner who will be randomly selected from all entries. At the moment, due to the restrictions that have been in place it has not been possible to work directly with the tenant panel in the publication of this newsletter. We are hoping once things improve we will be able to resume our work with the editorial members. Thank you HELP IS AT HAND... The last year has brought with it many challenges and that includes financial challenges and hard ship. The council’s Revenues and Benefits team may be able to help...: DISCRETIONARY HOUSING PAYMENTS (DHP) Do you have a shortfall in your rent? For example because of the Bedroom Tax? Would you like to move to a cheaper, smaller property but can’t afford moving costs, bond or rent in advance? Do you receive Housing Benefit or housing costs in your Universal Credit award? You might be able to get some help towards the shortfall by applying to the Discretionary Housing Payment fund by completing an online application at Apply for Discretionary Housing Payment web page If you have any difficulties completing the online application form, please contact the Benefits Team on 01748 829100. TEST AND TRACE GRANT SCHEME From 8 March 2021 the test and trace scheme has been amended to enable more people to be able to claim the £500 payment. If you are a parent of a child aged 15 or under, who has been sent home from school or their education setting to self-isolate as they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19, and you are unable to work because you need to stay home to look after them, you might be able to claim a £500 test and trace payment. Please go to our website to see whether you might qualify for a payment, along with our online application form:- Test and trace payment web page CONTACT US If you have any queries about your Housing Benefit, your Council Tax Reduction, Discretionary Housing Payment, or Test and Trace grant payment, please contact us by ringing 01748 829100 and asking to speak to a member of the Benefits Team, or by emailing [email protected] 2 SHELTERED HOUSING - WHAT IS IT AND WHAT DO I PAY FOR?... As a result of some confusion relating to charges payable when residing in a council sheltered scheme we wanted to give you some information which we hope you find useful. Firstly sheltered housing is specially designed for older people. It offers accommodation that allows you to come and go as you please and enjoy privacy or companionship as you wish. It also provides the reassurance that help is on hand when you need it in the shape of a resident warden or our 24-hour Lifeline service, which provides a mobile warden and/or help through the 24 hour emergency on call service when your warden is off duty. There are two sheltered housing types in Richmondshire: • Purpose-built schemes with a resident and relief warden, and communal facilities • Groups of bungalows with a communal lounge and kitchen facilities, and resident and relief wardens Residents of our sheltered housing will be charged rent together with some additional charges for services, support provided and heating. The charges for services provided at the scheme include: • communal cleaning (such as hoovering, dusting, wiping down services, emptying bins) • grounds maintenance (for example grass cutting, maintenance of planted areas, weed killing) • communal electric (for example lighting, heating charges, scooter charging and laundry facilities) • communal water and drainage charges (for example for using communal washers, toilets, showers and baths) • maintenance contracts in communal areas (such as fire alarm systems, emergency lighting, door entry system, laundry equipment) • costs of fixtures and fittings (for example replacement of equipment and furniture costs) • window cleaning costs • out of hours security such as the resident warden living on site • management of the service by council staff providing support services to the scheme Charges made for support provided is in relation to support provided by the onsite warden and the 24 hour emergency on call service. If you live in one of our sheltered schemes, each year, you will receive letters, usually in February advising you of the increase, which has been agreed with Councillors. All increases or decreases to rent and charges are made in line with central government guidelines. More information is available on the council website; richmondshire.gov.uk or by contacting a member of the support team at [email protected] or on 01748 901147. 3 QUICK TICKS Due to the impact of Covid 19 not all services were delivered as they would normally. We have continued to collate data when possible to monitor service performance. The following table shows how many of you have given a positive response to services received in the 12 month period to 31 March 2021. New Heating Sheltered Home Tenancies Service Tenancies Improvement Standard of advice given 100% 97% 89% Helpfulness of staff 100% 98% 94% Standard of home 95% Quality of workmanship 97% 94% Overall satisfaction with 100% 98% 100% 94% service INTERNAL PERFORMANCE As you can imagine we had to make several changes during the last 12 months in order that critical functions could be delivered in a Covid safe way. Therefore not all services were operational as they normally would. However, we have continued to monitor internal performances when services did start opening up. Details of how we did during this time can be seen below. The table below shows you how we performed during 2019/20 as compared to 2020/21. Performance 2019/20 at Performance 2020/21 at 31/03/20 31/3/2021 Repairs completed ‘right first 96% 96% time’ Category 2 properties - new Category 2 properties category no info available (minor work) - 32 days Re-let empty properties Category 3 - (major work) - Category 3 - (major work) - 54 days 45 days Repair inspections completed 51 55 within 14 days Percentage of rent collected 98% 97% 4 DID WE GET SOMETHING WRONG?... Whilst we always try to do our very best in the delivery of services to you, sometimes you might not be happy with the outcome. We want to get things right and we want to learn and improve if things could be done better, so by asking us if you have a concern helps us too. So the best thing to do initially is to check with the person you have been dealing with as to whether your understanding of a situation is correct. If you still think something has been done wrong or is not right, then the council has a complaints procedure which you can use to make a complaint. All formal complaints are logged and you will be notified of timescales involved in responding to your complaint. Any complaints received are fully investigated and the response you receive will advise you of the findings of the investigation. In some cases, it may be that you disagree with the advice you have been given, or the actions taken by the council relating to a particular issue, however, if the advice or actions taken are in accordance with council policy and any governing legislation you would be advised of this, and whilst this may still leave you feeling annoyed, the council and its officers are required to adhere to policy and legislation and would not be able to alter an outcome in order to satisfy your complaint. If however, you feel that the response you receive does not address your complaint you can request your complaint is taken to stage two of the council’s complaints policy. This will result in a different, more senior officer investigating your ongoing complaint and responding to you. At any time during the process you can contact the Housing Ombudsman to ask for advice, however, they would not normally investigate a complaint until after such time as the council has exhausted its own internal complaints policy process.