Annual Standards Report 2019 20 2 Annual standards report 2020

Contents

Introduction 3 Supporting residents 6 in their homes Our services 10 Resident involvement 15

www.nhg.org.uk Notting Hill Genesis 3 Annual standards report 2020

Introduction

Carl Byrne Group Director of Housing

a single point of contact, to engagement, with more introduce a fully self-service residents than ever before, digital platform and to improve from a range of diverse major parts of our organisation communities, influencing such as repairs and service decisions and the way we charges. The promise also deliver our services. A vibrant sets out our commitment for resident involvement network residents to play a greater role will be key to making positive in scrutinising and influence changes and groups such as Welcome to our 2020 Annual our work. the Resident Voices group will Standards Report. In a very help us make this a reality. eventful and challenging year As you will see from this our focus has been on raising report, we have started Whatever the year ahead holds, the level of service we provide positively in making we look forward to building to our residents. Two years improvements in these areas stronger relationships with our have now passed since Notting and at the same time know residents and making it easier Hill Genesis was formed with we have a long way to go. for them to get the services the vision of becoming the they need when they need it. I best in There are tough challenges hope you enjoy this report. . ahead brought about by the impact of coronavirus, as Our resident promise is at the well as sector-wide issues centre of this vision. It was such as building safety. A created with residents and positive outcome from the is our pledge to provide a Covid-19 restrictions has personalised experience with been the increase in resident

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I am pleased to be able to show improvements in the delivery Stephen Bitti of services, in Resident Board Member: particular the improvement Welcome to our latest Annual repairs platform will continue Standards Report. to play an important role in in resident this. satisfaction from As a resident board member I am delighted to be able From April we have had a 65.2% to 68.5% to update you on how we new Board structure. The have performed in the last Resident Services Committee year, how we are delivering was replaced with resident the Resident Promise made representation on all Board when NHG was created sub-committees, putting and how we are increasing residents and the resident resident representation and experience at the heart of involvement. all our decisions. Supporting this is a new Resident Voices I am pleased to be able group which brings together to show improvements in resident board and committee the delivery of services, in members with chairs of particular the improvement the groups in our resident in resident satisfaction from involvement network to 65.2% to 68.5%. Whilst this is support NHG in its journey to still not as high as we would further improve the services like, it shows that the changes that residents receive. You we have made are starting to can find out more about the have a positive impact on the Resident Voices group in my services residents receive, and recent blog. innovative changes like the introduction of My Account and the roll out of our new Notting Hill Genesis 5 Annual standards report 2020

Customer Satisfaction Annual survey 2020 figures:

Our resident promise 68.5% overall customer satisfaction, When Notting Hill Genesis was formed in 2018, a up from 65.2% in 2018 resident promise was established which sets out the commitment to bring about benefits to our residents. The promise was formed following consultation with Residents told us that we many of our residents so we could ensure we focus on need to be easier to do what matters most to them The promise is made up of business with, do what we three elements and is referred to throughout this report: say we will and listen to their views and act on them.

1 Our pledge and what Notting Hill Genesis stands for

2 The improvements we will make to our existing services

3 The new services we will develop with residents

www.nhg.org.uk Notting Hill Genesis 6 Annual standards report 2020 Supporting residents in their homes The local officer Resident promise – an easy, local, personalised service

As part of our new housing model every A day in the life of a… resident has a named local officer. Residents floating housing officer can contact them for anything from questions about tenancies, making payments, reporting an issue or even just for a supportive ear. A day in the life of a… customer service adviser Supporting our housing officers and property management officers is the customer service centre and our My Account service, providing greater opportunities for residents to self-serve. A day in the life of a… Residents can now reach us how, when and housing operations manager where they want to.

Colin Burns, one of our involved residents has been interviewing some of our staff members to give an insight into their everyday life supporting our residents. The interviews, right, can all be found on our website.

Winning the trust of a particular resident who was in a very dire personal situation and had issues with using the services being offered via NHG. Being able to help this resident resolve their problems was very satisfying. OWEN WIGGINS IS A FLOATING HOUSING OFFICER FOR OUR WEST LONDON REGION.

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We asked some of our residents what they thought about the service they received from their local officers:

She was helpful I was dealt with by and could answer my housing officer my questions. She straightaway and also got my council was listened to tax reduced

We had a housing officer before that I never saw, and it What residents How we are responding was good to see the new one told us and he got the issue sorted The turnover of We are appointing more housing officers permanent housing officers is too high, and to reduce staff turnover and the consistency improve the consistency of of service is the service our residents poor. receive. It takes too long We are working with Residents can find the contact details for somebody to residents to improve our for their housing officer or property get back to me communication, by looking management officer in the following ways: when I leave a at the full journey a resident • Checking ‘My Account’ - message. may go through when www.nhg.org.uk/residents/my- contacting NHG we are account focussed on increasing the number of calls answered, • Using the live chat service or and calling you back more submitting a contact form on the quickly. Notting Hill Genesis website

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Tenancy management As part of managing tenancies for our residents, housing officers manage rent accounts, ensure any empty (void) properties are fit to use again, and help new and existing residents to move into their new homes. Here are some figures for 2019/20 to show how these services are doing:

Rent collection 2019/20:

99.35% of rent collected

Voids 2019/20:

98.93% 38.3 of homes are occupied average number of days to re-let (18/19: 98.0%) a home (standard re-let)

Lettings 2019/20:

Within this number: 78 mutual exchanges between existing tenants 1,134 164 transfers of existing tenants new social rent lettings 892 new tenants (of these, 13 were relatives of existing tenants housed under the household members scheme.)

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Supporting residents Supporting our housing officers, the welfare benefits team help our residents to resolve issues with benefits claims and help them get the income they are entitled to. Here’s an example of how one resident received the help they needed:

Housing officer Paula Forrester and welfare benefits adviser Dean Sharpe helped a vulnerable tenant with a discretionary housing payment (DHP) application which saw him receive a one-off payment of £12,710 from Brent Council. The payment fully cleared the tenant’s arrears, removing the risk of him being evicted from his home. After the award of the payment the resident wrote “I can't thank you enough for all your support”.

Paula said “I have never done a DHP application before, so I feel that this is a real achievement for me and the resident. I think he was expecting me to only communicate with him regarding his arrears and nothing else, so I’m pleased I was able to deliver much more”. She’s not stopping there either, and now aims to look into the furniture that the tenant needs through our hardship fund and will continue to work with him to sustain his tenancy.

The welfare benefits team helped our residents to claim an additional £1,852,536.49 of payments in 2019/20.

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Our services

Complaints We aim to provide the best possible service, but we understand that sometimes our residents may need to make a complaint. We welcome any form of feedback, including complaints, so that we may improve our services for all residents.

Here are some figures from 2019/20 to Total number of complaints received show how we are managing and responding 2,790 to the complaints we receive: of complaints resolved at stage one 96% of our process Top three complaints themes: X 4.9% of complaints escalated to stage two 1. Repairs 42 Number of cases determined by the 2. Heating and hot water Housing Ombudsman Service Number of cases with a 3. Housing management 22 maladministration or service failure finding

What residents told us How we are responding It is not easy to find out how to make a ‘Make a complaint’ has been added to the drop down list on the complaint on the website website

Whilst the information on how to Two clear options to log a complaint have been added to the website: complain is clear, stating that there are • Contacting the housing officer or property management officer two clear options would be helpful • Using the contact form on the website. From late September 2020 residents will be able to make a complaint directly using My Account The compensation policy should be on The policy has been added the website for all residents to access Clearer information is needed on who This information has been amended with more detail on the managers will deal with a complaint at each stage who will respond and carry out reviews. of the process There is no information on how NHG This information has now been added as part of a ‘Your Questions uses feedback from complaints to Answered’ section, with a link to the resident involvement page. improve the service

www.nhg.org.uk Notting Hill Genesis 11 Annual standards report 2020 He did the job well, explained everything and was polite

Repairs Resident promise – we will deliver improvements especially in our repairs and maintenance service, in the way we recover costs through service charges and by ensuring our services are easy to access, local and personalised.

Residents can report and track repairs by using the My Account service. Below are the figures for 2019/20 to show the number of repairs carried out and the total spend:

For more information about how to report a repair and what residents can expect when an operative enters their home, please visit our website. Number of repairs % of repairs completed Total amount spend in target time on responsive repairs 114,633 66.8% £13,292,550 Here are some of the things residents have told us:

Total amount spent on planned £19,600,000 investment Often with the repairs they have to come Kitchen back after a few days and Roof Window Bathroom to do it again. With this repair so far so good 517 replacements, 35 replacements, 461 replacements, and I am happy £2.8m spent £430k spent £4.3m spent

Average Number of It was easy for the days taken emergency to complete repairs first time ever to repairs completed Customer satisfaction with get this repair done 13.8 21,100 recent repair

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Safety and compliance Resident promise – residents will be at the heart of shaping our services

Residents have made it clear Fire safety – oversight and For more information on that we should work together scrutiny group review: the review and a full list of on any decisions involving In June 2020 the resident recommendations, contact our safety and compliance. We oversight and scrutiny group Resident Involvement team by know that there is still further carried out a review on fire emailing [email protected]. work to be done, but some key safety, making a series of uk. areas where we have started to recommendations to the do this in 2019/20 are: organisation to improve Figures for 2019/20: the services we provide. Estate inspections: Recommendations included

We now have over 450 the following: 100% of properties with an up-to- resident monitors who help to date fire risk assessment and raise the standards of services • Ensuring residents have target at a scheme, block or estate up to date and accessible by telling us how well services information are carried out, whether • Challenging any breaches 24,755 cleaning and gardening takes and allowing residents to Number of fire risk actions place regularly and to a high review fire safety strategies completed in 2019/20 standard, and the general locally condition of the communal • Refresher training for staff

areas such as playgrounds and • Training for residents (e.g. £12,159,205 spent to improve fire safety in car parks. To find out more using fire safety equipment) 2019/20 about this initiative, email • Putting in place Personal [email protected]. Emergency Evacuation Plans for supported 99.87% properties and vulnerable of gas safety checks complete residents and target

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New builds Resident promise – we will build more homes at low cost rent because of the merger

When Notting Hill Genesis factors into account we have Authority and gives residents formed we set out our reviewed our development the opportunity to pay a lower commitment to provide programme and agreed to ease rent so they can save a deposit more of the new homes so that slightly in the short term, to buy their home. Our first desperately needed to tackle while remaining agile enough properties are in Newham and London’s housing crisis. That to step up development Brent with more in the pipeline. has not changed, despite the and take advantage of new extreme difficulties created by opportunities when the time is More information about a downturn in sales as a result right. We have also launched London Living Rent can be of economic and political our first London Living Rent found on our website. conditions followed by the homes. The scheme was set Covid-19 crisis. Taking these up by the Greater London

Figures 2019/20:

1170 New homes delivered for rent

849 New homes delivered for sale

New homes delivered in total

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Regeneration projects Our regeneration projects are about more than bricks and mortar. We are invested in our communities and as part of that provide grant funding for local projects. The total we provided in 2019/20 was £265,635.

We also help local people into work through apprenticeships either with NHG or our partners. We have provided 41 apprenticeships through our regeneration projects, 28 at Woodberry Down, 11 at Aylesbury and two at Grahame Park.

Case study: The Aylesbury Estate

Notting Hill Genesis and Southwark Council are working in partnership on the regeneration of the Aylesbury Estate in south east London. We are committed to delivering a master-plan for 3,500 new homes, 50% of which will be affordable. The regeneration is about more than new homes, community facilities and improved open spaces. The partnership is committed to ensuring that local people experience the social and economic benefits of regeneration, such as employment, education and training and improvements in health and wellbeing.

Figures for 2019/20: Aylesbury Aylesbury Community Grants Apprenticeships programme £15,000 11

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Resident involvement

Resident promise – residents will be at the heart of shaping our services

Figures for 2019/20: Some examples of • Involving residents in improvements made include: all procurement exercises in the future, embedding

62 • Communication with resident involvement within Number of resident involvement (RI) activities residents such as on the the NHG procurement language of income and process. subletting procedures, 349 the wording in the online • Introducing new Number of individuals who rents booklet for residents, opportunities for residents took part in RI activities and the format of service to get involved, such as charge packs which went the creation of an asset out to approximately management steering

40 12,000 residents during a group and a resident being Number of resident pilot in November 2019. appointed for the staff associations in 19/20 LGBT+ forum following • Making NHG offices more some training. In 2019/20, 349 residents Disability Discrimination took part in 62 different Act compliant via an • Working together with activities and made a total accessibility review carried staff to draft the Notting of 53 recommendations out by residents in our Hill Genesis Standard for towards service improvement. health and disability panel. Homes, giving robust Recommendations are agreed feedback on the language suggestions or feedback from • Introducing staff training and commitments required residents which have or will on areas such as hoarding, for all existing NHG homes be acted upon by NHG as well so that we can support our to meet as well as providing to improve the services they residents more effectively. the criteria for planned receive. As of April 2020, 30 of investment going forwards. these recommendations have been delivered.

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Working on the scrutiny panel has helped me to understand the systems and decision- making processes within NHG. I am a leaseholder but feel that my experience over the past few years is similar to that of tenants, at least those living in our street

Here are what some of our residents have said about their involvement over the past year:

The opportunity to work with the asset management team in Along with other building a strategy that residents, I recently works for both residents took part in helping and NHG is an enormous identify accessibility step in the right direction issues at NHG and has been a terrific offices. This exercise experience so far. Being proved invaluable able to challenge senior staff and contribute to decision making is My involvement with NHG resident activities precisely what resident led to the National Housing Federation involvement ought to be appointing me onto the Tenant's Advisory Panel currently overseeing the Together with Tenants Charter set to be implemented by housing associations in England

www.nhg.org.uk Notting Hill Genesis 17 Annual standards report 2020 Thank you and the rest of the team for arranging the meeting. I felt that it is the way forward and worked very well

Over the last few Quotes from residents: months, the resident involvement team have still been able to conduct a The online session was well full programme of organised and with the practice activity using video sessions we were well prepared. technology. The team Whilst I am still getting used spent time preparing and delivering training to online meetings the session with residents on how was very valuable.Having an to use the software opportunity to hear others’ and have been able to engage with all of our approaches was helpful and resident involvement enlightening groups. Although not quite the same feeling of being able to meet face to face, staff and residents have valued the opportunity to engage with each other and stay in I was very impressed with yesterday's touch during a difficult meeting. I feel it went well and that everyone and uncertain time, had an opportunity to give their views. I'm as well as continue keen for there to be further meetings to work on service improvement.

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