Performance Report 2/9/16 17:00 Page 2

Annual Performance Report 2015/16

Providing and managing high quality, affordable homes to meet the needs of communities in north and west rural Performance Report 2/9/16 17:00 Page 3

new homes. In future we will receive more Housing Grant Chairperson’s for each home built – and this will make building homes more viable for us and keep the pressure off rents. Also, Report 2015/16 a target has been set for 50,000 new affordable homes in Welcome to this Report on our 25th in five years. This will be challenging to achieve year of operation! but we are determined to play our part and make best This year we have decided to use of the Grant that will be available in the coming amalgamate the usual Annual Report years. to members with our Tenants’ Charter During 2015/16 our house-building programme Performance Report. So, a comprehensive overview of continued apace with new homes completed in , a the Association’s activities and performance for the site start in and an acquisition in . 2015/16 year in one document – less duplication and We are actively working up other projects in Balmaha, more efficient. , , Callander, Strathblane and . I hope that you are as pleased as we are with the We have continued to explore innovative ways of progress being made in what has been another busy providing affordable housing, including for sale and, with year. You will see that there have been service advice from the Highland Small Communities Housing improvements in many areas and staff should be Trust, we are hoping to deliver this first in Balmaha. The congratulated on their hard work. We are never Scottish Government’s new Rural Housing Fund complacent however and the report identifies a number potentially opens up new avenues in this respect. of other areas where we feel we can do better. On page 7 Your Management Committee is a great team and you will also see our action points for priority service works well together. We welcomed two new tenant improvements in the coming year. members this year and advertised to fill vacancies and We were very pleased with the feedback we received were delighted at the high response and co-opted three from the recent independent Tenant Satisfaction Survey, new members following an interview process. We also which is carried out every three years. It’s clear that our undertook a review of our governance arrangements. tenants very much value their homes and services. We As ever my thanks go to my colleagues on the know however that that doesn’t mean everything is Management Committee for their voluntary work and to always perfect. In particular we know that whilst tenants the staff who deliver the services. appreciate the relative value for money of our rents, In conclusion I’m delighted to report that, after 25 compared with the other options open to them, many years the Association is still building affordable homes, still struggle to make ends meet. We remain focussed on providing quality services and working with trying to deliver our objectives whilst keeping rents communities. Long may it continue! affordable. During the year the Scottish Government made some very significant and welcome changes to the funding of Margaret Vass Chairperson

Members of the Management Committee 2015/16 Chair: Margaret Vass Vice chair: Owen McKee (retired Oct 15) Colin O’Brien (from Oct 15) Secretary: Margaret Beaton Fiona Boath (from June 16) Members: Linda Anderson Theresa Elliot David Frood Rob Hughes Susan Macmillan (elected Sept 15) Alistair Miller (elected Sept 15) Fiona Russell Rosemary Williams (retired Sept 15) Council representative: Councillor Martin Earl Members of the Management Committee.

Front cover: Campsie Road, Strathblane: David Frood is joined by children from Strathblane Primary, Community Councillors, Councillor Lambie and other representatives from RSHA and CALA Homes.

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Housing Investment Assessing our New Homes Performance During the year the Association invested £1,793,646 in new affordable Throughout this report we have homes for rent in the area. With this: used the following symbols: • Seven new homes for rent were built at Dunmore Street, Balfron. • Work was started on 14 new homes for rent at Campsie Road, Strathblane. • A site for 23 flats for rent was acquired at Station Road, Callander. • One flat was acquired for rent at Lomond Court, Aberfoyle. Performing Satisfactory Need well performance to improve A total of £1,159,240 of Scottish Government Grant was received towards these projects in the year. A further £85,000 was also received from Stirling NB: Where we have compared our Council’s Strategic Housing Account towards the cost of the amalgamation at performance with other landlords Balfron and the Aberfoyle flat purchase. we have generally used data for 2015/16 from: www.scottish housingregulator.gov.uk. A more New homes – how did we perform? detailed comparison of our The Balfron homes were delivered on-cost and on-time. performance against all Charter There was slippage with projects at Balmaha and Doune. We achieved indicators is on our website. For the 81% of the available Grant agreed as part of the Stirling Strategic “average for all rural HAs” we have Housing Investment Plan (SHIP). combined the data for 16 housing associations that we understand to be rural or mainly rural. For the satisfaction indicators on page 4 we used the results from the recent joint Tenant Satisfaction Survey (involving RSHA, Forth HA and Stirling Council) where applicable. These were received after the submission of the ARC.

Meeting Particular Needs The new bungalow at Dunmore Street, Balfron was adapted to meet the New homes built without Scottish Government Grant. Developer CALA Homes agreed to needs of the tenants. meet 60% of the costs in return for a reduced affordable housing contribution elsewhere. Disability adaptations were also The original mix included: a bungalow, four cottage flats and three houses – two of which carried out to a total of 24 existing were amalgamated to meet the needs of a large family. RSHA homes, at a total cost of £51,000 – all funded by Scottish Planned Maintenance Government Grant. The most A total of £107,000 was spent on planned and cyclical maintenance: common adaptation was the including a small number of bathroom renewals, garden drainage installation of a wet floor shower. improvements plus key servicing and cyclical maintenance relating to gas heating, external painting and electrical inspections. Meeting particular needs – how did we perform? Planned maintenance – how did we perform? We were able to exceed our agreed Grant target (£48,000), There was substantial slippage in planned projects, amounting to 47% and meet more tenant needs, of the original budget for the year All these projects have been carried because of an underspend by forward to 2016/17. other landlords. Annual gas safety inspections were carried out on time in 100% of The average time to complete cases. adaptations following referral 100% of our homes met the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS). reduced from 121 days in 14/15 95% of our homes met the Energy Efficiency Standard (EESSH) which to 35 days. all social landlords have to fully meet by 2020.

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Tenant Services Tenant Satisfaction Survey 2016

We commissioned Research sample across the stock. Once again The results are generally very Resource Ltd to carry out an we did this jointly with our pleasing – particularly in respect of independent survey – our last was in neighbours, including Forth HA and our repairs service which we have 2013. Over 40% of our tenants took Stirling Council. The actual Survey previously identified as a priority for part – making for a representative report can be seen on our web-site. improvement.

Rural Rural Scottish All rural Forth Ochil Stirling Stirling Stirling RSL HAs HA View Council Satisfaction with: 15/16 14/15 average average HA Overall landlord service 97% 94% 89% 88% 94% 91% 93% Quality of home 98% 89% 86% 86% 92% 80% 91% Repairs carried out in last 12 months 94% 87% 90% 92% 93% 94% 83% Management of neighbourhood 99% 93% 86% 83% 94% 78% 90% Being kept informed 99% 93% 91% 90% 96% 86% 92 Opportunities to participate in landlord’s decision-making 100% 94% 81% 78% 96% 80% 91% Rent representing value for money 100% 84% 79% 78% 94% 74% 91% Reactive Maintenance We carried out 1366 day to day repairs in 2015/16 – 2.5 per property which was the same as in the previous year and below the sector average. There was a 1 % increase in the average cost of reactive repairs per property. We saw a big fall in the cost of repairs to empty properties although this tends to fluctuate from year to year. We worked hard in the year to improve tenants’ understanding of their responsibilities to leave homes in good order and that we will have to recover the costs from them if not.

How did we perform? Average time to complete Average time to complete non- Percentage of repairs carried out emergency repairs emergency repairs right first time Rural Stirling 15/16 2.6 hours Rural Stirling 15/16 5.2 days Rural Stirling 15/16 91.8% Rural Stirling 14/15 2.5 hours Rural Stirling 14/15 6.7 days Rural Stirling 14/15 88.1% Scottish RSL average 3.6 hours Scottish RSL average 5.6 days Scottish RSL average 91.7% All rural HAs average 5.4 hours All rural HAs average 6.4 days All rural HAs average 92.8% Forth HA 2.0 hours Forth HA 5.3 days Forth HA 97.8% Ochil View HA 1.9 hours Ochil View HA 9.2 days Ochil View HA 90.2% Stirling Council 7.7 hours Stirling Council 4.9 days Stirling Council 84.7%

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Advice Services During the year our Income Maximisation Officer continued to provide advice and assistance to tenants about benefits and pensions, fuel savings schemes, budgeting and maximising incomes. We also worked with others to make the following services available: • Energy advice project: Specialist advice was provided through the Climate Challenge Funded Fit for the Future project based at McLaren Leisure Centre in Callander. Tenants who attended the Forum meeting to discuss the Annual Performance Report. • Digital Inclusion: free IT skills training was, and continues to be, Meeting Housing Needs A Local Lettings Initiative (LLI) was provided in tenants’ homes operated for the new build We received 277 new applications properties at Balfron. through the Connecting Stirling during the year and there were 564 project. Monies for this were raised housing applications on the from The Big Lottery following Association’ s housing list at How did we perform? good work by our neighbour, Forth 31/3/16. It took us an average of 2 days HA. We let 46 properties in total. 59 to process each housing % of lets were to applicants on the application received. Neighbourhood RSHA housing list; 17% to existing 89% of tenants who had tenants needing to transfer home moved in in the last 12 months Management and 24% to those nominated by were satisfied with the The recent Survey confirmed that our Stirling Council. standard of their home. tenants are generally very happy The previous circumstances of 93% of new tenancies were with where they live and how their new tenants were: living with family/ sustained for more than 12 neighbourhood is managed. friends (34%); private tenants months. (26%); temporary/homeless The number of neighbour nuisance accommodation (21%); owner Average re-let time cases resolved in target time occupiers (11%); tenants of other Rural Stirling 15/16 12.4 days Rural Stirling 15/16 90% RSLs (8%). 24% of non-transfer lets went to Rural Stirling 14/15 11.6 days Rural Stirling 14/15 74% statutorily homeless households. Scottish RSL average 23.7 days Scottish RSL average 85% Many of the others housed were facing insecure and potentially All rural HAs average 18.0 days All rural HAs average 82% homeless situations. Forth HA 1.3 days Forth HA 100% 78% of all those housed were either already living in or had a need Ochil View HA 35.0 days Ochil View HA 95% to move to the community council Stirling Council 30.0 days Stirling Council 94% area in which they were housed.

Feedback and Complaints We actively encourage feedback to improvements were identified in where tenants say they are satisfied help us to continuously improve. Our other cases. Committee receives a overall with the repair. The most formal complaints procedure follows quarterly analysis of complaints common issue was contractors not the Ombudsmans’ model. In the year received and how these have been giving the required two hour access we received 53 complaints compared responded to. Over 50% of time. with 66 in 14/15. 38 were upheld. complaints related to our repairs Compensation payments were made service. Note that we automatically How did we perform? in three cases. There were no count as complaints any negative 85% of all complaints were appeals to the Ombudsman. responses to the questions on our responded to within target. Remedial actions and routine repairs questionnaires even

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Rents Weekly Rent Charges (2015/16) Rural Rural Scottish All rural Forth Ochil Stirling Stirling Stirling RSL HAs HA View Council Property size: 15/16 14/15 average average HA 1 bedroom £67.38 £65.78 £72.29 £70.55 £67.67 £68.88 £60.63 2 bedrooms £76.30 £73.92 £78.16 £78.39 £75.29 £75.31 £62.79 3 bedrooms £83.59 £80.05 £82.18 £86.70 £82.49 £81.06 £65.31 4 bedrooms £90.71 £86.79 £88.39 £97.03 £88.38 £83.28 £67.01 Rent Increase Agreed Rent Lost from Empty Gross Rent Arrears as a for Following Year Homes Percentage of Rent Due

Rural Stirling 15/16 1.5% Rural Stirling 15/16 0.2% Rural Stirling 15/16 5.0% Rural Stirling 14/15 2.3% Rural Stirling 14/15 0.3% Rural Stirling 14/15 4.8% Scottish RSL average 1.7% Scottish RSL average 0.9% Scottish RSL average 4.3% All rural HAs average 1.7% All rural HAs average 0.7% All rural HAs average 3.7% Forth HA 0.0% Forth HA 0.02% Forth HA 2.3% Ochil View HA 2.6% Ochil View HA 0.3% Ochil View HA 4.2% Stirling Council 1.0% Stirling Council 0.6% Stirling Council 9.8%

Financial Financial Position Management Income 2015/16 2014/15 Rent & Service Charges £2,207,977 £2,122,776 • We tendered for £2m of additional Scottish Government Grants 51,375 50,718 loan finance to help continue the Grants Released from Deferred Income 711,051 780,094 new homes programme. A loan Other Income 62,966 33,948 agreement has now been entered Interest Receivable 1,398 4,380 into with Bank of Scotland. £2,244,877 £2,053,732 • During the year substantial work was required to prepare for Expenditure FRS102, a new accounting Management Costs £753,378 £698,876 standard that all housing Reactive Maintenance Costs 210,742 235,826 associations (and other types of Planned Maintenance Costs 157,407 189,098 organisations) must comply with. Housing Depreciation 1,007,390 1,003,771 This has required the accounts to Other Costs 34,308 198,825 be prepared in a new format and Interest Payable 378,377 365,535 the comparative figures for 2015 £2,541,602 £2,691,931 have also had to be Surplus*/(Deficit) £493,165 £299,985 restated. Association’s total borrowings at the year end £9,779,515 £10,049,756

*Surpluses are set aside for future years to fund the Association’s on- going maintenance and development programme.

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Corporate Value for Money Staffing Benchmarking The senior staff Governance We took part in a structure was A Governance Review was detailed benchmarking reviewed and the finance function undertaken during the year and this exercise by Housemark Scotland brought in-house with a new Finance led to: involving nine small Scottish HAs. It and Corporate Services Manager • More streamlined Management looked at costs, staffing levels, post. This brought to an end the Committee reporting service performance and tenant finance agency services arrangement with FMD Ltd which had served us • Review/adoption of governance satisfaction. It showed that we well for several years. policies: Standing Orders & compare favourably with much larger We achieved Investors in People Financial Regulations; housing bodies. It also showed that re-accreditation. Membership; Recruitment to RSHA’s overhead costs are relatively Committee; Entitlements, low. Payments and Benefits. • An open recruitment process to fill Office identified skills gap on Committee, and the successful co-option of Some improvements three new Members. were carried out to the exterior of the office and the car-park. It Venachar Ltd was agreed that there Our non-charitable is a need to further subsidiary started develop the office to trading, with meet increased space management services being and amenity provided to Trust HA for its 16 homes requirements – this to in . It also took on its first be taken forward in contract for management services to 2016/17. a private owner. Looking Forwards – Action Points for the Coming Year... Following discussion with tenants our priorities for Charter service improvement in the coming year are as follows: Communication: Improve the content of our website and use of electronic communication. Quality of Housing: Agree a plan for energy efficiency improvements to our homes. Repairs: Ensure contractors always give tenants a two hour access time. Agree a new Re-let Standard. Neighbourhood management: Review our approach and adopt new policies for estate management and neighbour nuisance. Tenancy sustainment: Carry out “Tenancy MOTs” to improve our understanding of tenants’ needs. Increase awareness of the Income Maximisation and other services. Value for money: Improve tenants understanding of heating and hot-water systems to reduce bills. Establish a new “framework” of repairs contractors following tender.

This report is for YOU! We’d welcome your feedback! • Call us on: 01786 841101 • Email us on: [email protected] • Write to us at Rural Stirling Housing Association Stirling Road, Doune FK16 6AA Would you like to get a bit more involved? • Have your say throughout the year on our performance? Comment on planned changes to how we do things? Or help design NEXT year’s report to tenants?

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About the Association Staff Team 2015/16 Director Tony Teasdale Finance and Corporate Services Manager Kirsty Brown Corporate Services Officer (part-time) Susan Mackay Finance Officer (part-time) Nicola McKenna Senior Maintenance Officer Malcolm Lee Maintenance Officer Robert McGregor Administrative Assistant Rachel Forsyth Senior Development Officer Campbell Hall Housing Manager Andrea Curley Housing Officer Jackie Leeds* Housing Officer (part-time) Christine Drew** Housing Officer (part time) Gillian Lynas Income Maximisation Officer (part-time) Kevin McGhee Housing Assistant Liz Drummond Cleaner (part-time) Jacqui Lauder

*Acting Housing Manager April 2015 – January 2016 **Since retired

Housing Stock Staff members Kirsty Brown and Susan Mackay. Aberfoyle 47 Balfron 51 43 Callander 132 24 16 Rented Houses by Size Doune 50 2 apartment 183 33% 14 3 apartment 245 45% 8 4 apartment 106 19% Killin 48 5 apartment + 17 3% 4 Planned Developments 59 Callander 23 units 22 Strathblane 14 units 18 Doune 6 units Stronachlachar 2 Balmaha 10 units 37 Killearn 12 units Total 575

The housing stock at 31st March 2016 included 551 rented and 24 shared ownership homes.

Rural Stirling Housing Association Ltd Stirling Road, Doune FK16 6AA Tel: 01786 841101 • Fax: 01786 841180 Email: [email protected] • Web: www.rsha.org.uk Registered as a Scottish Charity No. SC037849 • Registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965, No. 2376(S) • Registered with the Scottish Housing Regulator Property Factor No. PF000330

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