Annual Standards Report 2019 20 Notting Hill Genesis 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 housing association in There are tough challenges hope you enjoy this report. London. 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 www.nhg.org.uk Notting Hill Genesis 4 Annual standards report 2020 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. www.nhg.org.uk Notting Hill Genesis 7 Annual standards report 2020 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 www.nhg.org.uk Notting Hill Genesis 8 Annual standards report 2020 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.) www.nhg.org.uk Notting Hill Genesis 9 Annual standards report 2020 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. www.nhg.org.uk Notting Hill Genesis 10 Annual standards report 2020 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.