RESIDENTS FORUM 18Th November 2014

RESIDENTS’ FORUM – 18th November 2014

MINUTES

Present: Claudia Wallis; Bill Crilly; Sylvia Donaldson; Blossom Shakespeare; Martin Hughes (Chair), Ruth Cadby; Dare Oduye; Niki Louca (Observer)

Newlon: Bill Henderson, Director Housing Services; Annette Morrison, Quality Manager; Mike Levey, Head of Design and Procurement; Misba Bemath, Head of Income ; Steve Hitchins, Newlon Board Member & Resident Services Committee Chair; Karen Orr, Senior Resident Involvement Officer (minute taker)

Apologies: Perpetual Emovan & Laurence Winkworth

AGENDA

Introductions - Chair
Minutes of previous meeting - Chair
Matters arising and Outstanding Action Points – Chair
Design-Employer’s Requirements - Mike
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – Bill
Feedback from Board/RSC – Chair
Welfare Reform Impact - Misba
Update on Housing Review - Bill
Fusion Update – Chris
Resident Involvement Review - Karen
Policy and Procedure Updates
Items for Board - Chair
Any other business

1. INTRODUCTIONS

Introductions were given. It was noted that Niki was attending the Forum as an

observer.

2. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

The minutes of the meeting on 24 September were agreed as an accurate record.

3. MATTERS ARISING / OUTSTANDING ACTIONS UPDATE

Ruth asked what was happening with the portal. Bill informed the Forum that progress was unlikely until March or April 2015 as there was problems with the current portal and it would need to be replaced. The problems were not of a contractual nature but connected to the server.

Action – Bill agreed to get a technical update on the portal from the Head of IT and circulate to Forum members.

Bill had contacted the four Forum members about their complaints.

Members agreed that it was a good idea to do a pilot for one month where an estimated call waiting time is given to residents calling the Service Centre.

Action – It was agreed that Newlon should go ahead with the suggested one month pilot to give residents calling the Service Centre an estimated call waiting time. The pilot will be monitored during this time.

4. DESIGN-EMPLOYERS REQUIREMENTS

Mike Levey presented his report about Newlon Employer’s requirements. He informed members that these requirements set out the standards of design, specification and workmanship that contractors and developer partners on our new developments must adhere to.

They are continuously reviewed and formally updated every 12 to 18 months. Mike takes into account feedback that he has received from the Forum; other residents; Building & Development; Housing Officers and concierge teams on site. He requested formal feedback from the Forum on any specific improvements about the design of their homes. If suggestions were beneficial and cost effective they could be included in the Employers Requirements. For example, a previous suggestion to fit emergency fluorescent light fittings would cost 2-3 times as much as regular fittings. He would have to be persuaded these were worthwhile.

Ruth suggested that Mike contact leaseholders as most of the Forum members were general needs tenants. Martin noted that leaseholder had been to Forum meetings. Mike said that there was a high response rate for electronic surveys of leaseholders – about 50%. Although not specifically about design, these provided some feedback on new developments. The issues raised by all tend to be similar and about – more storage; privacy and the use/misuse of communal areas.

Any changes Mike suggests as the result of feedback will generally add to the cost of buying and maintaining homes. He would have to justify this and take to the Development Committee for their agreement.

Action – Mike will return to a future Forum to give feedback and will discuss with Resident Involvement about ways to consult leaseholders.

Action – Forum members will email Mike at if they have any feedback or questions.

5. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs)

Bill presented the information about Key Performance Indicators and noted that it had improved for some areas since it had been published. Call answering had improved significantly and the percentage of phone calls answered has risen to 90%. There had been big problems with phone answering but putting in extra resources had helped.

Repairs are still lagging as Newlon have major difficulties with the current contractor.

ASB is currently doing well.

The number of referrals to the “in Work Programme” was now 3. The Board had set a target to get residents into work. Fusions help us achieve this by referring residents to specialist agencies and by identifying training and apprenticeship opportunities. Newlon itself now employs about 7 of our own residents – mainly in the Service Centre as there is flexibility around hours of working. Niki asked how Newlon funds apprenticeships. Bill replied that we pay for employing our residents out of staffing budget and for apprenticeships there is a lot of funding available. The difficulty is linking the funding to the residents who need it. The work that Fusion does has been around under different names for about 10 to 12 years. The focus on employment has happened mainly in the last year. Forum members play a part in assessing Fusion who attend the Forum regularly. Martin is now a member of the Fusion Board. Niki asked whether 3 referrals to the “In Work Programme” was good value and suggested this KPI needed reviewing.

Action: Fusion to consider comments from the Forum about the “In Work Programme”.

6. FEEDBACK FROM BOARD/RSC

Steve gave some feedback from the Board who had recently held their away weekend. There were three new resident members of the Resident Services Committee – making a total of four residents altogether including Martin. These resident members are a mixture across all tenures and geography. The Committee will monitor and see how this goes for a year. There is now just one resident Board member.

7. WELFARE REFORM IMPACT

Misba presented her report about the impact of the Government’s welfare reforms on Newlon residents. The main reforms are the “Bedroom Tax”; the “Benefits Cap” and Universal Credit. Most of the discussion focussed on the “Bedroom Tax” as more of our residents were affected by that reform.

The “Bedroom Tax” reduces the Housing Benefit (HB) payable to residents under-occupying by one bed (14%) and by two beds (25%). The shortfall in HB is either paid by the resident themselves or through part/full discretionary housing payments (DHP) from their Council. This reform tends to affect families more than single people. Forum members acknowledged that family needs can change over time and “spare” bedrooms can become essential. Also that it can be difficult for families to think about transferring to smaller homes and uprooting themselves from the communities they live in. There are also not enough suitable homes for affected families to downsize to.

Misba noted that the impact on our residents had not been as much as originally thought. Newlon’s role was to alert residents who may be affected and help them claim DHP. However this is a limited resource as it comes from local Councils and some have told us their future renewal claims for DHP may not be successful. Bill noted that the Government’s original aim to encourage people to transfer and downsize had not been successful.

In reply to a question about whether Newlon would prioritise families wishing to transfer because of the “bedroom tax” Bill noted that some priority would be given but there is a balancing act in managing expectations. This is because many more families wish to transfer than can be helped. As a result, we do encourage residents to think about applying for mutual exchanges. There are also other priorities that Newlon have to consider – such as for domestic violence.

The “Benefits Cap” prevents most claimants from receiving more than £500 per family or £350 per single person per week.

8. UPDATE ON HOUSING REVIEW

Bill gave a PowerPoint presentation about the Housing Review. This will lead to more specialist teams. Most of our residents contact us by phone and want their issues dealt with straight away. The new structure will help us achieve this and remove duplication/cut out waste. The new structure will start from 15 April 2015, just after Easter.

Bill outlined the main points of interest in the new structure. The job of Housing Officers will be replaced with people in specialist teams doing parts of their current role. This is not a criticism of Housing Officers, but recognition that their role can raise expectations from residents that they may not be able to deliver – because some of these expectations are not their responsibility. The teams are:

STIR – dealing with short term intermediate rent
Lettings & Allocations. Who will get two new posts and put more emphasis on marketing new homes. They will also take more ownership of settling residents in their new homes.
Enforcement – which will deal with ASB plus. Such as tenancy audits and serious breaches of tenancy.
Estates and Inspections - which will deal with the Environment; estate inspections; contract management; the concierge service (which will get extra resources) and practical resident involvement.
Quality team – which will deal with policies and procedures and Resident Involvement. It will have a strong central role but also be supporting & enabling.
Income Team – which will remain largely as it is now but with some new relationships to the other teams.
Service Centre – which will deal with anything that can be done by phone or at a computer. They will have a vulnerable customer focus and will receive the most new staff – another four posts.

There is also a project management post which will deal with the handover of new homes; working with development and co-ordination. Underpinning all our work in the new structure will be the principles of putting customer service at the heart; prioritising workload and resources; working together; taking ownership & responsibility and if it goes wrong sorting it out.

During a discussion about the concierge service visiting street properties, three members raised an issue about the concierge service visiting the communal areas in their home without any notice. As the concierge had keys to the front door, one member had found a complete stranger with no ID in their hallway.

Many staff will be applying for new posts as their old role may no longer exist. The Forum noted that it may be difficult for staff to prioritise their workload and resources while all this change is happening. Niki suggested Newlon consider having mobile enforcement teams for ASB as the Council does in Camden.

Claudia asked if all residents will be informed about these changes. Bill assured her that they would.

Action: Bill to re-inforce the message to the Concierge team that they must ring the bell and have ID when they visit residents’ homes.

Action: Bill agreed to investigate whether there is a demand for a mobile enforcement team to deal with ASB. If there is a proven demand then to think of ways of trialling.

Agreed: to bring ASB back to the Forum for another discussion. Karen to add to the next Forum agenda.

9. FUSION UPDATE

This report will be presented to the next Residents Forum.

Action: Karen to add the Fusion Update to the agenda for the next Residents Forum.

10. RESIDENT INVOLVEMENT REVIEW

Karen presented the report about reviewing the current Resident Involvement Strategy. The report set out Newlon’s thinking for the review, some proposed aims for the strategy and ideas for consulting as widely as possible. Specific recommendations and a timetable for the review were also proposed.

Key drivers that would shape the new strategy included the Regulatory Framework for Social Housing with its principle of “co-regulation”; the current review of Housing Services and the levels of resident satisfaction with involvement which needed to improve. The report proposed five main aims for a new strategy. Additional proposals focussed on carrying out consultation of residents and staff with a joint working group of both to oversee the development of the strategy. Ruth, Claudia, Sylvia and Niki all said they were interested in being on this group. The suggested timetable and milestones carried through to April 2015 with the launch of the new strategy then – at the same time as the new model for Housing Services.

Forum members made specific proposals about involvement to be considered

during the strategy development:

Invite all residents once a year, perhaps on a borough wide basis, to attend an informal event to find out about involvement, have an opportunity to give feedback about Newlon’s services and to meet other residents.
Offering residents the opportunity to shadow the specialised teams in Newlon. With the aim that a better understanding of Newlon’s work could help counter low levels of resident satisfaction with our services. One example was given - where a Service Centre Manager had attended the Forum to carry out an exercise in scoring recorded calls from residents. This had given forum members a good insight into how Newlon handled calls.
Newlon should remain committed to rewarding residents for getting involved – like other Housing Associations.
That residents are asked for feedback by the contractor after every repair (e.g. by using a PDA).

Steve suggested that the first objective of the strategy should be to increase levels of overall resident satisfaction with Newlon services. Also that pilots for small scale involvement initiatives be carried out.

There was additional discussion about the pros and cons of contractors (rather than somebody independent) asking residents for feedback on repairs with views being expressed on both sides.

Action – feedback from the Forum for this item to be taken to the Resident Services Committee by Bill.

Action – Karen to recruit as wide a range of residents as possible to the joint working group.

Action – Karen to ensure that the specific proposals above are considered during development of the strategy.

11. POLICY & PROCEDURES UPDATE

None

12. ITEMS FOR BOARD

None.

13. A.O.B.

Bill clarified for the meeting that the means of appointing the resident board member was to advertise; interview then appoint. The Board ratified the appointment. In future, the incumbent resident Board member would have to stand down and be re-appointed by the Residents’ Forum. However, if the Forum was not happy with this process Newlon would advertise again. This would only be necessary if the resident Board member did not perform well. At present, a resident Board member serves for three years and can be appointed for up to three terms – a maximum of nine years.

Bill announced that Sunita Parbhakar, the Assistant Director of Housing Services will be leaving next week. The Forum asked Bill to pass on their thanks for all her help and their good wishes.