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TRANSCRIPT
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ARK NEWSLETTER
ARKS MISSION STATEMENT
“To provide the best regarded care housing and support
services in Scotland for families, children and adults of all
ages who require support to have a good life. We will
build life-long and life-enhancing relationships and
promote the right of people to have a life free from
poverty and discrimination.”
Spring 2018
In our September Newsletter we told you that Knowledge
Partnership would be contacting tenants as part of ARK’s tenant
satisfaction survey. We asked all tenants to return completed
questionnaires and all returned questionnaires would be entered
into a prize draw. Thank you to everyone who returned the survey
it has been great to receive feedback on how our tenants feel and
let us know where we could do better.
Mr & Mrs Torrie — Forfar
Mr Jacobson— Edinburgh
Miss McAllister— Blairgowrie
THE WINNERS WILL EACH GET £30 WORTH OF SHOPPING VOUCHERS
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WHAT DOES MAINTENANCE DO?
Please see below for who is best to contact for different situations.
REPAIRS
Maintenance should be contacted to report any
repair. Any issues with repairs or follow up
information can be provided by the maintenance
department. ESTATE MANAGEMENT
If you feel that our contractors are not doing a
good job.
HEATING SYSTEMS/INSULATION OF PROPERTY
If you feel that there are any heating issues in your
property, the maintenance team can help find the
problem.
IMPROVEMENTS OR ALTERATIONS
If you would like to make any changes to your
property YOU MUST contact the maintenance
team to request an application for alteration. This
must be approved before you make any changes to
your property.
MAJOR WORKS
Any information regarding timescales can be
provided by the maintenance team.
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MAINTENANCE STAFF
Stephen Whitehead, Maintenance Officer
0131 478 8143
Position Vacant , Maintenance Officer
0131 478 8161
Dave Rose, Maintenance Officer
01309 696 237
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RENT
The housing team can—
Take payments
Provide information on rent
ANTI– SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR REPORTS
All issues should be passed on to your Housing
Officer.
This can include loud music, neighbour
issues, the use of illegal substances or dog
fouling.
PERMISSION FOR PETS
All ARK tenants must contact their Housing Officer
to get authorisation before getting a pet.
FURNITURE (SUPPORTED TENANTS ONLY)
Any requests for furniture should be sent direct to
the Housing Team via post or the email address—
HOUSING OPTIONS
If you re looking to move the housing team can
offer assistance to explore options.
TERMINATING YOUR TENANCY
If you would like to end your tenancy you must
complete a Tenancy Termination Form. The Tenancy
end date is 28 days from when we receive the form
back.
WHAT DOES HOUSING DO?
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HOUSING STAFF
Chelsea Stevenson, Housing Services Assistant
( Head Office)
0131 478 8146
Diana Swift , Housing Officer ( Edinburgh Area)
0131 478 8159
Lynn Eagers – Housing Officer
( Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen, Moray, Western Isles)
01309 696 237
Rachel Cooper Housing Officer ( West Lothian, East
Lothian, Falkirk, Perth & Kinross, Angus, Fife,
Scottish Borders)
0131 478 8190
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TENANT SATISFACTION SURVEY
The feedback from our tenant satisfaction survey has highlighted
there are a number of issues that tenants would like to be looked at. Below are
things that tenants can do to try and sort these issues with help from ARK
members of staff.
Dog Fouling -
All ARK tenants must get written permission to get a
dog.
Tenants must ensure that they look after the dog and
clean up after it.
You cannot let your dog to foul in public places.
If you see any of your neighbours letting their dog foul
let your housing officer know.
If you are having problems with dog fouling in public
places that ARK does not own you should get in touch
with your local council.
If you would like help on who to contact at your local
council please contact your housing officer for more
information. Dog Barking -
Speak to your neighbour as a first attempt to resolve
the issue.
Explain how the barking makes you feel.
Ask your neighbour to do something to help
If you need help tell your housing officer and they can
contact your neighbour on your behalf.
Often most dog owners will not realise their dog is
causing a disturbance.
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Noise & Anti Social Behaviour From ARK Tenants -
If your neighbour is causing noise tell your housing
officer so that they know what is going on.
The housing officer will arrange to visit the home of the
person report to discuss the noise.
Housing officers will contact other neighbours to find
out if they are dealing with the same noise.
If noise if not heard by other neighbours or by the
police then no further action will be taken at this point.
We ask that all tenants to use DIARY SHEETS to take
note of the time and dates when the noise is
happening. This information helps us to take action
when the noise is unreasonable.
The level of noise will be considered when assessing the
complaint.
ARK properties are not fully sound proof so it is normal
that you will hear some noise from your neighbour.
ARK will not take further action if the noise is of a
reasonable level but the tenant is sensitive to noise or
has alternate sleeping patters such as working shifts.
101
Non-
Emergency
Number
Anti-Social Behaviour From Non ARK Tenants &
Surrounding Establishments -
This can include:
Youth Disorder / Vandalism/Damage
Harassment / Noise complaints/ Parties
Let ARK know what is happening but ARK maybe limited
to what action they can take. To resolve any illegal issues
we would urge tenants to call Police Scotland on 101.
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Serious Antisocial Behaviour -
The police and community safety teams want to hear of incidents occurring, as soon as possible
This will allow them to investigate and where possible, to intervene and stop them from happening again.
With regards to serious antisocial behaviour, please report anything you see suspicious or concerning. For ongoing serious incidents, call 999.
Littering -
If you are found to be littering then you are in
breach of your tenancy.
If you notice that any of your neighbours are
littering in the communal areas we would urge
you to contact your housing officer.
ARK can only deal with complaints when its
within land that ARK owns.
If you feel that littering is problem in a public
place close to your property we would urge that
you contact your local authority and highlight
the problem.
Dropping litter is an offence in Scotland.
Anyone dropping litter could receive a Fixed
penalty notice of £80.
Page 9
Car Parking -
We often receive complaints about car
parking. We encourage all tenants to try and
resolve parking issues between their
neighbours.
At ARK we assist our tenants as best we can
but we would like to highlight our approach to
parking which is stated in each of our tenancy
agreements
“Where you have been given written
permission to use any parking spaces, you will
not be allocated a specific space. By giving
such written permission we cannot guarantee
that there will always be an available space
for your use. Parking spaces will be available
on a communal basis and on a first some first
served basis”.
If you need any information of the
arrangements that have been made in your
area or feel that there are any changes that
could be made to improve the parking
situation please contact your housing officer
to discuss.
Please note that changes will only be made
with consensus from a majority of tenants.
Page 10
Alterations and Improvements
Please remember that you should apply for permission to carry out any alterations
or improvements to your home. Here is an example of some of the things that you
need permission for:
Installing a Shower
Kitchen or bathroom alterations
Replacing electrical fittings
Installing a satellite dish
This is not the full list so if you are unsure or would like to discuss further please
contact the maintenance department on 0131 478 8143 for advice and an
application pack.
Reporting an Emergency Repair at Night, Weekends and Holidays
All Emergency Repairs required outside normal Office Hours should be reported by
telephoning:
Area Emergency Contractor
Buckie and Forres John MacDonald: 07823 440 883
Aberdeen, Fraserburgh, Inverurie,
Macduff, Peterhead and
Portlethen
1 Call Property Maintenance: 01224 638 888
Arbroath, Blairgowrie, Forfar and
Perth, Clackmannanshire, Falkirk,
Fife, Lothian’s, Scottish Borders
Saltire Facilities Management Ltd
0330 202 0444/0845 606 1555
For ALL Gas Central Heating Repairs, please contact
Kingdom Gas on 01334 650 452
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Brian Gunn—ARK H&S Adviser
Electrical Safety
Every year in UK homes about 70 people die and 350.000 are seriously
injured from electrical accidents.
Harm caused by electricity
The main type of harm firm electricity is electric shock
caused by touching electricity when there are bare
wires of an appliance (kettle/toaster) while it is
switched on.
Electrical fires cause most house fires.
Electrical burns to skin.
If you are unsure about electrical safety, speak to
someone who knows about electricity.
What can I do to keep safe from electricity
Make sure that plugs and sockets are not overloaded
with too much electricity.
Do not use electrical equipment that has frayed cable
or signs of scorching.
Remove and replace electrical equipment if it has been
soaked with water.
Remove and replace electrical equipment if you smell
burning.
Remove and replace if fuses keep blowing on electrical
equipment.
Remember - Do not touch or use electrical appliances if you think they
are damaged or soaked with water!
Page 12
Complaints Update 2017
Complaints between Oct and Dec 17
For a full report
please see the ARK
website.
During this 3 month period ARK had 28 complaints.
Most of the complaints were about Care and Support (22),
3 were about Maintenance, 1 was about
Organisational Development, 1 was about
Quality and Compliance and 1 was about
Payroll.
ARK looked at each of these complaints.
We found out that we agreed with 7
complaints, we partially agreed with 12
and we did not agree with 9 of the 28
complaints received:
4 were about ARK staff’s behaviour or
attitude.
11 were about ARK service issues.
Where
complaints
were made
about the
way that
support staff
communicate
with service
users, we’ve
implemented
measures to
address these
concerns .
During this quarter 2 complaints were referred by the
Care Inspectorate to ARK for investigation, both of
which were not upheld. 4 complaints about the impact
of staff shortages on the consistency of support
provided to service users.
ARK also received 6 complaints from service users who were unhappy
with the way that their support staff communicated with them.
Although it is disappointing to hear of service users unhappy with the
service that they are receiving from ARK, it is positive that they felt
empowered to speak up and to give us an opportunity to investigate and respond to
their concerns.
Please remember that if you are not happy with ARK’s service you can let
any member of ARK staff know. Thank you.
Here is an example of how we used what you told
John Rankin Quality and Compliance
Manager