celebrating 50 years of crosby housing crosby annual...celebrating 50 years of crosby housing 5 the...

Annual Report April 2018 — March 2019

Celebrating 50 years of Crosby Housing

Celebrating 50 yearsof Crosby Housing


2 @CrosbyHousing

We are very much in celebration mode this important year when Crosby Housing reaches its 50th anniversary.Looking forward there is a real feeling of enthusiasm from the staff team and the board, with a strong commitment to build on what we have achieved. We feel very proud that whilst we have taken on new challenges and begun to deliver growth, we are still very much guided by our values, indeed those values instilled in the organisation half a century ago.

Following on from an excellent recruitment exercise, when we gained five new members, there have been some significant changes to the board. The dynamic of meetings has changed and the association is clearly benefitting from the diverse skills and experience of new members and the balance of stewardship, knowledge and experience of the existing members.

One further new member who also came through the recruitment exercise will join the board at the AGM in September 2019.

We have conducted our annual regulatory compliance review and are satisfied that we comply with the governance and financial viability standard.

The board has made some difficult decisions in relation to the organisations pension scheme. Resolving to move all members of staff out of the SHPS DB and transferring them into the DC scheme. Whilst the period of debate was unsettling for CHA, the staff understand the need for the decision and good relationships remain between the board and the staff team.

We have also had to look at how we repair and maintain our properties. We know from a number of comments made by you, our tenants that this was something that you too were concerned about and we agreed to review our processes. After talking to a number of other housing associations, we decided to separate the repairs into two main parts and invited contractors from our approved list to tender for the works. These changes are now being put into place and we will be carefully monitoring their progress.

Celebrating 50 years of Crosby Housing

Changes to audit were implemented during the year with the introduction of new external auditors DSG and internal auditors TIAA. Both companies are getting to know us and are providing greater assurance to the board around our compliance with legislation and regulation.

The staff team demonstrate a wide range of skills and competencies. The Board is very appreciative of the staff and on its behalf I wish to thank them for their dedication and expertise. Alongside the Board they have a fierce appetite to improve the business for the tenants and to strengthen our financial position in order that we continue to grow, thrive and deliver an effective service to you, our tenants for many decades to come.

Liz Calderbank, Chair

3www.crosbyhousing.org.uk


ContentsCelebrating 50 year of Crosby Housing 2

All in a year 4

Highlights 6

Understanding our tenants 8

Working with partners 9

Making the best use of our finances 10

2018/19 Key Financial Facts and Figures 12

Taking care of the bricks and mortar 14

Maximising our Resources 16

Performance monitoring 18

Staff and Board Members 19


4 @CrosbyHousing

The completed refurbishment of Barton Hollies in Southport created a new community for seven vulnerable people.

The residents told us, how their previous homes had left them feeling isolated and how they now support each other. Working together they have enhanced the gardens around their homes to create a great shared space that they all enjoy.

The management contract agreed with Southport Soroptimist H.A. will be renewed for a further term.

The supported housing partnership scheme in Liverpool has now been let for over a year. The scheme provides a new service model that is proving to work successfully.

The total number of units either owned or managed rose from 433 to 437 during 2018-19.

We have seen positive outcomes from the new internal audit service. There was reassurance around our systems and processes but in addition, some suggestions for improvement and signposting to good practice that will help us to perform more effectively.

All in a yearFollowing a detailed and lengthy process the changes to our repairs delivery service are now in the implementation stage. We have focussed on a dedicated contract to cover compliance works and a separate contract to cover general property repairs.

We placed the bar high when setting out our expectations in the invitation to tender and we are pleased with the results that we achieved. We are confident that we will deliver quality services to our tenants and create greater operating efficiencies for CHA.

Twitter continues to be used as a business tool alongside Linkedin. Both communication platforms were used to advertise staff and Board vacancies saving costs on expensive advertising methods. The Charity Shop is also reaping the benefits of a well-managed Facebook page which is used to highlight in-store promotions, items for sale and community projects. A recent school uniform project received a remarkable response through our social media platforms.

The focus on void management continues and the out turn financial projections of less than 1% rent loss due to voids supports this.



The number of tenants in receipt of Universal Credit continues to grow and as expected the level of rent arrears has increased. Rent accounts are carefully monitored and we have developed close working relationships with customers, the benefit teams from the DWP, the Local Authority and local benefits advice providers, to deliver solutions and speed up payments where possible.

Work in relation to the recovery of former tenant arrears continues to

deliver positive results with regular payments continuing to reduce some outstanding debt. The association has also seen some successes in backdated benefit claims and also retrospective dual payment applications.

Since April 2016, the Association’s stock in management has increased by more than 6%. This was achieved with no additional staffing resource and without any loss of commitment to the planned works programme. Mandy Elliott, Chief Executive


6 @CrosbyHousing

Highlights

Church / Olive 50th Birthday event

External Paint Programme Community Christmas dinnerArc Angel Lifeline Launch

Charity Shop school uniform event

Autumn Winter

Summer



Mary Stockton / Vale Court 50th Birthday event Bowersdale Park summer fun day

Easter Egg Appeal Kitchen Programme Waterloo Road relaunch

Spring

8


@CrosbyHousing

In response to the social housing green paper The National Housing Federation is leading on a new offer to tenants. This states that it is the “sector’s ambition to be as accountable as possible to the people they house and to become among the most trusted organisations in the country”.

This approach reflects the values of CHA and the association has registered as an early adopter and will engage with project work in partnership with the NHF.

We continue to develop business intelligence around our customers. This is used to target resources effectively. As more and more tenants move to Universal Credit the need to collect and analyse data gains importance in order to understand the effect on tenants and the business whilst seeking new ways and partnerships to mitigate impact where it is possible.

The Tenant Services Panel (TSP) remains actively involved in our work with some members participating in the tender processes for the new repair service and other planned works. TSP will be at the forefront of the Together with Tenants work. There have been some change in membership and this year we will be seeking to increase the number of tenants influencing our business.

Understanding our tenants

In order to improve management of stock the Association, working with the TSP, has introduced starter tenancies. This type of tenancy, which will be converted to assured tenancies following a successful 12 month tenancy period, will help us to tackle issues in relation to new tenants more efficiently. We have also strengthened our approach to addressing a range of tenancy matters such as hoarding, anti-social behaviour and general breaches of tenancy in relation to condition of the home.

We work to involve tenants through the TSP, newsletter contributions,

the annual Open Meeting and an annual tenant conference.

There is still more to do to improve communication around complaints, and on how best to handle feedback to and from tenants so that they understand the nature of complaints received and how their interventions have led to changes in the business.

During 2019-20 we will complete a new tenant survey. We will feed the results back to you and into our work with “Together with Tenants”.


We build our reputation through partnerships and these clearly add value to our business. Benefits include, growth opportunities, new income streams, and training opportunities often free to partnership members.

We play an active part in adding value to the partnerships we are part of, building trust and respect that feeds into the success of the organisation. Works contractors support the association, tenants and communities. This year, using their own resources, they have worked really well to improve the life of one of our vulnerable residents. They have also given support to a number of our 50th year celebration events.

We have developed new relationships with local organisations and these have been successful in supporting

Working with partners Celebrating 50 yearsof Crosby Housing

and improving the lifestyles of some of our tenants. Helping them to develop practical skills, budgeting, housekeeping and also sourcing furniture. We also continue to benefit from our collaborative working with North West Community Housing Associations (CHANW).

A clear objective of the plan to restructure the repairs service is to create new partnerships that improve performance, satisfaction and deliver business efficiencies that will enable staff to oversee the service using data intelligence that will drive improvement.


10

Value for money is very important to us and we report our performance annually in the financial statement.

However, we don’t think this does enough to tell the full VFM and we are working with TSP and the NHF “Together with Tenants” initiative to find better ways to report to our tenants.

We have a mixture of general needs and supported accommodation to meet the needs of our tenants and the local area. This year we made the decision to dispose of a large 5 bedroom Victorian property. There is no great demand for large dwellings in the local authority and given the property’s age and size it is very expensive to maintain. The sale has not yet completed but we have plans to reinvest the proceeds into new or more modern housing. This will make a small contribution towards rebalancing the age profile of the stock.

We have delivered a quality service to our customers and continued to invest in our stock through our planned maintenance programmes and have also managed to reduce our headline social housing cost

per unit. All work in relation to growth has been absorbed within the existing staff complement helping to make the service provided to tenants more cost effective.

Making the best use of our finances

@CrosbyHousing



Metric 2017 2018 2019 2020 Target (as budget)

Global accounts 2017-18 VFM annex <2,500 units

1 Reinvestment (%) 3.5% 8.9% (adj) 2.2% 1.9% 4.2%

2 New supply delivered 0% 3.8% 0.9% 0% 0.7%

3 Gearing % -11.4% -9.2% (adj) -11.68 -8.2% 30.5%

4 (EBITDA)Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation & major repairs / interest payable

1076.4% 1519.7% (adj) 736.6% 1.9% 4.2%

5 Headline social housing cost per unit

£ £ £ £ £

Services 161,313 175,439 205,961 208,071 -

Routine maintenance 415,335 419,915 391,459 405,237 -

Planned maintenance 145,550 156,851 198,333 168,099 -

Major repairs (components) 34,307 55,874 17,114 39,031 -

Management 272,499 285,937 265,946 295,188 -

Bad debts 11,894 16,735 31,712 60,015 -

Total costs 1,040,898 1,110,751 1,110,525 1,175,641 -

Number of units 410 433 437 436 -

Cost per unit 2,539 2,565 2,541 2,696 4,520

6 Operating margin – social housing

24.8% 20.7% 14.3% 15.4% 24.6%

7 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)

4.2% 3.3% (adj) 2% 2.1% 3.3%

This is the second year of reporting VFM in line with the guidance set out by the Regulator Metrics from the global accounts (units owned <2,500) have been included for benchmarking.

Reinvestment was high last year due to the addition of 16 new homes. This year we added a further 4 new homes and

continued with the delivery of the planned maintenance programme. Our performance compares favourably with our peers.

EBITDA has reduced significantly from the previous year which is partly due to the Association’s investment in additional units but is predominantly due to the

SHPS pension scheme triennial review. However, the Association still shows a strong outturn in this area compared with the global accounts

An increased provision for bad debts reflects the growing number of customers moving onto Universal Credit.

Performance against the required Value for Money metrics is set out in the table below:


12 @CrosbyHousing

In 2018/19 we had income of £2,458,573 from rents, service charges, CHART funding, Charity Shop and other activities. We spent £2,167,301 on things like managing and maintaining the properties, operating the Charity shop and CHART.

This would have meant a surplus for the year of £291,272. However this year we have seen significant adjustments to the accounts due to the treatment of pensions. The outcome of this has impacted on the surplus which has resulted in a deficit of £124,852 in the accounts.

The chart below shows where the money was spent in more detail.

2018/19 Key Financial Facts and Figures

£

12.3%

9.5%

18.1%

9.2%

24.5%

11.2%

8%3%

1.8%

0.8%1.5%

0.2%

■ Management■ Service charge costs■ Routine maintenance■ Planned maintenance■ Major repairs expenditure■ Bad and doubtful debts

■ Property lease charges■ Depreciation of housing properties■ Pension re-measurements■ Charity shop and activities■ CHART re-enablement team■ Other


Our property types:

■ 24 Shared■ 19 Bungalow■ 15 Studio■ 150 House■ 226 Flat

6%3%

52%

4%

35%

Rents

Property types vacant during the year Length of tenancy

50% 50%

40% 40%

30% 30%

20% 20%

10% 10%

0 0

7

26

2Bungalow 40+ yearsHouse 30-40Flats 20-30Studio 10-20

3

Supported Upto 10

7

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0Housing Benefit

Universal Credit

Self Pay



14 @CrosbyHousing

There has been greater political interest in how associations are maintaining stock and communicating with tenants. The social housing green paper places great importance on the quality and safety of existing and new stock to ensure homes are safe and decent.

We prioritised the health and safety of tenants early in the 5 year plan; adopting the LACORS Fire Safety standard for all flats and supported housing schemes. Good progress has been made in terms of physical upgrades and improvements to fire safety. There is improved monitoring of communal inspections internally and also where the responsibility for inspections and communication falls to support providers.

We have continued planned investment programmes and maintained the level of responsive repairs throughout the period of the rent reduction to ensure we provide good quality homes.

The draft programme is established through the planned maintenance system in SASSHA. This is used to inform the budget. Identified works are subject to inspection before the final programme is agreed. There were a number of tenant refusals but these cases are rolled into the next year so that the funds are available at the time the dwelling becomes void. The works to fascias, gates etc. have been identified for replacement as the cyclical painting programme is delivered.

Taking care of the bricks and mortar

Planned programmeBathrooms We planned 6

we achieved 12Heating

We planned 13

we achieved 17Kitchen

We planned 33

we achieved 30Carpets We planned 21

we achieved 18



Other Major Works

Roof works

we achieved 5External painting to office and charity shop

New fascia/gutter

we achieved 5Fence/gate

we achieved 4

Windows

we achieved 4

Brick repair

we achieved 1External doors

we achieved 3Loft insulation

we achieved 1External painting to homes

we achieved 51

Structure

we achieved 2


16 @CrosbyHousing

Maximising our resources

Supported Housing

The review of supported housing continues with new or updated agreements with support Providers in place. There was significant change to 7 houses, where after many years new support providers have been commissioned and we are in discussions over the new agreements.

Staffing

The dedicated Staff team has worked extremely well to deliver the Association’s objectives and staff continue to absorb new business areas into their existing priorities. The workforce remains stable with only one leaver during the year. The recruitment exercise was successful and Steve Cave has settled in quickly. The association demonstrated the benefit of collaboration by working with a partner HA to provide cover for the post during the recruitment period.

Teams are supported through external expertise in the areas of HR and Health and Safety by Citation, IT systems and infrastructure by SASSHA and accountancy by North West Housing Services.

Brabners provide legal services and the new audit services are proving positive. The association has participated in a system development group with Citation and staff have influenced many of the changes and improvements that have been delivered.

www.crosbyhousing.org.uk


CHART continues to be a key housing delivery vehicle for people with severe and enduring mental illness across Sefton and it is pleasing to report that funding has been confirmed for 2019-20.

The board has introduced a couple of incentives for staff - a health and well-being fund as well as a staff away day and Christmas event. These continue to be popular with staff and the association is preparing for new staff survey in the new financial year.

The charity shop continues to perform well and this year saw a further rise in surplus. Despite some staffing changes the workforce is enthusiastic about the year ahead. We offer the shop as a platform for tenants to develop new skills and confidence to prepare them for employment. It is rewarding that some paid shop staff and volunteers are tenants of the association.

17


18 @CrosbyHousing

Performance and benchmarking against business KPI’s is set out in the table below:

Performance monitoring

Business KPIs 2017 2018 2019 Peer Group 2020 Targets

New units added - 16 4 ● -

Repairs completed at first visit 100% 100% 99.2% ● 100%

Tenant satisfaction with repairs service 85% 99% 93% ● 100%

Management KPIs

Average re-let time (total void period days) 17 14 23.5 ● 17

Rent collected as % of rent owed (ex arrears b/f)

100.5% 96.80% 99.63% ● 100%

Current arrears as % of annual rent debit 2.80% 3.06% 4.86% ● 6.6%

Rent Write-Offs & Bad Debts against Provision £24,429 £40,253 £69,587 N/A £60,015

Financial KPIs

Current Ratio (assets over liabilities) 1.7% 2.12% 2.75% N/A 3.1

Interest Cover 13.9% 17.14% 21.3% N/A 12.3

Rent loss due to voids (as % of gross rental income)

0.5% 0.96% 0.7% ● 2%

Other KPIs

% of dwellings with a valid Gas Safety Certificate

100% 100% 98.8% ● 100%

Sickness absence 1.8% 0.8% 0.6% ● 2%

We dealt with some serious tenancy issues during the year which required suspending the re-letting of some voids whilst legal action was completed. By including these suspensions, the ‘average re-let time’ records at 23.5 days. When omitting them,

general re-let performance records at 16.5 days.

‘Current arrears as % of annual rent debit’ has been impacted significantly by almost 60 more of our tenants migrating to Universal Credit.

Our performance in ensuring 100% of dwellings have a valid Gas Safety Certificate’ was affected by a small number of tenants not allowing access to their homes. Access issues were resolved early in 2019-20 and gas safety certificates obtained.



StaffMandy Elliott Chief ExecutiveChris Richardson Head of Corporate ResourcesHannah Wilson Corporate Resources OfficerSi Jones Finance OfficerDave Tai Head of Housing OperationsSteve Cave Senior Housing Officer Jayne Carter Housing OfficerCarolyn Bowfield Operations AssistantSheila Duffy Operations Assistant

Staff and Board Members

Angela English Operations AssistantMalcolm Gilbert Head of Asset ManagementGeoff Wall Estates OfficerVin Fox Head of Projects

Charity ShopJo Nelson Shop ManagerKim Roberts Shop AssistantGrace Watts Shop Assistant

CHARTColm Quinn Homelessness OfficerKaren Kay Housing Co-ordinatorMichelle Edge Housing Support Officer

Board MembersLiz Calderbank Chair Tony McClure Vice ChairNick ThompsonLol Walters Tony PatePeter O’DowdDavid TournafondRachel Snow MillerRory DillonPaul Malone

Crosby Housing Association Ltd10 Church RoadWaterlooLiverpoolL22 5NB

Telephone: 0151 920 7300Fax: 0151 949 0717 Email: [email protected] Twitter: @crosbyhousing

www.crosbyhousing.org.uk

If you would like this information in another language or format, please ask us.

An exempt charity incorporated as an Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 No 19175R

Registered with the Homes and Communities Agency No L1719

Member of the National Housing Federation registered under the Data Protection Act No. GO4411988.


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