Writing your annual reportBest practice

Steve Smedley and Mark Thomas10 March 2011

2

Annual report - a key component of co-regulation

• sets out the service offer, including any local offer(s)

• a commitment to deliver the offer

• underpinned by a “warts and all” self-assessment

• an effective transparency and accountability tool

• format and performance information tenants need

• tenant involvement in its production

3

Annual report - a key component of co-regulation

• > 1000 properties - proportionate approach

• due October

• share with the TSA

• done properly – centre-piece of tenant scrutiny and co-regulation

4

What happened?

• “near universal response rate”

• 98.3% have published

• 99.7% including extensions

• TSA has commissioned National Tenant Organisations to explore 2010 submissions from a tenant’s perspective

• due soon

• will help with 2011 submission

5

Review of regulation - co-regulation even more important?

• compliant with localism and transparency agendas

• consumer regulation becomes consumer protection

• from bureaucratic to democratic accountability

• armchair auditors = tenant scrutiny = reduced regulation

• no requirement to cc TSA in to annual report

6

Review of regulation - co-regula-tion even more important?

• tenant scrutiny beefed up

• agree with tenants the provision of timely, useful information

• support & recognise tenant panels

• regulator to address serious failures to implement effective scrutiny

• new involvement & empowerment standard pending

7

HouseMark’s observations

• commitment to co-regulation and improving tenant scrutiny

• quality varies – improvement required• self-assessment – more robust & honest,

less of a PR stunt

• involve tenants in the process

• clear articulation of offer & associated standards

• reporting performance• the right info in the right format

• tenants want cost and performance comparisons to judge VFM

• a compelling performance story

• more from Mark

8

Our experience

• Produced toolkit – 250 enquiries

• 12 tenant groups facilitated

• 20 reports produced

• Reports on compliance produced

• Tenant award for Optima report

Here is some basic information about the five standards that

need to be reported on in the annual report.

Customer serviCe, ChoiCe and Complaints• Providechoices,informationandcommunicationthatisappropriatetothediverseneedsoftheirtenantsinthedeliveryofallstandards.

• Haveanapproachtocomplaintsthatisclear,simpleandaccessiblethatensuresthatcomplaintsareresolvedpromptly,politelyandfairly.involvement and empowerment • Offeralltenantsawiderangeofopportunitiestobeinvolvedinthemanagementoftheirhousing,includingtheabilitytoinfluencestrategicpriorities,theformulationofhousing-relatedpoliciesandthedeliveryofhousing-relatedservices.

• Consultwiththeirtenantsandactingreasonablyinprovidingthemwithopportunitiestoagreelocaloffersforservicedelivery.• ProvidetenantswitharangeofopportunitiestoinfluencehowprovidersmeetalltheTSA’sstandardsandtoscrutinisetheirperformanceagainstallstandardsandinthedevelopmentoftheannualreport.

• Providesupporttotenantstobuildtheircapacitytobemoreeffectivelyinvolved.understanding and responding to the diverse needs of tenants• Treatalltenantswithfairnessandrespect.• Demonstratethattheyunderstandthedifferentneedsoftheirtenants,includinginrelationtothesevenequalitystrandsandtenantswithadditionalsupportneeds.

standards summary

Word association annual report to tenants toolkit

1. tenant involvement and empowerment

This covers:• Customer service, choice and complaints

• Involvement and empowerment• Understanding and responding to the diverse needs of tenants

As well as being a standard in its own right tenant involvement is a theme that cuts across each of the other standards. The guidance note states that: “The report shall detail how tenants have been involved in producing and scrutinising the report”.

Providers should consider a range of ways to carry out this involvement which should begin at the earliest stage possible. It should begin with tenants being involved in decisions about the format and style of the annual report as well as its content.

Many will assume the report will be in a newsletter format but other options should be considered including video, meetings, ezines and other new media approaches.

As part of this discussion, consideration should be given on how to communicate with excluded or other hard to reach groups. Ensuring the information presented is accessible to all needs to be central to the discussion.

This consultation could take place in a variety of ways including surveys and focus groups and should continue right the way through the annual report production process with tenants giving feedback on the proposed ways in which each standard has been reported on and presented. It would, for example, be valuable to get tenants’ feedback on the preferred ways of presenting figures such as tables, charts or graphs.

Careful management of this process needs to take place ensuring that tenants have their say at key stages but do not slow down the process by becoming an editorial panel approving and vetting every draft.

TenAnT InvolvemenT And ScruTIny

word ASSocIATIon AnnuAl reporT To TenAnTS ToolkIT

“Tenants should be involved in decisions about the format and style of the annual report.”

As well as producing performance information about their own organisation for the annual report, providers are also expected to show how this compares with their peers.

This is nothing new, housing annual

reports should already include information

from other, often local, providers.

In any event, the new framework should

be seen as an opportunity to challenge

organisations to take this even further by

providing more accessible and more useful

comparative information.

This is clearly good practice as figures

presented in isolation can often be

meaningless. This is one of the areas where

honesty and openness will be most apparent,

providers should make a proper comparison

both locally and nationally and not just

compare against those organisations they

perform better than. They should also

demonstrate trends in performance over

three to five year periods.

In addition providers also need to

demonstrate how the information has been

benchmarked and validated by credible,

independent external organisations.

exTernAl vAlIdATIon, peer revIew And benchmArkIng

word ASSocIATIon AnnuAl reporT To TenAnTS ToolkIT

“The new framework should be seen as an opportunity to provide more accessible and useful comparative information.”

In addition to meeting

the new standards, the

TSA wants landlords to

come up with their own

‘local offers’.

“At local level providers develop their

services offer in response to local priorities,”

explains the TSA document. “These local

offers [are] a set of policies set by landlords

and their tenants that relate directly to

local circumstances.”

During the consultation that shaped the

regulations, housing providers and tenants

expressed concern about how they should

define local. Though this is addressed in the

framework it remains a work in progress.

Help is on the way though when the findings

from 37 organisations involved in the TSA

standards pilot go public. We will update

the toolkit when this information becomes

available. It is likely that housing providers

will already be offering some services that

could form part of the local offers. These

would be in areas such as supported and

sheltered housing, lettings policies, estate

management plans, regeneration projects,

voluntary transfers, devolved budgets etc.

It is also worth having a look at the ‘Find

and Compare Landlords’ section on the TSA

website. While, somewhat controversially,

the information here is not localised it shows

something of what the TSA is aiming to

aspire to.

locAl ServIce offerS

word ASSocIATIon AnnuAl reporT To TenAnTS ToolkIT

“Housing providers

and tenants expressed concern

about how they should define local.”

We would recommend

your organisation’s annual

report follows a similar

format to the TSA’s

standards themselves.

For example first there

would be the standard,

the area it covers, how

you are currently meeting

the standard and how

you are measuring your

compliance.

When reporting on your performance on

standards, the TSA also wants you to “note

any gaps and associated improvement plans”.

This suggests that the TSA are looking for

something more than positive spin, what

they want is an honest and open appraisal of

performance that sets out where things could

be improved.

This will be a big test for communication

professionals within organisations who may

feel under pressure to present just positive

information. In all our communications

work, we always recommend an honest

and ethical approach is taken and believe

that a balanced presentation of information

gives your organisation more credibility

and is ultimately more likely to facilitate

engagement.

It also needs to be borne in mind that

because of the importance of these reports

any statements made will need to stand up

to not just tenant’s scrutiny but potentially

the more intense scrutiny of the regulator.

Care needs to be taken about how less

positive aspects are reported on and it is vital

that this information is presented alongside

plans that set out how performance will be

improved. The reports also need to look to

the future setting out how your organisation

will continue to improve standards over the

next year.

AnnuAl reporT conTenTword ASSocIATIon AnnuAl reporT To TenAnTS ToolkIT

“Any statements

made will need to

stand up to the more

intense scrutiny of

the regulator.”

Clearly the standards, and

how your organisation is

performing against them,

will form an important

part of the content of the

annual report.

There Are SIx STAndArdS:

1. Tenant involvement and empowerment

2. Home

3. Tenancy

4. Neighbourhood and community

5. Value for money

6. Governance and financial viability –

there is no requirement to report on

this standard.

Within each standard there is detailed

information about what they cover, the

required outcomes and specific expectations.

These, of course, all need to be understood

in detail if you are to report against them

effectively. See the Standards Summary

leaflet for the required outcomes, and where

relevant specific expectations, for the areas

covered in each standard.

The STAndArdSword ASSocIATIon AnnuAl reporT To TenAnTS ToolkIT

“Find out detailed

information on

required outcomes

and specific

expectations.”

The information that

confirms the need for an

annual report to tenants

appears on page 40 of the

regulatory framework. It

states the following:

1 All standards (except for the Governance

and Financial Viability Standard) have a

requirement that providers shall set out

their service offer for their tenants and

then meet these commitments.

2 All providers shall by 1 October in each

year publish a report for their tenants

(and shared with the TSA) on how they

are meeting the TSA standards, including

their local offers. We do not want to be

overly prescriptive as to the format of

this report. As far as possible we expect

providers to use information that is

already collected and is therefore ‘used

and useful’. This report should:

• Assess how the provider is currently

meeting the standards, including how

they measure their compliance.

• Note any gaps and associated

improvement plans.

• Include the provider’s offer to tenants

against the standards over the next

year, including local service offers.

3 The reports must include reference to

how the provider has gained assurance

on the outcomes reported, including

how tenants have been involved in

scrutinising performance and, where

appropriate, use of external validation,

peer review and benchmarking.

4 We will adopt a proportionate approach

to reporting requirements for those

providers owning fewer than 1,000

properties. Providers with fewer than

25 properties do not need to produce a

separate annual report to their tenants.

5 The report shall detail how tenants

have been involved in producing and

scrutinising the report. To support this,

the TSA will work with stakeholder partners,

tenants and landlords to develop approaches

to annual reports that assist in their

preparation in a co-regulatory manner.

6 Timetable – the annual report for each

year ending 31 March shall be made

available to tenants (and the TSA) by no

later than 1 October.

7 For the first report in October 2010, we

expect providers to set out their plans

for developing locally tailored offers and,

where this is not possible, to provide a

progress update for their tenants. We

would be prepared to accept limited

extensions to this date in the first year

only, where the provider can demonstrate

this is reasonable and has advised its

tenants and us in advance.

The guIdAnceword ASSocIATIon AnnuAl reporT To TenAnTS ToolkIT

The Tenant Services

Authority’s regulatory

framework for social

housing came into force on

1 April 2010.

The standards aim to put the 8 million people

who live in social rented or shared ownership

housing in control. They affect 1,800

landlords including housing associations,

stock owning councils and ALMOs.

The emphasis is on ‘robust self-regulation’

by boards and councillors and as part of this,

social housing landlords have to produce a

report for tenants on how they are meeting

the standards. Reports on performance to

tenants have always been important but

under the new regime they will be the

landlord’s key document, not only to tenants

but also the regulator.

The reports have to be published by

1 October each year, the first one due this

year, 2010. The TSA have said they do not

want to be “overly prescriptive about the

format of the report” and there is only a

small amount of information about content.

So here to fill the gap is Word Association’s

toolkit for annual reports to tenants under

the TSA’s new regulatory framework. It’s

based on our research into the standards

and discussions with clients, consultants

and trade organisations. To back this up is

Word Association’s 20 years of experience

of working in social housing, involving

tenants and writing, designing and producing

accessible information for the sector.

InTroducTIon

TSA regulATory frAmework for SocIAl houSIngword ASSocIATIon AnnuAl reporT To TenAnTS ToolkIT

“Under the new

regime annual

reports to tenants

will be the landlord’s

key document.”

9

Facilitating tenant involvement

TSA Annual Report Survey

1. Please  rank  in  order  of  importance  to  you  the  six  TSA  standards  in  the  regulatoryframework?  (Score  the  most  important  1  and  the  least  important  5)

Governance  and  financial  viabilityHomeNeighbourhood  Management  and  Community  Tenant  involvement  and  empowermentTenancyValue  for  money

2. How  would  you  prefer  to  read  the  text?  (choose  one  option)Chatty  and  informal  (friendly,  aimed  at  you)Plain  and  formal  (lots  of  short  sentences)

3. How  would  you  prefer  the  design?  (choose  one  option)Creative,  something  a  bit  differentNeat  and  clear

4. Do  you  think  graphs  and  charts  make  figures  easier  to  understand?Yes  No

5. Other  than  a  printed  report,  are  there  any  other  ways  you  would  like  to  receive  thisinformation

…....................................................................................................................................

6. Tell  us  something  about  how  you  have  been  involved  in  the  production  of  this  annualreport  and  what  you  felt  about  this  session

…....................................................................................................................................…....................................................................................................................................…....................................................................................................................................

7. Any  other  comments

…....................................................................................................................................

LHA Co-ops Annual Report Residents Focus GroupAgenda

1. LHA  Co-­ops  and  annual  reports  –  some  background  

2. Who  is  the  report  aimed  at?  –  our  residents  

3. What  do  we  have  to  report?  –  the  TSA  guidance  

4. What’s  the  message  to  our  readers?  

5. What’s  going  to  be  in  it?    

6. What  do  we  want  to  sound  like?  Chatty,  informal  or  something  else  

7. What  do  we  want  it  to  look  like?    Compare  with  others  

8. Making  figures  easy  to  understand,  what  works  best  for  you?    

9. How  have  you  been  involved

10. How  we  know  we’ve  done  a  good  job  

11. Other  ways  to  get  our  message  across  

10

What do tenants want

A document that has...

• Clarity

• Plain-ness

• Short articles

• Simple charts

• Relevance

1514

our performance

How we meet our current service standards

Key G good performance

A average performance

R unsatisfactory performance

improving performance

performance has stayed the same

performance has worsened

Customer care face to face

How did we do?

Trend

Our staff

Staff will carry ID cards when visiting you in your home G

Our offices

Our offices will be clean, safe, welcoming, and accessible, with a range of relevant information on display

G

Our opening times will be clearly displayed and we will stay open for our published hours

G

When you visit us

Our receptionist will acknowledge you within 5 minutes and deal with your enquiry as soon as possible

G

We’ll do out best not to keep you waiting longer than five minutes if you have a appointment

G

Appointments

We’ll do our best to offer you an appointment with a specific member of staff within 5 days of your request

G

Notify you in advance if we are unable to keep an appointment G

Customer care communication

How did we do?

Trend

When you telephone us

Answer telephones between 8.45am and 5.15pm (4.15pm on Fridays)

A

Answer telephone calls promptly G

Staff will answer the phone with an appropriate greeting and give you their name G

Out of hours

Provide an out of hours service when our offices are closed G

When you write to us

We will answer letters and emails in full within 10 working days G

Provide information

Provide 6 copies of Say Optima every year G

Translations into other formats provided on request G

Dealing with Complaints

Respond to complaints positively and within 10 working days (we will do our best to respond within this timescale, although there will be occasions where a complaint may take longer to resolve – for example if we need to order extra parts for a repair)

A

Anti Social Behaviour

How did we do?

Trend

Respond within 1 working day to complaints that involve threats, violence, destruction of property or serious harassment

G

All other complaints of ASB will be responded to within 5 working days G

Arrange an interview with the complainant within 5 working days and agree a way forward

G

We will consider support mechanisms for the complainant G

We will consider support mechanisms available for the perpetrator G

We will have contacted the perpetrator within 10 working days after interviewing the complainant

G

If the nuisance continues we will consider a range of options with the complainant and report to Tenancy Conditions Panel within 60 days

G

If the case goes to court we will provide witness support to complainants G

11

1

Annual Report 2010

my friendsWith a little help from

4 5

the house that Jack built

highlights of the last year

Tenants are the largest group on Optima’s Board of Management.

We catch up with one of the newest recruits, Nasser Mugisha, so see how he’s been finding the challenge of running a housing association.

What estate do you live on Nasser? Lee Bank

What do you do for a living? I am a National Sales Manager in a print and online advertising company.

Why did you become a Board Director? To play a part in improving people’s standard of living.

What have you got out of it so far? Through a structured induction programme I have gained a good understanding of Optima, its objectives and purpose.  I have also learnt the basics of what is required to be an effective contributor towards strategic decisions at board level. However there is more to learn and I am looking forward to applying myself to the benefit of the tenants and Optima as a whole.

What is the hardest thing about being a Board Director?The amount of information we have to go through, as well as keeping on top of all the news feeds about the market.

Spot

light

on

Nass

er M

ugish

a We take a look back at the highlights of the last year and despite the doom and gloom of recession, Attwood Green was full of success stories.

Celebrating 10 years of regeneration

This was the year we worried about swine flu, but we didn’t let it stop us celebrating our 10th birthday.

With the help of resident volunteers and staff, we celebrated the area’s local heroes and green fingered gardeners at an awards night.

We took photos of as many residents, staff and partners that we could coax in front of a camera for our Faces of Attwood Green project. We’ve used those photos here. Can you spot yourself?

Local people doing it for themselves

Simone Price started to work for herself providing help to people at home. Jayne Ison has her own small business creating novelty and wedding cakes.

Dancing diva

Attwood Green’s own dancing diva, 16-year-old Tyra-shai Allen won over the youngsters of the Attwood Green Play Project with her talent as a dancer and choreographer. The end result was a Christmas performance by the children for their family and friends.

Money advice strengthened

Circul-8 Credit Union employed Natalie Brade as their new development officer.

“Excellent service, right attitude – well done!” F Erabi

Optima Community AssociationAnnual report

12

S 01

M 02

T 03

W 04

T 05

F 06

S 07

S 08

M 09

T 10

W 11

T 12

F 13

S 14

S 15

M 16

T 17

W 18

T 19

F 20

S 21

S 22

M 23

T 24

W 25

T 26

F 27

S 28

S 29

M 30

T 31

May 2011

Prince Albert, GloucesterRunner Up, Community Garden

Clear spring bedding when flowers fade

17

We work with 10 local authorities to let our properties. In 2009/2010 the breakdown of lettings by local authorities was:

43 Cheltenham

2 Cherwell

10 Cotswold

24 Forest of Dean

105 Gloucester

9 Herefordshire

1 North Wiltshire

13 Stratford

23 Stroud

47 Tewkesbury 36 of these were let to existing residents for reasons such as overcrowding, under occupation, medical needs and relocation.

All of our available-to-let properties are now advertised via Choice Based Letting schemes. Details of the schemes can be found on our website or from your Housing Officer.

We are very pleased that last year 95% of new residents were satisfied with the service received in obtaining their new home.

We use starter tenancies to provide additional assistance for residents. Last year we supported 60 households to successfully progress from their starter tenancy to an assured tenancy; this was 95% of those starter tenancies granted in 2009/2010.

Our rents are set in line with the Government’s requirements. Our average rent level is £75.35 per week. Some of our rents include a service charge.

Last year we reduced the amount of rent arrears by £32,075, and the number of households in arrears by 57.

How well are we doing onallocating homes and collecting rents?

Total 277

Residents’ Annual Report 2010 and Calendar 2011

Gloucestershire Housing Association Annual report

13

LHA Co-ops Annual report

Walsall Housing GroupAnnual report diary

Resident Focus Group

A group of our tenant members recently came together to take part in a focus group workshop to decide on both the contents and the design of this annual report.

Those of you who took part in the workshop said you wanted this report to be presented in a booklet rather than newsletter format,

You also wanted the report to be A4 size with photographs of tenants and other relevant pictures..

For many tenant members English is not their first language and a translation of the report is also available in Gujerati.

In response to your wishes this report has been designed to be neat and clear showing finance information in colourful pie charts.

Responding to your views

Responding to your views is the only way Ross Walk can provide the level of service that our tenant members expect.

So we carry out an annual satisfaction survey which is sent to all tenant members, giving you the opportunity to have your say on a variety of issues.

Introduction

Tenant involvement & empowermentCustomer Service, Choice and Complaints

Involvement and empowerment

Welcome to the 2010 tenant member report for Ross Walk Housing Co-operative.

Our new regulator,

the Tenant Services

Authority (TSA),

requires us as landlords

to produce an annual

report for our tenant

members to show

how we are delivering

services and how we

compare to other

landlords.

93% are satisfied with the service we provide

This report is the result of an honest and open consultation between you our tenant members and RWHC about what you want from us as housing providers. You have told us what you want the report to cover and how it should look.

The standards it covers are Tenant Involvement and Empowerment, Home, Tenancy, Neighbourhood and Community, Value for Money and the report also sets out our improvement plans.

Different communities face different challenges, so we have been working closely with tenant members to agree on what our priorities should be for developing locally tailored service offers.

We would like to know what you think of the report and have included a feedback section, which also includes details of how you can get more involved if you wish.

Dinesh Pathak, Ross Walk Housing Co-operative Chairman

We were pleased to hear that

a vast majority of you (93%)

say you are satisfied with the

service that we provide.

The same number of you who

responded (93%) also told us

that you are satisfied with the

new phone system that we

use for reporting repairs. If you

do have any complaints with

our service, please let us know

by calling 0116 257 6800, or

emailing info@rosswalkcoop.

org.uk and we will do our best

to put it right

Putting your needs and points of view at the heart of

housing

Giving you clear information on how we are

performing

Giving you a bigger say in setting local priorities for

housing services

This report shows how we are:

January 2011

and annual report 2011

DiaryHow we are doingRoss Walk Housing Co-operative

Tenant Members’ Report for TSA 2010

14

1

Annual Reportfor tenants and leaseholders 2009/10

32 12 13 141 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

How are we measuring up?Annual report 2009/10

M69

M69

A47

A5

3

A444

A444

2

1

2

Bedworth

Nuneaton

Hinckley

Stockingford

Weddington

CollycroftBedworth

Woodlands

Astley

Camp HillPlough Hill

GalleyCommon

BurtonHastings

Bramcote

ChilversCoton

WolveyHeath

Wolvey

SketchleyBubage

CopstonMagna

Smockington

Bulkington

Exhall

GoodyersEnd

Ash Green

Neal’sGreenKeresley Longford

Barnacle Shilton

Hopsford

Ansty

Wood End

Attleborough

BCHA Annual report

Oxford City Homes Annual report

Nuneaton and Bedworth Annual report

A sustainable community for our residents

Annual Report and Accounts 2008/2009

15

What did we learn? - design

• Different formats/media

• Following/emphasising structure

• Signposting

• Clear graphics

• Creativity and relevance

• Photography

16

What did we learn? - content

• Too much copy

• Need clear structure

• Struggled with comparative information

• Honesty

• Local offers

• Tenant involvement

We have been working with customers over the last 12 months to develop a set of local service offers. These are an agreement between whg, as a landlord, and you, our customers, about what we will focus on as a priority in your area.

T he offers have been drawn up in response to the requirements of our regulator, the Tenant Services Authority (TSA).

The TSA has set landlords six national service standards, against which we measure our overall performance – Customer Involvement and Empowerment, Home, Tenancy, Neighbourhood and Community, Value for Money and Governance and Financial Viability.

Through consultation with our customers, we have now agreed 10 local offers based around the four national standards you told us were most important to you.

Here we outline the offers we are making this year, which cover Customer Involvement and Empowerment, Home, Tenancy and Neighbourhood and Community.

Local offers

17

Other considerations

• Timing

• Other media

• Cost

• Managing in-house

• Other reports