ozoneAutumn 2013

everything you need to know about life at Origin...

HOUSING

Above Board...Pg 2 | Getting to know Tara Healy...Pg 3 | Residents’ Conference...Pg 7 | Competition...Pg 8 |...and much more

IN THIS ISSUE

Letter from the Editor

w

Autumn 2013Ozone

02A customer sAid “the informAtion thAt you gAve me is so unbelievAbly helpful

And reAssuring i cAnnot thAnk you enough.”

elcome to the Autumn/Winter edition of ozone, the

magazine for origin staff. As you may know, the usual editor rachel hudson is on maternity leave, so this edition has been compiled by stella Jones, who is covering rachel’s post while she is away.

if you have any comments on this edition, or ideas or contributions for future issues, please send them to communications@originhousing.org.uk

inside, we get to know tara healy, head of hr, and chair of the board colin sherriff writes about what he sees as the board’s priorities. We’ve

got photos of residents’ events and take a look at the recently completed neQ development.

As always, don’t forget the recipe on the back page. in honour of the latest series of the great british bake off, the recipe this time is honey cake – enjoy!

on our front cover, we have featured a photo from our recent residents’ conference. thank you to all staff who helped make this such a successful event.

please take the time to tell us what you think about ozone, it’s your magazine and we want to hear from you. contact communications@originhousing.org.uk or stella.jones@originhousing.org.uk

this is the time of year when housing association boards spend time looking backwards, considering financial results from the previous year and reading annual reports. my natural preference is to look forward and think about what we need to do to meet the social purpose of origin.

it’s important to me when we start planning that we remind ourselves of the values of the business. it’s not just about what we do, it’s about how we

do things in origin, that’s what builds our reputation and gets support from the public and private institutions who provide finance and award the contracts we need to deliver our aims.

Who comes first in that thinking? it has to be the customer. the people who rely on all of us to focus on their ambitions are the reason origin exists and continues to be in business they have to come first as we plan our products and services.

nowadays businesses need to be seen to be open to challenge and conducting themselves in ways which stand up to public scrutiny. that’s especially true when we are spending money from the public purse. We must learn from banks where the boards weren’t challenging. for us, the board must ask questions for reassurance that the integrity of the organisation remains in secure hands.

Above Board getting to know our board members

Also in this issue | you said it - we did it | turn to page 4 03

there was once a time when board members could take an interest every three months when the papers for the next meeting crashed through the letterbox. We share a purpose and need to keep in touch with the reality of what origin is doing, be part of the team and understand more about how our decisions affect those who have to deliver them.

in the end it’s only if we really are one team that we have the best chance of delivering the vision.

that demands commitment from us to think hard about the plans and ideas brought to us; to challenge the reports and make sure that origin is doing the best it can to meet the ambitions of our customers. if the board is to add value to origin we need to continue to develop our skills and experience to meet the ever more difficult circumstances that our customers and our business will be facing as we go forward.

- Colin Sherriff, Chair

Tell us about pensions

auto-enrolment...

the law now requires all employers to provide

workers with a workplace pension scheme. this is known as ‘auto-enrolment.’ the go-live date for origin is 1 february 2014.

origin will use our existing social housing pension scheme (shps) defined contribution (dc) scheme which is administered by the pensions trust. contributions will start at a minimum of 1% employee and employer contributions, instead of the existing 4%.

staff who are eligible for auto-enrolment are defined as eligible Job holders. legally, origin is required to auto-enrol all eligible Job holders. Within origin, most staff who are not currently in the scheme are

eligible. once they have been auto-enrolled, they then have a short period of time to opt out. the process of opting out will need to be conducted directly with the pensions trust. We are working with them to develop the on-line tool they use against our specifications to make this process straightforward.

more detailed information will be communicated in due course.

…and the new competencies:

there is still work to be done to achieve our ambition of improving communities and lives of our customers. We’ve recognised it is important to have great leadership to support our teams, so we have identified five leadership competencies that will build a consistent leadership style and culture:

• inspirational leadership• promoting creative thinking

and new ideas• being future focused• managing people and performance• focusing on continuous improvement

the full competency framework includes the five leadership competencies and our values:

• customer focus• integrity• one team• committed• Adding value

managers will work to all 10 competencies and staff will work to the five competencies not connected to leadership.

the aim this year is for us to familiarise ourselves with the competency framework, while using it to build personal development plans, based on our strengths and development needs. We will use our mid-year review to realign objectives.

Quick Q&As:

Q: What do you value most in a colleague?

A: honesty, a focus on solutions and a good (but appropriate!) sense of humour

Q: If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

A: shape shifting, with the added ability to do Jedi mind tricks

Q: Have you any hidden talents?

A: i wanted to visit a country for every letter of the alphabet before my 43rd birthday. i’ve just achieved it as i went to Zambia on 26th october (there is no country that begins with x).

Getting to know Tara Healy, Head of HR

Autumn 2013Ozone

04A customer sAid “my Wife Would not hAve been Able to come home from hospitAl

if origin hAd not pulled out All the stops.”

You said it - we did itby peter butler, business development manager, care and support

stepping into someone else’s shoes can be a real eye opener. in care and support, we use an it system called sp provider to plan service users’ support and keep records of progress.

A good system, but feedback following the staff survey showed that sp provider was the major factor in achieving a lower score in ‘feelings of personal accomplishment’ against other origin staff.

staff said the system was slow, often taking up to four hours to complete and taking valuable time away from face-to-face work. so campbell Ward was challenged; shadow a support Worker and complete a full support plan in less than four hours. several hours later the conclusion was obvious.

steered through a focus group, staff were consulted on how to improve and streamline the system. taking a ‘one team’ approach, hayley and roger made the changes, set up a test site and delivered training to staff.

hayley even managed to create a pictorial (accessible) support plan: an improvement the software developers said couldn’t be done! And the monkey who does the surveys says “yes” with over 90% of staff saying it is faster and easier to use – “A great job done, much simpler”.

A full support plan now takes no longer than two hours to complete – great news for staff, service users and our commissioners.

New starters

We are delighted that the following staff have recently joined origin:

Cara Leeder - supported and retirement housing Apprentice

Nicholas Newman - support Worker

Nicholas Protz - handyperson

Kamaljit Birk - support Worker

Adam Blacklee - head of leasehold and commercial

Kianne Davis - receptionist

Maria Do Prado - property services Administrator

Rachel Doran - complaints Assistant

Natalie Gough - support Worker

Anne-Marie Ijeh-Okusanya - care and support Worker

Stella Jones - communications officer (covering rachel hudson maternity leave)

Nuvin Ramiah - neighbourhood manager

Maggie Carroll - scheme manager

Kieran Duffy - support Worker, Autism and Asperger’s

Navarro Carlos - support Worker, Autism and Asperger’s

Chloe Jackson-Owen - support Worker

Origin welcomes

Also in this issue | neQ case study – downsizing | turn to page 7 05

NEQ (North East Quadrant), 175 Drummond Street, Nw1 3FF

the scheme is a section 106 development Agreement with british land. it has delivered 68 units for origin – 58 social rented and 10 intermediate rent. origin’s units are all located in one self-contained block with its own roof terrace.

there is also a large shared communal roof terrace at second floor level. the ground floor is all commercial.

Developer: origin housing developments ltdContractor: lend leaseArchitect: tate and hindle

Development of the season

Rising energy costsWith recent news from utility companies that energy bills could rise by as much as 10.4%, budgets will tighten further and the ability to pay for energy usage will become yet more difficult.

With increased energy costs, the likelihood of fuel poverty increases. this is when a household spends more than 10% of its income on heating. the key reasons for fuel poverty are usually the energy efficiency of the home, the cost of energy, the household income and under-occupancy.

With our energy partner climate energy, and funding from the government’s energy company obligation grants, we are looking to invest over £4m in the next three years to improve our homes.

this will reduce the amount of energy escaping out through the roof and walls.

Autumn 2013Ozone

Come dine with us at Orchard House

Residents at Orchard House, Letchworth, held a special evening dinner to celebrate their newly refurbished kitchens. The kitchens needed an upgrade due to wear and tear over a number of years and were identified as needing work as part of our Property Services refurbishment programme.

The team, lead by Fozea Iqbal and Anita Mackintosh, began asking residents at the supported unit what they wanted in their three communal kitchens. They were able to choose layouts, finishes and colours.

The updated layouts included low level worktops, designated kitchen and diner areas allowing for wheelchair space and pull-out storage within the kitchen units.

Since the kitchens have been in place, Hannah, Senior Support Officer with Hertfordshire Health and Community Services, said: “The residents are over the moon. The new kitchens are a much nicer place for everyone to socialise. Our special dinner was fabulous and we learned who had hidden chef talents! Thanks to Fozea and Anita for all their hard work. Nothing was too much trouble and they were really responsive.”

06 “i Just WAnted to sAy A huge thAnk you for All the help you Are giving me. if

there Were more people like you, WhAt A greAt World We Would live in.”

A resident uses an updated kitchen at orchard house (above)

residents and staff at pennethorne house retirement scheme enjoyed their annual summer garden party (below).

Summer garden party at Pennethorne House

“

“

I find your service valuable to people who are on low income and your staff are always very efficient, professional and thoughtful. Excellent. Thank you so much.

- About the handyperson service

Also in this issue | honey cake recipe | turn to page 8 07

Downsizing case studymoving to a smaller new home at neQ has brought a new lease of life to pensioners teresa finn and her husband John.

the finns – long-term tenants of origin housing – had brought up two children in a three bedroom flat in somers town, central london. “it was 59 steps before we could get to our living room and there was no lift in the building,” said teresa, 69.

“carrying the shopping was hardest because i have arthritic knees that aren’t going to get better. We didn’t want to wait until we were housebound, so we applied to downsize.”

With the children moved out, the couple no longer needed three bedrooms. origin wrote to the couple, asking if they would like to bid for a

newly built, two-bedroom flat at neQ regent’s place, only ten minutes’ walk from their home.

“i viewed the flat out of curiosity, but i fell in love as soon as i saw it,” says teresa. “it’s open plan with the kitchen and living room together, and has a nice spacious feel.”

origin paid the costs for the removal company and gave the couple a £1,000 discretionary payment for giving up their three-bed flat. this would allow an overcrowded family elsewhere to move in and benefit from the larger space.

“it’s all worked out very well,” teresa adds. “We’re happy now we’ve moved. origin’s lettings team were great, we’re closer to the ground and we love taking the lift to the third floor.”

our annual residents’ conference was held on 28th september at the Wesley, in euston street. manpreet dillon, director of housing services, along with his management team, other key members of staff and partners, spoke about how residents and origin as a whole could be affected by changes from government and our plans for the coming year.

residents gave us very honest feedback about what we are doing well, where we need to improve and suggestions for how we should go about making improvements.

Annual Residents’ Conference

• Set the oven to 170°C, and prepare either one large tin (an 8-inch round tin is fine) or two loaf tins, by lining the bottoms with baking paper and greasing the sides.

• Mix the flour, sugar, spices and baking powder. Add the honey, oil and eggs and beat until smooth. Add the coffee and the walnuts (if using) and mix in.

• Pour the batter into the tin(s) and bake for 85 minutes (check after 70 minutes or so).

Honey Cake

Ingredients

225g plain flour170g demerara sugar1 teaspoon cinnamon1 teaspoon ginger250g clear honey100g sunflower oil2 eggs1 teaspoon baking powder100ml strong black coffee50g chopped walnuts (optional)

Method

Serves 4 / prep time: 10mins / cooking time: 85mins

Competition time1) Who is Chair of Origin’s Board?our competition this time is a fun test to see

if you have been reading your ozone! the questions are based on articles in this issue.

you will find the answers elsewhere in the magazine, so no excuses for not getting them right! send correct answers to communications@originhousing.org.uk

Here goes, have fun!

2) Where did Tara Healy go on 26 October?

3) How long does it now take Support Workers to complete a full support plan?

4) How many homes does Origin have in total at NEQ?

6) How long should honey cake bake for?

5) Where are residents enjoying refurbished kitchens?

the winner of ozone’s last competition was peter butler, business development manager, randolph street. he got all the answers to our multiple choice quiz right, so well done peter!

Origin Housing | St Richards House | 110 Eversholt St | London NW1 1BS

T | 020 7209 9222 E | enquiries@originhousing.org.uk

“i feel very lucky to be Able to cAll on your service for Any help i need in my home

And not hAve to Worry About the Job being done properly As i hAve AlWAys been

completely sAtisfied.” - About the hAndyperson service