Our promise to you...

Updated Edition for 2014/2015

These Promises reflect your feedback about what matters to you in your home and in your neighbourhood. For instance, we know that a reliable, helpful response is crucial when something needs to be fixed in your home and that you need to plan your life, so our ability to resolve the problem swiftly is important to you.

You’ve told us you want the peace of mind to know that you will be able to move into a clean property set in a welcoming environment. Equally if you need a little extra help, as in our Sheltered and Extra Care schemes, support in organising social activities can make all the difference to your happiness and well-being in your new home. As we develop and improve our range of services we will revisit the Promises and update them.

We want to hear from you about how well you think we are doing and we provide a range of ways in which you can make your views known. We value your feedback and hope that you will have positive experiences of our services. In the event that you need to raise an issue we want to make it easy for you to do this so that we can resolve it as quickly as possible for you.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch and you have my pledge that our whole Board will be paying close attention to how we perform against our promises to you.

Matthew GardinerChief Executive Trafford Housing Trust

The promise we make to customers sets the standards you have said you want for the services we provide. I’m pleased to present our revised Promises for 2014/15

Effective communication is a vital part of good customer service. Whether you are a tenant or a leaseholder you can make contact with us in a number of ways and we are committed to providing you with updates on how well we are performing on our promises.

Our main number puts you directly in touch with our Customer Hub – our contact centre which is open from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, except on Public Holidays and the business closure between Christmas and New Year. Infrequently we may also offer a more limited service, for no more than two days in total, and we will always provide a service for urgent enquiries.

If the Customer Hub lines are busy and you cannot connect then we will still have a record of the numbers that have called us and we will always phone you back the same day.

The team will always try to resolve an issue immediately. If they are not able to, they will pass your query on to another team member who will contact you within two working days. We also provide an out-of-hours service that you can contact in an emergency.

If you make a complaint we aim to agree a resolution to the issue within two working days. If this does not resolve the issue we will investigate and report back to you in ten working days.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the investigation you can ask for an Independent Review which involves two Board Members and a member of the Executive Team.

We promise...to make contacting us as easy as possible – when it suits you, the way it suits you

You can contact us by Telephone: 0300 777 7777

Face to face

If face to face is your preference, you can also drop into one of our offices and speak to our friendly reception team. If your issue is personal or confidential, we will make a private interview room available for you to talk with our staff.

Please note: Pickford Court replaces the former Shrewsbury Street office in the Old Trafford Community Centre which is being redeveloped.

You can drop us a line

You can contact us by text: 07860 027 021 or email: customer.hub@traffordhousingtrust.co.uk and by letter. We will reply as soon as we can, but always within 10 working days. You can also contact us via Twitter and Facebook. We will reply as soon as possible, but always within one working day.

There are a choice of three offices to visit:

Sale Point126 – 150 Washway Road, Sale M33 6AG Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

Stretford MallUpper Level, Stretford M32 9BD Monday to Friday, 10am to 2pm

2 Pickford CourtChorlton Road, Old Trafford M15 4BA Thursday, 2pm to 4pm

There are a variety of ways you can get involved and help us to improve our services

These are:

• completing a comment or complaint form

• complete a customer survey

• interact on facebook & twitter

traffordhousingtrust

@talktrafford

• attend customer days

• customer action groups

• customer inspectors

• quality and insight panel

• leaseholders together meetings

• youth board

The Youth Board comprises 10 young people from across Trafford who meet at least six times per year to look at issues which are most important to them about their neighbourhood or the Trust.

We provide financial support to recognised Tenant and Resident Groups and we also support individuals in becoming involved with the Trust through group and individual training and advice.

Get involved in the community

We offer a variety of ways to get involved in developing your community:

• community panels in each of our five main areas

• tenant and resident groups

• block champions

• estate inspections

• coffee mornings in sheltered schemes

• nominating local people for Trafford Treasures awards

Our staff will be able to signpost or support you when you want to know about how you can get involved in our services or your neighbourhood.

We promise...to provide a variety of ways for you to get involved in the decision-making processes, which affect your home and life

For more information about our range of skills development offerings please visit:

skills4youwww.traffordhousingtrust.co.uk/ your-community/skills-4-you

We promise...to host quarterly Leaseholder Together meetings to focus on issues of interest to you

Leaseholders receive the following services:

• access to neighbourhood services such as caretaking and grounds maintenance

• repairs to communal areas

• investment in the communal area or structure

• ASB advice

• customer involvement

• community development

Additionally for these services Leaseholders have the same promises as tenants.

As a Leaseholder we will provide you with a five year plan of the intended work to your block. If these works involve investment of more than £5,000 we offer to meet and

discuss this. We contact you when you are affected by planned major works to discuss the proposed work and to give you notice in advance, as part of our legal duties, to allow you to prepare for and understand any major works affecting you.

We will give you a number of ways to pay for major works:

• immediate payment

• 5 year payment with an interest-free loan

• in specific circumstances we will consider making a charge on the property

We host quarterly Leaseholder Together meetings to discuss issues that you have told us matter to you most.

The Trust receives nominations from Trafford Council for available homes and we make offers to these nominees. We also offer accompanied viewings on all properties.

If you become a Trust tenant, we will support you to be successful in your tenancy and to help you with any issues that arise. If you are a new tenant moving into a house, a flat in a multi-storey block or a two-bedroomed (or more) flat not specially designed for older people, you will be offered a 12 month introductory tenancy. We will visit after six and nine months to discuss your tenancy with you. If your tenancy has gone well, you will then be offered a Fixed Term Tenancy of at least two years.

If you are a new tenant moving into a property that is not listed above you will be offered an Introductory Tenancy followed by an Assured Tenancy.

We promise...to support you to make your tenancy a success

How we advertise our properties

The Trust advertises available properties through Trafford Council and their contractor Housing Options Service, Trafford (HOST). Customers can register and bid for properties online at the HOST office at Waterside House, Sale Waterside, Sale M33 7ZF. You can also contact HOST on 0161 912 2230 or email host@salford.gov.uk

There are some exceptional circumstances where we do not advertise properties through HOST:

• Internal Transfer, where a customer moves from one Trust property to another in line with our Internal Transfer Policy (this can be viewed on our website)

• Decants, where we move some of our tenants out because their home is being demolished or regenerated in a way that means it is not suitable for the current tenants

With you from the start

We will carry out a Positive Starts Interview, including a financial health check prior to your tenancy starting to assess your ability to afford and sustain a tenancy with information and support to help you to manage your financial position. We can provide information and/or signposting for support with employment/training opportunities. If you wish us to, we also will work with you to increase your confidence with managing your money.

We will also visit you within the first two months of your tenancy to ensure you have settled in and resolve any outstanding issues. If further support is considered necessary, we will visit you six months and nine months into the tenancy.

All tenants who progress to a fixed term tenancy will be signed up at their property.

The visit is to help you maintain your tenancy successfully. We will notify you in advance of any visits.

The Neighbourhood Teams will carry out MOT* visits to customers who present a risk of not sustaining their tenancy and to customers who might need support sustaining their tenancy or who have had no contact with the Trust in the previous 12 months.

*An MOT visit is when we visit your home to make sure you have the latest information about your tenancy and tenancy conditions. During our visit we will update our records so our services take account of any special needs you may have. We may be able to provide extra support with your tenancy, give you advice on any housing issues and answer any queries you may have.

The Money Support Team operates from 9am to 9pm, seven days per week, except on Public Holidays and the business closure between Christmas and New Year.

The team will support you if you are in arrears, but will expect payments to be made as required by the tenancy agreement. We can provide debt and welfare benefits advice direct to you, or will refer you to an appropriate service provider.

The Team may provide a limited service on a small number of occasions, for example when staff training or briefings are taking place. This will be for no more than two days in total and we will always provide a service to enable urgent enquiries to be dealt with.

We promise...to provide lots of different ways for you to pay your rent, making it as easy as we can for you. We promise to help you manage any debt arrears through our Money Support Team

Payments can be made by:

• Direct Debit• Standing Order• Post Office• Pay Point• Internet• Telephone• Internet bank transfer• Allpay rent smartphone App

We have high standards for our properties and are committed to making sure that they are ready for use as a home

We promise...to bring empty homes up to an acceptable standard before we let them

We will provide a decoration allowance for all rooms that are not to an acceptable standard.

Before we make a property available to you we ensure that it:

has a mains operated smoke alarm is damp free

has plasterwork in good conditionis clean and clear for you to move into

has a kitchen with at least one sink unit, one base unit and one wall unit

has had a gas and electric check/gas and electrical appliance safety check

is secure and will have had a lock change on the front door

has had an electric check and that all electrical items are safe to use

has a clean toilet seathas a clear, tidy and manageable garden

We are committed to ongoing improvements in your homes and neighbourhoods and promise to keep you informed about anything we plan to do.

We advertise a programme of works to all homes on our website and can, if you ask, provide a statement indicating the likely works to take place to your home over the next two years.

We will give tenants notice at three months, three weeks and one week prior to undertaking major works to your home.

All homes, except where a tenant has refused works, will have:

• modern kitchens and bathrooms under 20 years old

• modern heating systems with boilers under 15 years old and heating system under 25 years old

• modern electrical standards with wiring under 25 years old

• roofing, pointing and chimneys that are replaced at the end of their component lifecycle

• a sound structure that is damp-free

• doors that provide good security and are under 20 years old

• double glazed windows that provide good security

• an annual survey of all gas appliances

• an inspection of the electrical installation every 10 years

• hard wired smoke detectors

• modern wall and roof insulation where needed

We promise...to improve homes and neighbourhoods and to keep you informed of our progress

2014-15 investment

We will invest £1m to upgrade the areas around residents’ homes in 2014-15. Work to be completed includes:• door replacement in at least 600 homes to bring them up to modern security standards• upgrading of four sheltered schemes and 40 blocks of walk-up flats to the standard

equivalent to a modern, contemporary hotel or similar building including appropriate decoration, plastering, health and safety improvements, lighting and improvements to communal areas

• lift installations at Circle Court and Orchard Court• new boilers at Marlfield Court and Clyne Court.

We are committed to keeping up the appearance of the external and internal areas of our sheltered schemes, walk-up blocks and high-rise blocks with external areas to be painted every eight years and internal painting refreshed every five.

Our commitment to you goes further than your immediate doorstep. We know that people’s neighbourhoods are very important to them and we are committed to providing exceptional caretaking and grounds maintenance services.

We regularly carry out estate and block inspections with customer and partner involvement and publish the date of these inspections in advance so you can get involved if you wish.

In low-rise blocks (up to seven storeys) our caretaking service extends to:

• cleaning and maintaining communal areas including lifts, lighting and bin rooms at least every two weeks

• clearing litter in external communal areas four weekly (minimum)

• removing fly-tipping from within the block or communal grounds on each visit

If you report an issue with the communal area to us we will respond within three working days (or 24 hours if it is considered dangerous or a health and safety matter).

If you report graffiti we will remove this within five working days (or within 24 hours if it is offensive).

In multi-storey blocks (those with eight storeys or more), we:• provide a block caretaker (and a cover)

• do a daily block and fire risk check and deal with any issues

• clean the foyer, toilet area and lift daily

• clean the communal area and landings, bin rooms and bulk refuse area weekly

• check communal lighting daily and replace bulbs or order a repair

• remove litter from grassed areas and pathways twice weekly

• operate Closed Circuit Television system for safety and monitoring purposes

• inspect the working of lifts monthly

• respond to digital TV faults within 24 hours, except for Christmas and Boxing Day

• complete an annual inspection of gas appliances in homes

• complete an annual inspection of laundry appliances

• if a lift breaks down we will be on site within: - one hour in normal working hours - two hours outside normal working hours

We promise...to provide exceptional caretaking and grounds maintenance in your neighbourhood

Where people are trapped in lifts, we will always attend within one hour.

Keeping the green areas in trim

We provide a Grounds Maintenance Service in partnership with Greenfingers and will advise you when they will be visiting your site to:

• cut the grass and remove the cuttings (April and October weather permitting). Where weather prevents grass cutting from taking place it will be cut on the next available dry day

• weed and turn the flower beds, shrub beds and borders monthly over the cutting season (April to October). During each visit one third of hedges/large shrubs will be pruned and the whole site will be cleared of litter

• remove any winter debris, such as leaves, and weed and turn flower beds, shrub beds and borders (one visit per site during the winter season November - February)

• inspect and rectify dead, diseased or dangerous trees in communal areas. If dead, diseased or dangerous trees need to be removed, we will inform customers and consider alternatives for replacement

If, from a visit or referral from another agency, concern is raised about the condition of a tenant’s garden we will visit them, assess the condition and agree an action plan to resolve any issues.

Managing neighbourhoods is best done in partnership with local people, local communities and key partners.

We have high standards for all of our properties and our skilled team work hard to maintain these for you.

Our promises:

When there are problems we aim to put things right as soon as possible, prioritising emergencies.

Our commitment to you is to respond to:• Emergencies: Within eight hours from

when the repair is reported• Urgent jobs: Within five working days from

when the repair is reported• Routine repairs: Within 15 working days

from when the repair is reported• Fencing, plastering, gates and flagging:

In 20 working days from when the repair is reported

Two-hour appointment system:We know that nobody likes waiting in all day, so for some repairs*, we offer a two hour appointment slot for a time that best suits you. Our Repairs Operative will arrive within the agreed time slot to start your repair.

Scheduled 2 hour appointment slots are:Mornings 8am to 10am, 10am to 12noon

Afternoons 12noon to 2pm, 2pm to 4pm

Variations:Evenings 4pm to 7pmSaturday 8am to 12noon

We also offer appointments between 9:30am and 2:30pm to avoid the school run.

Anytime between 8am and 4pm.

We will phone to confirm access before we come out to you and we check that people are happy with the service that we provide.

We promise...to schedule appointments at a time that best suits you and to keep to our service standards

of repairs in timescale99.3%

of appointments attended as agreed with you99%customer satisfaction with the service90%

We are aiming to ensure that over 98.5% of our customers are satisfied with the service we provide when improving their homes.

Handy Fix another option for minor repairs

We also offer all tenants and leaseholders’ access to a reliable, low cost service – Handy Fix - to assist customers with undertaking minor repairs and small jobs in their home.

Contact us on 0300 777 7777 to find out more.

*Some repairs such as fitting a new bath can take most of the day and will require a morning slot.

Your home should feel safe and secure to you and we promise to support you if you make a complaint of anti-social behaviour. We have shown our resolve in past cases in the way that we deal with people who consistently fail to treat their homes and others with respect.

We will:• agree an action plan and support plan with

you if you report ASB• agree how and when to update you on the

case, but as a minimum every four weeks• aim to resolve the complaint to your

satisfaction

• adopt a supportive approach to working with victims and witnesses

• demonstrate a strong focus on identifying and minimising risk

We promise...to support you if you make a complaint of anti-social behaviour (ASB)

With each ASB report, we will assess the situation and in some cases we may respond more quickly. That’s our promise.

Who will support you if you report ASB?

You will have a named individual responsible for your case, who will manage each case of ASB from when it is first reported to its conclusion. They will draw on the expertise and skills of the Police and Trafford Council. This will integrate THT’s tenancy powers with those of the criminal law and licensing/taxation.

We will respond to reports of ASB as follows:• High level ASB: We will contact you within

one working day• Medium level ASB: We will contact you

within two working days• Low level ASB: We will deal with your query

and help you resolve it at first point of contact

The levels of ASB are categorised on our website www.traffordhousingtrust.co.uk

We are committed to developing homes, buildings and environments that are in keeping with the local neighbourhood and have a strong track record of involving local people in our existing developments.

We will hold at least two consultation sessions with the local community and provide feedback on these sessions before we apply for planning permission.

If work goes ahead, whilst the development is in progress, we want you to know how it is going, so we will send out regular newsletters to keep you informed and we will post the results of our monthly site inspection visits on our site hoardings and on the internet.

We will provide you with fast and accurate responses to questions you might have if we are developing schemes in your area. We promise to return all calls within 48 hours (excluding weekends and public holidays). You can contact us by text, email (customer.hub@traffordhousingtrust.co.uk) and by letter. We will reply as soon as we can, but always within 10 working days. You can also contact us via Twitter and Facebook and we will reply as soon as possible, but always within one working day.

If you are a customer for one of our new properties we will visit you within four weeks of moving in to identify any outstanding issues to be remedied in a jointly agreed timeframe.

When you move into your new home we will provide you with energy advice and inform you how to use any technical equipment in your home within the first two months. We will also visit you in the first year after you have moved in to check your home is still at the right standard and to fix any items that are our responsibility.

We are really keen to know what you think about our service and your new home and will be offering you the chance to complete a full satisfaction survey on your new home within 12 months of moving in.

We promise...to be a considerate developer

Through its Independent Living team, the Trust offers a range of services for older and vulnerable people. There are a set of service promises associated with the work that the team does.

The overall aim is to help older and vulnerable people feel connected, confident and safe, making a valuable contribution to the community to which they belong. We aim to enable you to live the life you choose and do things that you value.

We know that it is important for people who depend on our services to know that help is on hand in an emergency. Our targets for responding to TrustCall customers are stringent. We promise to answer all emergency calls within three minutes and our call handling times are published in our annual report and in our customer quarterly newsletter Pulse.

We are committed to arriving at customers’ homes within 40 minutes of the emergency call.

Your safety is our priority and if your alarm equipment develops a fault we will repair it or give you another solution within four hours.

Personalisation is increasingly at the heart of excellent care and if you live in one of our Sheltered Schemes and need welfare checks,

we will do these weekly in a way that has been agreed with you. Also, within four weeks of your moving into a Scheme, we will complete a one page profile, taking into account your individual preferences, circumstances and needs and then ensure that this is updated at least once a year.

If you want to keep in the swing of things and need to ensure you won’t be bored, don’t worry. Residents in our schemes can be supported to take part in at least four activities each week and you will get plenty of notice so that you can join in if you choose to.

You will wish to know what your rent and service charges are spent on in relation to window cleaning and gardening. We will ensure that your communal windows are cleaned quarterly and grass cut fortnightly in the growing season. Every time these jobs are done, your Scheme Manager will make sure that a note to this effect appears on the noticeboard.

We strive...so that older and vulnerable people feel connected, confident and safe

The Trust aims to be at the forefront of working with individuals and communities to overcome disadvantage and inequality.

We want to make a difference, helping to address poverty, injustice and inequality in Trafford by putting organisations wishing to invest in touch with communities of need through our Localities team in five main areas:

• Development of the Community Panels – into best practice community funding organisations

• Support for the Third Sector – building ambition, capacity and partnerships to enable the Third Sector to be innovative and sustainable

• Supporting Young People – creating opportunities to inspire children and young people to make a valuable contribution and reach their full potential

• Employment support – enabling local people to make the transition into paid employment and social enterprise through connections with partners and employers

• Developing Sustainable Spaces – Create imaginative and sustainable spaces that meet the needs, aspirations and ambitions of local people

We positively...transform communities, bringing investment and enterprise together with people and places to inspire, innovate and create opportunities

Community Investment and Regeneration

The Trust is in year two of a three year relationship with Pulse Regeneration working jointly as Thrive Trafford to deliver support to Third Sector organisations and communities in Trafford. You will see Thrive Trafford in action as we:

• work with local residents to deliver the Voluntary Sector Grants programme of £160,000 funding allocated through public voting

• help local groups to access and apply for other grant funding which helped secure over £400,000 for third sector organisations in the financial year 2013/14. Develop links with local businesses to support community and voluntary sector organisations by training and other forms of support to reduce unemployment

Each year the Trust invests up to £760k in local neighbourhoods through the five Community Panels. The Community Panels are made up of tenants, residents and partners from each of the five neighbourhoods in which the Trust operates.

* These Seven Principles of Public Life, known as the Nolan Principles, were defined by the Committee for Standards in Public Life.

We promise to co-produce robust policies, procedures and processes with the Chairs and Vice Chairs of our Community Panels. This will ensure that the Community Panels uphold the principles for standards in public life of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness and honesty.*

We promise to support the Community Panels to ensure 100% of funded projects are monitored and evaluated.

We promise to co-produce an annual report to THT Board.

Children and Young People

We promise to deliver activities for young people through an Action Plan, agreed annually with each Community Panel and based on the needs of the young people in their area and the THT purpose and vision.

Community Panel support

C21/0714/104378

Registered in England No: 04831118 • Charity Registration No: 1106967

Trafford Housing Trust Head OfficeTrafford Housing Trust, Sale Point,126 -150 Washway Road, Sale M33 6AG

Customer Hub Number:

0300 777 7777www.traffordhousingtrust.co.uk

traffordhousingtrust

@talktrafford