value for money self-assessment 2017/18 · 2018-10-10 · our five strategic aims ... ensure we...

Value for Money Self-Assessment 2017/18

About us ...................................................................................................................................... 4

Our vision ............................................................................................................................... 4

Our values .............................................................................................................................. 4

Our five strategic aims ....................................................................................................... 5

Value for Money objectives ................................................................................................ 5

Our commitment to delivering value ............................................................................ 6

Performance highlights ........................................................................................................ 8

How we are doing (Customers) ....................................................................................... 10

Customer feedback in 2017/18: ...................................................................................... 10

How we are doing (Finance) ..............................................................................................12

Income and expenditure: overall position ...................................................................12

VfM metrics ..............................................................................................................................14

Housing management .........................................................................................................16

Housing management achievements in 2017/18: .....................................................18

Our property assets .............................................................................................................20

Property related Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) ................................................21

Property achievements in 2017/18 ................................................................................23

House building .......................................................................................................................26

House building achievements in 2017/18 ...................................................................26

Our people assets ................................................................................................................28

Our achievements with our people in 2017/18: ........................................................ 30

Our community, social and environmental impacts ..............................................32

Community, social and environmental achievements in 2017/18: ......................33

Our plans for the future ......................................................................................................36

VfM Tracker 2017/18 .............................................................................................................38

VfM action plans ....................................................................................................................43

Subsidiary business plans ................................................................................................. 47

Contents

2 | Contents Value for Money Self-Assessment 2017/18 | 3

About us

4 | About us

Our vision

Our values

Do the right thing

Make a difference

Work together

Keep learning

Give all you’ve got

Gentoo is a housing association that owns and manages more than 28,000 homes, with a commercial subsidiary building homes for both rent and sale. We are focused on delivering an outstanding service to our customers and as a

responsible business, we pride ourselves on inspiring people to make a difference. Our vision ensures the business is aligned around the desire to create sustainable homes and communities and to improve the lives of our customers.

Inspired People

Great Homes

Strong Communities

Deliver outstanding service to customers so that people and communities thrive

Actively manage our assets and develop new homes to meet local needs

Support our people to deliver our vision and live our values

Work with others to build effective partnerships

Be well governed and financially strong

Our five strategic aims

Value for Money (VfM) Objectives The aim of this document is to give a comprehensive assessment on how we are achieving ongoing VfM efficiencies across our business.

Our VfM objectives as set out in our VfM Policy are:

1. A robust approach to strategic decisions.

2. Ensure the financial sustainability of the Group.

3. Optimise the use of our assets to achieve our vision, values and strategic aims.

4. Ensure robust management of all performance and costs.

5. Ensure the Group’s approach to VfM is transparent to all stakeholders.

6. Maximise our capacity to achieve the Group’s priorities by working in partnership and procuring goods and services in the most sustainable economic way possible.

7. Maximise the value and capacity of our people.

8. Deliver social and environmental value that achieves the Group’s vision and values.

9. Create a framework to measure our approach to VfM.

Value for Money Self-Assessment 2017/18 | 5

“I am delighted to introduce the Value for Money (VfM) Self-Assessment for the first time as Group Chairman. This year has been particularly challenging for Gentoo. Despite those challenges, I have been very impressed with the continued passion and commitment from those that work here. This year we have continued to invest in our people, with more than 32% of staff working towards or completing a formal qualification. This will ensure we have the right people, with the right skills, to take us forward efficiently and effectively in the years ahead. The Group is dedicated to ensuring its long-term financial sustainability and providing an outstanding level of service to our customers. This year we have continued to consolidate our activities following a strategic decision to focus on core housing services. This includes concluding our transition plan which has reduced controllable costs by a further £4m during the course of this financial year, in addition to the £9m achieved in 2016/17. There are targets in place to reduce costs by a further £2.5m by 2020 and positive progress has been made on this, with savings of £1.1m delivered already in 2017/18 and a further £0.8m to be delivered in 2018/19.

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has been working on strengthening the sector’s approach to VfM. We were involved in the review of the VfM standard and participated in the development of the emerging VfM sector scorecard. The Board will continue to focus on ensuring that we meet all aspects of the standard and continue to embed VfM into the business culture of Gentoo.

Last year we welcomed five new board members who have, alongside longer standing members, ensured that all decisions consider VfM. VfM is also embedded in the business planning and budget process and monitored through a steering group, which is made up of senior members of staff. The Group track all

efficiencies across the business, making sure value is considered in all of our operations and business decisions. We capture all efficiencies using a VfM Tracker, this can be found in Appendix 1.

Our approach to VfM across the business includes a comprehensive programme of service and project reviews looking to improve systems and processes, increase productivity and remove waste. This has included the introduction of an online self-service portal where customers can view their rent account, report a repair and update personal details. The migration of asset data into a new online platform, allows us to analyse our stock and make informed decisions around planning and investment. We have also continued to implement our new delivery model for repairs and maintenance. This has resulted in shorter waiting times for customers and increased customer satisfaction, with 89% of customers being happy with the service they receive.

The Group is continuing to implement a commercial property sales strategy which includes the disposal of vacant development property, commercial tenanted property, land that cannot be used for the Group’s own development programme and the consolidation of our office premises.

We have continued to focus on our core landlord and development functions, primarily based in the North East of England. Performance has remained strong within the landlord function with income and arrears targets achieved despite a challenging operating environment. The Group is strengthening its support capacity in advance of the full roll out of Universal Credit from July 2018 to ensure that future income targets are met. The performance of Gentoo Homes and Developments has also been strong with 170 sales generating profits of £3.7m that are reinvested in the business to help the Group meet its strategic aims. There are strong risk

Our commitment to delivering VfM

and mitigation plans in place to ensure that the Group can deliver against its income and surplus targets in the coming years.

The Group’s intention to focus on core activity included the decision to end the constitutional partnership with the West of Scotland Housing Association. This was concluded in October 2017 with an amicable separation of activity. The outstanding liabilities and contractual obligations to Romag have now also been concluded. There have been further de-registrations of Group entities including the Nuru Fund Limited and plans to review and consolidate further entities within the Group. This will significantly reduce the Group’s administration costs and liabilities, enabling us to continue to focus on core landlord and development functions.

Unfortunately the Group has had to address a serious governance issue during the year resulting in a downgrade to a non-compliant G3 position by the Regulator of Social Housing

(RSH). We are bitterly disappointed that this flaw in past governance practices led to this downgrade. We are working hard to ensure a return to an improved governance grading as soon as possible. I have every confidence in our ability to deliver positive and effective, lasting change. The Group remains financially strong, our financial viability grading remains unchanged and we continue to deliver excellent services to our customers.

In response, we have undertaken a fundamental review of our governance and culture which will strengthen our approach to risk and internal control. This has also included a robust approach to budget and business planning. I am confident that the Group will emerge from this challenging period as a stronger and more efficient organisation.”

Keith Loraine OBE Gentoo Group Chairman

6 | Our commitment to delivering VfM

This year we have continued to invest in our people, with more than 32% of staff working towards or completing a formal qualification.


Performance highlights

8 | Performance highlights Value for Money Self-Assessment 2017/18 | 9

100.2% of collectable rent collected

Assisted customers in accessing

£913k

of financial support through our Money Matters Team

Demonstrated efficiencies of

£4.9m

for 2017/18 through our VfM Tracker

Negotiated with our Pension Fund to offset a proposed increase in pension costs of

£2.74m

over 3 years

£1m saving on the renegotiated contract for roofs and gables

£7.4m external funding secured to deliver a further 216 homes across 4 schemes

Delivered

4,230

days of formal learning to develop staff

4.9%voluntary staff turnover compared with an industry average of 7.5%

£39m turnover generated from completing 170 property sales

92 members of the Repairs and Maintenance Team achieved Level 2 NVQ in Multi-Trading

Achieved

88%customer satisfaction with our repairs service

Achieved

96%customer satisfaction with our overall service

93% 92%86%86%

94%94%91%96%96% 93% 92% 94%

88% 89%

How we are doing (Customers)Customer feedback in 2017/18:It is essential that we take customer feedback into consideration when we measure the effectiveness of Gentoo services. We have a number of ways to do this including:

• Transactional surveys – These measure customer satisfaction following a specific interaction with Gentoo. They are completed throughout the year on a range of specific services that are offered. The overall score of these was 91.6% (91.3%:2016/17).

1The mix of services surveyed is not consistent between years.

• Perception surveys – These measure our ‘reputation’ and how customers feel about Gentoo in general as their landlord. We use STAR (Survey of Tenants and Residents) to measure customer perception and benchmark and compare our results with other landlords.

Benchmarking customer feedback with HouseMarkAs part of HouseMark’s Benchmarking Club, Gentoo gather STAR satisfaction data using agreed questions and methodology. During 2017/18, we carried out this STAR survey with 2,274 customers. Results are shown in the table below:

We are pleased to note that all satisfaction scores exceed our satisfaction target of 85%. In addition, we received 390 customer compliments during the year and 104 formal complaints.

10 | How we are doing (Customers)

STAR survey results (reputational)

Overa

ll ser

vice

provid

ed by G

ento

oQuali

ty of y

our hom

e

Neighbourh

ood

as a

place t

o live

Rent p

rovid

es

value f

or money

Repair

s and

main

tenan

ce se

rvice

Liste

ns to vi

ews a

nd acts

upon them

Servic

e char

ges p

rovid

e

value f

or money

Performance 2016-17Performance 2017-18

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100


Expenditure is also lower when compared to 2016/17 reflecting the end of the constitutional partnership with West of Scotland Housing Association partway through the year and the impact of further savings delivered through the Transition Plan and then additional VfM targets. The loss on investment of £14.1m relates to West of Scotland Housing Association.

12 | How we are doing (Finance)

Expenditure (£174.4m) 2017/18

How we are doing (Finance)Income and expenditure: overall position The charts below detail the breakdown of both income and expenditure for 2017/18, with a comparison against the previous year.

The reduction in income reflects the continued divestment in commercial activity that includes the end of the constitutional partnership with the West of Scotland Housing Association partway through the year.

Income (£182.3m) 2017/18

Key 2017/18 2016/17

% £m % £m

l Net rental income 70.0% 127.5 70.0% 135.4

l Property sales 21.4% 39.0 18.3% 35.4

l PV and glass sales 0.0% 0.0 1.3% 2.5

l External maintenance contracts 3.0% 5.4 3.1% 5.9

l Grant income 0.2% 0.4 0.0% 0.1

l Government grant 1.0% 1.9 1.9% 3.6

l Service charge income 1.3% 2.4 1.4% 2.7

l Other 3.1% 5.7 4.0% 7.7

Total 100.0% 182.3 100.0% 193.3

Key 2017/18 2016/17

% £m % £m

l Cost of sales – Commercial 0.4% 0.7 5.2% 9.6

l Cost of sales – Property 17.6% 30.7 15.3% 28.4

l Housing management 8.9% 15.5 8.6% 15.9

l Service charges 1.3% 2.3 1.3% 2.4

l Responsive maintenance 12.5% 21.9 14.3% 26.4

l Planned maintenance – revenue 3.0% 5.2 5.3% 9.8

l Depreciation and amortisation of assets 16.0% 27.9 16.3% 30.1

l Overheads 15.4% 26.9 12.7% 23.5

l Fixed asset dsposal (0.5)% (0.9) 0.9% 1.6

l Restructure 0.2% 0.3 2.2% 4.0

l Loss on investment 8.1% 14.1 2.4% 4.5

l Interest charge 13.9% 24.2 13.6% 25.2

l Other 3.2% 5.6 1.9% 3.4

Total 100.0% 174.4 100.0% 184.8


Actual 2015/16

1.54%

Actual 2016/17

2.28%

Q4

2.54%

Actual 2017/18

4.00%

Target 2018/19

1.32%

Actual 2015/16

2.88%

Q4

Actual 2016/17

4.04%

Actual 2017/18

3.70%

Budget 2018/19

0.31%

Actual 2016/17

Q4

53.72%

3,317

52.03%

Q3

2,900

Q2

54.26%

2,733

53.41%

2,555164.25%

100.90%

Actual 2015/16

190.91%

Q3

230.05%

VfM metrics

14 | VfM metrics

The VfM Standard is a key element of the regulatory code and sets out the regulator’s expectations in this area. A revised Standard and Code of Practice came into effect on 1 April 2018 with seven VfM metrics also introduced at this point. The reporting focus for these metrics is to include them within the Annual Report and Accounts. We have amended the strategic report within the accounts that covers our vision and strategy to ensure that we can demonstrate the links between achievement of our strategic aims and our approach to VfM.

Development of the VfM metrics is an extension of the work undertaken last year by pilot organisations, including Gentoo, to further develop and enhance the Sector Scorecard approach. It is further intended to benchmark efficiency and allow comparisons with similar organisations. These metrics enhance the range of financial indicators that form part of our regular reporting to Boards and Committees. More detailed benchmarking is carried out by the Group with similar organisations through HouseMark whilst individual services benchmark more locally to review and challenge delivery arrangements.

Performance in relation to the VfM metrics is illustrated below (note, these are new measures and comparator information only available for 2016/17:


Actual 2015/16

Actual 2015/16

Actual 2016/17

Actual 2016/17

Actual 2017/18

Actual 2017/18

Budget 2018/19

Budget 2018/19

0.01%

Actual 2015/16

0.62%

Actual 2017/18

0.39%

Actual 2017/18

0.83%

Target 2018/19

0.13%

Target 2018/19

Actual 2015/16

0.01%

Re-investment as a % of existing properties

Operating margin % (social housing lettings)

Operating margin % (total)

31.25

Actual 2017/18

27.33

Budget 2018/19

Actual 2015/16

30.21

26.49

Actual 2016/17

Q4 22.2025.79

19.11Q4

Actual 2017/18

Budget 2018/19

Actual 2015/16

Actual 2016/17

8.38

Return on capital employed

EBITDA MRI interest cover*

Gearing

Headline social housing cost per unit (£)

Actual 2016/17

Actual 2017/18

Budget 2018/19

0.47%

Actual 2016/17

Q4

Key

Source: 2016/17 Housemark quartile position based on housing associations (both LSVT and traditional) with more than 15,000 units of stock.

- VfM quartile information not available for 2015/16.

- The actual 2015/16 data included in the VFM metric tables represents 2015/16 published data.

Q1 top quartile performanceQ2 upper quartile performanceQ3 lower quartile performanceQ4 bottom quartile performance

New supply delivered % (social)

New supply delivered % (non-social)

The Group’s performance against these metrics has improved over the last three years, reflecting the efficiency programme and focus on core activities. The current business plan however, shows a reduced performance forecast for 2018/19 on metrics such as return on capital employed and operating margins, reflecting reduced levels of income as rent reductions continue into the third consecutive year. The Group Board plan to review these metrics during their strategy session that will take place in the Autumn.

*Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation with major repairs included as a percentage of interest

98.92%

Target 2018/19

100.20%

Actual 2017/18

Actual 2015/16

99.99%

Q3

Housing management

16 | Housing management

Current tenant rent arrears as a % of rent debit

Actual 2015/16

3.41%

Q3

Actual 2016/17

3.28%

Q2

Rent collected as a % of rent due

Actual 2016/17

100.54%

Q1

£512.00

Q3

Actual 2015/16

£474.00

Q3

Actual 2016/17

£394.00

Actual 2017/18

£436.74

Budget 2018/19

Housing Management direct cost per property (£)

0.98%

Actual 2016/17

1.17%

Actual 2017/18

1.30%

Target 2018/19

Actual 2015/16

1.02%

Q3

Rent void losses as a % of rent due

Relets remain a particular challenge for the Group with the impact of the roll out of the new online allocations system HomeHunt. Staff from our centralised allocations team were moved to area offices in the final two months of the financial year and this has had positive results which will not be realised until 2018/19. There are still demand issues with a number of our flats across Sunderland which impact on the relet times.

Issues remain regarding the identification of Asbestos Insulation Board (AIB) within our vacant properties. AIB identification requires a 14 day notice period to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prior to any work commencing on removal. This continues to have a knock on effect to our relet times.

The operating environment continues to be a challenge for the business and the implementation of Welfare Reform is affecting our customers’ ability to make rent payments. Despite this, 2017/18 performance on income collection and rent arrears has been strong, reflecting the focus in this area and the introduction of a specialist Money Matters Team. As the full roll out of Universal Credit is due in July 2018, targets have been set considering the impact this will have on arrears and collection rates.

Housing management VfM analysis

3.14%

Actual 2017/18

4.03%

Target 2018/19

Relet times (days) - social housing properties

41days

Q2

Actual 2015/16

42days

Q3

Actual 2016/17

47 days

Actual 2017/18

Key

Source: 2016/17 Housemark quartile position based on housing associations (both LSVT and traditional) with more than 15,000 units of stock



Q2

18 | Housing management

Our Money Matters Team has been working collaboratively with front-line housing teams to reduce the impact of Welfare Reform for customers. The impacts have included a second wave of the Benefit Cap and Universal Credit, on top of the Bedroom Tax which was introduced in 2013.

Through the hard work and dedication of our teams, we collected 100.20% of collectable rent, with a reduction of £9,692 in standard arrears from 2016/17. This is a continued trend since the team was introduced.

Allocations Policy and system changeThis year saw the introduction of a new online allocations system and policy which came in to place on 8 September 2017. The change was fundamental to how we allocate our homes. The new system, HomeHunt, has all properties allocated through the one route and customers are prioritised based on housing need, in-line with our charitable objectives. This has been a major change for staff and customers, creating additional telephone and office traffic as customers re-registered. This has had an impact on the relet times in the latter part of the year. Staff from our centralised allocations team have now been moved to the area offices where mutual support can be given. This change is starting to show positive results. It should also be noted that there continues to be an increase in the number of terminations received each year, although analysis of this suggests no specific issue.

Estate Services Our Estate Services Team has been particularly busy throughout 2017/18. Performance shows that the team had an increase of 70% in work to void gardens in 2017/18, an increase of 10% in fly tipping jobs and an increase of 100% in Arboricultural jobs complete in 2017/18, all with no additional resource. This has been achieved through changes to working practices.

Closure of Concord cash officeAs part of the ongoing rationalisation of operational properties, the cash office at Concord was closed in December 2017. The impact on customers has been mitigated through a range of other payment mechanisms, including the Galleries cash office. This closure has enabled a saving of one employee.

Standard Arrears (£)

2016/17

1,162,429

2017/18

1,152,737

2014/15

1,347,667

2015/16

1,269,846

Housing management achievements in 2017/18:

Moving forwardAs part of our ongoing VfM commitment, the following will be reviewed during 2018/19:

• Continue to identify opportunities for customers to self-serve online to improve the efficiency of the service. The new allocations system is the start of this journey, as well as our online self-serve portal ‘My Gentoo’ which gives customers the ability to view repairs and rent history and update their personal details.

• Within Operations there is a commitment to deliver further efficiency savings of £200k between 2018/20. This will be managed through a number of ways such as the re-procurement of the lone worker devices. An annual saving of around £25k per year is envisaged.

• A review of service charges will be carried out in 2018/19 to ensure the Group is recovering all eligible costs.

• In 2017/18, we introduced RentSense, a product which uses predictive analytics to monitor rent accounts. This product was purchased with the view to saving staff time which could be redeployed for Welfare Reform and the introduction of ‘full’ service Universal Credit. A saving of five full time Neighbourhood Coordinator posts has been realised and those posts will be moved to the Money Matters Team in 2018/19. This will allow customers who are making new Universal Credit claims to benefit from specialist support.


Budget 2018/19

£1,305.31

Actual 2017/18

£692.06

Actual 2016/17

£855.00

Q2

Our property assets

20 | Our property assets

During 2017/18 the Asset Management Team have been embedding the new delivery model. Great progress has been made establishing and implementing robust programmes of work, contracts and control over stock data, including:

• In June, an ISO Asset Management assessment was undertaken by Lloyds Register following which accreditation was received.

• In July, the Board approved the amended 2017/18 Investment Plan and received an update on the plan for years’ two to five (2018/19 to 2021/22).

• In November the Board approved the Investment plan for years’ two to five and our procurement approach.

The table below shows how our assets are performing:

Property portfolio Gross yield 2017/18

Gross yield2016/17

Social Housing Lettings* 11.86% 11.47%

Market Rent 6.49% 5.90%

Commercial Property 6.89% 8.35%

Rent to Buy 4.59% 5.04%

Shared Ownership n/a n/a

* West of Scotland Housing Association disaggregated from the Group in October 2017

The gross yield is a method of expressing the contribution that assets make by the income they generate as a percentage of their value. The gross yield for Commercial Property (retail and office units) has reduced due to the loss of two major tenants and fair value adjustments to the holding value.

In February 2017, our Group Board approved a commercial sales strategy for the majority of the portfolio, to reduce risk by retracting further from non-core activity and marketing surplus properties.

The reorganisation of our office accommodation continues to progress with the clearance of Akeler House which is now being marketed for rent. Once let, the building will be marketed for sale as an investment opportunity. The rationalisation of our depot accommodation is now underway with offers already received for the Swan Depot site (potential proceeds in the region of £500k plus annual savings of £40k) and allowing the lease on Pallion Depot to expire (annual saving of £21k).

Actual 2015/16

Actual2015/16

£785.00

Q2

Actual2016/17

Budget2018/19

£737.09

Actual2017/18

£737.64£812.00

Q2

Responsive repairs direct cost per property Major works direct cost per property

Property related Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

£857.00

Q2

66

Q2

70

Q2

Target 2018/19

72

Actual 2017/18

70

SAP Rating

Actual 2016/17

Actual 2015/16

£128

Q2

£126

Estate service cost per property

Budget 2018/19

£127

Actual 2017/18

£120

Actual 2016/17

Actual 2015/16

Q3

99.96% 100.00%

% of homes with gas safety certificate

99.15% 99.98%

Q2 Q2

Target 2018/19

Actual 2017/18

Actual 2016/17

Actual 2015/16

71%86% 90%88%

Resident satisfaction with our repairs service

Target 2018/19

Actual 2017/18

Actual 2016/17

Actual 2015/16

Q4Q4


Key



22 | Our property assets

Gas servicing and fire safetyThe 10 month Gas Safety Check programme has proven a success with 10 properties being overdue their safety check as at the end of 2017/18. No access rates for Gas Safety Checks have reduced by 1.8% and the team are preparing to migrate the management and reporting of the Gas Safety Check programme into Promaster, our Asset Management Database, which will further facilitate improved planning of work.

The Group has a range of measures in place to protect customers from fire in our traditional multi-storey buildings. This includes a 24 hour concierge service, monitored alarms within both flats and communal areas, a rigid permit to work policy and daily management checks. Our latest annual Fire Risk Assessments were undertaken by specialist external consultants and as part of our latest modernisation programme one of our towers has also benefitted from the installation of sprinklers as part of our new specification.

We are committed to ensuring the ongoing safety of all of our customers and assurance can be given that appropriate compliance monitoring and risk management is in place. Furthermore, we will ensure we react positively and accordingly with any changes in regulations that may result from the ongoing investigations and public enquiry.

Property achievements in 2017/18:

Works Roofs Gable walls Heating Asbestos removal

Number of properties 101 1,288 1,659 319

Stock condition surveyFollowing the completion of the stock condition survey by Savills during the last period of 2017/18 we have been gaining access to the properties which Savills were unable to and currently have data on 87% of our stock. We have also started on the annual 20% cycle of resurveying the stock to ensure we continue to keep our data on our stock accurate. This enables us to procure work in a planned way, maximising savings.

Asset Management Delivery Plan (AMDP)To support our Asset Strategy during 2017/18 we continued our approach to delivery.

Three key themes run through this Delivery Plan:

1. Stock investment - Activities that maintain the standard of our housing stock to meet customer and regulatory requirements. This is principally achieved through the Investment Plan which is informed by the stock condition survey.

A high level breakdown of what has been delivered during the year is shown below:

2. Active asset management - Activities to improve or replace properties that have poor social, economic or environmental performance, because of low demand or high costs, and either improving them or replacing them with properties which are fit for purpose.

Our stock analysis tool, Asset Performance Evaluation (APE) has been used extensively throughout 2017/18 to assess the financial performance of our assets. This information highlights which properties are non-performing on both a financial and socio-economic basis. The tool looks at a range of data including:• Rental income and void rent loss• Repairs and maintenance expenditure • Future 30 year planned maintenance expenditure• Housing management costs

Further to this, a number of appraisals of properties have been produced providing recommendations for their future sustainability and will provide information to the board for decisions to be made in 2018/19.

3. Supporting wider objectives - Being clear where and how asset management is supporting wider objectives, such as the development of new homes and developing communities’ in-line with our five strategic aims.

The packaging of our contracts using the stock condition information we have will facilitate significant savings. The contract for roofs and gables will deliver an estimated saving of £1m, with future savings targeted at 10% of budget.


Review of repairs and maintenance The implementation of the change plan associated with the review of our repairs and maintenance service is well underway. The multi-skilling programme is 70% complete and operational changes are planned to facilitate the implementation of our staffs’ new skills. Early signs of a positive impact can be seen in our Right First Time and Follow on Work KPIs.

Changes made to help manage customer expectations regarding repairs have resulted in a decrease in the number of repairs reported (1,342 fewer repairs per month). This includes introducing a ‘technical induction’ for new customers and the continuation of our ‘Fixed Over the Phone’ initiative. Self-help videos providing advice on basic repairs are also now available on our website.

The use of sub-contractors and agency staff was dramatically reduced throughout 2017/18 with work transferring to our trades staff. This generated a reduction in sub-contractor and agency costs of £1.37m.

Arrangements are underway to outsource the maintenance stores function which will bring efficiencies estimated at £1.15m over the next 5 years.

The overall impact of these improvements to service improvement and the drive for efficiency can be seen in the average cost of repairs carried out reducing from £116 in 2016/17 to £110 in 2017/18 with an improvement in waiting times for repairs from 22 days in 2016/17 to 18 days in 2017/18.

24 | Property achievements in 2016/17

The use of sub-contractors and agency staff was reduced generating a reduction of £1.37m in costs.

Moving forwardProcurementFollowing the detailed stock survey we have now developed a four year procurement programme and individual contract trackers that identify programme key tasks and responsibilities. Frameworks are being developed for key expenditure projects and a procurement strategy agreed for all other projects. We have appointed a new Assistant Director of Procurement who has been tasked with obtaining savings of 10% against budget on all Investment Plan procurement.

Commercial properties Turnover and performance on our commercial asset portfolio, which comprises retail and office units, has reduced due to the loss of two major tenants and fair value adjustments to the holding value, with a gross yield of 6.89%. The Group has a strategy for disposal of the majority of the commercial portfolio and we have agreed terms for disposal of a number of properties and are actively marketing others. This is part of our Business Strategy which sets out our desire to return to core business. Sale proceeds from these properties will be used to reinvest into the core products and services provided by the Group.


VfM remains at the forefront of our development programme. During 2017/18 we achieved 170 sales, generating sales turnover of £39m with profits redeployed to support the Group to meet its strategic aims. In addition, 114 properties were built for affordable rent. External development funding of £21.8m was repaid six months early with interest savings of £80k. In addition, new external funding of £7.4m was sourced for four schemes to deliver 216 homes.

The delivery team ensure that VfM is achieved through phased build and sale releases to control stock levels and selective use of sale incentives/offers.

We continue to be disciplined in our approach to sourcing land, working closely with both the public and private sector.

ConstructionStrengthening of the construction delivery programme was identified as a key requirement and the Company has recently appointed a Construction Director.

This is already providing benefits with a more focussed approach to build programmes, sub-contractor partnering and quality control. Ultimately this will improve the customer journey and ensure targets are achieved.

Sales and part exchangeCompetitors are increasingly offering part exchange as a sales incentive. To remain competitive, we have increased our Part Exchange budget facility to £2m. Strict criteria are used with close management of the stock, ensuring a current average turn-around time of 4.8 months.

Efficiency savingsThe principles of VfM are embedded throughout the house building function with cashable savings evidenced in our Value for Money Tracker (Appendix 1) totalling £325k.

House building

26 | House building

During 2017/18, we achieved 170 sales, generating sales turnover of £39m with profits redeployed to support the Group to meet its strategic aims.

House building achievements in 2017/18:

Moving forwardThe future business plan is based on a period of consolidation with the focus on achieving build programmes and sales rates, ensuring a minimum of a 4 Star rating for customer satisfaction from the National House Building Council, all delivered within a safe working environment. The aim is to deliver an average of 215 sale homes per year over the next 3 years, which will generate

average operating profits of £3.5m per year to be reinvested to achieve the strategic aims of the Group.

In addition, Gentoo Homes and Developments will work with the Group to scope out an Affordable Homes Plan, with clear aspirations to deliver additional new build rental properties to be held within the Group over the coming years.


6.4

Q1

6.0

7.96.8

Q2

Our people assets

28 | Our people assets

This is the fourth year Gentoo has been recognised in Stonewall's Workplace Equality Index for our approach to lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) inclusivity.

This year we achieved third place on Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index, an annual audit of workplace culture for lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) staff. We were the only housing association to make it into the top ten inclusive employers for 2018. We were also named as one of Stonewall’s Top Trans Inclusive Employers, by going above and beyond to ensure trans and non-binary colleagues feel included in the workplace.

Even with the continued implementation of the transition project, performance against KPIs in relation to staff sickness and turnover remained strong, a reflection of the commitment of staff and the approach taken by the Group during this time:

Actual 2015/16

Actual 2016/17

Target 2018/19

Actual 2017/18

Q3

16.00

Q2

4.00

13.30

26.80

Staff turnover (%)

People VfM analysis

Actual 2015/16

Actual 2016/17

Target 2018/19

Actual 2017/18

Average working days lost

* Organisations ranked within top 10 for at least 3 out of 5 years in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index

2014/15

3 3

2015/16

32016/17

32017/18*


• Voluntary turnover remains low at 4.9%, against an industry average of 7.5% (Source: Xperthr ‘Review of Pay Awards 2016 – Not for Profit – Housing Associations).

• Average working days lost through sickness has increased from 6.4 days to 7.9 days per employee in 2017/18. This figure is lower than the Housing Sector median of 9 days.

Long term sickness in 2017/18 contributes to 67% of the overall sickness absence. This has increased from 61% in 2016/17. Long term health issues are associated with both mental and physical health conditions, typical within the sector.

Key



30 | Our people assets

Moving forwardMoving forward we will continue to support our vision to have inspired people through the delivery of our People Strategy. A key focus will be on strengthening the culture of the organisation and addressing the key issues identified through our Governance and Culture Review.

We will be building on the successful launch of MyView to introduce the talent

management functionality that will manage employee appraisals, performance management, talent identification and succession planning.

Another key focus will be on further developing our management and leadership capability.

We have encouraged openness about mental health in 2017/18 and continue to invest in mental health support for employees. Our aim is to encourage employees to feel comfortable talking about issues of mental health in the workplace and removing the stigma from the subject. As part of this initiative, we have trained 45 staff members as Mental Health First Aiders and 58 Domestic Abuse Champions. We also have a dedicated occupational health service and employee assistance programme and engage in national health and wellbeing campaigns to promote awareness round specific health issues.

PensionsAs an initial step in the review of our pension provisions, the Group successfully negotiated with Tyne and Wear Pension Fund to negate a proposed increase of £2.74m in pension contributions by the Group over the next 3 years. The position (shown as an annual saving in the Tracker) is now fixed until March 2020.

HR and payroll systemWe have launched the self-service elements of our HR and payroll system during the year, ensuring that managers and employees have access to all of the information they need. MyView provides managers with greater autonomy in managing their employees. It has also created efficiencies (equivalent to 1 FTE and a saving of £25k) within our practices through the review of our key people processes.

Talent managementWe have a strong track record of developing talent and supporting people to be the best they can be. This year we have introduced talent management into our performance management frameworks, ensuring that we are able to identify future talent and develop a succession pipeline of future leaders.

Our achievements with our people in 2017/18:

LearningIn 2017/18, we have continued to invest in the learning and development of our people to support them to work safely and effectively. During the year we facilitated 4,230 days (compared to 3,548 in 2016/17) of formal learning, in over 11,000 separate interventions. This equates to each person having an average of 9.2 formal learning opportunities and investing 3.5 days on their development.

Following the launch of our formal multiskilling training programme last year, 92 members of our Repairs and Maintenance Team have successfully completed their Level 2 NVQ in Multi Trade Repair and Refurbishment with City of Sunderland College. A further 32 people are currently studying and are due to complete in the coming months. The introduction of multi-skilling will increase the number of customer repairs we complete on the first visit and is a key contributor to service improvement and savings delivered by repairs and maintenance.

We have continued to deliver more programmes internally to ensure the right quality of training delivery whilst achieving cost savings. 426 safety training interventions were delivered internally, saving over £37k when compared to procuring them externally.

Health and safety The Group is committed to health and safety and ensures the Group Board and Risk and Audit Committee receive timely and accurate information to demonstrate the Group’s health and safety performance. The Group Board is responsible for approving the Group’s Health and Safety Policy which has been revised in 2017/18. The input of residents into health and safety monitoring is also built in to the operations and management committee agendas who review matters in relation to community safety, safeguarding, positive engagement and victim support.

This year we have invested heavily in engaging staff in health and safety, with more than 7,000 hours of training delivered across the business. This included workshops for our senior managers and board members on Health and Safety Leadership Excellence. Delivering a high proportion of the training internally has saved over £37k against externally procured courses. Our mandatory training compliance rate was 100%.

Gender payThis year also saw the Group publish its first Gender Pay Gap (GPG) data in line with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap information) Regulations which came into force in 2017. The Group reported a mean of 11.1% and a median GPG of 14.6%. The main reasons for the Group’s pay gap is a larger male (60%) workforce than female (40%)

workforce. This point is emphasised by the significantly higher proportion of males than females currently employed in the upper (71.9%) and upper mid quartiles (75.6%). It is worth noting that within the lower mid and upper quartiles the Group has a GPG figure in favour of female employees.

We have implemented a number of initiatives to mitigate our GPG which includes; talent management, salary benchmarking, a review of our recruitment methods, in particular for trade and senior positions as well as gender monitoring of key people data such as internal promotion rates.

Value for Money Self-Assessment 2017/18 | 31Value for Money Self-Assessment 2017/18 | 31

Actual2016/17

Actual2015/16

Actual2017/18

Our community, social and environmental impacts

32 | Our community, social and environmental impacts Value for Money Self-Assessment 2017/18 | 33

Actual2015/16

Target2018/19

100.00%

Actual2017/18

100.00%

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) cases closed/ successfully resolved

Our community, social and environmental impacts

2,457 2,340

5,176

Number of volunteering hours

2,205 2,000

3,456

Direct Emissions Carbon Footprint (tCO2e)

3,449

3,200

6,395

Number of beneficiaries of volunteering work

Customer voiceWe work with our customers to help us to improve our services. We have a model for involvement and engagement that we co-created with customers. This provides a range of opportunities for customers to be involved and ensure that their voices are heard. During 2017/18, we made eight service improvements, ‘You said, we did,’ as a direct result of customer feedback. To complement our engagement structures, we have a number of volunteers who contribute their time to make a difference in local communities. This year they gave more than 1,900 hours of their time.

During 2018/19, we will be carrying out a fundamental review of both the way in which we structure and deliver volunteering initiatives. The way in which we measure the impact of these will therefore change.

At the start of 2017 we held a customer recognition event to celebrate the achievements of our involved customers. It was attended by more than 45 customers alongside our Chairman, Keith Loraine OBE. The event was held not only to say ‘thank you’ but to give customers the opportunity to network and share their views.

Supporting customersWe continue to provide a range of support services for victims of crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB) though our Community Safety and Safeguarding Team. This year, a total of 212 customers have been supported, with 71% of new cases involving victims of domestic abuse. Our Positive Engagement Team provides support to perpetrators of ASB and customers with complex needs to make positive changes and during 2016/17, 157 customers accessed this service. Our approach includes the Safety, Support and Crisis project, funded through the Big Lottery Fund for 3 years from 2016/17 with a total contribution of £474k.

Supported housingFollowing a significant reduction in housing related support funding from the local authority for the services we deliver to older and younger people, we carried out a fundamental service review and restructure.

By reshaping our delivery model and effectively consulting with all affected customers we have implemented revised service charges which have enabled us to continue to deliver comprehensive services for some of our most vulnerable customers.

Planet Smart Throughout the last year we have been embedding our Planet Smart Charter across the Group. The Charter was created to reduce the impact of our Group on the environment and focuses on three key themes of energy, waste and transport. As each of these themes are intrinsically linked to cost, making improvements across these areas not only delivers environmental benefits but often delivers financial savings too.

We have completed some really valuable projects over the past 12 months, embedding Planet Smart behaviours and financial savings that have contributed toward a reduction in our carbon footprint of 24% for 2017/18 compared to 2016/17 and 16% per FTE over the same period. The highlights are:

• An interactive staff training programme

• Installation of power management software on all of our ICT assets saving £6,500 per annum on energy.

• Commencement of a composting trial to maximise waste reduction, reuse and recycling.

• Continuation of a low emission and electric pool car facility, saving £2,500 per annum compared to employees use of own vehicles.

• Reorganisation within the repairs and maintenance service reducing fuel usage by 65,383 litres per annum since 2016/17, equating to £81,010 of on-going savings.

Community, social and environmental achievements in 2017/18:

99.18%

Actual2016/17

96.55%

Actual2015/16

Actual2017/18

Actual2016/17

2,897

Actual2015/16

Target2018/19

Actual2017/18

Actual2016/17

Money Matters Team Our Money Matters Team continue to support some of our most financially vulnerable customers, offering help with claiming benefits, budgeting and consolidating debt. During 2017/18 the team received 1,327 referrals for money advice and support and the financial gain to customers was £914k. Since the team were introduced in 2014, they have awarded £30k of funding to those at crisis point and supported more than 6,500 customers to claim more than £2million worth of unclaimed benefits. The work of this team is fully integrated with the rest of operations and plays a significant role in contributing to the positive performance of operations overall.

Solar PV and the Empower Community FundThe Group has more than 5,600 properties with solar panels generating low carbon, affordable electricity for our customers. Following the first transfer of 2,333 PV systems to Empower Community Solar (ECS), a second transfer of another 3,011 systems and the associated Feed-in Tariff (FiT) is now complete.

This arrangement has enabled the Group to recover the up-front investment costs, whilst ensuring the affordable supply of energy to our customers. In addition, an innovative profit share agreement is in place between ECS and Gentoo that sees 40% of the profit generated by FiT income allocated to a community fund. This fund was established in 2016 and is called the Empower Sunderland Community Fund. The fund is independent to Gentoo but has staff and customer representation on a decision-making panel with grants being awarded to community projects in the Sunderland area. Ten community projects have already benefitted from this fund with £72k being allocated to those projects.

Fuel povertyThe Group currently has some properties without a direct gas supply. During the year the Group has been in discussions to agree gas connection funding of up to £2m (depending on the number of gas connections) to assist with district heating solutions. By future proofing this area with gas connections, our customers could potentially see a reduction in unit price by 4p-5p, based on current gas prices.

We are developing strong networks across the energy and technology industries to provide our customers with free access to innovative energy saving product trials. The fully funded trials are providing eight of our homes with free batteries and Smart Controls to the value of £30k with a further eight planned for next year on a second trial. These trials could save the customers between 30% and 50% on their energy bills as well as giving them free access to the internet.

The Group now has eight Fuel Debt Champions and 13 Energy Advice Champions who received free training through our membership and partnership with National Energy Action (NEA), a saving of almost £4k.

WiseStepsIn November 2016 we were successfully awarded £215k from the Big Lottery and the European Social Fund (ESF) to deliver the WiseSteps project between April 2017 and April 2019. The project aims to increase employability and improve wellbeing to help some of those furthest from the job market to overcome the challenges they may face in finding employment. The project complements the work we do through our Money Matters Team and our community coaching programme ‘Be’. The target for year one was to have 100 customers signed up to the programme in order to deliver 12 months of coaching in year two, and as at April 2018 we had a total of 101 participants.

34 | Our community, social and environmental impacts Value for Money Self-Assessment 2017/18 | 35

Our plans for the future

36 | Our plans for the future Value for Money Self-Assessment 2017/18 | 37

Strategy Action Strategic Aim

VfM Objective

Finance Implement the findings of the Treasury Review. 2 and 5 2 and 3

Finance Continue with the Sector Scorecard and align future performance management to this and the VfM Metrics. 2 and 5 1, 4 and 9

Finance Achieve VfM efficiency targets of £2.8m by March 2020 (£1.1m achieved already in 2017/18). 5 2

Asset Embark on the 125 affordable homes programme as approved by Group Board. 2 and 4 2 and 3

Asset Progress with the commercial property sales and operating property portfolio review. 2 and 5 2, 3 and 4

Asset Progress with outsourcing our maintenance stores provision. 2 and 4 3 and 6

CustomerContinue to identify opportunities for customers to self-serve online, improving both the accessibility and efficiency of the services.

1 3, 6 and 8

Customer Continue to work with our development arm to attain a NHBC builders rating of four stars. 1 and 2 3 and 8

Customer and Finance

A further piece of work to analyse the cost value of our support service is underway to ensure that they are effective and efficient.

4 1 and 5

People and Asset

Review reward and recognition following feedback received during 16/17. 3 7

People

Further embed the introduction of talent management into the Group's performance management framework, ensuring focussed development opportunities to support staff in achieving their potential.

3 7

VfM is fundamental to the Group’s planning process across the organisation. Many of our plans for improving VfM are now embedded in our corporate strategies and business plans. The key actions to highlight for 2018/19 are as follows:

Achieving VfM to support the Group’s vision, values and strategic aims is of criticial importance to the Group. We believe our on-going journey in relation to VfM ensures this is the case. We are looking to refresh our VfM framework over the coming year with the Board.

Who? What?Annualised

Net Cash Saving

Annualised Net Non-Cash

Saving

One-off / Ongoing

Initiatives under way and saving quantified

Operations Automated pro-forma created to capture monthly performance data for Neighbourhood Co-ordinators. £37,225 Ongoing

Operations Renewal of Allpay payment services contract. £16,667 Ongoing

Repairs and maintenance Reduction in usage and spend on sub-contractors. More work to be carried out by the in-house team.

Overall saving of £1,336,179 Ongoing

Repairs and maintenance Reduction in agency staff usage and cost.

Repairs and maintenance Change in customer responsibility in relation to flooring (floor tiles) and w.c. seat renewal.

Repairs and maintenance Introduction of 'Fixed Over the Phone' for certain repairs to avoid unnecessary home visits.

Repairs and maintenance Two Trade and one Technical Inspector post not backfilled.

Repairs and maintenance Three vehicles off hired - lease cost savings.

Repairs and maintenance Wet room floor replacement/renewal now carried out in house.

38 | Appendix 1 - Vfm Tracker

Appendix 1 - VfM Tracker 2017/18Our VfM Steering Group is responsible for ensuring all efficiencies are tracked across the business - they do this through a VfM Tracker. The success of this can be evidenced through a culture of VfM being embedded within the organisation with a wide range of savings and efficiencies that are identified and captured by staff at all levels.

From the table below we show the range of efficiency measures, some of which have resulted in cashable savings supporting us in delivering our VfM targets. Other efficiencies that have been identified are non-financial but have helped to increase productivity, enabling staff to make the best use of their time and deliver improved outcomes.


Net Cash Saving


Saving

One-off / Ongoing

Initiatives under way and saving quantified (continued)

Repairs and maintenance Mould growth eradication treatment now carried out in house.

Repairs and maintenance Manufacture of batten doors in house.

Repairs and maintenance Reduction in miles travelled by trades for repair work (17,271 fewer per period).

Repairs and maintenance Improvement in waiting times for repairs (22 days to 18 days).

Repairs and maintenance Decrease in the average cost of a repair (£116 to £110).

Repairs and maintenance Decrease in the number of repairs carried out (1,342 fewer per period).

Repairs and maintenance Increased focus on recovering rechargeable repairs. £102,653 Ongoing

Corporate Services Review of ISO Assessor consultancy services for ISO27001 re-certification. £6,441 Ongoing

Corporate Services Replacement of insurance management software to streamline process and reduce staff cost. £10,102 Ongoing

Corporate Services GDPR project is driving document retention improvements and will reduce storage requirements including rental storage. TBC Ongoing

Procurement Vehicle trackers extended for one year to reduce rentals. £7,308 Ongoing

Procurement Roofs and gables contract for Asset Investment Year one. £999,115 Variable

Operations/Procurement Renewal and rationalisation of franking machine requirements. £6,000 Ongoing

Homes Early repayment of HCA loan facility (August 2017) to realise savings in external interest charges, facilitated through favourable variance on sales at Gentoo Homes sites. £80,000 Ongoing

Homes Using marketing / show homes from Meadow View Phase One to market Meadow View Phase Two, avoiding design, fit-out and launch costs (estimated). £50,000 One-off




Net Cash Saving


Saving

One-off / Ongoing


Homes Using marketing / show homes from Orwell Grange, Carlton Phase One to market Carlton Phase Two, avoiding design, fit-out and launch costs (estimated). £30,000 One-off

Homes Re-using marketing suite for new Lanchester site launch to avoid marketing another suite (estimated). £10,000 One-off

Homes Site compound at Downhill site retained to avoid reinstatement costs for future, adjacent affordable rent scheme (estimated). £10,000 One-off

Homes Negotiated material rebates from British Gypsum. £15,000 Ongoing

Homes Specification change to insulation from xtratherm cavity insulation to eco-bead (estimated). £100,000 Ongoing

Homes Challenged BT services quotation for High Usworth Site. £15,000 One-off

ICT Review of Orchard systems to remove the out of hours system with licence savings and no impact on the business. £24,000 Ongoing

ICT Review of arrangements for procuring mobile phones, reducing unit cost from £400 to £200. TBC Ongoing

ICT Review of arrangements for procuring hardware. £2,500 Ongoing

ICT Development and integration of Confluence (at no additional cost) to replace Interact Software. £12,000 None Ongoing

ICT Re-purposing of terminals by bringing these up to an agreed level of compliance with Microsoft products, avoiding expected capital spend. £300,000 One-off

ICT Maintenance of video conferencing equipment now undertaken in-house. £11,760 Ongoing

ICT The provision of primary and secondary internet feeds has been reviewed with a small financial saving but significant improvement in connection speed. £1,500 Ongoing


Net Cash Saving


Saving

One-off / Ongoing


Operations Range of savings to exceed VfM target including non-filling of vacant posts, review of third party spend (supplies, use of consultants) and process improvement such as void council tax. £430,000 Ongoing

Operations Review and re-prioritisation of existing duties to transfer 5* posts from housing management into Money Matters Team to focus on income collection and mitigating impact of Universal Credit. £162,000 Ongoing

Finance Re-tender of audit and treasury fees. £18,731 Ongoing

Corporate Services Replacement of confidential waste bins and third party shredding service with shredders. £1,750 Ongoing

Repairs and maintenance Training materials shared through Workplace rather than printed. TBC Ongoing

Customer and Community Team Cancellation of post collection at Silksworth office. £944 Ongoing

Procurement Consolidation of utility supplies to the Group's main supplier. £7,567 Ongoing

Homes Negotiation of free flooring and kitchen to sales office and show homes at Cottier Grange. £7,200 One-off

Homes Negotiation of free redecoration of Oak View Home at Thurcroft development. £4,000 One-off

Homes Recycling of show-home furniture from various schemes rather than buying new as previously done. £700 One-off

Homes Site compound removal cost savings at High Ford site. £880 One-off

Homes Improved utilisation of site compound at Downhill to allow income generation from a third party occupying part of the site. £2,215 One-off

Procurement Re-tender for the supply of office supplies (estimated). £18,000 Ongoing



Net Cash Saving


Saving

One-off / Ongoing


Repairs and maintenance Reduction of call handling to fall in-line with the rest of the business. £6,740 Ongoing

Income Services Saving negotiated in tracing services contract with Call Credit Three Sixty Online. £200 Ongoing

HR and OD Reduction in third party spend on training and uniforms, with an increased focus on high-priority and statutory requirements. £107,396 Ongoing

HR and OD Implementation of manager self-service with greater autonomy for managers and efficiencies within HR working practices. Saving equivalent to one FTE. £25,000 Ongoing

Asset Revised procurement strategy to deliver improved quality, improved programme management, reduced administration as well as reduced costs and extended warranties in support of this objective. TBC Variable

Finance Payment of 2017/18 lump-sum pension in advance to ensure a reduced overall payment. £33,400 Ongoing

Finance Negotiation with Tyne and Wear Pension Fund to negate proposed increase of £2.74m in pension contributions by the Group over the next three years. The position (shown as an annual saving in the Tracker) is now fixed until March 2020. £913,333 Ongoing

£4,722,541 £230,995


Strategic Aim VfM Objective Status Update

Finance Strategy

Undertake a full treasury review. 2 and 5 2 and 3Complete

3

The draft proposal was presented to Group Board and the outline of the first stage of implementation was presented to Group Board in May 2018.

Participate in the pilot of the Sector Scorecard. 2 and 5 1, 4 and 9Complete

3

The Group participated in the Sector Scorecard which is now aligned to the seven VfM metrics required by our regulator. Participation in the scorecard will continue.

Achieve VfM efficiency targets of £6.2 million by March 2020. 5 2 Ongoing


Finance and Asset Strategy

Introduce a trading account within our maintenance division linked to National Federation schedule of rates. 2 and 5 4 Ongoing

The DLO has completed a full review of the Nat Fed v7 SORs and addressed any anomolies. These will be uploaded into Orchard and used to determine financial performance of the DLO. The finance section are reviewing their current reporting arrangements with the DLO and are in the process of agreeing a revised format which will reflect the principles of a trading account.

Procurement of years 2 to 5 of the Investment Plan, with a move towards a Principal Contractor Model. 4 and 5 6 Ongoing

Board approved the procurement approach of large scale, long term contracts with principle contractors in November 2017. Early indications of tenders received to date show a 10% saving on budget.

Appendix 2 - VfM action plansWithin the Group’s supporting strategies are action plans which include actions that help achieve both the Group’s strategic aims and VfM objectives. The key actions (not previously completed) are highlighted below:



Asset Strategy

Review our maintenance stores provision. 2 and 4 3 and 6Complete

3

In December 2017 the Group Board gave approval to outsource the internal stores function. A mini competition through the Cirrus Purchasing Framework was organised in January 2018 and ran throughout March and April to select a merchant with a view to completing the outsourcing by the end of September 2018.

Develop an Affordable Homes Plan to maintain stock numbers as a minimum. 2 and 4 2 and 3 Ongoing

Following discussions at the mid-year review and throughout the business planning stage, an initial pilot of 125 units has been included within the Group's business plan. The detail in relation to the allocation of units between new build, section 106 properties, empty homes and open market purchased is currently being developed.

Progress with the Commercial Property Sales Strategy. 2 and 5 2, 3 and 4 Ongoing We continue to make good progress in this area including the recent sale of Irvin’s restaurant.

We will undertake an independent external stock condition survey of our stock by March 2017, to ensure our investment decisions are driven on the most up to date stock condition data.

2 1 and 3 Ongoing

87% of external and internal surveys completed with full survey set to be complete by October 2018, delays have predominantly been due to issues gaining access to properties. Findings of survey have been used to inform business plan and stress testing.

We will manage the Group’s assets to ensure that investment is correctly targeted to ensure the best rates of return. 2 and 5 4

Complete3

Our Asset Performance Evaluation (APE) asset management tool is now in full use to appraise our stock providing options and recommendations on their long term sustainability, ensuring investment is correctly targeted.

We will continue to review our delivery and revise our procurement arrangements to seek best value for money in supplies and services with a 5% efficiency target on all new procurement arrangements.

4 and 5 6 Ongoing

Work is continuing to ensure work programmes are procured to seek best value using framework arrangements for a four year programme. One contract is almost in place with another three being evaluated, to be awarded by the end of July 2018.



Asset Strategy (continued)

We will review our operational property (offices and depots) which are owned or remain on lease, determining fitness for service delivery to 2020 and beyond in line with the Group’s Customer Strategy.

1,2 and 5 3 Ongoing

A three year programme of works for investment in operational properties, based on the 30 year plan, was approved by Group Board in May 2018. Whilst there is no firm progress on letting the vacant space in Akeler House, there has been a good level of interest given current market conditions. A number of cash desks in area offices have been closed due to low footfall and a review of Group’s office accommodation in the Washington area is underway.

Complete the review of repairs and maintenance by September 2016 with full implementation by March 2018. 1 4 Ongoing

The stores project has progressed in line with the revised timeline and is scheduled to complete in September 2018. Upgrades to the current systems Orchard and DRS are planned in throughout 2018 to facilitate IT advancements such as self serve repair appointments and the raising of follow on work on-site. Due to business commitments it is anticipated that digitalisation of the service in these areas will not be fully completed until 2019.


Asset and Customer Strategy

Continue to review our operational property (offices and depots) which are owned or remain on lease, determining fitness for service delivery to 2020 and beyond, in-line with the Group's Customer Strategy.

1, 2 and 5 3 Ongoing

A review of all office accommodation is underway. Swan Depot is currently marketed and the Estates Team based at Swan will move to Dubmire Depot when the stores are outsourced. The lease on Pallion Depot was relinquished at the end of May 2018 with staff relocated into Wellmere Depot. Concord and Galleries offices are being considered for merging however a suitable location is yet to be found. Cash is no longer taken at the Concord office, this now means we have three cashless offices.



Customer Strategy

Undertake a review of the customer journey within our development arm. 1 and 2 3 and 8Complete

3

The action plan developed following the fundamental review of customer journey is being implemented. Changes already introduced include the agreement of the Customer Charter, breaking down the Customer Journey into three keys stages with internal customer feedback gathered at each stage. Feedback on all the stages of the customer journey is communicated to all site and sales staff, along with monthly reporting to the Gentoo Homes Board.

Undertake a 12-month digital inclusion report 1 3, 6 and 8Complete

3

Our online self-service portal (My Gentoo) was re-launched following a soft launch with a small group of customers with this allowing customers to access services 24/7 including reporting a repair, updating personal details, making a payment and checking account balance. Almost 800 customers have signed up to the new self-service portal. We are not pushing this any further now as we will be migrating onto the Orchard platform. Post stores review (September), we will work on the self-appointing repairs module via Orchard.

Review the feedback frameworks used across the Group and develop a consistent approach to ensure customer views are informing service improvements by March 2017.

1 4Complete

3

The satisfaction review will continue throughout 2018/19 as the methodology used to measure customer satisfaction adapts to the change in service offer.


Customer and People Strategy

Introduce multi-skilling within our maintenance function to improve the customer experience and job satisfaction. 1 and 3 3 and 7 Ongoing

12 Groups with 124 people from repairs and maintenance have been completing the Level 2 NVQ in Multi Trade Repair and Refurbishment with Sunderland College. To date, 92 people have successfully completed the qualification with the remaining 32 due to complete by the end of June.



People Strategy

Full scale roll-out of talent management programme. 2 and 5 3 and 6Complete

3Programme fully rolled-out.

We will review our approaches to internal and external recruitment to ensure they are efficient and effective by December 2016. 5 4

Complete3

Revised recruitment processes have now been implemented following a process mapping exercise.

We will continue to invest in talent management through apprenticeships and other interventions to ensure we have the right people, with the right skills, to deliver our services in the future.

3 7 and 8Complete

3

We currently have 29 apprentices in the business and a further 18 people studying professional qualifications paid through our levy. We are currently reviewing the business requirements for apprenticeship vacancies for 2018.

Understand the return on investment in our people assets and ensure evidence of VfM on all human resources and organisational development services is readily available by June 2016.

5 4Complete

3Complete.

Review of reward and recognition across the Group. 3 7 Ongoing

A reward and recognition project group has commenced in April 2018. This will be considering further the market analysis of flexible reward and putting forward recommendations on matters relating to reward and recognition across the Group.


Subsidiary Business Plans

Transfer the feed in tariff of 3,000 solar panel units to Empower Community Solar. 2 and 4 6 and 8

Complete3

Complete.


Gentoo Group Limited, Emperor House, 2 Emperor Way, Doxford International Business Park, Sunderland, SR3 3XR.

www.gentoogroup.com

Gentoo Group Limited is a charitable community benefit society, registration number 7302

value for money self-assessment 2017/18 · 2018-10-10 · our five strategic aims ... ensure we...

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