2
Annual report - a key component of co-regulation
• sets out the service offer, including any local offer(s)
• a commitment to deliver the offer
• underpinned by a “warts and all” self-assessment
• an effective transparency and accountability tool
• format and performance information tenants need
• tenant involvement in its production
3
Annual report - a key component of co-regulation
• > 1000 properties - proportionate approach
• due October
• share with the TSA
• done properly – centre-piece of tenant scrutiny and co-regulation
4
What happened?
• “near universal response rate”
• 98.3% have published
• 99.7% including extensions
• TSA has commissioned National Tenant Organisations to explore 2010 submissions from a tenant’s perspective
• due soon
• will help with 2011 submission
5
Review of regulation - co-regulation even more important?
• compliant with localism and transparency agendas
• consumer regulation becomes consumer protection
• from bureaucratic to democratic accountability
• armchair auditors = tenant scrutiny = reduced regulation
• no requirement to cc TSA in to annual report
6
Review of regulation - co-regula-tion even more important?
• tenant scrutiny beefed up
• agree with tenants the provision of timely, useful information
• support & recognise tenant panels
• regulator to address serious failures to implement effective scrutiny
• new involvement & empowerment standard pending
7
HouseMark’s observations
• commitment to co-regulation and improving tenant scrutiny
• quality varies – improvement required• self-assessment – more robust & honest,
less of a PR stunt
• involve tenants in the process
• clear articulation of offer & associated standards
• reporting performance• the right info in the right format
• tenants want cost and performance comparisons to judge VFM
• a compelling performance story
• more from Mark
8
Our experience
• Produced toolkit – 250 enquiries
• 12 tenant groups facilitated
• 20 reports produced
• Reports on compliance produced
• Tenant award for Optima report
Here is some basic information about the five standards that
need to be reported on in the annual report.
Customer serviCe, ChoiCe and Complaints• Providechoices,informationandcommunicationthatisappropriatetothediverseneedsoftheirtenantsinthedeliveryofallstandards.
• Haveanapproachtocomplaintsthatisclear,simpleandaccessiblethatensuresthatcomplaintsareresolvedpromptly,politelyandfairly.involvement and empowerment • Offeralltenantsawiderangeofopportunitiestobeinvolvedinthemanagementoftheirhousing,includingtheabilitytoinfluencestrategicpriorities,theformulationofhousing-relatedpoliciesandthedeliveryofhousing-relatedservices.
• Consultwiththeirtenantsandactingreasonablyinprovidingthemwithopportunitiestoagreelocaloffersforservicedelivery.• ProvidetenantswitharangeofopportunitiestoinfluencehowprovidersmeetalltheTSA’sstandardsandtoscrutinisetheirperformanceagainstallstandardsandinthedevelopmentoftheannualreport.
• Providesupporttotenantstobuildtheircapacitytobemoreeffectivelyinvolved.understanding and responding to the diverse needs of tenants• Treatalltenantswithfairnessandrespect.• Demonstratethattheyunderstandthedifferentneedsoftheirtenants,includinginrelationtothesevenequalitystrandsandtenantswithadditionalsupportneeds.
standards summary
Word association annual report to tenants toolkit
1. tenant involvement and empowerment
This covers:• Customer service, choice and complaints
• Involvement and empowerment• Understanding and responding to the diverse needs of tenants
As well as being a standard in its own right tenant involvement is a theme that cuts across each of the other standards. The guidance note states that: “The report shall detail how tenants have been involved in producing and scrutinising the report”.
Providers should consider a range of ways to carry out this involvement which should begin at the earliest stage possible. It should begin with tenants being involved in decisions about the format and style of the annual report as well as its content.
Many will assume the report will be in a newsletter format but other options should be considered including video, meetings, ezines and other new media approaches.
As part of this discussion, consideration should be given on how to communicate with excluded or other hard to reach groups. Ensuring the information presented is accessible to all needs to be central to the discussion.
This consultation could take place in a variety of ways including surveys and focus groups and should continue right the way through the annual report production process with tenants giving feedback on the proposed ways in which each standard has been reported on and presented. It would, for example, be valuable to get tenants’ feedback on the preferred ways of presenting figures such as tables, charts or graphs.
Careful management of this process needs to take place ensuring that tenants have their say at key stages but do not slow down the process by becoming an editorial panel approving and vetting every draft.
TenAnT InvolvemenT And ScruTIny
word ASSocIATIon AnnuAl reporT To TenAnTS ToolkIT
“Tenants should be involved in decisions about the format and style of the annual report.”
As well as producing performance information about their own organisation for the annual report, providers are also expected to show how this compares with their peers.
This is nothing new, housing annual
reports should already include information
from other, often local, providers.
In any event, the new framework should
be seen as an opportunity to challenge
organisations to take this even further by
providing more accessible and more useful
comparative information.
This is clearly good practice as figures
presented in isolation can often be
meaningless. This is one of the areas where
honesty and openness will be most apparent,
providers should make a proper comparison
both locally and nationally and not just
compare against those organisations they
perform better than. They should also
demonstrate trends in performance over
three to five year periods.
In addition providers also need to
demonstrate how the information has been
benchmarked and validated by credible,
independent external organisations.
exTernAl vAlIdATIon, peer revIew And benchmArkIng
word ASSocIATIon AnnuAl reporT To TenAnTS ToolkIT
“The new framework should be seen as an opportunity to provide more accessible and useful comparative information.”
In addition to meeting
the new standards, the
TSA wants landlords to
come up with their own
‘local offers’.
“At local level providers develop their
services offer in response to local priorities,”
explains the TSA document. “These local
offers [are] a set of policies set by landlords
and their tenants that relate directly to
local circumstances.”
During the consultation that shaped the
regulations, housing providers and tenants
expressed concern about how they should
define local. Though this is addressed in the
framework it remains a work in progress.
Help is on the way though when the findings
from 37 organisations involved in the TSA
standards pilot go public. We will update
the toolkit when this information becomes
available. It is likely that housing providers
will already be offering some services that
could form part of the local offers. These
would be in areas such as supported and
sheltered housing, lettings policies, estate
management plans, regeneration projects,
voluntary transfers, devolved budgets etc.
It is also worth having a look at the ‘Find
and Compare Landlords’ section on the TSA
website. While, somewhat controversially,
the information here is not localised it shows
something of what the TSA is aiming to
aspire to.
locAl ServIce offerS
word ASSocIATIon AnnuAl reporT To TenAnTS ToolkIT
“Housing providers
and tenants expressed concern
about how they should define local.”
We would recommend
your organisation’s annual
report follows a similar
format to the TSA’s
standards themselves.
For example first there
would be the standard,
the area it covers, how
you are currently meeting
the standard and how
you are measuring your
compliance.
When reporting on your performance on
standards, the TSA also wants you to “note
any gaps and associated improvement plans”.
This suggests that the TSA are looking for
something more than positive spin, what
they want is an honest and open appraisal of
performance that sets out where things could
be improved.
This will be a big test for communication
professionals within organisations who may
feel under pressure to present just positive
information. In all our communications
work, we always recommend an honest
and ethical approach is taken and believe
that a balanced presentation of information
gives your organisation more credibility
and is ultimately more likely to facilitate
engagement.
It also needs to be borne in mind that
because of the importance of these reports
any statements made will need to stand up
to not just tenant’s scrutiny but potentially
the more intense scrutiny of the regulator.
Care needs to be taken about how less
positive aspects are reported on and it is vital
that this information is presented alongside
plans that set out how performance will be
improved. The reports also need to look to
the future setting out how your organisation
will continue to improve standards over the
next year.
AnnuAl reporT conTenTword ASSocIATIon AnnuAl reporT To TenAnTS ToolkIT
“Any statements
made will need to
stand up to the more
intense scrutiny of
the regulator.”
Clearly the standards, and
how your organisation is
performing against them,
will form an important
part of the content of the
annual report.
There Are SIx STAndArdS:
1. Tenant involvement and empowerment
2. Home
3. Tenancy
4. Neighbourhood and community
5. Value for money
6. Governance and financial viability –
there is no requirement to report on
this standard.
Within each standard there is detailed
information about what they cover, the
required outcomes and specific expectations.
These, of course, all need to be understood
in detail if you are to report against them
effectively. See the Standards Summary
leaflet for the required outcomes, and where
relevant specific expectations, for the areas
covered in each standard.
The STAndArdSword ASSocIATIon AnnuAl reporT To TenAnTS ToolkIT
“Find out detailed
information on
required outcomes
and specific
expectations.”
The information that
confirms the need for an
annual report to tenants
appears on page 40 of the
regulatory framework. It
states the following:
1 All standards (except for the Governance
and Financial Viability Standard) have a
requirement that providers shall set out
their service offer for their tenants and
then meet these commitments.
2 All providers shall by 1 October in each
year publish a report for their tenants
(and shared with the TSA) on how they
are meeting the TSA standards, including
their local offers. We do not want to be
overly prescriptive as to the format of
this report. As far as possible we expect
providers to use information that is
already collected and is therefore ‘used
and useful’. This report should:
• Assess how the provider is currently
meeting the standards, including how
they measure their compliance.
• Note any gaps and associated
improvement plans.
• Include the provider’s offer to tenants
against the standards over the next
year, including local service offers.
3 The reports must include reference to
how the provider has gained assurance
on the outcomes reported, including
how tenants have been involved in
scrutinising performance and, where
appropriate, use of external validation,
peer review and benchmarking.
4 We will adopt a proportionate approach
to reporting requirements for those
providers owning fewer than 1,000
properties. Providers with fewer than
25 properties do not need to produce a
separate annual report to their tenants.
5 The report shall detail how tenants
have been involved in producing and
scrutinising the report. To support this,
the TSA will work with stakeholder partners,
tenants and landlords to develop approaches
to annual reports that assist in their
preparation in a co-regulatory manner.
6 Timetable – the annual report for each
year ending 31 March shall be made
available to tenants (and the TSA) by no
later than 1 October.
7 For the first report in October 2010, we
expect providers to set out their plans
for developing locally tailored offers and,
where this is not possible, to provide a
progress update for their tenants. We
would be prepared to accept limited
extensions to this date in the first year
only, where the provider can demonstrate
this is reasonable and has advised its
tenants and us in advance.
The guIdAnceword ASSocIATIon AnnuAl reporT To TenAnTS ToolkIT
The Tenant Services
Authority’s regulatory
framework for social
housing came into force on
1 April 2010.
The standards aim to put the 8 million people
who live in social rented or shared ownership
housing in control. They affect 1,800
landlords including housing associations,
stock owning councils and ALMOs.
The emphasis is on ‘robust self-regulation’
by boards and councillors and as part of this,
social housing landlords have to produce a
report for tenants on how they are meeting
the standards. Reports on performance to
tenants have always been important but
under the new regime they will be the
landlord’s key document, not only to tenants
but also the regulator.
The reports have to be published by
1 October each year, the first one due this
year, 2010. The TSA have said they do not
want to be “overly prescriptive about the
format of the report” and there is only a
small amount of information about content.
So here to fill the gap is Word Association’s
toolkit for annual reports to tenants under
the TSA’s new regulatory framework. It’s
based on our research into the standards
and discussions with clients, consultants
and trade organisations. To back this up is
Word Association’s 20 years of experience
of working in social housing, involving
tenants and writing, designing and producing
accessible information for the sector.
InTroducTIon
TSA regulATory frAmework for SocIAl houSIngword ASSocIATIon AnnuAl reporT To TenAnTS ToolkIT
“Under the new
regime annual
reports to tenants
will be the landlord’s
key document.”
9
Facilitating tenant involvement
TSA Annual Report Survey
1. Please rank in order of importance to you the six TSA standards in the regulatoryframework? (Score the most important 1 and the least important 5)
Governance and financial viabilityHomeNeighbourhood Management and Community Tenant involvement and empowermentTenancyValue for money
2. How would you prefer to read the text? (choose one option)Chatty and informal (friendly, aimed at you)Plain and formal (lots of short sentences)
3. How would you prefer the design? (choose one option)Creative, something a bit differentNeat and clear
4. Do you think graphs and charts make figures easier to understand?Yes No
5. Other than a printed report, are there any other ways you would like to receive thisinformation
…....................................................................................................................................
6. Tell us something about how you have been involved in the production of this annualreport and what you felt about this session
…....................................................................................................................................…....................................................................................................................................…....................................................................................................................................
7. Any other comments
…....................................................................................................................................
LHA Co-ops Annual Report Residents Focus GroupAgenda
1. LHA Co-ops and annual reports – some background
2. Who is the report aimed at? – our residents
3. What do we have to report? – the TSA guidance
4. What’s the message to our readers?
5. What’s going to be in it?
6. What do we want to sound like? Chatty, informal or something else
7. What do we want it to look like? Compare with others
8. Making figures easy to understand, what works best for you?
9. How have you been involved
10. How we know we’ve done a good job
11. Other ways to get our message across
10
What do tenants want
A document that has...
• Clarity
• Plain-ness
• Short articles
• Simple charts
• Relevance
1514
our performance
How we meet our current service standards
Key G good performance
A average performance
R unsatisfactory performance
improving performance
performance has stayed the same
performance has worsened
Customer care face to face
How did we do?
Trend
Our staff
Staff will carry ID cards when visiting you in your home G
Our offices
Our offices will be clean, safe, welcoming, and accessible, with a range of relevant information on display
G
Our opening times will be clearly displayed and we will stay open for our published hours
G
When you visit us
Our receptionist will acknowledge you within 5 minutes and deal with your enquiry as soon as possible
G
We’ll do out best not to keep you waiting longer than five minutes if you have a appointment
G
Appointments
We’ll do our best to offer you an appointment with a specific member of staff within 5 days of your request
G
Notify you in advance if we are unable to keep an appointment G
Customer care communication
How did we do?
Trend
When you telephone us
Answer telephones between 8.45am and 5.15pm (4.15pm on Fridays)
A
Answer telephone calls promptly G
Staff will answer the phone with an appropriate greeting and give you their name G
Out of hours
Provide an out of hours service when our offices are closed G
When you write to us
We will answer letters and emails in full within 10 working days G
Provide information
Provide 6 copies of Say Optima every year G
Translations into other formats provided on request G
Dealing with Complaints
Respond to complaints positively and within 10 working days (we will do our best to respond within this timescale, although there will be occasions where a complaint may take longer to resolve – for example if we need to order extra parts for a repair)
A
Anti Social Behaviour
How did we do?
Trend
Respond within 1 working day to complaints that involve threats, violence, destruction of property or serious harassment
G
All other complaints of ASB will be responded to within 5 working days G
Arrange an interview with the complainant within 5 working days and agree a way forward
G
We will consider support mechanisms for the complainant G
We will consider support mechanisms available for the perpetrator G
We will have contacted the perpetrator within 10 working days after interviewing the complainant
G
If the nuisance continues we will consider a range of options with the complainant and report to Tenancy Conditions Panel within 60 days
G
If the case goes to court we will provide witness support to complainants G
11
1
Annual Report 2010
my friendsWith a little help from
4 5
the house that Jack built
highlights of the last year
Tenants are the largest group on Optima’s Board of Management.
We catch up with one of the newest recruits, Nasser Mugisha, so see how he’s been finding the challenge of running a housing association.
What estate do you live on Nasser? Lee Bank
What do you do for a living? I am a National Sales Manager in a print and online advertising company.
Why did you become a Board Director? To play a part in improving people’s standard of living.
What have you got out of it so far? Through a structured induction programme I have gained a good understanding of Optima, its objectives and purpose. I have also learnt the basics of what is required to be an effective contributor towards strategic decisions at board level. However there is more to learn and I am looking forward to applying myself to the benefit of the tenants and Optima as a whole.
What is the hardest thing about being a Board Director?The amount of information we have to go through, as well as keeping on top of all the news feeds about the market.
Spot
light
on
Nass
er M
ugish
a We take a look back at the highlights of the last year and despite the doom and gloom of recession, Attwood Green was full of success stories.
Celebrating 10 years of regeneration
This was the year we worried about swine flu, but we didn’t let it stop us celebrating our 10th birthday.
With the help of resident volunteers and staff, we celebrated the area’s local heroes and green fingered gardeners at an awards night.
We took photos of as many residents, staff and partners that we could coax in front of a camera for our Faces of Attwood Green project. We’ve used those photos here. Can you spot yourself?
Local people doing it for themselves
Simone Price started to work for herself providing help to people at home. Jayne Ison has her own small business creating novelty and wedding cakes.
Dancing diva
Attwood Green’s own dancing diva, 16-year-old Tyra-shai Allen won over the youngsters of the Attwood Green Play Project with her talent as a dancer and choreographer. The end result was a Christmas performance by the children for their family and friends.
Money advice strengthened
Circul-8 Credit Union employed Natalie Brade as their new development officer.
“Excellent service, right attitude – well done!” F Erabi
Optima Community AssociationAnnual report
12
S 01
M 02
T 03
W 04
T 05
F 06
S 07
S 08
M 09
T 10
W 11
T 12
F 13
S 14
S 15
M 16
T 17
W 18
T 19
F 20
S 21
S 22
M 23
T 24
W 25
T 26
F 27
S 28
S 29
M 30
T 31
May 2011
Prince Albert, GloucesterRunner Up, Community Garden
Clear spring bedding when flowers fade
17
We work with 10 local authorities to let our properties. In 2009/2010 the breakdown of lettings by local authorities was:
43 Cheltenham
2 Cherwell
10 Cotswold
24 Forest of Dean
105 Gloucester
9 Herefordshire
1 North Wiltshire
13 Stratford
23 Stroud
47 Tewkesbury 36 of these were let to existing residents for reasons such as overcrowding, under occupation, medical needs and relocation.
All of our available-to-let properties are now advertised via Choice Based Letting schemes. Details of the schemes can be found on our website or from your Housing Officer.
We are very pleased that last year 95% of new residents were satisfied with the service received in obtaining their new home.
We use starter tenancies to provide additional assistance for residents. Last year we supported 60 households to successfully progress from their starter tenancy to an assured tenancy; this was 95% of those starter tenancies granted in 2009/2010.
Our rents are set in line with the Government’s requirements. Our average rent level is £75.35 per week. Some of our rents include a service charge.
Last year we reduced the amount of rent arrears by £32,075, and the number of households in arrears by 57.
How well are we doing onallocating homes and collecting rents?
Total 277
Residents’ Annual Report 2010 and Calendar 2011
Gloucestershire Housing Association Annual report
13
LHA Co-ops Annual report
Walsall Housing GroupAnnual report diary
Resident Focus Group
A group of our tenant members recently came together to take part in a focus group workshop to decide on both the contents and the design of this annual report.
Those of you who took part in the workshop said you wanted this report to be presented in a booklet rather than newsletter format,
You also wanted the report to be A4 size with photographs of tenants and other relevant pictures..
For many tenant members English is not their first language and a translation of the report is also available in Gujerati.
In response to your wishes this report has been designed to be neat and clear showing finance information in colourful pie charts.
Responding to your views
Responding to your views is the only way Ross Walk can provide the level of service that our tenant members expect.
So we carry out an annual satisfaction survey which is sent to all tenant members, giving you the opportunity to have your say on a variety of issues.
Introduction
Tenant involvement & empowermentCustomer Service, Choice and Complaints
Involvement and empowerment
Welcome to the 2010 tenant member report for Ross Walk Housing Co-operative.
Our new regulator,
the Tenant Services
Authority (TSA),
requires us as landlords
to produce an annual
report for our tenant
members to show
how we are delivering
services and how we
compare to other
landlords.
93% are satisfied with the service we provide
This report is the result of an honest and open consultation between you our tenant members and RWHC about what you want from us as housing providers. You have told us what you want the report to cover and how it should look.
The standards it covers are Tenant Involvement and Empowerment, Home, Tenancy, Neighbourhood and Community, Value for Money and the report also sets out our improvement plans.
Different communities face different challenges, so we have been working closely with tenant members to agree on what our priorities should be for developing locally tailored service offers.
We would like to know what you think of the report and have included a feedback section, which also includes details of how you can get more involved if you wish.
Dinesh Pathak, Ross Walk Housing Co-operative Chairman
We were pleased to hear that
a vast majority of you (93%)
say you are satisfied with the
service that we provide.
The same number of you who
responded (93%) also told us
that you are satisfied with the
new phone system that we
use for reporting repairs. If you
do have any complaints with
our service, please let us know
by calling 0116 257 6800, or
emailing info@rosswalkcoop.
org.uk and we will do our best
to put it right
Putting your needs and points of view at the heart of
housing
Giving you clear information on how we are
performing
Giving you a bigger say in setting local priorities for
housing services
This report shows how we are:
January 2011
and annual report 2011
DiaryHow we are doingRoss Walk Housing Co-operative
Tenant Members’ Report for TSA 2010
14
1
Annual Reportfor tenants and leaseholders 2009/10
32 12 13 141 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
How are we measuring up?Annual report 2009/10
M69
M69
A47
A5
3
A444
A444
2
1
2
Bedworth
Nuneaton
Hinckley
Stockingford
Weddington
CollycroftBedworth
Woodlands
Astley
Camp HillPlough Hill
GalleyCommon
BurtonHastings
Bramcote
ChilversCoton
WolveyHeath
Wolvey
SketchleyBubage
CopstonMagna
Smockington
Bulkington
Exhall
GoodyersEnd
Ash Green
Neal’sGreenKeresley Longford
Barnacle Shilton
Hopsford
Ansty
Wood End
Attleborough
BCHA Annual report
Oxford City Homes Annual report
Nuneaton and Bedworth Annual report
A sustainable community for our residents
Annual Report and Accounts 2008/2009
15
What did we learn? - design
• Different formats/media
• Following/emphasising structure
• Signposting
• Clear graphics
• Creativity and relevance
• Photography
16
What did we learn? - content
• Too much copy
• Need clear structure
• Struggled with comparative information
• Honesty
• Local offers
• Tenant involvement
We have been working with customers over the last 12 months to develop a set of local service offers. These are an agreement between whg, as a landlord, and you, our customers, about what we will focus on as a priority in your area.
T he offers have been drawn up in response to the requirements of our regulator, the Tenant Services Authority (TSA).
The TSA has set landlords six national service standards, against which we measure our overall performance – Customer Involvement and Empowerment, Home, Tenancy, Neighbourhood and Community, Value for Money and Governance and Financial Viability.
Through consultation with our customers, we have now agreed 10 local offers based around the four national standards you told us were most important to you.
Here we outline the offers we are making this year, which cover Customer Involvement and Empowerment, Home, Tenancy and Neighbourhood and Community.
Local offers