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Issue 65 April 2019

Highlights:

Published & Printed by

Orkney Housing Association Ltd 39A Victoria Street Kirkwall Orkney KW15 1DN ● Tel: 01856 875253 ● enquiries@ohal.org.uk ● www.ohal.org.uk Orkney Housing Association Limited is a Scottish charity, No. SC031734.

Registered with the Scottish Government Housing & Regeneration Directorate HAL164 & the Financial Conduct Authority 2201R(S)

Retirement / Cyber Essentials

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Electric Car Club 3

Rent Increase 4

Rented Allocations Consultation

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Universal Credit 6

Welfare Update 8

Fuel Poverty 9

Renewals & Replacements

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Right to Repair 12

OHAL Business Plan

We develop a Business Plan every 3-years which sets out how we will deliver housing services in Orkney. The Business Plan for 2019-22, “Our People, Our Properties, Our Future”, was approved by Management Committee at the end of March.

We always welcome feedback and views, and have listened to what tenants, sharing owners and others have told us over the past year which has informed the new Plan.

“Our People, Our Properties, Our Future” sets out our intentions that over the next 3 years:

• Rents will go up by no more than RPI inflation, a change from previous policy of inflation plus 1%.

• We will aim to build an average of 20 new homes a year.

• Our development programme will continue at this level for the next 10 years, so long as demand and funding remain.

• We will continue to provide services at a high level, and support our staff to do so.

• We will be efficient in how the Association is run.

Committee also approved budgets. Again, having considered feedback, views and other factors, the budgets included:

• Reduction in staff salary budget.

• Reduction in staff expenses.

• Over £500,000 in property improvements and planned maintenance in the next year.

Craig Spence, Chief Executive said “I thank our Committee for approving this plan, which sets out how we will deliver quality services for our residents over the next three years. It shows how we plan to be ever-more efficient, reducing costs whilst not compromising in delivering the quality and level of support that people expect from us.”

The full Business Plan will be available to view or download from our website from mid April. As always, we are keen to hear what you think and would appreciate any feedback. Please send any comments to: enquiries@ohal.org.uk.

Pictured above is John Rodwell (Chair) with Craig Spence (CE)

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Tenant Day

We will be holding our joint tenant day with Orkney Islands Council later in the year on Friday 30

th August at the St Magnus Centre.

More details to follow but there will be lots of interesting topics and speakers throughout the day on topics such as cyber security and staying safe online.

Orkney Care & Repair News

This month sees huge changes to the Care & Repair team with Fraser Devine taking over as Manager as Mike Cooper takes his well-deserved retirement, following a successful and extensive career spanning over 30 years. Mike will be greatly missed but we are certain to be in safe hands.

Fraser is excited to be joining the team and brings with him a wealth of experience having managed the Kirkwall Branch of Woolworths for 11 years, spending 9 years at Voluntary Action Orkney and the last year managing Skaill House.

Mike was instrumental in setting up the Care & Repair service in 1988. Orkney was one of the original 8 pilot schemes in Scotland and continues to serve its community 30 years on.

We were pleased to continue the OHAL tradition and presented Mike with a fabulous cake!

Mike Cooper, John Rodwell (Chair) and Fraser Devine

Cyber Essentials Accreditation We are delighted to announce that OHAL, with assistance from our ICT Consultants – RM Computing (Orkney) Ltd, obtained Cyber Essentials Accreditation in March. We take data security very seriously and this accreditation provides assurance to our residents and other stakeholders that we strive to do all we can to keep their information secure. As part of our commitment to cyber security and guarding against cyber threats, we have undergone this certification process to verify that our ICT defences are satisfactory against cyber-crime attacks. We felt this level of guarantee was vital as we continue to develop more digital ways

of working. However, we are aware that as cyber-crime evolves, we have to

continue to ensure that our systems remain as secure as possible. We do this by

ensuring firewalls are secure and that anti-virus software is installed and updated

regularly on all OHAL devices. We also provide cyber security awareness sessions

to staff who must follow strict ICT housekeeping rules eg secure log-ins, regular

password changing etc.

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Green light for electric vehicle car club

Orkney Housing Association residents, staff and the wider community will have an opportunity to experience electric vehicle driving later this year after the Association secured funding to run a car club in the county.

Three vehicles will be available – one each in Dounby, Kirkwall, and St Mary’s – after funding was secured to run a car club for 12 months. Orkney will be one of eight housing associations across Scotland to buy in the services of car clubs. This will allow tenants, local residents and staff to hire electric vehicles when they require the use of a car. The fund also provides financial support for housing associations to promote these new services locally.

In Orkney the car club will be run by community interest company Co-wheels. The service is expected to launch in the early summer, with the vehicles – two BMW i3s and a Nissan e-NV200 Combi – recently ordered and work now going ahead to have charging points provided at each site.

The Plugged-in Households Fund has been delivered and administered by the Energy Saving Trust following funding from Transport Scotland to provide viable alternatives to car ownership and allow more people to experience the benefits of modern ultra-low emission vehicles.

Resident Panel Update Members of the panel attending a training session looking at tenant involvement in the procurement process. Following this, the group have been involved in planning how they can take this forward. They will be carrying out a tenant led inspection of estate management to include garden and grounds maintenance.

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Difficulty paying your rent? People can often feel anxious and stressed when it comes to worrying about money, which can have a huge effect on areas of their life. If you are struggling financially, please talk to your Housing Officer in the first instance. Orkney Citizen’s Advice Bureau can offer free and confidential advice on debt and money. Contact them on 01856 875266 or e-mail bureau@orkneycab.casonline.org.uk. If you are having difficulty in making payments or would like to discuss any aspect of your rent or occupancy charge, please contact a member of the Housing Services team.

Going Digital

At OHAL we are always looking for ways we can offer a better, more efficient service to our customers.

Part of this has been to explore different ways of working to allow staff to access customer information when out of the office. You will see our staff using Tablets when working remotely over the coming months.

This not only saves time of having to come back to the office to access information but also saves lots of paper, therefore reducing unnecessary waste.

Rent Increase

You will by now have received notification of your new charges payable from 01 April 2019 for tenants, sharing owners and owners. Please note that when setting up a Standing Order it is very important that you quote your unique reference number. All existing Standing Orders must be updated to the new rent figure by you. If you require a new Standing Order form please contact us. Alternatively, you can always switch to Direct Debit. If you wish to do this please contact the office and staff will be happy to help.

Direct Debits have been updated by the Association and you will have received an Advance Notice letter advising of your new rent and the date it is payable from.

As from 01 April 2019, your rent will be charged monthly in advance. You can still pay weekly, fortnightly, 4-weekly or monthly if you wish. Also included with your rent increase letter was a Minute of Variation to your tenancy agreement. If you have not signed this yet please do so and return to the office. If you need a witness to sign for you, Association staff will be happy to help.

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Rented Allocations Consultation

You may remember we consulted with you back in 2017 on several changes to how we allocate our properties. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 took account of considering home ownership when allocating social rented houses, the length of qualifying time for assignations, subletting and joint tenancies and suspensions from receiving an offer.

These changes were agreed at the consultation stage by our Management Committee and were added to our Allocations Policy ready for the Act to be finally passed into law on 01 May 2019. Since this time, we have proposed some other small amendments to the Policy, so we are seeking your views on these. We created a short online survey asking for your views on the following changes:

• Current OHAL tenants to be given priority for new build properties in the first instance.

• New lettings quota of 60% to Orkney Islands Council (OIC), 30% Waiting

List and 10% Transfer - Currently this is 75% OIC, 13% Waiting List and 12% Transfers

(Kirkwall & Stromness) 50% Transfer and 50% Waiting List for all other areas

• Additional categories for being suspended from receiving an offer to

include abandoning or neglecting a property. • To the schedule of points -

10 points to be awarded for receiving and providing support. Removal of points award for existing OHAL tenants. This

should not negatively impact OHAL tenants being allocated a property as tenancies in the transfer category are allocated on housing need.

• Addition of Management Transfer category to be used only in exceptional

circumstances where the tenant or member of the household has been threatened with physical violence, racial or other physical, mental or emotional harassment.

The survey can be found on our website or hard

copies are available from the office. The closing

date for the survey is 15 April.

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Do you claim Universal Credit?

If so, you’ll need to keep an eye on your online account for any “to do’s” as you will receive one regarding your rent increase.

We’ve also shared some helpful tips below.

From 03 April 2019 onwards through April, those claiming Universal Credit will be sent an action called a “to-do” via your online Universal Credit account, also known as your journal. The “to-do” will be titled “Report any changes to your housing costs”.

It will ask for responses to a number of questions such as:

1) Has your rent or service charge changed? • You will need to say YES

2) Do you wish to report any other changes to your housing? • You will need to say YES

3) When did your rent or service charge change? • You will need to say 01 April 2019

You should then be asked what your new rent & service charge is. If you no longer have your rent increase letter or are unsure please get in touch and we can advise you what your rent and service charge is – contact us on 01856 875253.

Other UC Changes on 15 May 2019

If you live with a partner and one of you has reached pension age, but the other hasn’t, then this change in rules could affect you.

If you are not already getting Pension Credit or Housing Benefit then from 15 May 2019 you will have to claim Universal Credit instead – which could be much less generous.

Try and safeguard your income now by checking if you are eligible for Housing Benefit or Pension Credit. Contact the Pension Credit claim line on 0800 99 1234 (textphone: 0800 169 0133) or Orkney Island Council Benefits on 01856

873535 extension 2116.

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The Scottish Housing Regulator is an independent regulator of Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) and local authority housing services in Scotland. They were established on 01 April 2011 under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010, and have one statutory objective, to:

"safeguard and promote the interests of current and future tenants of social landlords, people who are or may become homeless, and people who use housing services provided by registered social landlords (RSLs) and local authorities".

They regulate social landlords to protect the interests of people who receive services from them. They do this by assessing and reporting on:

• how social landlords are performing their housing services;

• RSLs’ financial well-being;

• RSLs’ standards of governance.

Further information on the Regulator can be found on their website: www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk.

Are you happy with our service? We aim to provide an excellent service at all times but recognise that there may be occasions when people are not happy with something we have done or failed to do. If you are unhappy with the level of service we have provided please let us know so that we can consider your comments and resolve the problem as quickly as possible. If you wish to make a complaint about a service you have received there are 2 stages involved:

1) Frontline Resolution (Stage 1): Contact the person with whom you were dealing and see if it can be sorted out informally;

2) Investigation (Stage 2): This is for complaints that have not been solved at Stage 1 or are complex and require further investigation.

After we have fully investigated, if you are still dissatisfied with our decision or the way we dealt with your complaint, you can ask the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) to look at it.

The SPSO can be contacted at www.spso.org.uk or 0800 377 7330

Our Complaints Handling Procedure is available on the website or from the office on request.

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Universal Credit Universal Credit is a monthly payment for people, of working age, who are on a low income or are out of work. It does not affect pensioners or pension related benefits. The full rollout of Universal Credit started in Orkney in September 2018 and is expected to be complete by 2023.

Universal Credit and housing costs (rent) If you are of working age and are claiming Universal Credit, any award will include help that you need to pay your rent. You will be responsible for paying your rent directly to your landlord. If you receive Universal Credit you must tell them about the rent that you are liable to pay, or any changes in your rent, by signing in to your Universal Credit account to report the change. If you do not tell them about your rent, or any increases, you may not receive assistance towards you housing costs and will be losing out, as well as still being liable to pay your rent. For more advice on Universal Credit you should visit the government website www.gov.uk. Housing Benefit Housing Benefit can help to pay some or all of your rent. The amount that you receive will depend upon the financial circumstances of you and your household. However, for working age claimants Housing Benefit is slowly being replaced by Universal Credit. If you are of working age and have not previously claimed Housing Benefit it is likely that you will no longer be able to claim this benefit. You will instead have to apply for Universal Credit, which also provides help towards your housing costs, including rent. For more advice on Housing Benefit you should contact the Benefits Section, Orkney Islands Council, Council Offices, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1NY. Telephone: 01856 873535 extension 2116 or direct dial 01856 886312: email: benefits@orkney.gov.uk or visit the Council’s website www.orkney.gov.uk. Council Tax Reduction If you are on a low income, including Universal Credit, you can apply for Council Tax Reduction to reduce your payments, if: • You, and you partner (if you have one), have savings of less than £16,000. • You, or your partner (if you have one), are responsible for paying the Council Tax bill. • You, and your partner (if you have one), have a low income from benefits (including

Universal Credit) or work, including self-employment. You may still get a Council Tax Reduction if your savings are more than £16,000 and you or your partner get the Guarantee Credit part of Pension Credit. You will still be liable to pay any water and waste water charges that may apply as these are not included in Council Tax Reduction. If you do not already receive Council Tax Reduction and would like to apply, you should contact the Benefits Section, Orkney Islands Council, Council Offices, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1NY. Telephone: 01856 873535 extension 2116 or direct dial 01856 886312: email: benefits@orkney.gov.uk or visit the Council’s website www.orkney.gov.uk.

Welfare and Social Security Update - OIC information

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Schedule of Garden & Grounds Maintenance 2019 Please note that all dates are weather dependent - check our Facebook page for updates or contact the office.

Fuel Poverty A small but important step in helping to reduce fuel poverty in Orkney has been taken following a campaign involving Orkney Housing Association Ltd and other bodies in Orkney and across the Highlands & Islands. Orkney’s MSP Liam McArthur recently successfully amended the Government’s Fuel Poverty Bill to ensure it takes account of the specific needs of island communities, including Orkney. It means that the higher costs faced by islanders compared to their counterparts in rural mainland Scotland will be reflected in how fuel poverty is measured in future.

When the Scottish Government first published its bill last summer, it ignored the firm recommendation from its own Rural Fuel Poverty Task Force, which had called for the increased costs of living in rural and islands areas to be taken into account in any definition of fuel poverty.

Mr McArthur, helped by members of the Highlands & Islands Housing Association Affordable Warmth Group, including OHAL’s Energy Officer Robert Leslie, built the case at Holyrood for robust island and rural proofing of the Fuel Poverty Bill. He said he was delighted that this has proved successful, in particular the recognition now in the bill of the additional costs faced by islanders. Mr McArthur added: “Building that case, however, was only possible thanks to the evidence provided by various individuals and organisations in Orkney and across the Highlands & Islands, whose expertise on this issue was invaluable. I am enormously grateful to them for their input and their perseverance. Passing this legislation will not, in itself, bring an end to the scourge of fuel poverty. Hopefully, however, it will allow resources to be targeted where they are most needed and flexibility in the approaches taken to meet local circumstances.” Meanwhile, if tenants need help with their energy costs, they can contact Robert Leslie on 875253 Ext 404, email robert.leslie@ohal.org.uk or alternatively, local fuel poverty charity THAW Orkney on 878388 or email info@thaworkney.co.uk.

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Annual Office Closure Dates

Easter Weekend Friday 19 and Monday 22 April

May Day Monday 06 May

July Weekend Monday 22 July

Dounby Show Day Thursday 08 August

Smoke Alarms

The manufacturer recommends the following:

1. Regularly check to see that the green mains power light is on.

2. Press the test button (5-10 seconds or until the alarm sounds) weekly to check all alarms in the system.

3. Regularly check that the red light under the test button or on the cover flashes approximately every 40 seconds.

4. Clean the cover of the alarm regularly using a barely damp, lint free cloth. 5. On a monthly basis (at least) check the alarm for signs of contamination

from dust, cobwebs or insects. Use a vacuum cleaner around the cover of the alarm to remove contamination.

6. Check (at least annually) that the alarm will operate on back up battery power only by switching off the mains supply and pressing the test button.

If you have any concerns or require assistance with your detectors, please contact us and we will arrange for someone to visit.

Success for Saffron

Saffron Macivor recently completed her Chartered Institute of Housing Level 5 Diploma in Housing.

Congratulations and well done for all the hard work.

eNewsletter Would you rather receive Rooftops via email? If you would, please send an email to enquiries@ohal.org.uk and we will arrange this in time

for the next issue.

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External Decoration

• Greenvoe

• Glaitness Park

• Kiln Corner (Phase 1 & 2)

• Meadow Crescent Phase 2 & 3)

• Meadow Drive

• Millbank

• North Ronaldsay

• Parkhead House

• Parkhead Gardens

Replacement/renewal works

Kitchen Replacement • Barnhouse • Queen Sonja Kloss (Phase 2) Timber Cladding Replacement • Sommerville Square Heating Replacement • Hamnavoe - panel heaters only • Mackenzies Drive, Park and Place • Quilco (Phase 1)

Programmed Renewals & Replacements for 2019/20

Below are the properties which have been identified as due for planned maintenance and property improvements this year. We will be consulting with the individual tenants in due course.

Please note that all listings may be subject to change and refer to RENTED properties only

REPAIRS TIMESCALES

Type of Response

Timescale Description

Emergency 0-6 hours Works to make safe where there is either a risk to the tenant or members of the public or to make a property secure or prevent further damage.

Urgent 1-3 working days

Works not classified as emergencies but which would cause a high degree of inconvenience or may cause further damage if not attended to within 3 days.

Some repairs are covered by the ‘Right to Repair Scheme’. For further information please refer to your Tenants Handbook.

Routine 20 working days All other repairs which are not Emergency or Urgent.

Walliwall Phase 5 – completion January 2020 4 x 2 bedroom for rent – amenity standard 4 x 1 bedroom for rent – amenity standard

Development Programme for 2019/20

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The Scottish Secure Tenants

(Right to Repair) Regulations 2002

Under the terms of the above legislation the Association is required to let its tenants know of the provisions of these Regulations - this leaflet can be found in the downloads section of our website, or a copy can be obtained from the office. Shown below is a list of the contractors approved by the Association who are prepared to carry out qualifying repairs:

CONTRACTOR ADDRESS & TELEPHONE NUMBER

G & A Barnie 4B Quarryfield Road, Hatston, Kirkwall 871999

R Clouston Limited 10 Grainshore Drive, Kirkwall 877914

Alfred Flett St Mary’s, Holm 781209

E Fraser Electrical (Orkney) Ltd The Store, Finstown 761762

JMF Groat & Sons Anchorfast Buildings, Longhope 701273

D Hall Greenfield, Rousay 821248

Daniel Harcus Construction Old School, Rapness, Westray 01857 677301

Johnny Mackay Plumbing & Heating Upper Fleck, Houton, Orphir 811379

A J Mathers The Workshop, Cromlech, Stenness 850887

R S Merriman Ltd Garson Way, Stromness 850105

Barry Moncrieff Joinery Arrowon, Shapinsay 711376

W Muir Hooking, North Ronaldsay 01857 633257

Orkney Builders (Contractors) Ltd Crowness Road, Kirkwall 871447

Steven R Paterson Ltd 10 Crowness Road, Kirkwall 870088

Pipedream Plumbing Crowness Crescent, Hatston, Kirkwall 874343

A Stevenson Ltd Hestwall House, Holm 781224

A Tait & Son The Workshop, Dounby 771236

WRC Construction Crowness Crescent, Hatston, Kirkwall 871176

Rooftops available in large print & other formats on request