Annual Review 2016 - Larkfield Housing · 2017-08-02 · Larkfield Annual Review 2016 7 Tenant and...

Annual Review

2016

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Larkfield Annual Review 2016 1

Contents

Chairperson’s Report ......................................2

Vision and Objectives ......................................3

Improving our Homes......................................4

Developing Services........................................6

Working in Partnership ....................................8

Value for Money ............................................10

Financial Performance ..................................12

Company Information....................................13

LARKFIELD ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

2 Larkfield Annual Review 2016

Chairperson’s Report

Frances Beattie, Chairperson

I am delighted to present our AnnualReport for 2015-16 which I hope you findof interest and value. We have alsoincluded our performance against theScottish Housing Charter outcomes asrequired by the Scottish HousingRegulator.

We continued to invest in our stock and spent£713,946 on improvement works and improvingenergy efficiency in our tenants’ homes.

Every three years we carry out a detailed andindependent Tenant Satisfaction Survey on ourservices. Our latest survey was carried out byKnowledge Partnership between November2015 and January 2016. A total of 230 tenantswere interviewed in their homes with a faceto face interview. The results show that 95%of our tenants are satisfied with Larkfield’soverall service.

We are delighted that these resultsdemonstrate an improvement in satisfactionin most areas of our work. In the coming yearwe will review the feedback you have providedto ensure there is a real improvement of ourservices to our tenants and other customers.

We operate within an uncertain economicenvironment and welfare reforms continue tobe rolled out across the country. We haveimplemented a range of tenancy support andinformation advice services for tenants toaccess and will continue to support and informtenants as benefit changes take effect.

Larkfield has continued to commit resources todeveloping its wider role within the community.Through our partnership arrangements acrossthe Link group, we work together to improve therange of housing options and services withinInverclyde to support the local community.

This coming year will be a milestone forLarkfield, our ‘20th birthday’ and we plan tomark this through a number of communityevents.

I do hope that you find the informationcontained within our report helpful and thankyou for your support during the year.

Frances BeattieChairperson

Our Strategic Objectives

Larkfield Housing Association’s objectives are to:

• Provide well-maintained and valuedhomes

• Improve the range of housing within ourneighbourhoods

• Seek continuous improvement in servicedelivery and customer satisfaction

• Support our customers to sustain theirhomes and have a better quality of life

• Adapt our existing stock to suit thechanging needs of our customers

• Continue to work with our localcommunities to create neighbourhoodspeople want to live in

• Work with our partners to improve therange of affordable housing within ourcommunities


Vision and Objectives

Our Annual ReportCard 2016

We have included performance indicators andratings throughout the report. A range ofindicators has been developed by the ScottishHousing Regulator and all social landlordsreport on these annually. We want you to usethis information to challenge us and considerhow our performance compares with others.

We have compared our performance to lastyear’s annual report and the Scottish averagewhich includes the performance of all housingassociations and council landlords.

How we measure ourperformance

Our performance information comes from arange of sources. We carry out surveys aboutrepairs, planned maintenance and otherservices. We carried out a full tenantsatisfaction survey between November 2015and January 2016. We appointed anindependent consultant who interviewed60% of tenants on a range of issues such asrepairs, communication, access to housingand support.

The ratingsCompared to theScottish average...

We are doing well We are doing ok We could do better

Our vision: To provide quality

affordable homes andservices that meet localneeds and support the

regeneration of ourneighbourhoods.


Improving our Homes

Improvements

74 new bathrooms61 new gas central heating systems 15 adaptations to tenants’ homes 160 properties received new insulation works

What we did to improve our repairs andmaintenance services.

• Since May 2015, Link’s in-house repairsand maintenance service, known as LinkProperty, has provided a reactive repairsservice to Larkfield properties

• Appointed a new gas maintenance andservicing contractor, GasSure, in May 2015

• Implemented a new repairs appointmentsystem for general repairs

• Implemented new repair response times• Adopted a new Re-lettable Standard

and decoration voucher scheme fornew tenants

Larkfield owns and manages 390 propertiesand provides common grounds maintenanceservices for an additional 570 owner occupierswithin the Larkfield area. Through ourpartnership arrangements with Link we alsoprovide tenancy management services to over260 Link Group tenants and 900 owneroccupiers within Inverclyde.

We carried out periodicelectrical testing to100 properties andserviced all of ourgas appliancesacross our stock.

We continued our effortsto improving the energyefficiency of our properties. In the past year, 160of our properties received new insulation worksthanks to funding from the ScottishGovernment’s HEEPS Cashback Scheme.

We completedover 1600 reactive

repairs at a costof £229,486.

We invested

£713,946in our major repairs

programme.


Indicators 2014/15 2015/16ScottishAverage2015-16

Rating

Larkfield homes meeting theScottish Housing Quality Standard 92.6% 92.8% 92.8%

Average time to carry outemergency repairs 2.0 hours 2.1 hours 5.1 hours

Average time to completenon-emergency repairs 4.7 days 4.8 days 7.5 days

Repairs completed ‘right first time’ 86.9% 84.0% 91.3%

Tenants satisfied with the repairsand maintenance services 86.9% 94.7% 89.9%

Tenants satisfied with the standardof their home when moving in 65.2% *25.0% 87.9%

Housing quality and maintenance – our performance

* The number of new tenant’s interviewed was quite low and this is an area we are alreadyworking towards improving.

Our Management Services

What we did to improve our housing services:

• Implemented new Customer ServiceStandards which set out what you canexpect from our staff

• Put in place a range of tenancy supportservices for tenants to access, forexample, assistance with continuingwelfare reform changes

• Carried out a comprehensive TenantSatisfaction Survey and agreed an actionplan to improve on the areas of ourservices where we feel we can do better

• Implemented a new Choice BasedLettings system for applicants with a newwebsite and on-line bidding system

Improving access tosuitable housing

In September 2015, we implemented a newChoice Based Lettings system through theInverclyde Common Housing Register. HomeConnections, is a new website for applicantsfor online bidding, which allows applicants tochoose properties they want to live in.

Properties are then allocated according topriority and best use of the property. TheInverclyde Common Housing Register is apartnership between Cloch, Oaktree, Larkfieldand Link Housing Associations.

At the end of March 2016 there were 1510applicants on the joint list seeking suitablehousing. The number of new applications in theyear was 1642.

Anti-social behaviour,neighbour nuisance andtenancy disputes

For every 100 Larkfield homes, 3.3 cases ofanti-social behaviour were reported last year.In 2015/16, 13 cases of anti-social behaviourwere reported to Larkfield. We have detailedprocedures and target timescales forresponding to alleged anti-social behaviour casesand try to keep tenantsup to date with anyinvestigations. Wealso work with ourpartner agencies totry to resolve anydisputes that arise.


Developing Services


Rating

Percentage of anti-social behaviourcases that were resolved withintargets agreed locally

100% 100% 86.6%

Neighbourhoods – our performance

We re-let25 new

tenancies acrossour stock


Tenant and CustomerInvolvement

We are committed to involving our tenants inwhat we do and have developed a numberof different ways for tenants and residents toget involved.


Rating

Tenants satisfied with the overallservice provided by the landlord 88.0% 94.8% 89.0%

Tenants who feel that Larkfieldkeeps them informed about itsservices

95.0% 99.6% 90.6%

Tenants satisfied with theopportunities to participate inLarkfield’s decision making

95.0% 99.6% 81.3%

Through our Tenant Participation Strategy weheld a number of community events during theyear 2015/16:

• 14 residents enjoyed a trip to Largs on theLarkfield annual summer trip

• More than 30 local parents and toddlersfrom ‘Weans World’ enjoyed anothersuccessful Larkfield Christmas party withgames, food and a visit from Santa

• Residents enjoyed our first communitycinema event, a joint venture with‘Your Voice’

• Larkfield staff participated in ‘Purple Day’raising £70 for ‘Young Epilepsy’

• Larkfield staff and Committee memberssupported the annual Larkfield summergala day and met a number of Larkfieldtenants and residents through the day

Tenant Satisfaction – our performance


Working in Partnership

Tenancy Support

Larkfield continued to work with its partners inthe Inverclyde Housing Association forum andwith other community groups on a number ofprojects in Inverclyde. These projects provide arange of support and information services toLarkfield tenants and service users.

Our ‘Advice for All’ project continues to provideLarkfield tenants with access to welfare benefitand money advice services and is deliveredlocally through the ‘Financial Fitness’ servicein Inverclyde.

Our ‘Inverclyde Housing Support Service’provides support and care packages tovulnerable tenants and families at risk of losingtheir home. This project continued to receivematch-funding for 2015/16 through the ScottishGovernment’s People and Communities Fundand is delivered by the ‘Mungo Foundation’.

Larkfield also works in partnership with ‘StarterPacks Inverclyde’, a project which assists newtenants to set up and sustain their tenancy,providing packs of essential household items.This year, the project delivered 23 packssupporting 29 adults and 21 children move intotheir new home.


Rating

Percentage of tenancies sustainedfor more than one year 96.5% 90.0% 89.0%

Tenancy sustainment – our performance


Employability andDigital Inclusion

We supported a TraineeAdmin post through theCommunity Jobs FundScotland scheme and twoadditional work experienceplacements through the School WorkExperience Programme. Our Clerical Assistant,Stephanie McEwan, successfully achieved herSVQ Level 3 in Business Administration as partof her Modern Apprenticeship.

We held an Employability Digital Workshoptaster session and a ‘Techy Tea Dance’ forLarkfield tenants and residents.

Through our partnership working with Link,Larkfield tenants now also have access to low-cost broadband and a laptop loan scheme.

Larkfield tenants also continue to benefit fromInverclyde’s ‘Future Skills’ project whichpromotes digital and financial inclusionthroughout Inverclyde. The project offersLarkfield tenants access to free computertraining and financial and budgeting advice, ona one-to-one basis within the home or througha local community hub.

Working Together

Through our partnership arrangements acrossLink, we continue to benefit from economies ofscale, shared resources and good practice. Wework together to support our local communityand to improve the lives of more people.

Last year our joint working enabled us to play apart in Inverclyde Council’s regeneration plansfor the Clune Park area in Port Glasgow whichhad been earmarked for demolition. Thecompletion of Link’s new development at LowerMary Street in Port Glasgow has provided newaffordable homes to a number of owner-occupiers and long term tenants previouslyliving in Clune Park.

We were also delighted to retain our Gold‘Investors in People’ status for another yearfollowing the Link group’s annual assessment.


Value for Money

The rent you pay is needed to ensure we havemoney to repair, maintain and upgrade yourhome; manage and improve ourneighbourhoods and provide housingmanagement services, including tenancysupport. It also lets us take forward our widerrole activity and community projects.

The diagram below shows how every£1 was spent in 2015/16:

Added Value

We added value to our maintenance andmanagement services in 2015/16 by:

• Providing over 89 tenants with money andbenefits advice

• Helping tenants to get online throughour partnership with Inverclyde FutureSkills Project

• Supporting local voluntary groups andfunding local community activitiesincluding: summer trips, ‘Wean’s World’parent and toddler group, Larkfieldsummer gala day and communitycinema events

• Providing employability and trainingopportunities, including one modernapprenticeship, one community jobsfund trainee post and two school workexperience placements

• Customer access to a range ofinformation and advice services

• Tenancy support services

£0.33

£0.01

£0.40

£0.16

£0.07

£0.01

£0.02

■ Loan finance £0.07

■ Reactive repairs and cyclicalmaintenance costs £0.16

■ Major Repairs/PlannedMaintenance costs £0.40

■ Property costs andother Insurances £0.02

■ Bad debts £0.01

■ Management, office andadministration costs £0.33

■ Wider role and tenant participation £0.01

TOTAL £1.00


Homes and Rents – total numbers of properties for rent and average weekly rents

Letting properties and managing our arrears – our performance

During the last two years, Larkfield’s rent increases were below the Scottish average.

Improving value for money

We will be undertaking a number of consultation exercises in 2016/17 and a review of our RentalPolicy, this will allow us to examine the affordability of our rents and our costs and to establish a betterunderstanding of what value for money means to tenants.


Rating

Rent collected as a percentage ofrent due 100% 99.6% 99.5%

Total rent arrears as a percentageof rent due for the reporting year 2.6% 3.9% 5.3%

Amount of rent lost due to homesbeing empty as percentage ofrent due

0.3% 0.3% 1.0%

Average time to re-let a home 15.0 days 16.2 days 35.4 days

SizeNo. of

properties2014/15 2015/16

ScottishAverage

Difference

1 bedroom 12 £55.78 £56.89 £70.39 19.20%

2 bedroom 129 £77.36 £78.89 £71.55 10.3%

3 bedroom 217 £89.40 £91.19 £77.60 17.5%

4 bedroom 32 £101.14 £103.16 £85.98 20.0%

% average weekly rentincrease applied

2.0% 1.5% 1.9%


We had a strong financial performance in2015/16.

New accounting rules, introduced by theStatement of Recommended Practice forregistered social housing providers (SORP2014), were successfully applied.

Our financial highlights 2015/16

Gross turnover: £1,978,864

Operating costs: £1,541,181

Surplus: £297,781

Reserves: £4,698,193

Financial Performance2015/16

Larkfield Housing Association is a RegisteredSocial Landlord and Scottish Charity based inGreenock. It is a subsidiary of Link GroupLimited.

Management CommitteeF Beattie (Chair)Rev A McIntyre (Vice Chair)S Harris (Secretary)J CanningCllr D WilsonM BellD Flannery (appointed September 2015)S MacMillan (appointed September 2015)J Scott (appointed September 2015)E Mullan (resigned February 2015)K Begley (resigned August 2015)M McBride (resigned August 2015)S Levens (resigned May 2015)K Pollock (resigned May 2015)

Area ManagerL Griffin BA (Hons) MCIH

AuditorsKPMG LLP

BankersBank of Scotland

SolicitorsPatten & PrenticeHarper Macleod

FundersRoyal Bank of Scotland

Registered Office14 Lothian RoadGreenock PA16 0PG

Tel 01475 630930

Email [email protected] www.larkfieldha.org.uk

Larkfield Housing Association Limited is aregistered society under the Co-operative andCommunity Benefit Societies Act 2014,Registered Number: 2509 R (S), RegisteredOffice: 14 Lothian Road, Greenock PA16 0PG.It is a Charity registered in Scotland, CharityNumber: SC032418; a Registered SocialLandlord with the Scottish Housing Regulator,Registration Number: HCB 293; and registeredas a Property Factor Id: PF000279. Part of theLink group © Link group Ltd 2016.

Company Information


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Registered Office

14 Lothian Road, Greenock PA16 0PGTel 01475 630930 Email [email protected] Website www.larkfieldha.org.uk

Annual Review 2016 - Larkfield Housing · 2017-08-02 · Larkfield Annual Review 2016 7 Tenant and...

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