- Bernicia Homes
Transcription
- Bernicia Homes
Celebrating our homes, services and people Annual Review 2013/14 Welcome to our annual report. What a difference a year can make As always we’ve worked with our involved tenants to produce our review of 2013/14, which includes information on: 04 Our homes 08 Customer service 12 Over the year operational performance was sustained at a good level with targets met for rental income, void management and tenant satisfaction. Preparations for Welfare Reform began before the start of the year, enabling us to assess and plan to mitigate the likely impacts on our tenants and the business. The effectiveness of our approach is evidenced by our performance and has included targeted advice and information, the realignment of resources across a range of related services and the revision of policies and working practices. Tenancy 16 Neighbourhoods 20 Adding value 24 Involved tenants 28 Our staff 32 Financial strength and value for money 38 Future plans The launch of our ‘successful tenancies’ pathway is designed to instil a culture where it’s everyone’s job to help prevent tenancy failure. This is supported by an intensive housing management service to help new tenants who could be at risk of early failure and existing tenants who may be struggling or facing the threat of losing their home. Through our award winning ‘Learning Hive’ we contributed to the government’s agenda of helping people into work and getting ready for work. This year, 165 people used the ‘Hive’ with 12 learners progressing into employment. For our older residents we continue to support independence through a wide spectrum of accommodation and services. An additional 250 households now benefit from our community alarm We hope you enjoy a look back over the last year. 2 www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 service, bringing total connections to almost 2,000. This service is available to residents of any tenure, not just Bernicia tenants. Management action has focused on improving re letting and vacant property processes. We have seen a shift towards improved performance which is a consequence of a change in culture and behaviours exhibited by teams/individuals involved in the re letting and void process. This was needed to deal with a significant increase in vacancies during the year. Implementation of the new service standards for repairs and maintenance started during the year. Our new look service now includes tenant led appointment times and is designed to make the customer experience easier and simpler whilst getting as much ‘right first time’ as possible. Promises continued to be fulfilled with £13.4 million invested improving existing homes and 127 brand new homes being provided. Once again we are confident that over the last year, our tenants have benefitted from the customer focussed services we deliver. Jeannie McMillan Operations Director £13.4 MILLION INVESTED improving existing homes 127 NEW HOMES PROVIDED 3 Our homes Different, existing and new Different - Underhill’s Story Underhill, the first house ever to be lit by electric light, was the home of the bulb’s inventor, scientist Joseph Swan. It was here in the conservatory Joseph Swan laboured for years in creating a truly stable electric light bulb. Swan first demonstrated the light bulb at a lecture in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1878 but did not receive a patent until 1880 after improvement to the original lamp. When Joseph Swan left Underhill it was initially converted into a private grammar school and since 1983 has provided 24 units of self-contained accommodation for Bernicia residents. Due to its age the conservatory inevitably fell into disrepair and became unsafe for use by residents. Because of its Grade 2 listed status, awarded in1976, the restoration of the conservatory was a long and complicated process which included working with local authority planning and conservation officers and English Heritage. Retaining as much as possible of the original structure, work to the conservatory was completed during April 2014 which now provides a pleasant communal area for residents to enjoy and be proud of its place in history. Within our housing stock of just over 8,000 we have a diverse range of property types which require some very different solutions when things need upgrading or replacing. 4 www.bernicia.com 136 years after Joseph Swan invented the first electric light bulb, Underhill is still lit up by its active and enthusiastic residents! Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 “Underhill is a lovely building with some of the original features still in place. It was such a shame that the conservatory could no longer be used. It’s fantastic for both residents and history now that it has been fully restored.” 5 Existing - our performance SAVINGS Repairs ON MAJOR WORKS Percentage of repairs completed on time £4.3 MILLION 2012/13 2013/14 98.5% 98% Improvements Decent homes failure 2012/13 2013/14 0% 0% The average days to complete repairs increased. This occurred because appointments are now agreed with tenants instead of using the old 1, 3, 7 and 28 day priorities. Further on in the review we look at the challenges presented by Welfare Reform. This also had an impact on the cost of responsive repairs and void works, which increased from £783 to £798 per property, primarily as a result of additional spend on voids. This is understandable given a 3.8% increase in turnover. Our ‘Affordable Warmth Strategy’ was launched; by adopting a ‘fabric first’ approach, energy efficiency works were undertaken to an extra 688 homes with the help of £540,000 grant funding. As a result of increased stock condition information and new procurement arrangements we were able to make savings of £4.3 million on major works, which allowed us to do more with the money available in our business plans. 6 New - continuing to build and plan During 2013/2014 we provided 127 new homes, which is more than halfway towards our original five year target. In doing so we reduced the average gross cost of our new homes over the last five years by 20% (£28,000). Satisfaction with overall repairs service Average time taken to complete a repair 91% 7.5 days 91% 9.4 days Average SAP rating (Standard Assessment Procedure) Satisfaction with quality of home 69.3% 90% 70.5% 90% Through annual efficiencies in our business plans we acquired 14 new homes to replace some of those sold under Right to Buy legislation. To help continue building we submitted a bid to deliver 119 new homes across Northumberland, North Tyneside and Newcastle as part of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) 2015-18 affordable homes programme. Our plans for the former hospital site in Ashington will provide new homes for residents of two existing outdated sheltered housing schemes, and an additional number of mixed tenure units. Overall 104 new homes will be built including 40 retirement apartments with amazing communal facilities. Plans developed to invest over £13 million in new housing to support the regeneration of Ashington. Annual cost per property of delivering the repairs service £783 £798 Cost per property of delivering improvement works £2,832 £1,649 www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 7 Customer service 24 hours - We’re always there for you After 32 years our 24 hour control centre moved from its base in North Seaton, Ashington to our Headquarters in Ashington (normal opening hours) and our new retirement housing scheme in Bedlington (out of hours). Our team provide an invaluable community alarm service to nearly 2,000 households and are there to respond to those unexpected emergencies that can occur at any time. Continuously trying to make the difference Susan’s story 2000 HOUSEHOLDS with COMMUNITY ALARM SERVICES “We’ve seen a lot of change over the last two years with the complete renewal of our community alarm monitoring system, the introduction of an emergency mobile warden service and the move from our long term base in North Seaton. With support from our colleagues in IT and Care and Support and external partners, our team worked hard to bring in the changes without any disruption to service users. Due to the importance of this service, a seamless changeover was essential, which, we are glad to report was fully achieved. We provide a 24 hour community alarm service to almost 2,000 households, which is also available to anyone, irrespective of whether they are a Bernicia tenant. The service we provide is both challenging and rewarding, we see this as a vital part of our approach to helping people maintain their independence and are proud that we have managed, through difficult times, to keep the service in house and at a low cost. It was really nice that a person included us in a letter, sent to a local newspaper, thanking everyone for their help when her mother suffered a nasty fall.” If you know anyone who may benefit from a community alarm please call us on 0344 800 3 800. 8 www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 9 Our performance Serving you Enquiries dealt with at first point of contact 2012/13 88.5% 2013/14 Listening to you 89.1% Complaints received 2012/13 134 2013/14 Involving you 2012/13 2013/14 71 Satisfaction with views taken into account 78% 78% 95, CALLS made to our CONTACT CENTRE Customers satisfied with overall access to services Calls answered in 30 seconds 93.5% 76.5% 93.7% Complaints dealt with in timescales 80.2% Customers satisfied with complaints handling 93% 71.4% 99% Tenant profile information held 78% Annual cost per property of providing our resident involvement service 71.5% 81% £56 £45 We’re glad to report that our performance has improved; we are now showing some really good results for call handling and dealing with complaints. 10 www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 11 Tenancy 1 April 2013 brought unprecedented change Why this year was different This year we saw the biggest changes for over 60 years to how welfare benefits are awarded and paid. The so called ‘bedroom tax’ affected just over 1,000 of our existing tenants. With limited chances of employment or opportunities to downsize, it has been a difficult time for households hit by reductions in housing benefit. Steven’s story “We knew 2013/14 would be one of the most difficult years for our tenants as the proposed changes to welfare benefits became a reality and the cost of living continued to rise. 1168 HOMES RE LET A 45% INCREASE FROM LAST YEAR Our preparations for the main changes to housing benefit began the previous year so we were as ready as possible to respond to the expected impacts on our tenants and the business. Risks in relation to the rent collection and arrears have so far been managed. Of those tenants affected by the bedroom tax 40% have paid the shortfall, 40% have maintained an agreement and 21% have shown an increase in arrears. We assisted where we could with moves to smaller properties, helping claim discretionary housing payments and offering advice on money management. The reality is, however, that any rent due has to be paid. Our biggest challenge during the year turned out to be an increase in vacancies in larger family accommodation and a decrease in demand for these properties generated through choice based lettings - obviously linked to the changes in housing benefit. Rent lost during vacant periods is gone forever, therefore we had to ‘think on our feet’ to mitigate the potential consequences of this. Across both rents and lettings our staff rose to the challenge to help our tenants where possible, and protect income streams that pay for services we deliver to all 8,000 households who live in our homes. We did this without any increase in resources and actually reduced our annual housing management cost per property from £387 to £344”. 12 www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 13 Our performance 95% SATISFACTION with our LETTINGS SERVICE Rent 2012/13 2013/14 Lettings 2012/13 2013/14 Tenancy management 2012/13 2013/14 Despite a difficult year we: • Reduced average re let times by 28% •Reduced the percentage of income lost because of void properties Rent collected 99.6% 99.3% Average re let times 35 days 25 days Tenancy turnover 10.7% 14.5% •Reduced the number of vacant properties at the end of the year by 7.6% • Reduced current rent arrears by 0.6% •Collected more rent than forecast, despite a reduction on last year of 0.24%, given the issues we faced this is considered as good performance Current tenant arrears 3.1% 3.04% Rent loss from voids 1.8% 1.8% Satisfaction with our overall service 92% 92% Supporting tenants through Welfare Reform we: •Helped 133 cases obtain Discretionary Housing Payments amounting to £98,000 Former tenant arears 6.2% 3.7% Percentage of properties vacant and unavailable 0.8% 0.9% Evictions 0.6% 0.8% •Identified 84 cases entitled to Housing Benefit refunds totalling £51,000 •Assisted with 18 transfers to smaller accommodation • Created 1300 hours of staff time to provide additional advice to 175 cases Write off’s Cost per property of providing our rent service 14 0.2% 3.13% £109 £101 Percentage of properties vacant and available Annual cost per property of delivering our lettings service 1.2% 0.9% £79 £83 www.bernicia.com Annual cost per property of providing tenancy management services Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 £98 £74 15 Creating places where people want to live Keeping estates clean and tidy is really important but we recognise that sometimes more is needed than just cutting the grass and picking up litter. Stewart’s story “We have some estates with high numbers of children and young people who don’t benefit from many local amenities or activities. To help tackle some of the problems that emerge when young people are disengaged or bored, Bernicia’s Community Grants Panel awarded £1,350 to support a programme, developed with the Neighbourhood Policing Team and local company ‘Sports Zone’, that encouraged youngsters to get involved in football. After organising a series of caged football events that ran throughout July and August 2013, on Friday evenings over a six week period, over 350 young people took part in the sessions with many parents and adults coming along to watch and chat with the organisers.” Abbie, one of the children who took part, said: Neighbourhoods “This has been amazing and it’s given me and my friends somewhere to come on a Friday night to socialise and play football. It’s much better than hanging around on the street. It was certainly quiet in Bedlington Station on Friday nights during July and August 2013!” Responding to different issues 16 www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 17 Our performance Anti-social behaviour 2013/14 Cases successfully resolved 91% 93% Satisfaction with case handling 97% 98% Satisfaction with case outcome 91% 92% Annual cost per property of delivering anti-social behaviour service Our estate days have been great ways to involve whole communities in making the difference. 18 2012/13 www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 £45 £41 Estate services 2012/13 2013/14 Satisfaction with neighbourhood 89% 89% Annual cost per property of providing estate services. £161 £144 New contractual arrangements started in April 2013 for grounds maintenance. Whilst there were ‘teething’ troubles in settling in the new arrangements, these were resolved quickly to bring areas back up to the required standards. A number of small schemes such as fencing and planting were undertaken to help solve issues with misuse of open plan areas, which have significantly reduced complaints from residents. Whilst we talk a lot about anti-social behaviour, one of our biggest problems was caused by horse owners illegally tethering their animals on or near certain estates. In response to this we worked with local authority partners, including animal welfare officers, to deal with and deter further irresponsible keeping of horses. Our Estate Management Policy produced in 2014 sets out how services are delivered by ourselves and our partners. 19 Adding value Doing the right things We’ll never lose focus on our core services but where we can we’ll do that bit extra to help our tenants through difficult times and different stages in their lives. Our ‘Learning Hive’ in Newbiggin by the Sea is one example of a project that has made a big difference. Different things we do Julie’s story CREATIVITY 2013 I found that I’d lost my confidence and was very scared of what lay ahead for me. I would not leave the security of my home because I could not face being around people. I was told about the ‘Hive’ by my Employment Advisor, she said I needed to get out and with the ‘Hive’ being on my doorstep this would be a good place to start. The Learning Hive won the creativity category at the ‘Northern Silver Screen’ awards where Jo Boadin, Chief Executive of the Northern Housing Consortium said: I met so many good people there that my confidence started to come back. With the help of Rachel, our tutor, and other volunteers I found a road to recovery. I still have bad days but find it easier to get through these with what I do when I’m at the ‘Hive’. I have completed my English level one exam and am doing my maths to improve my prospects of getting a job. I’ve done so many different things at the ‘Hive’. I’ve always been interested in arts and crafts and enjoy doing these with others. 20 www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 AWARD WINNER for “Like many people I hadn’t worked for a while as I was bringing up my family. Then I was alone after my partner died and I fell into depression. I am stronger and more confident now and this is due to joining the ‘Hive’ and meeting other people who go there. NORTHERN SILVER SCREEN I was really nervous when I was asked to share my experience on camera as part of the film we made for the Northern Housing Consortium Silver Screen awards, but I did it and could hardly believe that it was me when I saw the final version”. “Bernicia’s Learning Hive project was a worthy winner of the creativity category. Their project, which showed how a former community house had been transformed into an educational and learning resource, the Hive, was truly inspiring”. 21 10 VOLUNTEERS make up the fully constituted ‘Newbigginers’ Group In recognition of outstanding achievements the Hive was selected as the North East Learning in Families and Communities Project award winner as part of adult learners’ week 2014. We have plans to open our second ‘Hive’ in Bedlington Station later this year. The Hive is just one example of how we deliver our financial and social wellbeing objectives. There’s also loads of activities going on in our retirement schemes to help our older residents stay included and active. 22 34 165 PEOPLE USED THE HIVE 36 CV’S WERE PRODUCED 132 PEOPLE WERE PROVIDED WITH INFORMATION, ADVICE AND GUIDANCE LEARNERS ACHIEVED QUALIFICATIONS 10-20 12 LookwideUK run a successful youth club from the Hive for local children. PEOPLE EACH WEEK USE THE HIVE FOR UNIVERSAL JOB MATCH AND IT SUPPORT LEARNERS GAINED EMPLOYMENT 12 LEARNERS PROGRESSED TO EXTERNAL TRAINING/ QUALIFICATIONS LookwideUK exists to actively engage and support young people in their personal development, empowering them to achieve their full potential. www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 23 Staying empowered and interested Having involved tenants means we have significant responsibilities to help them develop to fulfil their role in our organisation. Audrey’s story “Encouraging greater involvement and developing capacity is a constant concern. However, seeing it happen and hearing the stories of those who accept the challenge is also one of the best rewards. Whilst our core group of involved tenants are a relatively small band, we constantly strive to retain and improve the skills and knowledge we need to make sure the wider views of tenants, which are collected and captured in a number of ways, are interpreted and factored into Bernicia’s plans and priorities. Once plans are formulated, it’s our job to help check they are delivered and the aims and outcomes are achieved. We do this by looking at performance, complaints, undertaking scrutiny reviews which include reality checking and through our relationships with officers. If this isn’t for you please remember any feedback you provide is really valuable. I’ve been involved for over 20 years and still work hard and enjoy being both critical friend and tenant champion to help make sure Bernicia continues to listen to us and do their best for us. Involved tenants Bernicia supports us with training, information and officer time to enable us to fulfil our role. Whilst Bernicia is our main focus, believe it or not, the wider housing world is really quite interesting. Being involved takes many shapes and forms, even by responding to a survey, making a complaint or giving a compliment, you are making a contribution to help us do our job!” Help us check the difference 24 There’s always room for people to become a member of a Panel or a Customer Inspector. www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 25 Involvement - outcomes and impacts 32 TENANTS were involved in our: Scrutiny Panels Complaints and Compliments Panel Community Grants Panel Customer Inspectorate Satisfaction data was collected across 7 service areas. New service standards for repairs and maintenance were developed and implemented with our Review Group. 567 tenants participated in some form of training. “Thank you to everybody involved in organising the Tenant Fun Day, it was a great day especially the barbecue. Great idea to have the event at Bernicia, looking forward to next year.” Our approach to involvement is to provide as many ways as possible to collect your views and receive your feedback. Even though our ‘Fun Day’ and ‘Big Lunch’ are for people to enjoy themselves, they are great opportunities to engage in an informal setting and talk about things that could make our services better. 5 scrutiny reviews were undertaken by our panels ReviewOutcome Complaints handling A new two stage policy was developed and agreed Community grantsLarge grants now need to support added value priorities Repairs parts orderingService standard agreed for specified timescales and improved communication with tenants Rent arrearsInformation on website updated and checks introduced to ensure accurate rent statements are sent out with arrears letters Handling of ASBAdditional training undertaken by our Contact Advisors As a result of learning from complaints 13 changes to service delivery were made. Examples include improved information on dampness and condensation, better communication between our control centre and on-site wardens following weekends and increased use of technology in our repairs service. 71 formal complaints were made and reviewed. 431 compliments were received. 26 www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 27 Our staff Our people are our greatest assets That’s what makes us different Bernicia employs just over 370 people and we are committed to helping staff develop the knowledge and skills they need to do their jobs well and efficiently. As one of the largest private businesses in Northumberland a high proportion of our staff, particularly in property maintenance, are local people. Our approach to how we manage and support our staff is reflected in lower than average sickness absence and higher levels of staff retention. However, our commitment to local employment is not just restricted to our own recruitment plans. Throughout 2013/14 our contractors employed, as part of our stock investment framework, 29 people from our local areas including 14 apprentices. During our ongoing affordable homes programme which currently runs up to 2018, we anticipate that 542 people will benefit from employment and skills opportunities including safeguarding 18 apprenticeships and creating a further 9. We are particularly proud of our own apprenticeship programme which provides great opportunities for people seeking careers in business administration, repairs and maintenance, customer service, IT, finance and housing management. 28 www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 7.2 Days 8.1% Sickness days per employee is 7.2 - well below an average of 8.9%. Staff turnover is 8.1% - well below an average of 10.9%. Since 2008 we have recruited 25 apprentices, 12 of whom have been given permanent employment, with the remaining 13 still completing their training. Comparisons are made with 35 other housing providers. 29 RETAINED OUR INVESTORS IN PEOPLE GOLD AWARD Supporting and developing staff outcomes and impacts Over the year we have: • Invested £145,000 providing 330 training courses • L aunched e-learning modules as a cost effective and efficient training solution • Successfully retained our Investors in People Gold Award • Attained Equality North East’s Equality and Diversity Gold Standard • Secured North East Better Heath at Work Silver Award • W on best back office support service at the North East Chartered Institute of Housing Awards • Been awarded Apprentice Employer of the Year by Northumberland College • Employed 13 apprentices on training contracts • Supported 10 work placements • Hosted a training programme for 9 young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) • P rovided training and employment opportunities for people with learning disabilities • Offered long term graduate placements to support work experience 30 Lauren’s story Lauren started her apprenticeship with Bernicia in September 2013. Finding that university wasn’t for her she was looking for the right route into employment. After a few months of part-time jobs to pay the bills Lauren knew she needed to rethink her approach and started to look for an apprenticeship. She trawled the internet for weeks looking for something to catch her eye and eventually found it - a housing apprenticeship with Bernicia. In Lauren’s words: “When I got the phone call offering me the job I felt like I could do anything. My apprenticeship has changed my life for the better - it has given me routine, a regular wage, a sense of belonging and the skills and support to progress my career”. Working in Care and Support Lauren was quick to learn and soon became a valued member of the team. In March, Lauren was part of a group of North East apprentices who worked together to organise the Apprentice Celebration Event for National Apprenticeship Week. This involved a visit to the House of Commons where Lauren addressed an MP’s reception giving them an insight into what an apprenticeship meant to her; “The skills you get cannot be learned outside the workplace and in a good company like Bernicia the support you receive is life changing”. And for Lauren it has been. In June Lauren was successful in securing a permanent position with Bernicia as Housing Co-ordinator, her confidence has grown and her career will go from strength to strength. www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 31 Doing more with the same Effectively managing our assets, sometimes, results in tough decisions. This might mean we have to spend or invest to make savings or gains in the longer term or ultimately stop spending on things that are no longer sustainable or viable. John’s story “Our starting point for value for money is to be clear about what we are in business for. This helps us focus on the value we want to create, so that we can ‘make the difference’. We then simply aim to do the right things and do them right. First and foremost we are a social landlord that strives to provide quality homes and services and continually seeks to ensure we operate as a sound and ethical business. Having strong finances allows us to create financial capacity to do things we (and our tenants and stakeholders) want to do and that help maximise the social impact we have. Our financial strength and value for money We want to deliver the services that matter to our tenants in the most cost effective way. Our main source of income is rent; the amount of which we can charge is set/limited by governernent guidelines therefore we have to get the most out what we have available to create the capacity to do more. Through investment in homes and services to meet existing and future tenant requirements, we know we can continue to make a significant contribution to the sustainability and wellbeing of our communities. We believe Bernicia has provided its tenants with cost effective services during the year and we are looking to do more next year.” To meet our regulatory requirements we have produced a full value for money review that can be found at: www.bernicia.com/Value_For_Money How much it costs to make the difference 32 By controlling costs and creating efficiencies through getting good deals and making the best use of resources, during the year, we have been able to carry out improvement works earlier than planned, build or aquire additional new homes, invest extra in energy efficiency, do more to improve the look and feel of certain estates and areas and carry on supporting social regeneration through employment, apprenticeships and training – not forgetting that our core housing services continued with good performance and high levels of tenant satisfaction. “We strive to deliver the services that matter to our tenants in the most cost effective way.” www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 33 How we compare to our peers on cost and performance As well as monitoring our performance against annual targets and previous years, it’s important to see how we compare to other housing organisations. High 4 Poor performance, High cost Each year we submit information on our costs and performance to Housemark, a national business intelligence organisation, who do this for us. 1 Cost All the data we supply is validated and fed through a mechanism which plots out on a dashboard (as shown), how we compare to similar housing providers. Good performance, High cost 5 For 2013/14 our peer group included 35 other social landlords operating in the North and Midlands of England. Poor performance, Low cost 2 Good performance and low cost is where we aspire to be. The main exceptions to this are rent arrears and collection, major works and lettings but we understand the reasons: 2 Rent arrears and collection rates reflect the economic circumstances in which we operate; whilst our performance may be slightly lower than our peers it is in line with our business plan assumptions. Costs are down from last year but performance on rent collection is slightly lower. 4 Major works includes £3 million for things that we needed to do to deal with sustainability issues. However, both costs and performance are better than last year. 5 High levels of voids and lower demand meant we had to invest in our lettings service to keep properties occupied and minimise rent loss. Costs are up but performance is better when compared to last year. 8 Good performance, Low 6 3 cost 7 Low Poor Performance Good Key 1. Responsive repairs and void works 2. Rent arrears and collection 3. Anti-social behaviour 4. Major works and cyclical maintenance 34 5. Lettings 6. Tenancy management 7. Residential involvement 8. Estate services There are somethings you can’t put a value on! www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 35 Income Expenditure The money we collect The money we spend £703,000 Void rents £740,000 £70.55 AVERAGE RENT 99.33% £858,000 £1,644,000 Asset sales £795,000 Other income £321,000 Increase in cash and debtors VAT recovery REPAIRS COMPLETED £3,209,000 Commercial property management income 1,700 RENT COLLECTED £39.7 £5,895,000 Gap funding grant MILLION TURNOVER 27,700 £36,368,000 Rental income HOMES IMPROVED 127 £264,000 £412,000 £2,329,000 Bad debts Other costs Other fixed assets £213,000 Loans repaid Water rates £2,622,000 Commercial property management £13,442,000 £3,938,000 Major repairs Services £4,125,000 Management and overheads NEW HOMES PROVIDED £0 New loans £9,359,000 New housing £4,246,000 Interest on loans A full set of Bernicia’s accounts can be made available on request. £6,697,000 Routine and cyclical repairs 36 www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 37 Future plans What’s different next year? We will... • Deliver our 2014/15 stock investment programme You too can help make a difference If you want to comment on this report or find out more about becoming involved please get in touch. T 0344 800 3 800 F 01670 819844 E info@bernicia.com Wwww.bernicia.com •Undertake a full asset management exercise to inform future investment decisions •Commence on site with 112 new properties and complete 66 new homes •Be on site with our 104 unit flagship retirement village in Ashington •Commence our £3 million investment scheme at Burnside, Bedlington •Fully implement the revised repairs and maintenance service standards to optimise and improve the tenants’ experience by eliminating any remaining inefficiencies •Review the customer contact centre and back office support arrangements for the repairs and maintenance service • Prepare further for the next raft of Welfare Reform • Roll out our Brighter Futures People Strategy •Undertake a self-assessment of our compliance with the HCA Regulatory Consumer Standards 38 www.bernicia.com Bernicia Tenants Annual Report 2013/14 39 Information provided by the Bernicia Group: Bernicia Group Limited is a Registered Society (No. 30268R) and is the parent company of Cheviot Housing Association Limited (No. 19086R) and Wansbeck Homes Limited (No. 30079R) which are both Registered Societies operating under charitable rules Registered office: Oakwood Way, Ashwood Business Park, Ashington, Northumberland, NE63 0XF. T 0844 800 3 800