Corporate Plan More Homes, Stronger Communities, Better Lives Update 2017

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1 Corporate Plan More Homes, Stronger Communities, Better Lives Update 2017

2 2 Corporate Plan We have achieved considerable Value for Money savings in recent years and our overall financial strength enables us to raise additional finance to continue our ambitious new build programme.

3 Contents Foreword Page 4 About Grand Union Housing Group Page 6 Values Page 7 The Future Page 8 New Homes Page 9 Existing Homes Page 10 Communities and Services Page 12 Supported Housing Page 13 Customer Services Page 13 People Page 14 Governance Page 15 Corporate Plan

4 Foreword Welcome to our five year, 2020 Vision Corporate Plan We are starting this period in good shape. We are recognised for delivering excellent services, support and home improvements for our residents as well as training initiatives to support the employment prospects in our communities. In addition, over the last 10 years we have provided around 1,500 new affordable homes, including many for people with special housing needs. At the same time we have achieved considerable Value for Money savings and our overall financial strength enables us to raise additional finance to continue our ambitious new build programme of providing a further 1,500 properties over the life of this plan. We are also one of the Sunday Times Top 100 Not-for-Profit Organisations to Work For. Over the last 10 years we have provided around 1,500 new affordable homes including many for people with special housing needs. 4 Corporate Plan

5 Whilst we are proud of our achievements so far, our future plans must address the significant challenges that will continue to affect our customers and our local communities. These include a huge shortfall in the supply of new homes, a growing demand for housing and services to meet the needs of our elderly population, the impact of further welfare benefit reductions and the disadvantages experienced by many residents in rural areas. Our people are key to meeting these challenges. We want to ensure that they continue to be valued, have the opportunities to develop and thrive and are enabled to deliver their best for the benefit of our customers. Our 2020 vision is: To increase our development programme to provide 1,500 new homes over the life of this plan with a range of tenures, enabling more people to rent or own a home that they can afford. To deliver an ambitious, expanded programme of high quality services that our customers want, in the way that they want to receive them, whilst improving the wellbeing of those who need extra support, particularly the elderly. To be a force for positive change by investing in our homes and local communities to reduce fuel poverty, support people into work and provide opportunities for young people. To give our employees rewarding careers by investing in them and enabling them to exceed the expectations of our customers. Put simply: More Homes, Stronger Communities, Better Lives We are excited by our plans, but it is essential that our ambitions for the future are built on strong foundations and balanced with a prudent approach. This means that we will continue to strengthen our governance arrangements and carefully manage the risks that we face. In addition we must take account of the need to demonstrate Value for Money in everything we do. We also recognise that we can only achieve our vision by working in partnership with others. As well as continuing to develop the excellent relationships we already have with a wide range of existing partners, we will also look to create new partnerships to help us deliver our aims. Finally we would like to thank our employees and board members who contributed to building this plan; a great team effort! Mark Webster Chair Grand Union Housing Group Alan Humphreys Group Chief Executive Corporate Plan

6 About Grand Union Housing Group Grand Union Housing Group, through its subsidiary associations, owns and manages around 12,000 properties and 3,500 garages throughout Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire. The Group also has supported living properties in London, Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Herefordshire, Kent and Lincolnshire. We work at a Regional and Sub-Regional level and provide a range of solutions to meet a variety of diverse needs. In 2016/17 the Group had a turnover of 64m and assets of 470m. We employ 280 staff and are financially strong with a loan facility of 205m, of which 180m was drawn at 31 March In addition, the Group has a 30 year senior secured bond for 115m. 40m of this was used to repay existing bank loans in 2014 with the remainder being available for future new build schemes. The Group currently comprises: Aragon HA Rockingham Forest Housing South Northants Homes Grand Union Group Funding plc Grand Union Homes Ltd GUHG Development Company Ltd The largest association in the Group with its head office in Ampthill, Bedfordshire. It provides a wide range of homes and services including general needs housing, supported housing, shared ownership, leasehold and market rented properties. Rockingham Forest joined the Group in November Its office is based in Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire. South Northants Homes was formed in March 2008 following a stock transfer from South Northamptonshire Council. Its head office is in Towcester, Northamptonshire. This was formed in November 2013 as a public limited company in order to issue bond money on behalf of the Group and on-lend to Aragon. The Group is the sole shareholder of Grand Union Group Funding plc. Grand Union Homes was formed in 2016 as a vehicle to deliver market sales across the Group. It is a private company. GUHG Development Company was also formed in 2016 to enable tax efficient delivery of our development schemes. The Grand Union Board has overall responsibility for the Group strategy and ultimate responsibility for the Group s activities. It is supported by three sub committees: Audit & Risk Committee Remuneration Committee Development & Asset Management Committee We also have Encourage Independent Living Committee and three Stakeholder/Customer Panels. The Group s head office is based in Cranfield, Bedfordshire. 6 Corporate Plan

7 Values Our values are important to us and underpin everything we do: Integrity Respect Quality Innovation Teamwork We will deliver our promises and be clear about what we can and cannot do. We will listen to and respect our customers and everyone we work with. We will always aim to provide excellent services and products. We will look for innovative solutions to resolve problems, deliver outcomes and achieve value for money. We believe we can achieve far more by working together in partnership. We believe we have a responsibility to serve all sections of the community. We value the difference and uniqueness in people, our organisations and communities. We aim to keep our promises, be honest and reliable, and build living partnerships through the way we work. We believe we are good at what we do. We are efficient and effective at delivering local services well. However we acknowledge we can always do things better and are continually striving to do so by listening to what our customers say. It is our intention that customers, stakeholders and partners of Grand Union: Have confidence that the Group has a responsible and caring approach, in which the interests of the customer and the community are paramount Are reassured that they are dealing with an organisation that puts people first Are able to rely on the commitment, knowledge and experience of Grand Union staff to deliver the level of service they expect. Indeed we want to deliver beyond those expectations Have peace of mind they are dealing with an organisation they can trust, which is financially sound and well managed, but also innovative and solution focused Feel fulfilled because they are offered choices that improve their quality of life and enable them to meet their aspirations Feel secure because of Grand Union s quality standards and track record Recognise our focus on being effective and efficient in the way we operate, delivering value for money in everything we do. Corporate Plan

8 The Future Grand Union Housing Group was formed in Since that time we have gone from strength to strength. We aim to build on that strength over the next few years and over the life of this Corporate Plan the Board has agreed to concentrate on five key areas: New Homes Existing Homes Communities and Services People Governance Plans have been developed around each of these areas and are reviewed on an annual basis to ensure we remain on target to deliver our aspirational goals. We have attracted an additional 1.3m of government funding to assist GUHG deliver further affordable homes. 8 Corporate Plan

9 Crown copyright and database rights 2016 Ordnance Survey New Homes The Group operates primarily in the South Midlands and Milton Keynes growth area where the demand for affordable housing continues to increase. Housing affordability remains a huge problem, with house prices in some of our operational areas almost 10 times average incomes. GUHG Delivery Map Core Stock Rockingham Expansion Area Whilst current Government policy has focused on increasing access to home ownership, there is still a desperate need for more homes of all tenure types and Grand Union will be doing its best to meet some of this demand in our operational areas. Having successfully raised 115m via the bond market in November 2013 and been awarded the highest rating from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) for financial viability, the Group has both the funds and capacity to broaden its development programme. We are an HCA development partner and lead a consortium of four partners delivering under the current Affordable Homes Programme. Since this programme was established we have attracted an additional 1.3m of government funding under the Shared Ownership Affordable Homes Programme (SOAHP) and the Care and Support Specialist Housing (CASSH) programme to assist GUHG deliver further affordable homes. Whilst we intend to maintain our core focus of building much needed affordable homes, our financial position now allows us to also increase our development of both intermediate and market rent homes and consider build for market sale. We intend to do this through selective land acquisition, which will enable us to take more control over the design, quality, space standards and delivery timescales for a large proportion of our programme. Core stock Expansion area Rockingham Forest To this end we aim to: increase our development programme to provide 1,500 new homes over the life of this plan, covering a range of tenures, but with the majority being for affordable rent extend our current operational area grow our market rent portfolio develop more older persons and supported housing schemes undertake proactive asset management create long-term sustainable new homes which are energy efficient and reduce costs for our tenants and customers take opportunities to innovate where appropriate. Corporate Plan

10 Existing Homes The challenge is to ensure our homes are affordable, well maintained and environmentally sustainable. Over recent years we have introduced a number of new initiatives to deliver sustainable, cost effective, heating solutions that provide low carbon outputs and reduce costs for our tenants, not only in new build homes but also within existing properties. To this end we have acquired significant grant from the low carbon building programme, some of which has helped Aragon to record one of the highest average energy ratings (SAP) for associations within its peer group. We aim to continue to provide high quality fuel efficient homes that are affordable at a range of tenures. Our record of investment in our existing properties is impressive. In the last five years we have invested around 150m in maintaining and improving our homes. We have gone well beyond the Government s decent homes standard and we intend to continue to provide our tenants with high quality homes which meet their needs. We will continue to invest in new heating technologies in areas without access to mains gas, thereby addressing fuel poverty issues and also generating income for the Group. We also recognise the need to demonstrate efficiency and value for money, therefore we will aim to identify savings within our major works programme to reduce our overall spend per property. Having carried out a comprehensive review of our Internal Repairs Team we are now in the process of recruiting additional operatives with the aim to make this important service as efficient and effective as possible. We have introduced a number of new initiatives to deliver sustainable, cost-effective, heating solutions that provide low carbon outputs and reduce costs for our tenants. 10 Corporate Plan

11 Our intention is to build on the work we have already carried out. We will: continue to monitor our Asset Management Strategy and systems to ensure best use of our assets invest in cost effective, energy efficient heating systems in homes without access to mains gas identify savings within the major works programme to reduce our overall spend per property develop common standards and specifications across the Group where feasible, procure all major contracts on a Group-wide basis undertake a further review of garage and miscellaneous land sites promote and expand our internal repairs team. Corporate Plan

12 Communities and Services This includes a range of activities covering general housing management, community investment, supported housing and customer services. Over the next few years we aim to expand some of the work we currently do, change the way we do some things and introduce new initiatives. Some of the key things we will be doing in this area include: develop processes which enable us to better understand our customers and how they access our services align services across the Group to maximise resources and increase value for money develop new relationships and partnerships in order to support the work we do. Welfare changes and, in particular, benefit payment reductions are likely to continue to be a major issue for many of our tenants. We will need to deal with the introduction of Universal Credit and one of our prime aims will be to support tenants so that they are able to pay their rent and contribute to their community. In addition much of our operational area is predominately rural in nature. This has particular consequences in terms of new development, transport, employment, fuel poverty and internet access. We will therefore aim to develop further initiatives which address each of these issues. We already provide support around employment and training which is focused on getting people into jobs, apprenticeships and further education. We also help with quality of life initiatives such as digital inclusion, confidence building, food and fuel poverty, financial inclusion and access to affordable, safe credit. We have established community training centres and hubs and aim to extend these further. Over the next few years we will continue this work by: focusing our tenancy support service on those that need it most extending customer engagement opportunities seeking new and additional funding resources working with a range of organisations to develop a more holistic approach. 12 Corporate Plan

13 Supported housing For the first time ever there are now more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 18 in the UK, while the fastest growing age group is people aged 80 and over. By the mid 2030s, there is projected to be over 16 million older people, with almost three million of them over 85. The task of housing an increasingly ageing population is complex and we need to understand their different needs much better than we currently do. We already provide a wide range of supported housing services both for older people and those with special needs. In 2016 we established a new brand for our supported housing service called Encourage. This brings together the full range of services we provide in this area under one name. Over the next few years we aim to deliver an ambitious programme to modernise, streamline and deliver high quality services for our customers, providing tailored support solutions as appropriate. In particular we will: Over the next few years we aim to deliver an ambitious programme to modernise, streamline and deliver high quality services for our customers. develop service offers which promote personal, social and economic wellbeing review our existing older persons accommodation and increase our extra care offer develop strong partnerships with care providers, the NHS and local authorities Customer services Delivery of excellent customer services has always been at the heart of everything we do. We have recently created a single customer services team across the Group to drive further improvements in this area. Over the next few years we will: raise greater awareness amongst our tenants and customers about the services we provide and consult with them over service improvements develop and encourage use of our websites and other digital communication formats implement our customer relationship management (CRM) system across the Group. Corporate Plan

14 People We believe that everyone who works for, and is involved with, Grand Union contributes to the success of the Group. Over the past few years we have featured regularly in the Sunday Times Top 100 Not-for-Profit Organisations to Work For and we aim to continue to consult our staff on a regular basis to help us further improve our performance as an employer. Going forward we aim to create a flexible workforce which will enable us to serve our customers even better. We will continue to invest resources in recruiting, training and developing our staff in order to develop a high performance culture. This will include recruiting graduates, trainees and apprentices to build a talent pipeline, bring in new skills and ideas, and provide work opportunities within our communities. We recently introduced a new combined HR and payroll system and will continue to develop this over the next few years. In addition we will: review flexible working practices and consider extending home working invest in mobile technology review our current office arrangements develop ways to reward employees who fully meet our values and exceed performance expectations review our recruitment and appraisal processes consider a development academy for succession planning and retention. Going forward we aim to create a flexible workforce which will enable us to serve our customers even better. 14 Corporate Plan

15 Governance We will be reviewing our governance arrangements further in order to provide a more efficient and effective structure. In 2016 we merged one of our subsidiaries, MacIntyre Housing Association, into Aragon and established a joint Aragon and South Northants Homes Board, reporting to the Group Board. At the same time we strengthened our scrutiny and tenant involvement arrangements. We also realigned our directorate and senior managers so they now have responsibilities across the Group covering assets and major works, repairs and tenant safety, housing management, supported housing, customer services and community investment. Going forward we have also taken the decision to introduce board member pay from April We currently enjoy the highest rating from the HCA for governance and intend to maintain that rating. To that end we have adopted the National Housing Federation (NHF) Code of Governance. Our aim going forward is to continue to develop a more streamlined structure, which will better help us deliver our 2020 vision. In addition we will: review the role of tenants and councillors reduce the number of board members recruit board members with the skills required to oversee our new plans develop a more robust appraisal process for board members improve the information we provide to board members and how they receive it review the frequency of board meetings. Corporate Plan

16 Derwent House, Cranfield Technology Park, University Way, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AZ Web: Tel: Registered address: Derwent House, Cranfield Technology Park, University Way, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AZ. A registered society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 No R. Registered with the Homes and Communities Agency No. L4518. Member of the National Housing Federation. Grand Union Housing Group comprises: Aragon Housing Association, Rockingham Forest Housing, South Northants Homes and Grand Union Funding plc