1 J OUR NEY OUR TO 2022

Transcription

1 1 JOURNEY TO 2022

2 2 Contents 03. Welcome 05. Reflection 08. The world in which we live 13. Evolution 13. The s 16. Customer Happy 18. Place Perfect 20. Opportunity Taken 22. Penny Counts 24. Person Positive 26. Ensuring chance of success 28. The numbers 29. Want to know more?

3 3 Welcome Welcome We are delighted to introduce to you Our Journey to 2022, The SLH Group s corporate plan. This plan is one which takes us from 2015 to It has been developed through Project 2022 which saw us engage with our Board, customers, stakeholders and colleagues to understand their needs and help us forecast what the next seven years will bring alongside what we want to achieve. During Project 2022, we worked hard to both evaluate where we are now, and look to the future, deciding what we want to be. This led to us considering a range of options for how we want our business to look and how we intend to get there. This plan details this journey. As we discussed the options available to us, one thing that was never questioned is our continued commitment to supporting our customers to live in high quality affordable homes. That is our primary aim and anything more that we do as a business must not comprise this aim, it must complement and support its achievement. Running in line with Project 2022, have been two supporting projects. Firstly, our Board decided in early 2014 to commission an independent Governance Review. This was to ensure that through Our Journey to 2022, we have a strong and competent Board who deliver effective control, leadership and sustains an environment which protects both SLH, our assets and our customers. The review came during our 15th year and sees us move from a traditional stock transfer organisation into a mature organisation which is governed by a Board whose skills and competencies reflect our current and future business.

4 4 Secondly, our Board commissioned a refinancing project. This has run parallel with Project 2022 to ensure we can fully resource our aspirations. Refinancing comes at a time of considerable financial strength for SLH. Existing loans are due for repayment in 2023, however they again were based on a traditional stock transfer facility and no longer support the aspirations SLH has. Refinancing presented an opportunity for SLH to further strengthen our financial position and develop a loan portfolio more aligned to the needs and flexibility of our business. Running our business well and ensuring we achieve maximum value will be a key focus for us. Moving to the future, we have taken some bold decisions in Our Journey to 2022 that we believe can support our vision of Making South Liverpool the place to be. Quite simply we have decided to continue to develop and regenerate in a measured and sustainable way whilst also focusing our attention on generating social value by supporting customers who live in our homes to improve their health & wellbeing, employability and resilience, which in turn, we believe, will have a positive impact on our bottom line and the long term sustainability of our neighbourhoods. We hope you can join us on Our Journey and we are happy to talk to you further about our plans. Ian B Perry SLH Group Chair Julie Fadden SLH Group Chief Executive

5 5 Reflection Reflection South Liverpool Homes (formally South Liverpool Housing) was formed in October 1999 following a large scale voluntary transfer (LSVT) from Liverpool City Council. The transfer was undertaken with the support of local residents to secure additional investment in their homes whilst maintaining affordable rent levels, security of tenure, and preserving the right for transferring tenants to buy their home. Since the transfer, we have transformed our organisation into a group structure which delivers more than just traditional landlord functions. The SLH Group is the collective term for the association of organisations of South Liverpool Homes, SLH Regeneration Limited, SLH Home Service LLP, and SLH Projects Limited. South Liverpool Homes is the housing association and also the parent of the group. SLH Regeneration is a social enterprise and home to our fencing service and SLH Home Service LLP, our unique and innovative partnership with Penny Lane Builders Limited, responsible for delivering our repairs & maintenance service.

6 6 Reflection SLH Projects Limited is the development company within the group. South Liverpool Homes is regulated by the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA). The operating environment for social housing providers has changed dramatically over the past four years. Regulation is now based on a model of co-regulatory We currently own and manage around 3,700 homes in the South Liverpool area requirements with a more definitive focus on governance, financial viability, and value for money with organisations being held accountable to their customers for service delivery through effective customer scrutiny arrangements. SLH continue to maintain the highest regulatory judgement available. We currently own and manage around 3,700 homes in the South Liverpool area, predominantly in Speke and Garston. Stock numbers have reduced from the original 4,377 homes at transfer through Right to Buy (RTB) and Right to Acquire (RTA) sales and a number of selective demolitions. In recent years, the number of homes we own has increased through acquisitions from other providers, new development, RTB buy backs and mortgage rescues. Our development programme saw us in 2014 launch our first shared ownership homes in a high value area of South Liverpool. Through our development programme we have also been able to facilitate the development of homes for sale in our core neighbourhoods which is helping to diversity the tenure mix in our neighbourhoods.

7 7 Reflection Whilst stock has been acquired and built on the periphery of these stronghold areas, our core of affordable homes remain in Speke Garston. Any work we do outside of these areas must add economic value to our core business. Since our formation we have invested heavily in our assets, but we have never just been about homes: to protect our assets we have also invested in our neighbourhoods and services to make our homes, and the neighbourhoods in which they are located, sustainable, whilst at the same time improving the life chances of our customers living in them. In the past few years, we have matured into a housing association rather than a transfer organisation. As mentioned earlier, the governance review and refinancing projects are helping remove the constraints of a transfer organisation, and helping us move to a business where we are much more in control of our destiny, rather than one that is perhaps dictated by what others say we should be doing. Our Journey will help us make a bigger and bolder step towards what we want to be as an organisation but, more importantly, what our customers want and expect us to be. This is a good time for us to change, as it comes when our customers are changing. Their needs are changing primarily due to external influences and demands on their resources and their lifestyles. The views we gained from customers in developing Our Journey told us that they expect us to deliver excellent landlord services, and that emphasis should be placed on investing in services within our neighbourhoods that add real value. We make no apology for mentioning our financial strength again; and it is this and our ability, through refinancing, to deliver what we want to do, which led our Board, after much deliberation, to confirm that they want SLH to continue to be a community based independent organisation. Whilst opportunities will always be considered which add real value to what we are about, our Board is committed to the community focus independence brings.

8 8 The world in which we live The world in which we live The SLH Group predominately operates in the Speke Garston areas of South Liverpool. The areas border each other and are located around seven miles south east of Liverpool city centre. South Liverpool is an economic success story. In the last few years alone, over 2000 new jobs have been created, with over 80,000 square feet of new employment space developed. Added to this have been more than 500 new homes completed or in the pipeline, and a new school in Garston. The potential is so much so that South Liverpool International Gateway Board exists. This is a Project Board consisting of a range of experts who represent the area s diverse economy and other interests and includes The SLH Group. We are proud to be part of this project and align our corporate priorities to that of the Gateway via the South Liverpool Strategic Regeneration Framework (SRF) which is a 20 year master plan.

9 9 The world in which we live Over 2000 new jobs have been created, with over 80,000 square feet of new employment space developed... more than 500 new homes completed or in the pipeline, and a new school in Garston This plan sets out the city s aspirations for South Liverpool, helping investors, developers, service providers, stakeholders and the local community maximise the area s opportunities, as well as tackling health inequalities that exist within our neighbourhoods. South Liverpool remains in a strong position to attract new investment and new jobs by using its greatest assets, which include the many development sites now standing prepared, ready for investment. Whilst SLH has supported many local people to access the opportunities this investment provides, through Our Journey to 2022 the facilitation of local people accessing employment opportunities is going to be a major focus for us. The investment and the work of The SLH Group and our partners is starting to exert positive influence on the area. Speke Garston was once the number one deprived ward in the UK. Whilst it has moved away from this unwanted accolade it still remains a deprived ward. The government is expected to release an update of the English indices of deprivation in summer 2015.

10 10 The world in which we live Some other key facts about the area: Speke 46% of children live in poverty compared with 19% across England 42% of people have no qualifications compared with 23% across England Life expectancy is below the city and national average Garston 33% of children are living in poverty 31% of people have no qualifications compared with 23% across England 19% of people have a limiting long-term illness (aged 16 64) The workless rate in Speke and Garston has improved from 29% to 27% between 2013/14 and 2014/15, however it remains higher than the Liverpool and national average

11 11 The world in which we live As part of Our Journey to 2022, we have used existing data to predict what the future will look like for Speke Garston. We believe that: The population will continue to grow. Based on current growth this could be as much as 13%, leaving opportunities for our business and neighbourhoods to remain sustainable, but this growth will rely very much on quantity of housing and tenure offers as well as perceived desirability of Speke Garston Benefit dependency will continue to reduce this can often positively buck national trends, particularly in 2014, however it should be noted that Speke Garston have a much higher starting point of benefit dependency than Liverpool and the rest of the UK Speke Garston could benefit from the prediction of Her Majesty s Treasury Labour Force Survey that there will be a reduction in worklessness by This prediction will be very much dependent on the work of SLH and other partners in facilitating the employability agenda

12 12 Whilst there are positive indicators for Speke Garston, they come at a time when UK economic prospects are equally looking more positive. Threats to the national economy still exist and there are questions about the distribution of benefit from the renewed growth. The current government s austerity programme, including welfare reform, continues and is having huge impacts on Speke Garston. Welfare reform has impacted on the financial circumstances of our customers and on our business, and the impact of funding cuts by the local authority has resulted in significant threats to key neighbourhood services. SLH continue to maintain dialogue with both the local authority and local residents to ensure that all avenues are explored so that services, of some form, are maintained. The world in which we live The government, at the time of developing Our Journey to 2022, could well change quite early on in the life of this plan. A general election is due in To prepare for this, SLH stress tested this plan against the suggested policies of the major political parties with the outcome that we firmly believe that our path to 2022 will remain in line with our aspirations, regardless of the administration in power through the life of the plan. However through our extensive approach to corporate planning and risk management, we will keep abreast of the changing political landscape, identifying how this impacts on our current and future delivery. Based on the external landscape, SLH embarked on a research project in 2014 called Value South Liverpool (VSL) which has resulted in VSL being developed into a platform which will allow SLH, individuals and organisations to add and seek value across South Liverpool. This platform focuses on three key strands: Employment and employability Wellbeing, health and happiness Capacity building for both individuals and organisations Through the delivery of Our Journey we will, under the VSL project, implement what we believe are game changing projects which will transform the lives of people we serve. Where we can deliver alone, they will form part of our approach to Customer Happy and where we will need to develop opportunities with others, we will deliver through Opportunity Taken.

13 13 Evolution Evolution The s SLH, through Our Journey to 2022, maintain the mission of making South Liverpool the place to be. Why? Quite simply because our aspiration is to make South Liverpool the place where people choose to live, choose to work and choose to invest. Whilst we have started to make an impact on these areas, we still have an awful lot of work to do. This plan shows how we will break down the delivery of the mission through our s over the next seven years: the first two years are firm actions for delivery with ideal actions from 2017 to These will be reviewed annually so that changes in the operating environment and an analysis of the current position in the plan can be fully undertaken. The s are our five key objectives which underpin the delivery of the mission. Each has a clear statement of intent along with planned annual actions. Each is then supported by a High Five. The high fives are key measures for each and are the overarching indicators for a suite of performance indicators telling us how, as a business, we are performing.

14 14 Evolution Here are our intentions for each : Customer Happy Place Perfect Opportunity Taken Penny Counts Person Positive Customers who are engaged, responsible, empowered and delighted with the services we provide Thriving places where people choose to live and stay Achieving more with others A financially strong, well run and viable social business Colleagues who are engaged, empowered and deliver excellent services How we will deliver our corporate objectives: Our people Business assurance Financial strength We measure our success through our High Fives

15 15 Evolution By reviewing delivery under the s we have been able to reevaluate who we are and what we do. We have, considering our financial capacity, weighed up what we want to achieve and what we can achieve. We have also considered if we have the ability to deliver what we think needs to happen in our neighbourhoods. We concluded that through Our Journey, if it s a service SLH is good at, is something our customers want and it stacks up financially, we will do it. If it s not our expertise but a service that is needed, we will work hard to facilitate and/or influence that opportunity being delivered in our neighbourhoods Our Journey has led us to split our service delivery into two distinct areas: Landlord services Core services which help us fulfil our landlord s duties, statutory obligations and/or are profit making services Social investment Services we do not have to do but feel are essential to the sustainability of our core business Landlord services are our core responsibility these are what our customers would consider are the givens. Social investment is services we do not have to deliver, but collectively through Our Journey, our Board, colleagues, stakeholders and, more importantly, our customers, have told us are essential to the continued sustainability of Speke Garston. Not all of these services may be profit making activity, but in the longer term we firmly believe they are essential to maintain the core stability of our business. Due to our financial ability, we are able to invest in these types of services and due to our position in Speke Garston are able to influence and/or facilitate others to deliver. Supporting the social investment element of our work, we will develop a comprehensive impact measurement framework which will both predict and assess the impact of the work we plan to carry out. Tracking of social investment will be a key part of the risk management of Our Journey. The next sections, detail our aims through each of the s.

16 16 Customer Happy Customer Happy Customers who are engaged, responsible, empowered and delighted with the services we provide Customers are at the heart of everything we do. Our focus through Our Journey to 2022 is developing services which support their progression. Our vision for this is to have customers who are responsible, engaged, empowered and delighted with the services we provide. If we achieved this, we believe our customers would be happier with our services and their homes. We would also have created an environment where customers have a greater say over both our services and what happens in their neighbourhood. They would also comply with their tenancy agreement and look after their homes, therefore reducing SLH costs in a number of key areas such as income collection, anti social behaviour and customer services. In 2014 we carried out our biannual customer satisfaction survey. This survey gave us an in-depth insight into how customers feel about our services and us as a landlord. 90% of

17 17 Customer Happy customers told us they are happy with the services we provide. This was a fantastic result for us as we continue to increase satisfaction but we know that to keep this trend moving in the right direction, it will get tougher as expectations increase, the external environment continues to change rapidly and our margins in chasing an increase become smaller. We are confident we can keep delighting our customers and exploring areas where we can improve. We will also, through this, deliver our approach to health & wellbeing, as we believe this will impact directly on how happy a customer is in their home and will improve both their life chances and their chances of a successful tenancy. The key annual actions through the life of this plan are: 2015/16 Deliver year one of Value South Liverpool projects which SLH can develop and deliver alone, this includes further developing approaches to digital inclusion and community engagement 2016/17 Deliver year two of Value South Liverpool 2017/22 Facilitate partnership approach to the provision of low cost/free internet access for vulnerable tenants How will we measure our success? High 5 Improve net promoter score* by 10% *In 2014 we measured ourselves against both the public and private sectors using net promoter score. This score is the result of asking how likely customers are to recommend SLH to family and friends. SLH scored 47.2%.

18 18 Place Perfect Place Perfect Thriving places where people choose to live and stay Our homes are our biggest asset, so it s important that we look after them to not only maintain and safeguard these assets but also to delight and retain our customers. But it s not only the fabric of the building that we are concerned with: we also want to continue our focus on neighbourhoods. Place Perfect will create thriving places where people choose to live and stay. We have previously experienced difficulty with both the perception of Speke Garston and attracting customers to come and live in our homes. Through our Think South Liverpool campaign, we have started to turn this around and have seen demand for our homes increase. Through delivery of Place Perfect, we will continue to achieve this and promote responsibility of behaviour which improves the perception of Speke Garston.

19 19 Place Perfect As a stock transfer organisation, we have completed an extensive improvement programme to our homes, meaning we achieved the national Decent Homes Standard in advance of the 2010 target. Since then we have continued to invest sensibly in our homes, considering customer needs whilst also maximising the profitability of any investment we make. Place Perfect will continue to help us to do this. It will also support our ongoing development programme and regeneration ambitions. Whilst our programme is relatively small, it is delivered in an intelligent way, ensuring it fully meets the needs of our local community whilst also being financially viable. The key annual actions through the life of this plan are: 2015/16 Deliver stock rationalisation programme 2016/17 Production of a regeneration plan for existing land use 2017/22 Lead on the redevelopment of Speke commercial centres How will we measure our success? High 5 All assets return a positive Internal Rate of Return and Net Present Value* *The Net Present Value measures the current worth of our assets against what we have spent on them. Internal Rate of Return measures the profitability of each of our assets and investments.

20 20 Opportunity Taken Opportunity Taken Proactively achieving more with others As a local provider, we know that we cannot deliver all our aspirations alone. Likewise, we know that it s important to keep seeking the right opportunities to consider partnerships and other mechanisms that share the delivery costs of services. Under Opportunity Taken, our aim is to proactively achieve more by working with others. It s about systematic growth through activities, partnerships and business development that add real value to the work that SLH do, as well as the communities and neighbourhoods in which we work. This is also home to our aims around employment & enterprise. Whilst we accept that employment is no longer a route out of poverty, we will aim to enhance the value that existing and future economic activities in South Liverpool bring to those living in our neighbourhoods.

21 21 Opportunity Taken Services that bridge the gap from those out of work to local employers no longer exist. SLH will aim to bridge this gap and open up employment and training pathways for our customers. This is a huge task and we know we cannot do it alone, therefore we will work collaboratively through our Opportunity Taken strategy to create employment, training and enterprise opportunities with key partners. We believe that by 2022, we will have 45% of our customers accessing these opportunities. The key annual actions through the life of this plan are: 2015/16 Agree an approach to shared services and future strategic growth opportunities 2016/17 Support feasibility study to understand how a transformation of local library services into a knowledge centre would contribute to local needs 2017/22 Source partnership approach to delivery of combined heat & power source How will we measure our success? High 5 Generate 10 social benefit for every 1 invested

22 22 Penny Counts Penny Counts A financially strong, well run and viable social business Our Journey to 2022 is about our evolution rather than radical overhauls of the way we currently deliver services. Penny Counts will support this transition by ensuring a financially strong, well led and viable social business. Penny Counts is critical to the success of Our Journey as it will provide an environment in which the strategic priorities will be delivered in an efficient, effective and controlled way. Penny Counts is not a short term fix: for us it s about building on our current position to embed a long term approach to excellence, value and challenge. The objective will: Define and detail our approach to delivering value for money Support SLH to continue to have a robust and responsive approach to governance Enhance our approach to risk management by effectively anticipating what may lie ahead and dealing with unexpected issues in order to meet our corporate objectives

23 23 Penny Counts The key annual actions through the life of this plan are: 2015/16 Deliver all governance review recommendations 2016/17 Undertake year one of Our Journey to 2022 cost benefit analysis of delivery actions and approach to risk management 2017/22 Review all business processes to ensure they are efficient, effective and lean How will we measure our success? High 5 Achieve AA or equivalent financial rating

24 24 Person Positive Person Positive Colleagues who are engaged, empowered and deliver excellent services We believe that colleague engagement is integral to delivering our objectives of enhanced business performance and excellent services to customers. In 2015, this commitment to colleague engagement resulted in retaining the number one position in the Sunday Times Top 100 Best Not for Profit Organisations to Work For list. We also retained our Best Companies three star rating for the third year running, an accreditation only given only to extraordinary organisations. This result coincided with strong financial performance, coupled with increasing customer satisfaction and positive operational performance. Although retaining the number one position in the Top 100 and three stars were phenomenal achievements, the most relevant aspect of the Best Companies survey to us is improving our index score every year. This is because we can see how well we are engaging with our colleagues which intrinsically links to business performance.

25 25 Person Positive Our colleagues believe that we are an extraordinary employer but we can do more. Our focus through 2015/16 is personal development, and in particular succession planning for our rising stars, who we believe are the future of our business and the housing sector. We know that, as a relatively small organisation, we have limited promotion opportunities, but it s important that we support colleagues to maximise potential and performance in their current role whilst preparing them to meet their future aspirations and our future business needs. It s not only about our colleagues, it s about ensuring our Board and Committee Members have the right skills and learning opportunities to support the delivery of SLH s objectives. The key annual actions through the life of this plan are: 2015/16 Support effective colleague retention through integrated and inclusive approaches to career development, succession planning and promotion Create and sustain a happier and healthier workforce 2016/17 Refine our approach to colleague reward and recognition 2017/22 Work towards becoming a learning organisation How will we measure our success? High 5 Improve Best Companies index score year on year

26 26 Ensuring Chance of Success Ensuring chance of success An effective performance management culture exists to monitor outcomes of Our Journey. Coupled with this is the development of an approach to social value measurement. Whilst we currently do this on a project scale, through this plan we will identify ways that we can measure at a strategic level, clearly understanding the value our work has on our communities, on the public purse and identifying what would happen if we did not invest in social investment. Each of our s run through our services, as detailed below. This ensures that all colleagues understand what we are striving to achieve as well as dealing with the here and now. It s this cascade which will support us to achieve each of our s and ultimately our mission. Making South Liverpool the place to be Our Journey to 2022 Customer Happy Place Perfect Opportunity Taken Penny Counts Person Positive Financial inclusion / poverty Customer service Community engagement Health & wellbeing Social inclusion Asset management Neighbourhood services Employability Growth Social enterprise / value Value for money Governance Viability Risk management Colleagues Board & committee members ICT and Equality & diversity cross cut each.

27 27 Ensuring Chance of Success Making South Liverpool the place to be is our focus: delivering our s will help us achieve this. We believe that doing anything that does not contribute to our s will distract us from our ultimate aim. To support Our Journey to 2022 we revised the way we deliver business assurance by strengthening our governance and compliance arrangements, revising our approach to risk management and reviewing performance management. It s this approach to assurance, which will ensure the delivery of our s. Through the life of the plan we will continue to assess the external environment to see how it is changing or could change, which will then impact on the work that we do. We will quality assure key strategic projects and ensure that what we deliver is done so in compliance with our governance arrangements and charitable objectives.

28 28 The numbers The numbers Our financial strength has been detailed earlier on. Here are the key numbers which impact on our delivery: The SLH Group has a 30-year business plan which helps us to deliver our corporate aims and helps us to continue to be a financially healthy organisation. SLH has total loan facilities of 31.5m, loans drawn of 25.2m, with 5.8m remaining undrawn and 5.5m in cash reserves. We have negotiated new loan facilities totalling 35m which will be available from April This funding is fully secured and sufficient to fully fund the business plan. Approximately 71% of drawn debt is at fixed rates of interest therefore minimising exposure to increases in borrowing rates. SLH has made promises (or covenants) to our loan providers in relation to the amount of borrowing compared to our property values, our income compared to expenditure and, specifically, interest payments. In all cases SLH comfortably exceed our loan covenants and expect to do so into the future. To support our corporate aims: SLH expect to generate a net income stream of 18.1m each year on average for the next five years Interest cover (the ratio of the surplus plus depreciation divided by the interest payable) is projected to increase from 472% to 487% in the next three years. Gearing (the ratio of the loan divided by the fixed assets at cost) is expected to remain unchanged at 23% over the next three years The business plan is based on a number of prudent assumptions around the impact of uncertain economic variables. The business plan has been stress tested under several scenarios that may affect us, to ensure that it is robust, and that we are financially adaptable under worsening economic conditions.

29 29 Contact us Want to know If you want to know more about the work that we do or you can help us on Our Journey to 2022: visit us at slhgroup.co.uk or contact us more?