ALMO of the year: finalist

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1 ALMO of the year: finalist Berneslai Homes: A fresh approach to people, homes and communities Please provide evidence of how your ALMO is delivering high quality services to residents, across a range of service areas Established in 2002 Berneslai Homes manages some 19,500 properties on behalf of Barnsley Council. Back then we adopted a company strap line of a fresh approach to people, homes and communities. Ten years on and with a new contract until 2021 following an extensive review by the Council and our tenants, our strapline is as valid today as it was then. In awarding the new contract the Council s view was summarised by the Leader Cllr Steve Houghton CBE, who said Berneslai Homes is a high performance organisation and is one of the best performing in the country, as well as one of the best in terms of Value for Money. In addition to completing our Decent Homes Programme in December 2010, we have consistently achieving excellent performance and were awarded three stars excellent with excellent prospects for improvement from the Audit Commission in June We worked with and supported our Tenants Federation to create, develop and implement the Berneslai Challenge. Together we converted an underutilised building into a valuable resource centre and HQ for them enabling them to start to generate their own income. We ve embraced peer review and assessment to help bring in external challenge. In June 2011 we achieved the Investor in People Silver award, making us one of only 29 organisations in the Yorkshire and Humber and 331 nationally. The theme of the assessment was customer excellence. Our assessor Robin Simpson commented on our genuine desire to meet customer needs coming from all parts of the organisation The most customer focused organisation I ve ever seen. In November 2011 LGID undertook our peer review against the Social Housing Equality Framework. Only the third ALMO (first under the revised framework) and we achieved Excellence. We re proud of our work with the local LGBT community; our innovative partnership arrangement with them, the Rainbow Tick initiative being launched in Feb 2012 and to be one of only 3 ALMOs in Stonewall s top 100 companies list What do our tenants say? In Autumn 2011 we commissioned an independent research company to undertake a STAR survey. We couldn t have been more delighted with the outcomes: Overall satisfaction with us as landlord - 90% Satisfaction with the overall quality of the home - 88% Overall satisfaction with the repairs and maintenance service - 86% Satisfaction that the rent is Value for Money - 84%

2 and all of this achieved with the lowest overhead costs as a percentage of direct revenue costs within the HouseMark Metropolitan Peer group. Please tell us about a specific project or achievement which sets you apart from other good performing ALMOs. The project which sets us apart from other good performing ALMOs is how effectively we have worked with Barnsley Federation of Tenants and Residents to develop and implement our co-regulation model The Berneslai Challenge. The Berneslai Challenge has four panels managed independently by the Federation: Home Involvement and Empowerment Tenancy, Neighbourhood and Communities Value for Money. The Federation recruited over 80 interested applicants, and following training now have 18 members who are the Berneslai Challengers. Twice yearly we provide them with a self assessment of our performance against the five standards and our local offers. We provide additional information they request, and arrange any shadowing, further meetings or interviews. The Berneslai Challenge co-regulation model supports and strengthens our governance model we have clear processes in place. Our board receive biannual reports of the outcomes from the Berneslai Challenge Panels and these reports are jointly developed and presented by us and the Chair of the Federation. The Berneslai Challenge Panels have the power to issue a Berneslai Challlenge card which gives them direct access to our board if they feel we are failing on any of the standards. We ve not had one issued as yet but after three rounds of scrutiny we re thrilled that the panels haven t just supported our self assessments but have highlighted areas for service improvement. Berneslai Challenge is an open process - we publish all information on our website and in customer magazines, including some video summaries. Why is your approach innovative/unique? We believe that our approach to co-regulation is unique in the sector as it s the Federation who drove the development of the Berneslai Challenge model, who recruited and trained their members and who now manage the process fully independently to us and our existing governance structures. Before the TSA, we already had strong governance, varied and effective involvement processes, effective challenge from Barnsley Federation of Tenants and Residents, and a process of peer reviews and external accreditations - all of which we felt stood up to the requirements of the TSA and the new National Standards.

3 Our customers wanted a stronger voice to keep us on our toes and make sure we continued to improve and deliver a three star service an approach we welcomed. This approach ensures that we don t influence the areas of service the panels scrutinise and we don t stand in the way of them undertaking any additional activities to help them reach a decision. It empowers tenants and is a great succession planning tool. The Local Offer tracking document (published on our website) is an easy to understand, living document open to all. It s an open process, driven by residents, supported by staff and valued by our board. For us, co-regulation and the power to direct effective scrutiny truly is in our customers hands and to echo the Federation s strap-line Together we make a difference. Please provide evidence to demonstrate the positive impact of your project or achievement for the communities involved. The Berneslai Challenge has been very effective in meeting the objectives of co-regulation and because of their scrutiny we can confidently report to our customers that we are delivering against the National Standards and our local offers because their neighbours have told us that we are. We can confidently report that our actions to improve the service are endorsed, developed and supported by them too. There has also been other benefits: It s given a fresh focus for our Federation and increased its membership. It s raised the profile of our Federation at a regional and national level - they ve been running roadshows and attending events sharing their journey. It s developed stronger respect between the Federation, our staff and our board. It s improved overall customer satisfaction. 90% of customers in our recent STAR survey said they were happy with our service and 74% felt that we listened to and acted upon their views. It s improved accountability to customers (only 8% of customers surveyed felt the panels were not making a difference). It s got new residents involved - many of the Berneslai Challengers had never been involved before and they re not just involved in the scrutiny aspect. It s had a positive impact on staff perception of resident involvement across the whole company. We ve now got many of our back office staff involved in delivering tenant training, mentoring and attending customer events. As a result we have been able to launch the CIH Active Learning for Residents programme in Barnsley. It s increased customer knowledge about the service, what we deliver and why we do it in the way we do. As a result we are:

4 Improving communication on planned repairs including a customer information card to keep tenants advised of what will happen when repairs cannot be completed at the operatives visit. Reviewing the merits of our three yearly visits to establish if they still represent Value for Money for the company. Looking at service charges in sheltered schemes if ther are Value for Money for tenants. and they Concluded that our Service Excellence Assessment Programme is a VFM way of getting feedback because it is producing outcomes such as improving signage to a local office, changing the advise booklets for peoples whose homes are due to be demolished, and changing surveys resulting in an increased response rate from tenants. Verified our lettings processes and improving their understanding of supply and demand, our approach to vulnerability, multi-agency input and thereby improving the transparency of lettings. All of these benefits and it was implemented quickly and within existing staffing and financial resources. Please tell us briefly why your ALMO should win this award. Berneslai Homes is a low cost, high performing ALMO. With excellent external accreditations and fantastic customer satisfaction we have put customers at the heart of everything we do. Our tenants ask which came out of their involvement in the process awarding us the extended contract has been incorporated into our future plans. Working with our tenants we have established a robust, challenging and meaningful framework for tenant scrutiny through the Berneslai Challenge. This is supported by a programme of peer review and accreditation. Together we are delivering real outcomes and having a positive impact on our communities. Looking forward to the start of self financing to keep our approach fresh we are doing the following: We ve just seen the completion of 76 new build homes and have now set aside funds to commence an acquisition programme. As part of our commitment to a low carbon future and building on our successful energy efficiency programme which has included Solar PV panels, air sourced heat pumps and biomass district heating schemes we have pledged to cease the installation of new gas heating systems by 2015 using only sustainable alternatives. Having conducted research that showed that only 42% of our tenants have access to the Internet we are targeting resources to support our commitment to tackle digital exclusion. Building our apprenticeship and work placement programmes our

5 Improving Skills, Improving Neighbourhoods scheme will see an expansion of training opportunities in our communities. Remaining a low cost, high performing ALMO we will keep our fresh approach to people, homes and communities.