Value For Money
Arcon is committed to getting the best value for money in buying goods and services and also in how we actually do our work so that we can deliver the right service to our tenants in the most cost effective and efficient way. Our view is that if there is something we can save money on, it will allow us to do more work for you in the long run.
We have a value for money group with staff from all departments who are responsible for challenging colleagues to do better and to compare our performance against other housing associations. We know from our STATUS survey results that our performance is good. We also do well in terms of cost but realise that we could do better.
As a result, staff across Arcon are continually trying to get a better deal and during the past year, we have made savings of over £60,000. This includes getting grant funding for carrying out special adaptations in properties for tenants who need extra help to live in their home as they may, for example, have difficulty in using stairs or getting in and out of the bath.
We also managed to successfully appeal decisions made by local housing benefit departments and get £13,000 of rent which would otherwise have had to be paid by our tenants. We have made lots of smaller savings too, such as negotiating better prices on printing, stationery and support contracts for systems we use and even obtaining free training for staff.
So what have we done with the money we saved?
Our main focus is on maintaining and improving our properties which we also know from tenant feedback is what you want us to do. The savings we have made have contributed towards the cost of this work and allowed us to do work not originally in the budget including fitting new kitchens at one of our schemes and completing more improvements to many of our older terraced houses.
If you would like to know more about our value for money work, you can read our Value for Money Strategy here. We would also like to hear from you on what ideas you have on how we could achieve better value for money and also whether you would like to join our Value for Money Group. Please use the form below to contact us or write to us at Arcon Housing Association, 12 Lloyd Street, Manchester, M2 5ND.
