2008/9 Annual Report
Chief Executive and Chairman’s Report
In contrast to the fairly constant stream of gloomy news that has accompanied most business’s annual reports in the last year, it is very pleasing to report that Arcon has had one of its most productive years for some time.
2008/9 saw the Group completing 22 new houses and flats at a cost of £2.7 million at Kittybert Avenue Gorton, Tymbark House Whaley Bridge, Victoria Avenue Blackley and Maypole Close Carrington. The schemes were a mixture of properties for rent and for sale on a shared ownership basis. Although the sales have taken longer than originally forecast because of the general economic climate, most of the properties have now been sold and are providing an affordable home ownership option.
In respect of our existing properties we spent £2 million in 2008/9—our highest ever amount in a year—on major repairs and refurbishment projects. Works were completed at Chantry Court. Macclesfield, Watermill Close Milnrow, Arcon House Lytham as well as at the Association’s terraced properties in Gorton, Levenshulme and Patricroft. These works mainly consisted of renewing heating systems and replacing kitchens and the Association remains committed to maximising its re-investment back into its existing properties whilst ensuring a balanced budget.
The Association also successfully finalised the completion of a £4 million loan facility with Lloyds TSB and this will give us the opportunity to achieve the growth objectives set out in our business plan.
In respect of other initiatives it has been very good to see the success of the mystery shopping exercises and how these have lead directly to service improvements and this work will be further enhanced in the coming year by a programme of service reviews that will be undertaken by the newly established Tenant Scrutiny Committee.
We were very pleased to have recruited three new Board members in the year who have a wealth of experience in finance and property maintenance and we would like to thank all the staff, Board and Committee members for their hard work and commitment during the year which has resulted in Arcon continuing to provide a high standard service to our tenants and residents.Peter Schilizzi—Chief Executive, John Connolly—Chairman
Housing Management Report
Over the last twelve months we have been looking at our Customer Service Standards, to make sure that we provide the best service possible to our tenants and other customers.
Several of our tenants have volunteered to become a Mystery Shopper. They have completed a training course, and are now carrying out Mystery Shopping exercises to ensure that Arcon complies with the service standards we have set ourselves. There have been several recommendations made for improvement and these have now been introduced. We will continue with the Mystery Shopping throughout the year to ensure that we provide a high quality service, but also that we identify areas for improvements in the future.
On the same theme, we have established a new Tenant Scrutiny Committee. With the assistance of an independent mentor they will be scrutinising Arcon’s performance across all aspects of the business, and also benchmarking our performance against other Housing Associations. The Scrutiny Committee will make recommendations to the Board where they believe Arcon could improve our performance. The first area of work they will be reviewing is the provision of Day to Day Repairs. It will be interesting to see how the project progresses.
Taking a more critical look at how we provide our services, and tailoring these services to the needs of our customers, is consistent with the message from our new regulator the Tenants Services Authority.
They want to see tenants much more involved in decisions about service delivery and part of a co-regulation of Housing Association performance with the Board. The Tenants Services Authority has undertaken a national consultation with tenants to identify what are tenant’s priorities. They will produce a new set of Service Standards that all housing providers should strive to achieve, whilst also encouraging the local delivery of specific services to meet the needs of tenants. Arcon will compare our performance against the new standards when they are published.
A good example of providing a local service to tenants has been the pilot Mobile Warden Service that has proved to be very successful, and will become a permanent feature at Thompson and Wilton Court in Denton. We are now looking to expand this service to other schemes for the over 55’s and to our elderly tenants who live in our dispersed terraced properties.
We will also continue to participate in Pinpoint, the Greater Manchester Choice Based Letting Scheme. This has been successful on two fronts, firstly assisting mobility across the Greater Manchester region, and also it has helped to reduce our void turn around as applicants bid for properties in areas where they actually want to live.
As part of our work with local communities, this year Arcon made a generous contribution to the development of a community garden to the rear of Ventnor Avenue in Levenshulme. Arcon owned the piece of land which was a derelict drying area. In partnership with Manchester City Council, Groundwork and the local residents group, this has now been turned into a garden for the local community to use and maintain in the future.
We have also sponsored a football strip for the under 7’s Reddish Vulcan’s team in Stockport. We hope they will have a successful season and encourage more children to get involved in organised sport.
Finally I would like to thank all of the staff in the Housing Management department who continue to work extremely hard to ensure we provide the best service we can to all of our customers.
David Lovelady—Housing Director
Maintenance Report
The past year has seen an economic downturn which has slightly compounded the availability of monies as a result of fewer property sales. This has impacted on the coming years budget and as such, the association has worked on ensuring that we deliver improvements in line with our Asset management strategy within the current financial constraints.
During the course of 2008/9 the association completed several large major repairs schemes principally concentrated within Chantry Court, Macclesfield, Watermill Close, Milnrow and within our older stock at Gorton and Levenshulme. The work centred around kitchens, central heating and replacement doors and accounted for in excess of £1 million. Taking into account other schemes where smaller improvement took place the expenditure for the year was around £2 million including Arcon developments works. In addition to this a number of schemes benefited from cyclical maintenance and work on numerous properties was completed over the summer months.
The team completed the stock condition survey and all the relevant information attained from this has now been uploaded to our Asset database which now forms the strategy for stock improvement over the coming years. The gas contract was re-tendered in line with a 3 star service to reduce additional costs being invoiced for out of contract works and service contracts were re-negotiated to provide both residents and the association with increased value for money.
In the next financial year we will continue to carry out improvement works to our stock in the Levenshulme and Gorton areas to ensure that we meet our government target for Decent Homes as well as completing the final phase of the Milnrow properties at Heatley Road. Despite financial constraints and a more limited budget the current economic situation has resulted in contractors providing lower tenders for works and therefore we are still receiving completed projects with high satisfaction levels at a considerable saving to that of previous years. Additional challenges lie ahead and one of our main targets is to gain grant funding for the governments Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP) We are currently in consultation with a large housing association and an energy provider and have submitted our bid to enable our hard to treat stock to benefit from thermal improvement works which will improve the CO2 emissions of the buildings. We have also enabled residents to claim free standby sockets and energy monitors via a scheme being run by British Gas.
In the long term it is still intended to reduce the amount spent on responsive day to day repairs and put any savings back into the planned maintenance budget. As properties are improved the impact should be that there are less repairs needed therefore reducing the liability on a difficult to control area. This remains one of the biggest challenges for the department and we hope to make in roads on improving this in future years. Additionally, with the formation of the new resident scrutiny committee, their input into maintenance will be key to high quality service delivery and will hopefully support the continued positive feedback received in line with the last status survey.
Finally, I would like to thank all staff within the Maintenance Department who have work tirelessly throughout the year and provided an excellent facility to the association and the residents of Arcon.
Jim Bradley—Property Director
Financial Report
Arcon has always maintained the view that financial strength is fundamental to the delivery of a quality service to our tenants. Even with the continuing economic downturn, the Association has delivered its promises to tenants in respect of major improvements and the provision of new homes for rent or to buy under a shared ownership arrangement.
The past year was the peak of the Association’s ongoing major improvement programme with a spend of £2 million across the Group’s properties. The delivery of this programme has been achieved in spite of the Association not achieving the budgeted surpluses on property sales in its Business Plan due to falling property valuations. However, whilst these financial results may be disappointing, the Association does remain committed to the completion of the improvement programme as promised to our tenants. Throughout all this, the Association continues to maintain good relationships with its funders and during the year a new £4million facility to fund development activities was established with Lloyds TSB.
Arcon continues to work towards improving value for money across all its activities. The Value for Money Strategy has been established and the impact of that can be seen throughout all areas of operation. A cross-departmental Value for Money Group has been established which also includes a Board member and a leaseholder. This Group has a number of aims including ensuring the principles of Value for Money are understood by all at Arcon and that everybody can contribute to this work. A number of reviews have already been carried out to identify whether any improvements can be made in the use of resources whether that be through procurement methods or changes in procedures. As a member of HouseMark, we have also been able to benchmark our performance and this information is also being used to identify areas of performance that would we would like to improve.
The Association also continues to work on the delivery of its Financial Inclusion Strategy. Work to date includes better provision of information to tenants on support available such as debt advice or grants available to help those facing hardship. We also continue to support the Manchester Credit Union and now have Arcon staff amongst its members. The focus for this coming year will be to address issues surrounding fuel poverty and to also continue work on initiatives to tackle worklessness by helping our tenants return to work.
Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank members of the Finance Team. Through their hard work and dedication, they continue to provide a quality service to colleagues, suppliers and of course our tenants.
Anne Southern—Finance Director
Shareholding and Tenant Associate Membership Policy
Introduction
The Association operates a Shareholding and Tenant Associate Membership Policy that aims to encourage the involvement of both tenants and those who share the values and objectives of the Association. To achieve this, the Association has created, in addition to its shareholding membership, the category of tenant associate.
All tenants are automatically eligible to become tenant associates. Shareholding membership of the Association requires the purchase of a £1 share in the Association. Shares are non-returnable, non-transferable and limited to one per person. Because the Association operates on a not-for-profit basis, shares carry no right of interest, dividend or bonus.
Tenant Associates
All tenants are automatically tenant associates. This entitles them to:
- attend Development or other Tenant/Resident Group meetings;
- attend and vote at the Association’s Tenants Forum;
- stand for election to the Tenant Committee;
- sit on the Tenant Committee.
The Association has established a variety of ways of ensuring that tenants’ views are taken into account and that tenants are given opportunities to influence the management and decision making processes that affect their homes.
Shareholding Members
The purpose of shareholding membership is to:
- provide an active pool of people who have expressed an interest in the Association and from whom new Board/Committee members may be drawn;
- allow other people to express support and commitment to the work of the Association without playing an active role;
- enhance the Association’s accountability to the communities in which it operates;
- allow tenants and residents of the Association to play an active part in the Association’s affairs.
Applicants should meet at least one of the following criteria:
- have the appropriate skills, experience and commitment to make a significant contribution to the Association’s Board or Committees either now or in the future;
- demonstrate an existing and continuing interest and support for the work of the Association;
- help improve the representation of local communities within the Association’s shareholding membership and/or board and committee structures.
For more information about the shareholding and tenant associate membership policy and other opportunities for resident involvement please contact the office.
