SHEPHERDS BUSH HOUSING GROUP
PERFORMANCE STRATEGY
1.
Executive Summary
1.1
Our strategy for improving our performance aims to deliver excellent services to
our customers and meet our over-arching aim of being recognised as the best in
London for our homes and services. This strategy sets out the organisation’s
ambition to improve performance. We aim to:
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Set clear strategies that focus on achieving outcomes for residents.
Set clear targets that are achievable but stretching.
Obtain excellent customer feedback from the wide variety of residents we
have in our homes, but also who receive our services.
Test ourselves through external challenge, benchmarking, tenant
inspection and mystery shopping and use it to improve services further.
Learn from the best organisations and integrate good practice into the
organisation.
Ensure that we meet the requirements of the Social Housing Regulator’s
Standards
Target our actions on areas of under-performance and continuous
improvement in all services and prioritise weaker services.
2.
Objectives and Values:
2.1
This strategy supports our mission statement of being an organisation that is
recognised as being the best in London for our homes and services. We will
achieve this by:
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Delivering our promises through excellent performance.
Being distinctive for what we do and how we do it.
Being diverse by providing a range of services that reflect individual
needs.
2.2
Our staff also uphold the Group values of putting the customer first, being
passionate about our work, focused on performance, respecting others, showing
integrity and being united in all we do.
3.
Why we have a Performance Strategy:
3.1
If we are to be recognised as the best in London for our homes and services our
performance is key to the success of our mission. Our performance needs to be
recognised, not just in the hard performance indicators we produce for a variety
of external bodies and also for our residents, but also in the softer, less tangible
ways in which we deliver our services. Consequently, we will seek to offer ways
in which our residents and stakeholders can provide feedback on our
performance, including stakeholder surveys and our current performance
reporting to the Resident Voice. We need a strategy in place to set out the various
ways in which we can improve our performance and how this will affect the
various customers and stakeholders we have. Good performance information and
targetted action on areas of under-performance is key to the successful running
of a high quality organisation and we have ensured that good performance is
knitted into our values, our objectives and our mission statement.
4.
Objectives of the Strategy:
4.1
Our aim is to be recognised as the best in London for our homes and services.
Therefore, one of the objectives of this strategy is to achieve a set of performance
indicators that show clearly that we are the best in London when compared with
our peers and other organisations.
4.2
We also want to show to our customers that they are getting good performance
from the organisation and from the rent and service charges that they provide.
To do this we must work with our customers on showing how performance has
changed following their feedback and how the softer areas of customer contact
and learning are being appropriately used.
5.
Details:
5.1
The strategy sets out below the ways in which we are improving our performance
as an organisation:
5.1.1
Business Plan:
We now have in place a three year Business Plan leading us to 2016. Our
performance targets will now be aligned to this plan. We have five areas to
measure in our Business Plan -green, growing and high quality, involving and
influencing, delighting our residents, a top performer and social heart, business
head, local impact. This report contains details on these five areas of
measurement.
5.1.2
Green, growing and high quality:
Our business plan identifies the following areas to measure under this heading:
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Growth in stock numbers (by about 400 homes) and quality of our homes;
Investment in stock quality;
Energy efficiency
Our stock at March 2016 is 5022. We have nearly 300 homes on site or in
planning and through appraisal in five Boroughs. This will help us to realise our
growth target.
Since 2009 we have invested over £9million in planned improvements, installing
new kitchens and bathrooms plus planned works to roofs, windows, sound
insulation, heating and windows. In 2014/15 we carried out planned and cyclical
work to 221 kitchens and bathrooms and 485 homes for cyclical work. Our target
for 2015/16 is to spend a further £1.9million on kitchens and bathrooms and
£1.6million on cyclical work. We are spending an average of £5,000 per home on
kitchens and bathrooms and £3,500 per home on cyclical repairs.
Our SAP level (which measures the energy efficiency of our stock) has risen by 12
points from 60 to 70.3 since 2009. We have carried out energy improvements with
insulation and draught-proofing to all homes in our cyclical programmes.
We have further plans for £1.9million of investment in new kitchens and
bathrooms and a programme of £250,000 specifically for energy efficiency. We
aim to increase our SAP figures for our homes to 75 by 2016. We have a Green
Strategy in place with a target to become carbon neutral as a Group. We have
also commissioned the Energy Saving Trust to carry out a survey of our homes
with the aim of identifying future opportunities for energy saving schemes. We
are implementing the first round of proposals for PV cells and ECO funding this
year.
5.1.3
Involving and Influencing:
Our business plan identifies the need to offer the widest array of methods to get
involved, as well as measuring the satisfaction of tenants with having their views
taken into account and the number engaged in involvement activities.
Our target is to increase involvement by 5% per annum and to achieve 75%
satisfaction with views being taken into account. Our last survey in 2014 showed
77% satisfaction with SBHA overall (up 4% on the previous year), 63%
satisfaction with views being listened to (as last year) and 75% satisfaction with
the opportunity to make views known (up 8% on last year).
In 2012/13 we reviewed our Resident Involvement Strategy and we are due to
review it again in 2015. We have set fresh targets to boost satisfaction with our
services, measuring participation in the Big Conversation, voting in Resident
Voice elections and achieving 73% in the above satisfaction scores on being
listened to and the opportunity to make views known. The latter target was
reached last year.
5.1.4
A Top Performer:
Key performance figures have been set over the last three years. Our targets are:
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Arrears 4.5% (currently at 5.27% for General Needs in March 2015). We
are proposing a target of 4.5% for general needs homes (PSA 4.9%,
supported 2.4% and Leasehold 1.8%) for the year to work to with the aim
of getting back to 3.4% overall.
Void turnround under 18 days (Achieved three years running)
Complaint turnround 90% under 10 days (Achieved)
Repair satisfaction 80% (From our own surveys currently at 78%)
Gas servicing, zero outstanding CP12s (currently at 0.5% outstanding in
March 2015, up from 0.05% in 2013/14)
First fix turnround time 80% (We are still monitoring this by survey at
61%)
82% of tenants are now saying it is easy to report a repair (up from 80% in
March 2014)
Our average repair turnround time was 20 days by the year end (up from
6 days) but this was skewed by a large job completion exercise to capture
and invoice all open jobs.
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Our percentage of works sub-contracted (at extra cost) reduced from 7.8%
in March 2013 to 2.8% in March 2014 and to 2.2% in March 2015
Our average number of jobs completed each day fell from 78 in 2013/14 to
62 at March 2015..
Excellent work in arrears collection reduced arrears for general needs homes by
1.5% and the work of the team is to be commended.
We have achieved Silver Investors in People and we became a Sunday Times Top
100 not for profit performer in 2013. We have been short-listed six times in the
Housing Heroes Awards and won twice. We have also been short-listed in
Business Excellence, UKHA (twice) and UK Housing Design Awards. Furnish
won the Green Business of the Year award in the West London Business Awards.
We have in place a performance appraisal system that links our business plan
objectives to each individual’s performance. We have a competency based system
built around our values and ensure that staff receive regular 1:1s, team meetings
and attend a staff conference. The Senior Management Team provide team
briefings on a regular basis for all staff in an informal format requesting
feedback on business issues and reporting back month to month. All staff have
annual appraisals and these have an element of performance pay with poorer
performance managed through disciplinary or capability processes. Team and
individual targets flow from the corporate plan and team meeting
We are annually measuring satisfaction with services, currently at 77% overall,
up from 73% in 2014 and measure repair satisfaction, ASB services, Umbrella
team, cyclical and planned works on a regular basis.
Our ASB satisfaction targets have been set at 75% for satisfaction with the
outcome.
We seek performance improvement through benchmarking with other
organisations of similar type through the L8 peer group and our Connected
Development Partnership. L8 consists of eight similar sized, London based
associations and the Connected Group consists of Shepherds Bush, Octavia and
Origin housing associations. We carry out Housemark benchmarking of high
level indicators with the L8, plus over 60 similar RPs and ALMOs in the South
East and with the Connected Group we have implemented a number of value for
money studies that compare and contrast the costs of running certain services.
We also benchmark with our PlaceShaper colleagues across the U.K. We report
on these bench-marked results in our Value for Money Strategy.
5.1.5
Delighting our Residents:
Our intouch@sbha and Resident Voice carry out mystery shopping checks on
estates and voids to ensure we are complying with our service standards and we
will continue to report these to the Resident Voice and Board. The Resident Voice
now visits estates alongside Estate Pride to ensure a full understanding of the
service. Our Service Improvement Team carries out audits and reviews of our
work and policies and these are reported to our Audit Sub-Committee.
We have in place a considerable number of methods for customer feedback to be
provided to the Association. We carry out focus groups and organised meetings on
repairs and planned maintenance, a leaseholder forum and an annual Big
Conversation whereby all staff members visit at least four tenants once a year
and complete a satisfaction form with them. All contact with tenants is marked
by a request for satisfaction scores on influencing the Association and
satisfaction overall with our services and reported in a Satisfaction Tracker as
part of our Resident Involvement Strategy. We also keep a log of all residents
getting involved in the Association’s work on an annual basis as part of our
Resident Impact Assessment report. We carry out a survey every year and a
leaseholder survey every three years. We hold an annual Residents’ Conference
and an Employment and Jobs Conference to help our tenants into work. Our
intouch officer has now established an e-mail club with over 300 tenants
providing quarterly feedback. We set up a new Customer Insight Team to provide
a fresh approach to the handling of enquiries and complaints. The team will
provide speedy resolution to issues, often directly and quickly on the telephone as
well as developing a learning culture from difficult cases.
5.1.6
Social heart, business head, local impact:
This Business Plan objective captures our operation as an ethical business and
charitable organisation, together with a need for business-like practices, value
for money, good contract management with real, measurable local impact.
Our performance can be measured through our achievements in introducing
innovations of value such as the Umbrella Team (with £250,000 of business in
the third year), expanding Furnish (with a turnover of £2.5million in 2015),
developing InComE across London and migrating Academy 4 Housing into an
employment initiative for tenants through the Big Lottery funded STEP
Programme. We also have a Value for Money Strategy with performance reported
annually and a focussed Procurement Policy to ensure control on contracts and
costs. All staff that tender work have now been procurement trained.
5.2
Action Plan:
Our action plan setting out how we will implement these actions follows in
Appendix 1.
6.
Monitoring and Review:
Our Performance Strategy is subject to annual review by the Board.
7.
Equality Impact Assessment:
7.1
Objectives of the Strategy:
The Performance Improvement Strategy aims to improve the performance of the
organisation so that we can meet our aim of becoming recognised as the best in
London for our homes and services.
7.2
Who will it affect:
All of our customers will be affected by this Strategy. Our services are available
to all and, through improved performance, we intend to ensure that those who
are vulnerable or disabled or who may have been discriminated against in the
past can see improvements in the quality of our services that produce better
outcomes for them.
7.3
Could the proposal have a negative effect on (a) race, (b) disability, (c) gender, (d)
sexual orientation, (e) age, (f) belief:
Improvements in performance should have positive effects on all customers of
the organisation, irrespective of any issues of diversity. Improvements in
satisfaction would be expected to show across all aspects of diversity, although
we have noticed in the past that there is a clear difference between the response
of White British residents on satisfaction, which are generally higher by 5% or
6% than those from BME groups. Much research has been undertaken on this
matter and it has shown that it is generally as a result of a number of factors
that directly influence BME satisfaction. These are the age of tenants, the
potential for BME groups to be in the more deprived areas of cities, potential
cultural differences in the delivery of services that may emerge over time and
also the expectations of certain BME groups around service quality. We need to
understand more about how this directly affects Shepherds Bush services and
what we can do to ensure that our performance increases satisfaction to the same
level as White British residents.
7.4
Could any negative impacts be justified:
No. We do not expect there to be any negative impacts but will monitor the
results through our surveys to ensure no group is disadvantaged.
7.5
Has any external research or consultation been undertaken:
We have referred above to external research that has been carried out by the
Housing Corporation (as was) and also by a consortium of associations on the
difference between White British and BME group satisfaction with services.
Driving improvements in performance should be non-discriminatory and improve
satisfaction of all groups but we will continue to consult with our local sounding
board on aspects of our strategies where they may directly impact on BME or
other diverse groups where discrimination could occur.
7.6
Any further action needed:
Other than the need to get a better understanding of the differences in
satisfaction between BME groups, we believe that the drive for better
performance will only lead to better outcomes for our residents.
Performance Strategy Action Plan
Task
Measurement
Business Plan
In place with Board approval and SMT
quarterly reporting on target
Funded
Budget
in Annual report
performance
Target Setting
In place at start of year
SMT
Funded
Budget
in Monthly reports to
SMT and quarterly
to Board. Annual
report
on
performance overall
External
IIP and QHS accreditation in place. Best SMT
validation and Company status in Top 100
accreditation
Funded
budget
in IIP rating review Continued
due in 2016.
accreditation
reflects excellent
performance.
Mystery
Shopping
Funded
budget
in Reports
via RV
Funded
budget
year
in Continuous
in approach in
year
Customer
Feedback
Resident Voice inspections
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Responsibility
intouch@sbha
CE
Regular surveys through SNAP system Various staff
Focus groups
Big Conversation
Satisfaction Tracker
Resident feedback from TAs and other
meetings
 BMG
surveys
carried
out
independently
 Complaint handling
Resources
Timescale
to
Outcome
on Meet our business
plan targets for
review in 2015
ready for 2016
launch.
Reports
show
improved
performance over
time
Board Adherence
standards.
to
Feedback
logged
the and
used
to
improve outcomes
for our residents
 E-mail groups
 Residents Conference
Benchmarking
 L8 reporting quarterly and annual
report
 Connected comparisons on VfM
 Annual benchmarking with other
associations to help taraget setting
Peer visits
Visits to peer organisations and excellent HS/PM
providers
n/a
2 x visits per year Learn
good
by each dept.
practice
on
excellence and feed
back to SBHG.
Board
Board reflects well on good quality PI Board
information
and
challenges
poor
performance
n/a
Quarterly
Staff
performance
Annual appraisals, low turnover, high Managers
morale, low sickness, quality training.
In budget.
Regular 1:1s and A well trained
annual appraisals
workforce
with
high morale and
effective
management will
lead
to
better
performance across
the Group.
Contact Officer:
Performance & Funded
Risk Manager
budgets
Sales Manager
DoHR&BS
in Quarterly reporting
Paul Doe
Chief Executive
020 8996 4203
If members have any queries please contact me on this number prior to the Board meeting
SBHG to be a top
quartile
organisation in all
areas.
Effective
Board
governance
ensures
good
performance across
Group.