Genesis Housing Association Residents Report 2013

Genesis Housing Association
Residents Report 2013

Genesis is about more than just
bricks and mortar. We believe
in providing our residents with
the highest quality services
and opportunities to build
brighter and better futures for
themselves and their families.
As one of the most diverse
housing associations in the
UK, Genesis’ role is to not only
provide and manage quality
homes, but to be an integral
part of the community.
Genesis Community, our
charitable arm, works with
partners to build and shape
communities. Our investment
in local communities includes
providing employability
training, inclusion and advice,
programmes for youth and
older people, and support
for vulnerable residents
experiencing mental
health issues, learning
disabilities or those who
are at risk.
With c32,000 homes across
London and the east of
England we believe in offering
a variety of specialist services
and unique options for our
residents.
With a range of tenure options, Genesis is proud to house residents with diverse
needs and to continue to develop and build new homes for future residents.
Market
rent
1149
Social
rent
Private
landlords
Key Workers
1211
Shared
Ownership
5640
Intermediate
Rent
Under
management
14732
Under
management
715
1626
Under
management
Market Rent
1149
Genesis
Care &
Support
2861 3844
Shared
Ownership
2834
Under
development
Commercial
units
Private
Landlords
1626
5640
Under
management
Intermediate
rent
Social Rent
14732
Temporary
Housing
3518
95
324
Under
development
715
Under
management
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This annual resident report is designed to share with you our achievements
and areas of improvement, as a business, throughout 2012. The statistics
discussed are published quarterly, with this report focusing on the most
current results available as at December 2012.
For your convenience the information contained in this report is available
on our website www.genesisha.org.uk.
We would like to thank those all residents involved with the
Resident Scrutiny Panel and Regional Committees who have
worked with us throughout the year to review performance
and ensure that our improvement efforts are focused on
what matters most to our customers.
We work hard to continually improve our
services for our residents. The Genesis
Commitment is made up of 12 standards
that we aim to achieve. These are based on
what our customers have told us are their top
priorities for improvement.
The Genesis Board, Executive Team, Resident
Scrutiny Panel and Regional Committees have
been reviewing our performance in achieving
the standards throughout the year. In the
following pages we set out the results of our
work.
The Genesis Commitment
The Resident Scrutiny Panel is currently
working with us to refine the standards for
2013-14 to ensure there is a continual focus on
what matters most to our customers.
We will provide services you can rely on
It will be easy to get through
when you contact us
Target
75% of residents are satisfied
it is easy to get through
When we’ve made an
appointment to visit you, we
will arrive on time
Target
How we did
in 2012
77.9%
We have exceeded our target – we have put in place more
customer service officers to answer your calls and customer
satisfaction has increased by 5%.
Target
Maximum 6% calls to contact
centre abandoned
90% of residents satisfied
their appointment is kept 87.4%
We will aim to ensure you’re
satisfied with the quality of
the repairs
Target
4.3%
We have exceeded our target – we have stabilised access to the
service and it’s consistently easier to get through.
How we did
in 2012
We have improved but not yet met our target – we have
introduced text messaging to remind you about repair
appointments and this has made a big improvement.
How we did
in 2012
80% of residents satisfied with
the quality of their repair 77.6%
We have improved but not yet met our target – we have
re-branded our repairs service to Genesis and far more
repairs are carried out by our own staff.
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We will keep you informed
We will get back to you
when we say we will
Target
90% of back office messages
receive a response within 3
working days
How we did
in 2012
93.3%
We have exceeded our target – our staff are working harder to
provide a more reliable response.
We will provide services right first time
We will resolve call enquiries
when you first contact us
Target
70% of contact centre calls
resolved at first point of
contact
How we did
in 2012
76.7%
We have exceeded our target – more customers are satisfied that
we have improved our call handling.
We will let you know
in advance if we’re
running late or early
Target
90% of residents satisfied
they’re updated when we’re
running late
How we did
in 2012
18.3%
We will provide our service
in a way that recognises that
your time is valuable
Target
How we did
in 2012
80% of residents satisfied
repair service is convenient 83.4%
We are well off target but working hard to improve. We have
undertaken consultation with residents to better understand
what’s going wrong, and we are introducing new systems in
2013 to keep our customers updated.
We have exceeded our target – because more repairs are
provided by our in-house Genesis team we’re better able to
deliver a service that’s convenient for you.
When it’s a complicated
matter we will keep you
regularly updated
Target
70% of residents satisfied
they’re updated for the
duration of the problem
How we did
in 2012
63.0%
We will complete repairs right
first time
Target
70% of residents satisfied
repairs completed right
first time
How we did
in 2012
70.4%
We are off target but working hard to improve – we are
improving the quality of case management and hope to
achieve service accreditation in 2013.
We have exceeded our target – our in-house Genesis team
works to a tighter quality assurance system.
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We will be open, helpful, polite and respectful
Continued improvements: Repairs
Our staff will be consistently
polite, helpful and respectful
Target
90% of residents satisfied staff
are polite and helpful
How we did
in 2012
98.7%
We have improved and met our target – we have put much
more emphasis on staff training on customer care skills.
We know that providing a quality repair service
is important for our residents. This is why we
have focused the past year on making major
improvements to our repairs and maintenance
service.
We have recruited more staff to our repairs teams
and drastically reduced the allocation of work to
subcontractors in order to ensure we are offering
you a consistent service. We have been working
improve the diagnosis of your repair when you first
call, so that we can increase the ability to fix your
repair right, first time. We have also introduced
SMS text options to let you know when our
operative will arrive.
We are pleased that these changes have been
rewarding for our residents and there has been an
increase in customer satisfaction.
We will deal with complaints
fairly and helpfully
Target
55% of residents satisfied
with way complaints are
handled
How we did
in 2012
46.8%
We have improved but not yet met our target – we have
improved the quality of responses and a totally re-designed
service is in the pipeline for 2013.
Most service standards will be
measured by an independent
organisation so you can rely on
the accuracy of our reports
Target
Most service standards will be
measured by an independent
organisation
69.2%
We are continuing to meet this standard – so you can be
sure the information we’re providing can be trusted.
Moving into 2013
we will continue to
focus on improving the
repairs service to you. We
are making internal changes
to processes and investing
in new systems which will make
it easier to diagnose, schedule and
monitor your repair.
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Improving customer services
Providing consistently good customer service is a key part of
the improvements we have been making. We are currently in
the final stages of the contact centre’s three year improvement
plan. According to responses from our resident survey the
changes are starting to make a big difference.
This year satisfaction with call enquiries being
resolved first time reached 78%, an impressive
increase from 50% the previous year. Call
abandonment rates are at just 5%, while
satisfaction with us getting back to
you when we say we will (97.3%) is at
its highest ever and our contact
centre staff being polite and
helpful (99%) has shown
strong improvement.
Improving access
We have been working hard to make it as easy as possible for you to contact us.
Although you can still contact Genesis in traditional ways, such as visiting our offices,
there are now a variety of other options you can use to access services, making the
process easier and more convenient.
Call 033 3000 3000
Email contact@genesisha.org.uk
Visit www.genesisha.org.uk
The Contact Centre now has a single phone
number which is charged the same as dialling
a local landline number, regardless if you are
calling from home or a mobile. We are open
from 8am - 6pm Monday - Friday and 24hrs
for reporting an emergency repair or anti
social behaviour.
Residents can now make rent or service
charge debit card payments over the phone
via the contact centre.
We now offer call backs if you have to wait
more than two minutes to be answered,
saving you time and money. We also record
all calls so we can develop our staff to deliver
an even better service to our customers.
You can now contact your property manager
via the contact centre, ensuring that you get
a timely response and so we can monitor the
progress of your enquiry. You can pay your
rent, enquire about your account, get general
information and advice as well as report a
repair and anti social behaviour. You can also
register a compliment or make a complaint.
In the next few months we will be introducing
web chat so you can speak to our customer
service advisors online, making it easier,
cheaper and more convenient to contact us.
We have reduced call waiting times to
an average of 25 seconds.
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Getting involved
Residents are at the heart of everything we do.
In the past year we are pleased to note that you
have been more involved than ever with our work.
More than 400 residents have been involved
in influencing our business through resident
association meetings, regional committees and
the resident’s scrutiny panel.
Our five regional committees have helped to
review our performance by monitoring the quality
of our services. They help to put forward residents’
views and decide what we should be focusing on
next. Members of the resident’s scrutiny panel,
nominated from the regional committees, then
work in partnership with us to improve specific
services.
You have also been involved in mystery shopping
and have acted as a sounding board for various
strategies and projects. These include helping
us shape the repairs and complaints services
and being part of resident panels who decide the
priorities for improvement works in our schemes
and properties.
The contact centre steering group, service charge
residential group, and disability forum are other
examples of ways you can voice your view and help
to shape the way we work.
Thank you to all of those residents you have
dedicated your time to being involved throughout
the year. Your input and feedback has been
instrumental in developing our business and
improving the services we offer our residents.
I am looking
forward to seeing
the improvements
When Basildon resident Rachel Aldridge heard
about our regional committees she jumped at
the chance to be involved. Responding initially to
an advert in our residents’ magazine for training,
Rachel gained an NVQ in customer service and
housing management and subsequently became a
member of her local regional committee.
As a committee member, Rachel feels she is giving
something back to her community, is a voice for
her neighbours and helps to improve the service
Genesis provides.
She says: “With the other regional committee
members I monitor issues in relation to repairs,
the contact centre and other housing topics that
affect people like me. It means I can ask questions
about the areas that really need tackling. I am
looking forward to seeing the improvements that
are planned for the contact centre and I am being
trained as a “mystery shopper” to help make sure
the improvements that are planned actually work.”
At 22 she is the youngest committee member but
she is already vice-chair of her region’s committee
and has been elected to be part of the resident
scrutiny panel. This panel looks in greater depth
at the services we provide and how they are
delivered.
With the help of Rachel and many others who
have volunteered and got involved, we are able to
improve our service based on your feedback.
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Complaints
Staying informed
During the course of 2012 we have made improvements to the quality
and speed of response from our complaints service. In the final quarter
of 2012, customer satisfaction with the complaints handling service
increased to 55.6%. However, we recognise that we have a long way
to go to achieve a standard that is comparable with the best of service
sector organisations. We have consulted with our customers who have
made complaints and plan to introduce a re-designed service in June
2013 based on our customers’ priorities for improvement:, which are:
• More focus on liaison with customers to resolve complaints
at the earliest possible stage
• Better quality complaints handling
• A quicker process
• More focus on learning lessons to ensure
we’re not making the same mistake twice
It is important that all our residents are kept up to date with information
about our services, how to contact us and the opportunities we provide.
We use a range of communication tools to keep you informed. The
resident magazine contains news stories about specific events and
achievements, to give you a wider view of Genesis as an organisation.
For more specific issues we send leaflets, flyers, letters and posters to
residents.
Over the coming year we will be working to improve the way we
communicate with you and the way you can interact with us.
We are currently developing our website to enable you
to easily use online services such as paying your rent,
or report and track repairs. We are also introducing
a live chat feature so you can talk directly
to staff online.
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Genesis Community
Each year our charitable foundation, Genesis
Community runs a huge number of community
development projects. Our work with younger
residents is one element of Genesis Community
we are really proud of. More than 650 young
people have been involved with Genesis
Community in the last year.
We had particular success at our Woodberry Down
and Grahame Park regeneration projects which
created a joint programme for young people.
These were much more than just fun events to
pass the time, our younger residents have said that
Genesis Community’s activities have been a big
boost to their confidence and self-esteem.
With 17 million people in the UK without access
to computers or the internet, there is still massive
potential for the most socially and economically
disadvantaged people to become more and
more cut off. To combat this, Genesis Community
has worked with over 2000 residents, many of
them older people, to teach them how to use a
computer or to improve their existing skills.
Improving the skills of our residents is a big part
of Genesis Community’s work. The Opportunities
Plus programme, which helps support residents to
achieve their aspirations has worked with almost
900 residents.
Genesis Community has a huge number of success
stories. We are pleased that we are able to support
our residents and provide the opportunities they
need to build brighter futures for themselves.
Diversity
Respect for diversity is one of our core values.
Our equalities, diversity and inclusion policy sets
out this commitment. We are proud that for the
second year running we have been selected by
The Times as one of the top 50 places for woman
to work. Genesis has also earned a top 50 position
in the Workplace Equality Index, from the Lesbian
Gay and Bisexual campaigning group Stonewall.
Business in the Community has recently placed
Genesis in the Top Ten public sector organisations
for its work on gender and race equality.
We are working closely with residents from a
number of backgrounds, including people with
disabilities and the LGBT community. Residents
with a disability can work with the Residents
Disability Forum and residents who are gay,
lesbian, bisexual or transgender can work with our
LGBT Residents Forum to improve and shape our
services to provide a more inclusive delivery
.
Anti-social behaviour
We know that anti-social behaviour (ASB) can have a
significant impact on the lives of our residents. Our
ASB team works with local authorities, the police and
other housing associations to prevent and tackle ASB.
In 2011, we updated the ASB section of our General
Needs tenancy agreements so that resident
responsibilities are stated much more clearly. New
residents are given a handbook which sets out
their responsibilities together with our approach on
dealing with ASB.
Reporting anti-social behaviour
Residents can choose a number of ways to report
an ASB issue including calling our contact centre, by
email, in person to your property manager or housing
officer, or at one of our regional offices, by letter or via
our website.
Residents phoning the contact centre about ASB
are put through to a ‘solutions team’. This team has
specialist ASB knowledge and deal with complaints
quickly and efficiently.
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Volunteer success
Khaleda Dorasat found a job as a customer relations adviser
with the support of Genesis Community. Like many young
people, Khaleda had been struggling to find work. Through
Genesis Community’s volunteer scheme she undertook
volunteer roles and participated in a community outreach
course. After volunteering with Genesis for a few months,
she sought the help of Woodberry Works, our employment
advice and support service on our Woodberry Down
regeneration scheme, to apply for a paid position.
Value for money
21p
housing management
18p
landlord rent
How £1 of
rental income
is spent
Doing the community outreach
course made my confidence
grow. I enjoyed doing the
course as it gave me an insight
into community work and what
it involved. It also encouraged
me to do more volunteering
and built up my confidence.
This invaluable volunteer
experience helped me to
eventually get back into paid
employment.
7p
routine maintenance
17p
interest costs
8p
service charge
We are constantly aiming
to deliver the best services
we can while keeping
costs down so we can
provide the best value
for your money.
4p
depreciation of housing
properties
3p
planned maintenance
2p
care and support
1p
major repairs
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Service charges
We know there is room for improvement in the way we deliver service charges.
We will be reviewing and improving service charges in the coming year.
We have already been working hard to reduce some of the costs residents pay for
communal services, such as communal energy, cleaning and gardening costs.
We have negotiated
an average saving of
8%
on your communal
energy bill
We have recently
procured new estate
service contracts and
have negotiated an
average saving overall of
£100,000
across 384 estates
in London
Moving
We would like to welcome our new residents,
almost 3,000 of you, who moved into Genesis
accommodation in 2011/ 2012.
For those of you thinking about moving on,
Homeswapper is a national scheme which helps
local authority and housing association residents
(excluding those in temporary housing), search
for homes to swap, or mutually exchange, with
another resident.
When registering for Homeswapper, residents
are requested to enter as much detail as possible
about their property, including photographs (this
information is verified by Genesis), and the type of
property required.
Once registered, you can search for someone to
swap with, this could be someone from another
housing association, not just Genesis. It could also
be anywhere in the country so it is great if you are
looking to move to a new area.
Service charges cover the costs of managing,
maintaining, repairing and insuring your property.
They also cover other resident services. These
include cleaning, concierge, caretaker, lifts and
pest control.
Service charges vary because services vary. For
example, if you live in a block with a lift, you will be
charged more than if you lived in a block with no lift.
Your weekly or monthly service charge is
calculated on a yearly basis. We charge you an
estimate of how much we anticipate services will
cost by looking at spending in previous years.
Charges normally change in April and we try to
give at least a month’s notice of any changes.
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Your
feedback
We would really like to know what you think of this report.
If you have any comments please contact us:
Contact centre
033 3000 3000
Email
contact@genesisha.org.uk
Postal address
Communications team, Genesis Housing Association,
Capital House, 25 Chapel Street, London NW1 5DT
Website
www.genesisha.org.uk
22 Genesis Housing Association Residents Report 2013

If you need any part of this information in large print,
Braille, on audio tape or explained in your own
language please contact us on the number below.
Albanian
Arabic
Bengali
Farsi
French
Turkish
Somali
033 3000 3000
contact@genesisha.org.uk
www.genesisha.org.uk
Genesis Housing Association, Capital House, 25 Chapel Street, London NW1 5DT
www.genesisha.org.uk