YHN Annual Report 2009-10 - Your Homes Newcastle
YHN Annual Report 2009-10 - Your Homes Newcastle
YHN Annual Report 2009-10 - Your Homes Newcastle
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the National<br />
Standard<br />
<strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong> <strong>Annual</strong> report and accounts <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong><br />
Our Modern <strong>Homes</strong><br />
Programme is<br />
progressing to plan<br />
(see page 6)<br />
Increasing customer<br />
satisfaction with repairs<br />
and maintenance<br />
(see page <strong>10</strong>)<br />
Customers are helping to<br />
improve estates<br />
(see page 12)
t<br />
GB Z_¨ nj Avcbvi †i›U GKvD›U (fvovi wnmve wbKvm) m¤^‡Ü| GB Z_¨ hw` A_ev Ab¨ †Kvb fvlvq<br />
cÖ‡qvRb nq Zvn‡j GB bv¤^v‡i †dvb Ki“b- 0191 278 8633<br />
airs<br />
GB Z_¨ nj Avcbvi Ni evox †givgZ Ki‡Z PvIqv m¤^‡Ü|GB Z_¨ hw` A_ev Ab¨ †Kvb fvlvq cÖ‡qvRb nq<br />
This information Zvn‡j is GB about bv¤^v‡i <strong>Your</strong> †dvb Ki“b- <strong>Homes</strong> 0191 <strong>Newcastle</strong>, 278 8633 who are responsible for managing council homes on<br />
t<br />
nt<br />
to Buy<br />
这 是 有 关 您 的 租 金 账 户 的 信 息 。 如 果 您 需 要 此 信 息 的 普 通 话 版 本 或 其 它 语 言 版 本 , 请 致 电 0191 278<br />
behalf of <strong>Newcastle</strong> GB Z_¨ nj City †Ubv›U‡`i Council, KvDw݇ji and how Ni evox we †Kbvi are doing. AwaKvi m¤^‡Ü| If you GB need Z_¨ this hw` in your language A_ev Ab¨ †Kvb or a fvlvq different<br />
8633 索 取 。<br />
language phone<br />
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0191<br />
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8633.<br />
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This<br />
†dvb<br />
information<br />
Ki“b- 0191 278<br />
is<br />
8633<br />
also available in large print, Braille and audio tape.<br />
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We can also arrange<br />
fvlvq 278 8633 cÖ‡qvRb<br />
for<br />
索 取 nq<br />
you<br />
。 Zvn‡j<br />
to<br />
GB<br />
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a British<br />
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Sign<br />
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Language<br />
278 8633<br />
interpreter.<br />
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ght to Buy<br />
这 是 有 关 租 客 有 权 购 买 他 们 的 市 政 房 屋 的 信 息 。 如 果 您 需 要 此 信 息 的 普 通 话 版 本 或 其 它 语 言 版 本 , 请 致<br />
Zvn‡j GB bv¤^v‡i †dvb Ki“b- 0191 278 8633<br />
ent general/<strong>Homes</strong> + GB 电<br />
這 是<br />
0191 Z_¨ 關 於 nj 278<br />
您 BDi 的<br />
8633<br />
租 †nvgm 金<br />
索<br />
賬<br />
取<br />
戶 wbDK¨vmj 。<br />
的 信 息 。 mg‡Ü| 如 果 您 Ges 需 要 Avgiv 此 信 wKfv‡e 息 的 廣 `vwqZ¡ 東 話 版 cvjb 本 或 KiwQ 其 它 語 †m 言 mg‡Ü| 版 本 , BDi 請 致 †nvgm 電 0191 wbDK¨vmj, 278<br />
nancy le<br />
wbDK¨vmj 这 8633 是 有 索 关 取 您 wmwU 。 作 为 KvDw݇ji 纽 卡 斯 尔 c‡ 市 政 KvDw݇ji 租 客 所 需 Ni 要 evox 承 担 e¨e¯’vcbvi 的 责 任 的 信 `vwqZ¡cÖvß| 息 。 如 果 GB 您 需 Z_¨ 要 此 hw` 信 息 的 普 通 话 A_ev 版 本 Ab¨ 或 其 †Kvb 它 语<br />
fvlvq<br />
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關 , 於 请 如 致 nq<br />
何 电 Zvn‡j<br />
要 0191 GB<br />
求 維 修 278 bv¤^v‡i<br />
您 住 8633 †dvb<br />
房 的 索 信 取 Ki“b-<br />
息 0191 278 8633<br />
。 如 果 您 需 要 此 信 息 的 廣 東 話 版 本 或 其 它 語 言 版 本 , 請 致 電 0191<br />
H 这 278 是 有 8633 关 我 索 们 取 的 。 出 租 服 务 的 信 息 。 如 果 您 需 要 此 信 息 的 普 通 话 版 本 或 其 它 语 言 版 本 , 请 致 电 0191 278<br />
ight to Buy<br />
8633 這 是 關 索 於 取 租 。 客 有 權 購 買 他 們 的 市 政 房 屋 的 信 息 。 如 果 您 需 要 此 信 息 的 廣 東 話 版 本 或 其 它 語 言 版 本 , 請 致<br />
N general / <strong>Homes</strong> + 这 電 是 0191 有 关 代 278 表 8633 纽 卡 斯 索 尔 取 市 。 政 府 (<strong>Newcastle</strong> City Council) 负 责 管 理 市 政 房 屋 的 <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong><br />
ople<br />
enancy<br />
( 這 您 是 的 關 纽 於 卡 您 斯 作 尔 為 住 紐 房 卡 ) 素 组 市 织 政 的 府 信 租 息 客 , 所 内 需 容 要 解 承 释 擔 了 的 我 責 们 任 是 的 如 信 何 息 运 。 作 如 。 果 如 您 果 需 您 要 需 此 要 信 此 息 信 的 息 廣 的 東 普 話 通 版 话 本 版 或 本 其 或 它 其 語<br />
它 言 téléphoner 语 版 言 本 版 , 本 請 , 致 au 请 電 0191 致 0191 电 0191 278 2788633 278 8633 8633 pour 索 取 obtenir 索 。 取 。 une traduction écrite.<br />
CH 這 是 關 於 我 們 的 出 租 服 務 的 信 息 。 如 果 您 需 要 此 信 息 的 廣 東 話 版 本 或 其 它 語 言 版 本 , 請 致 電 0191 278<br />
ewcastle Furniture 8633 Ces informations 索 取 。 concernent le service « mobilier » de <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong>, qui fournit du mobilier<br />
HN rvice general / <strong>Homes</strong> + 這 aux 是 locataires 關 於 <strong>Your</strong> pour <strong>Homes</strong> les <strong>Newcastle</strong>( aider à s’installer 您 的 紐 dans 卡 素 leur 住 房 logement. ) 機 構 的 信 Si 息 , vous 內 容 avez 解 釋 besoin 了 我 們 代 de 表 ces 紐 卡 素 市 政 府<br />
eople<br />
(<strong>Newcastle</strong> informations en City français Council) 負 dans 責 管 une 理 市 autre 政 房 屋 langue, 以 及 如 téléphonez 何 運 作 。 如 au 果 您 : 0191 需 要 此 278 信 息 8633. 的 廣 東 話 版 本 或 其 它<br />
ent<br />
Ces informations concernent votre loyer. Si vous avez besoin de ces informations en français ou<br />
語 言 版 本 , 請 致 電 0191 278 8633 索 取 。<br />
dans une autre langue, téléphonez au : 0191 278 8633.<br />
epairs<br />
Ces informations concernent les demandes de travaux pour votre logement. Si vous avez besoin de<br />
ces informations en français ou dans une autre langue, téléphonez au : 0191 278 8633.<br />
ight to Buy<br />
Ces informations concernent les droits des locataires relatifs à l’acquisition de leur logement social.<br />
eral / <strong>Homes</strong> +<br />
Si vous avez besoin de ces informations en français ou dans une autre langue, téléphonez au :<br />
0191 278 8633.<br />
enancy<br />
@ói@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷@m‹ Ces informations concernent Šòì@óÜ@çbmŒóyŠó vos ó÷@NóäbmóØòìíäb‚@ñòìó䆋ÙØbš@üi@ðîŒaí‚a†@ðmóïäüš@ói@pòŠbió@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷<br />
responsabilités en tant que locataire de la municipalité de<br />
Repairs<br />
<strong>Newcastle</strong>. Si vous avez Nç‹i@ñ‡äòí—q@0191 besoin de ces informations 278 8633@ðäüÑïÝm@òŠbàˆ@ói@óîóè@óÙî†@ðÙ—äbàŒ@Šóè@bî@ñ†ŠíØ@ðäbàŒ<br />
en français ou dans une autre langue,<br />
téléphonez au : 0191 278 8633.<br />
CH<br />
@ói@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷@m‹ Ces informations concernent Šòì@óÜ@çbmŒóyŠó notre ó÷@NòŠb’@ñaŠü’@ðäbØòìíäb‚@î‹Ø@üi@çbåï“å–‹Ø@Àbà@ói@pòŠbió@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷<br />
service de location. Si vous avez besoin de ces informations en<br />
Right to Buy<br />
français ou dans une autre Nç‹i@ñ‡äòí—q@0191 langue, téléphonez 278 au 8633@ðäüÑïÝm@òŠbàˆ@ói@óîóè@óÙî†@ðÙ—äbàŒ@Šóè@bî@ñ†ŠíØ@ðäbàŒ<br />
: 0191 278 8633.<br />
HN general / <strong>Homes</strong> + Ces informations concernent <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong> : qui est chargé de gérer les logements sociaux<br />
eople<br />
@m‹ au nom Šòì@óÜ@çbmŒóyŠó de la municipalité ó÷@Nóîa‡Ý—bØüïä@óÜ@Šb’@ñaŠü’@ðÙ—åï“å–‹Ø@íØòì@òí—÷@ðäbØóïmóîb‹qŠói@ói@pòŠbió@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷<br />
de <strong>Newcastle</strong> et comment nous procédons. Si vous avez besoin de ces<br />
Tenancy<br />
informations Nç‹i@ñ‡äòí—q@0191 en français ou dans 278 une 8633@ðäüÑïÝm@òŠbàˆ@ói@óîóè@óÙî†@ðÙ—äbàŒ@Šóè@bî@ñ†ŠíØ@ðäbàŒ@ói@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷<br />
autre langue, téléphonez au : 0191 278 8633.<br />
ou noutra língua, queira ligar para o 0191 278 8633.<br />
ent<br />
@Šóè@bî@ñ†ŠíØ@ðäbàŒ@ói@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷@m‹ Esta informação refere-se à sua renda. Šòì@óÜ@çbmŒóyŠó Se precisar desta ó÷@Nóîóá—÷@ð–‹Ø@ðäbØómóà‚@ói@pòŠbió@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷<br />
informação em ou noutra<br />
YCH<br />
língua, queira ligar para o 0191 278 8633.<br />
Nç‹i@ñ‡äòí—q@0191 278 8633@ðäüÑïÝm@òŠbàˆ@ói@óîóè@óÙî†@ðÙ—äbàŒ<br />
epairs<br />
Esta informação refere-se ao pedido de reparações em sua casa. Se precisar desta informação em<br />
@òìóÝ—bØüïä@ñŠb’@ñaŠü’@çóîý@óÜ@óØ@óîóØó䆋؊bØ@ðmóïäüš@ì@<strong>Your</strong> noutra língua, queira ligar para o 0191 278 <strong>Homes</strong> 8633. <strong>Newcastle</strong>@ói@pòŠbió@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷<br />
ight HN to general Buy / <strong>Homes</strong> +<br />
@ðäbàŒ@ói@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷@m‹ Esta informação refere-se Šòì@óÜ@çbmŒóyŠó ao direito que ó÷@NpbÙi@ðmóîaŠóiòí–Šói@Šb’@ñaŠü’@ðäbØòìíäb‚@óØ@òìaŠ‡—q@ñòìó÷@ðØŠó÷<br />
os inquilinos têm de comprar a sua habitação social. Se<br />
People precisar desta informação em ou noutra língua, queira ligar para o 0191 278 8633.<br />
enancy<br />
Esta informação refere-se às suas Nç‹i@ñ‡äòí—q@0191 responsabilidades 278 8633@ðäüÑïÝm@òŠbàˆ@ói@óîóè@óÙî†@ðÙ—äbàŒ@Šóè@bî@ñ†ŠíØ<br />
como inquilino social em <strong>Newcastle</strong>. Se<br />
precisar desta informação em ou noutra língua, queira ligar para o 0191 278 8633.<br />
CH<br />
Esta informação refere-se ao serviço de arrendamento. Se precisar desta informação em<br />
ou noutra língua, queira ligar para o 0191 278 8633.<br />
HN general / <strong>Homes</strong> +<br />
eople<br />
普 通 话 / 国 语<br />
廣 東 話 / 粵 語<br />
Bengali<br />
Chinese<br />
Simplified<br />
Chinese<br />
Traditional<br />
Farsi<br />
Français<br />
French<br />
Kurdish<br />
Português<br />
Portuguese<br />
اين اطلاعات درباره سازمان «خانههاى شما در نیوکاسل» و عملكرد آن است. اين سازمان از سوى شهردارى نيوكاسل ،<br />
مسئوليت اداره خانه هاى دولتى را به عهده دارد. در صورت نياز به اين اطلاعات به زبان فارسى يا زبان هاى ديگر با شماره تلفن<br />
٠١٩١٢٧٨٨۶٣٣ تماس بگيريد.<br />
Esta informação refere-se à <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong>, a organização responsável pela gestão da<br />
habitação social em nome do Município de <strong>Newcastle</strong>, e a nossa situação actual. Se precisar desta<br />
informação em ou noutra língua, queira ligar para o 0191 278 8633.<br />
airs<br />
ht to Buy<br />
ancy<br />
H<br />
Russian<br />
N general / <strong>Homes</strong> +<br />
ple<br />
Español<br />
Spanish<br />
idioma, llame al 0191 278 8633.<br />
Ésta es información sobre cómo pedir que se realicen reparaciones en su casa. Si necesita esta<br />
información en español o en otro idioma, llame al 0191 278 8633.<br />
Ésta es información sobre los derechos de los inquilinos a comprar su vivienda municipal. Si necesita<br />
esta información en español o en otro idioma, llame al 0191 278 8633.<br />
Ésta es información sobre sus responsabilidades como inquilino municipal de <strong>Newcastle</strong>. Si necesita<br />
esta información en español o en otro idioma, llame al 0191 278 8633.<br />
Ésta es información sobre nuestro servicio de adjudicación. Si necesita esta información en español<br />
o en otro idioma, llame al 0191 278 8633.<br />
Ésta es información sobre <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> de <strong>Newcastle</strong>, que es la responsable de gestionar las<br />
viviendas municipales en nombre del Ayuntamiento de <strong>Newcastle</strong>, y sobre nuestra manera de<br />
hacerlo. Si necesita esta información en español o en otro idioma, llame al 0191 278 8633.<br />
page 2
Contents<br />
Chair’s statement 4<br />
Chief Executive’s round up 6<br />
National Standards: 8-19<br />
Tenancy 8<br />
Home <strong>10</strong><br />
Neighbourhood and community 12<br />
Tenant involvement and empowerment 14<br />
Value for money 16<br />
Governance and fi nancial viability 18<br />
How we run ourselves 20<br />
<strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong> Board <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> 21<br />
<strong>YHN</strong> management structure 21<br />
Performance 22<br />
Financial accounts 24<br />
Building new bungalows for older<br />
tenants is freeing up larger homes<br />
across <strong>Newcastle</strong> for families like the<br />
Derbyshire’s in Throckley.<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 3
Chair’s statement<br />
Board and its committees take a keen interest in how<br />
we are performing against Delivery Plan targets and<br />
they often discuss ways they can support staff to do<br />
things differently to achieve more. This year we have<br />
continued to do well in areas of business that I know<br />
customers are interested in such as:<br />
• reducing the time it takes us to let empty properties<br />
• reducing the amount of rent that people owe us<br />
• improving satisfaction with the way we carry out<br />
repairs and maintenance to homes, and<br />
• continuing satisfaction with our improvement<br />
programmes.<br />
I am delighted to present my second annual report. It is very much a<br />
testament to the tremendous work of everyone involved in the services<br />
we provide.<br />
My thanks are extended to:<br />
• Board, who have tussled with many challenges during the last year,<br />
• staff who continue to work hard and with enthusiasm to provide excellent services,<br />
• tenants and other customers, many of whom have contributed to improving our<br />
services through a range of activity, and of course<br />
• partners, without whom we could not have delivered many of the services we offer.<br />
We are all more aware of how we manage our money<br />
these days and I am pleased to say that <strong>YHN</strong> is no<br />
different. We have made signifi cant efforts to make<br />
sure that our services are not only excellent but are also<br />
value for money and in doing this we have:<br />
• achieved over 3% effi ciency savings overall,<br />
• maintained a healthy £5 million revenue balance (for<br />
emergencies),<br />
• carried out 97% of all modern homes work within<br />
budget,<br />
• attracted over £700,000 of additional funding for<br />
services,<br />
• signifi cantly reduced the number of days our staff are<br />
off work ill.<br />
This is all good news but we know we can do better in<br />
some areas such as:<br />
• satisfaction with the way anti-social behaviour is<br />
dealt with,<br />
• greater satisfaction with the overall housing service,<br />
• making more homes decent, and<br />
• improving the satisfaction of those tenants who are<br />
involved in decision making.<br />
Last year I told<br />
you about <strong>YHN</strong><br />
building the fi rst<br />
council housing<br />
in <strong>Newcastle</strong> for<br />
over 30 years. I<br />
am delighted that<br />
this year we have<br />
made lots more progress. We now have a number<br />
of sites at various stages of development as well as<br />
a new charitable subsidiary of <strong>YHN</strong> called Leazes<br />
<strong>Homes</strong>, which allows us to maximise funds. These<br />
developments will provide much needed homes to<br />
families in need, those in need of additional support<br />
and those who want to buy an affordable home.<br />
page 4
Look out for what is happening at:<br />
• the Leazes, Throckley – 81 homes for rent and for<br />
sale and nearly ready for occupation,<br />
• Blakelaw - a mix of 98 affordable homes for rent and<br />
sale on the site of the former deck access fl ats,<br />
reviewed the Repairs and Maintenance contract in<br />
terms of customer satisfaction, performance and cost,<br />
Board felt confi dent that City Build were providing<br />
a value for money service that most tenants were<br />
happy with. Similarly, through a review of the fi re<br />
safety programme with Tyne and Wear Fire and<br />
Rescue Service, identifying improvements and talking<br />
to residents, Board felt that we had the appropriate<br />
measures in place to protect residents in the event of a<br />
fi re at any <strong>YHN</strong> building.<br />
• Jubilee Road in Gosforth - 19 homes designed<br />
specifi cally for young families are near completion,<br />
the fi rst ever of its type in <strong>Newcastle</strong>, and<br />
• in the early stages yet, but sites at Walkergate -<br />
homes for 17 people with learning disabilities and<br />
in Shieldfi eld - a mixed development of 25 homes<br />
catering for people with learning disabilities, family<br />
homes for rent and low cost home ownership.<br />
We haven’t, of course, forgotten about improving the<br />
homes we already manage, and are working towards<br />
the completion of our Modern <strong>Homes</strong> Programme.<br />
Over 35,000 internal and external packages have been<br />
completed so far and we are now planning how to<br />
achieve future investment. It is also pleasing to see<br />
tenants moving back into the high rise fl ats at Riverside<br />
Dene that have been transformed by the ongoing<br />
regeneration programme. This is something that Board<br />
have had to make some challenging decisions about<br />
which makes it even more satisfying when they see the<br />
difference this has made.<br />
Not all Board’s decisions about our properties were<br />
such high profi le or made such a visual impact. Having<br />
Board is proud of the services that <strong>YHN</strong> is able to<br />
provide and will support proposals for expansion of<br />
successful services where they bring signifi cant benefi ts<br />
to tenants. Agreeing the expansion of <strong>Newcastle</strong><br />
Furniture Service through a pilot partnership in the West<br />
Yorkshire area is a good example of this and where the<br />
additional revenue can be reinvested into services for<br />
our tenants.<br />
There’s never been a dull moment since I became Chair<br />
in 2008. I have learnt a lot about housing and about<br />
what our customers want. I realise that next year will<br />
be challenging as we try to deliver those better services<br />
in light of the current economic situation, but I am<br />
really looking forward to it. I hope and fully expect to<br />
be able to talk about <strong>YHN</strong>’s work in an equally upbeat<br />
and positive way this time next year.<br />
Steve Murphy<br />
Chair, <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong><br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 5
Chief Executive’s round up<br />
I am pleased to be able to tell you that, despite the uncertainty<br />
caused by a shifting economy and the introduction of a new<br />
government, we have continued to provide high quality services<br />
to customers. Our core services have come on leaps and bounds<br />
with improvements, new services and updates.<br />
• Board agreed the best option for our Concierge<br />
Service Review and we are now preparing to<br />
implement the physical changes to the service.<br />
• Our Telecare service launched an over 85’s project<br />
which gives residents over the age of 85, living in<br />
<strong>Newcastle</strong>, six months service for free. The service<br />
includes an alarm unit connecting you to a 24 hour<br />
response centre, a splashproof pendant alarm to<br />
wear around the wrist or neck and 24 hour response<br />
services including a mobile warden.<br />
• We launched a new handyperson scheme in<br />
partnership with the Anchor Staying Put initiative.<br />
This aims to help vulnerable and older customers<br />
with small but important household tasks not<br />
covered by our repairs service.<br />
• Our Asylum Seekers Unit celebrated its <strong>10</strong> year<br />
anniversary. We held an event at <strong>YHN</strong> House to<br />
mark the celebration and the outstanding work of<br />
the unit, which brought together stakeholders and<br />
partners from across the city.<br />
• We worked with Palatine Beds, a supported<br />
employment business, to win them a new contract to<br />
supply a range of composite doors to the city council,<br />
in addition to supplying environmentally friendly<br />
beds.<br />
• Our Housing Management service successfully<br />
retained its Charter Mark accreditation (and will<br />
soon be part of the Corporate Customer Service<br />
Excellence Assessment) and staff continue to drive<br />
up the level of customer service. This is evident from<br />
new tenant and end of tenancy surveys completed by<br />
customers and through mystery shopping exercises.<br />
An increasing number of Housing Management staff<br />
are also getting involved in community activities such<br />
as the Walker fi reworks event, ‘Week of Action’ in<br />
Byker and Cowgate and the Jubilee Magpies football<br />
team – helping to get young people off the streets<br />
and prevent vandalism on estates.<br />
We have made signifi cant progress with our new build<br />
programme, namely:<br />
• completed 34 bungalows (at April 20<strong>10</strong>), going<br />
some way to tackling the chronic lack of supply of<br />
social housing in the region. The bungalows have<br />
allowed us to release some large family houses<br />
in the local area. It’s meant a lot of work for our<br />
local community housing staff but has been a really<br />
positive, if occasionally challenging, experience for us<br />
all.<br />
• made inroads into other types of accommodation,<br />
concentrating on customer groups for whom there is<br />
a distinct lack of housing, namely learning disabled<br />
people and young families.<br />
• started to investigate options for low cost home<br />
ownership.<br />
We recognise, however, that the current arrangements<br />
for grant funding are unlikely to last forever, and are<br />
looking at how we will fund future developments.<br />
Meanwhile, our Modern <strong>Homes</strong> Programme is<br />
progressing to plan, and should be complete by 2011.<br />
Key milestones include:<br />
• over 20,000 homes now reach the government’s<br />
Decent <strong>Homes</strong> standard,<br />
• fi rst tenants moved into The Sycamores, Riverside<br />
Dene in the summer of 20<strong>10</strong>, with another two<br />
blocks becoming available towards the autumn, and<br />
page 6
• we have been an active part of the Byker Task Force<br />
that has looked at the various options for the estate.<br />
We hope to ballot tenants with an official offer in<br />
autumn 20<strong>10</strong> with a view to creating a Community<br />
Trust for Byker, although this is dependent on some<br />
key government decisions.<br />
We have updated our improvement programme so that<br />
it now includes service reviews, strategies and action<br />
plans. It’s important to retain some control over the<br />
improvements we’re striving to achieve as, without the<br />
improvement programme, I feel we’d lose sight of much<br />
of the good work that’s being carried out across the<br />
organisation.<br />
We can’t hope to improve the lives of tenants and<br />
leaseholders without a quality workforce – our staff<br />
are our most valuable resource. The training and<br />
development of our staff remains pivotally important<br />
to me and I’m encouraged by the work that we’ve<br />
done recently, particularly around leadership and<br />
management. Trying to create, at all tiers within the<br />
organisation, the relevant capability and competency<br />
from a leadership and management perspective<br />
is incredibly important. We’re also making great<br />
strides with the Investors in People award. We were<br />
reassessed in February 20<strong>10</strong> and achieved the Bronze<br />
Award level.<br />
In November <strong>2009</strong> we launched our core values, a set<br />
of five principles, or values, which guide the way we<br />
behave at work. Our core values are based on what<br />
staff, customers and our Board members told us about<br />
what <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong> represents for them.<br />
Having core values means that you can be clear about<br />
the way staff should behave towards customers and<br />
each other and are an important way for us to make<br />
sure we provide excellent customer services to all.<br />
It was very important to me that this progress wasn’t<br />
undermined by the impact of Single Status phase two;<br />
this was certainly a challenge but we reached the best<br />
outcome that we possibly could, on time and will start<br />
implementation in September 20<strong>10</strong>.<br />
We should not underestimate the sterling work that<br />
we’ve made around equality and diversity issues.<br />
Within the year we have:<br />
• broken into the top <strong>10</strong>0 in the Stonewall Workforce<br />
Equality Index for the first time – Stonewall<br />
challenges organisations to demonstrate best<br />
practice in how they support lesbian, gay and<br />
bisexual employees at work,<br />
• gained the ‘achieving’ level of the new equality<br />
framework for local government, showing that we<br />
are well on the way to mainstreaming equality issues<br />
into service delivery and employment and making<br />
equality part of everyday work to help us to remove<br />
barriers that create disadvantage and discrimination,<br />
and<br />
• produced our first set of equality and diversity service<br />
standards to set out exactly what customers can<br />
expect from us and have devised specific learning<br />
packages that any member of staff can complete,<br />
that link into our core values.<br />
There is, however, still more we can do.<br />
The implications of a new government will have been at<br />
the forefront of many people’s minds in recent months<br />
and now thoughts have turned towards the new<br />
policies, strategies and financial arrangements that the<br />
coalition government will put in place. Dealing with<br />
change is never easy, but it’s become something of a<br />
way of life for us, and has actually helped us get better<br />
at what we do. I am confident that we have the right<br />
structure and the right people in place so that we can<br />
continue to improve services regardless of what level of<br />
government funding is available.<br />
This year we’ve used our <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> to explain how<br />
we’re meeting new government standards, in a way<br />
that gives you the chance to compare our performance<br />
with other housing providers.<br />
John Lee<br />
Chief Executive, <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong><br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 7
National standard: Tenancy<br />
“Letting homes in a fair, transparent and efficient way whilst considering the<br />
rents in line with government guidelines; providing clear information to tenants<br />
With demand for homes in <strong>Newcastle</strong> higher<br />
than ever, it is important that we let properties<br />
quickly and to an appropriate standard.<br />
The journey shown here is an example of how<br />
the allocation process for a property<br />
takes place, however events often<br />
happen in a different order<br />
which make the process<br />
longer or shorter.<br />
1<br />
Day 1<br />
Tenancy ended and keys<br />
for this three bedroom, four person<br />
house in Fenham were handed in to<br />
Fenham Community Housing Offi ce<br />
(CHO) by previous tenant.<br />
5<br />
This house received 286<br />
expressions of interest,<br />
making it one of the<br />
most popular houses we let in<br />
<strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong>. Three bedroom homes<br />
can sometimes attract at least 200<br />
expressions of interest.<br />
<strong>Your</strong> Choice <strong>Homes</strong> usually advertises<br />
between 50 and 60 properties a<br />
week.<br />
Day 2<br />
2 3<br />
A Housing Services<br />
Offi cer from Fenham CHO carried<br />
out a pre-termination inspection<br />
to decide what work would need<br />
to be carried out by City Build, our<br />
partner for repairs.<br />
Days 6 - 19<br />
Days 3 - 6<br />
The house and<br />
garden were cleared of a large<br />
amount of household items<br />
and waste.<br />
The void building manager authorised a fairly large<br />
amount of work to be completed in the property after<br />
inspecting it. The cost of the work would be £3,041.28.<br />
The property was handed back to Fenham CHO. On days 7-11<br />
the property was advertised through <strong>Your</strong> Choice <strong>Homes</strong>.<br />
Properties were advertised for six days from Tuesday to the<br />
following Monday. In August 20<strong>10</strong> this changed to three days<br />
from Monday to Thursday.<br />
4<br />
The successful<br />
applicant was<br />
actually the fourth<br />
person to be offered the<br />
property. Quite unusual for<br />
a property with such a high<br />
level of demand.<br />
Days 19 - 26<br />
6 7 8<br />
The property was allocated<br />
to Mrs B and Mr A. They<br />
completed the sign up paper work<br />
and the tenancy began six days later.<br />
The household was<br />
made up of Mrs B<br />
and Mr A (as joint<br />
tenants) as well as two<br />
dependant and two non<br />
dependant occupants.<br />
Within six weeks of the<br />
tenants moving into the <strong>10</strong><br />
property, they receive a<br />
visit from the Community Housing<br />
Offi ce to make sure everything<br />
was alright.<br />
The applicants were given £215<br />
in decorating vouchers for their<br />
chosen supplier to decorate the<br />
interior of the property. We currently<br />
have two DIY suppliers tor tenants to<br />
choose from.<br />
9<br />
page 8
housing needs and aspirations of tenants and potential tenants. Setting and charging<br />
that explains how their rent and any service charge is set, and how it is changed.”<br />
Some of the activities shown opposite, such as the pre-termination inspection, minor repairs, advertising the property<br />
and shortlisting eligible applicants can take place during the one month notice period that the tenant has to give<br />
before leaving the property. The inspector can also give City Build advance notice of any major works that need to be<br />
carried out.<br />
What your rent is – and how it’s set<br />
<strong>Your</strong> rent includes ‘basic rent’ which is the price you pay<br />
for the use of your home, and other charges – these<br />
may include service charges which relate specifi cally to<br />
your property such as concierge. They can also include<br />
charges for services you may have requested like<br />
tenants insurance or a furniture pack.<br />
The government established the current scheme for<br />
setting council house rents back in April 2003. The<br />
calculation is made up of a number of elements<br />
including property value, number of bedrooms and<br />
relative manual earnings. The most the weekly rent can<br />
be increased per year is in line with infl ation plus £2.00.<br />
Average relet times for <strong>YHN</strong> homes<br />
34.8<br />
2008/09<br />
(days)<br />
27<br />
*23<br />
<strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong><br />
(days)<br />
Actual<br />
Target<br />
*We exceeded<br />
our target<br />
for <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong>,<br />
meaning that it<br />
is now taking us<br />
less time to relet<br />
homes.<br />
<strong>Your</strong> Choice <strong>Homes</strong><br />
During the course of the year we let 2,737 homes through <strong>Your</strong> Choice <strong>Homes</strong> – approximately <strong>10</strong>% of our total<br />
housing stock. These were allocated to new tenants and were made up of:<br />
168 1,521 923 125<br />
Bungalows Flats Houses Maisonettes<br />
Of these 2,737 we let 795 homes to people with a priority status. Priority status is given to people who are in urgent<br />
and immediate need to move because their home or current housing situation is having a signifi cant, negative<br />
impact on them.<br />
At the end of <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> we had just 193 lettable voids - 135 for general needs and 58 sheltered units.<br />
Average bids per property type<br />
4 79 44 18 19 73 61<br />
Sheltered Older Three storey, High rise, Multi storey, Two bedroom Three bedroom<br />
bedsit people’s two bedroom one bedroom two bedroom house house<br />
bungalow fl at fl at fl at<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 9
<strong>2009</strong>-<strong>10</strong> per cent comparison to 2004-05<br />
National standard: Home<br />
Last year we continued to realise the benefi ts of taking an organised approach to carrying out repairs and maintenance<br />
to your homes.<br />
Repairs performance 2008-20<strong>10</strong><br />
In June 2006 we appointed City Build,<br />
<strong>Newcastle</strong> City Council’s direct labour<br />
organisation, to provide the repairs and<br />
maintenance service for the homes we manage.<br />
Together, we have worked hard to develop<br />
the service, with pleasing results - customer<br />
satisfaction for repairs and gas servicing are<br />
now 96% and 98% respectively.<br />
99%<br />
98%<br />
2008/09 - actual <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> - target<br />
page <strong>10</strong><br />
99%<br />
Appointments<br />
made<br />
60%<br />
50%<br />
40%<br />
30%<br />
20%<br />
<strong>10</strong>%<br />
0%<br />
-<strong>10</strong>%<br />
-20%<br />
-30%<br />
6.<strong>10</strong> days<br />
“Registered providers shall ensure a prudent, planned approach to repairs<br />
Ensuring tenants’ homes meet the Decent <strong>Homes</strong> Standard by December<br />
<strong>10</strong> days<br />
5.78 days<br />
Days to complete<br />
non-urgent<br />
repairs<br />
<strong>10</strong>%<br />
9%<br />
8%<br />
Jobs raised<br />
on emergency<br />
status<br />
97%<br />
97%<br />
97%<br />
Appointments<br />
made and kept<br />
95%<br />
92%<br />
95%<br />
Customer<br />
satisfaction<br />
<strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> - actual<br />
How things have improved over the last 5 years<br />
+<br />
Appointments made<br />
Days to complete<br />
non-urgent repairs<br />
-<br />
-<br />
Jobs raised on<br />
emergency status<br />
Appointments<br />
made and kept<br />
-40%<br />
The graph above shows how our performance around repairs and<br />
appointments has improved since we were created in 2004/05. We are<br />
now making and keeping more appointments, resulting in increased<br />
customer satisfaction; whilst reducing the number of days it takes to<br />
complete non-urgent repairs and the number of outstanding gas services.<br />
+<br />
-<br />
Gas services<br />
outstanding<br />
Customer satisfaction<br />
+<br />
2004-05 figure<br />
There are lots of reasons for this, including new<br />
modern ways of working and better use of<br />
technology; staff at the Repairs Centre can now<br />
communicate with staff and supervisors that<br />
are out on the job through handheld devices,<br />
which helps get the repairs done quicker and<br />
helps staff get to their visits quicker.<br />
We’ve also given operatives more responsibility<br />
to do the work that is needed. This has meant<br />
that the number of repairs completed at fi rst<br />
visit has increased.<br />
The number of complaints (1,162) in<br />
comparison to the volume of repairs (118,986)<br />
is minimal. Formal complaints are low (220 in<br />
<strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> compared to 270 in 2008/09) and<br />
falling. We’ve made a big effort to capture<br />
informal complaints over the last couple of<br />
years, as they really help us improve the service.<br />
Percentage of budget spent on<br />
planned and responsive repairs<br />
33<br />
67<br />
2004/05 (%)<br />
Planned repairs<br />
53 47<br />
<strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> (%)<br />
Responsive repairs<br />
Increasing the proportion of the money we<br />
spend on planned repairs is important as it<br />
costs us less money if work is done as<br />
part of a batch rather than as single,<br />
unplanned repairs – and it means that<br />
more customers benefi t as well.
and maintenance of homes and communal areas, which represents value for money.<br />
2011 and continue to meet this standard.”<br />
Building relationships, renovating homes<br />
We’ve come a long way since we started the Modern<br />
<strong>Homes</strong> Programme in spring 2005. By the end of<br />
<strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> we had spent £425million on 35,000 separate<br />
packages of work to homes, bringing 19,000 homes<br />
to the government’s Decent <strong>Homes</strong> Standard in the<br />
process. We are still on target to complete the work in<br />
December 2011.<br />
We could not have done this without good<br />
relationships with our construction partners. We carried<br />
out annual reviews of our constructors against cost and<br />
quality, including customer satisfaction – we wanted to<br />
show that your feedback was taken into consideration<br />
and had an infl uence on our choice of contractors. We<br />
chose not to continue using some of the constructors<br />
and with others we withheld further contracts until they<br />
improved their performance. We’re now doing this every<br />
three months to keep the pressure on constructors and<br />
make savings for the programme.<br />
The change across the city is evident. At one time<br />
it would have been easy to tell private and council<br />
properties apart but this isn’t the case any more. It’s<br />
also having some interesting knock-on effects - we’d<br />
expected the number of repairs would reduce once<br />
homes had received Modern <strong>Homes</strong> work but that<br />
hasn’t been the case.<br />
We found that once work had been completed, you<br />
have been looking to improve other areas of your<br />
homes. You are taking more pride in your homes and<br />
have been reporting minor repairs that you would have<br />
perhaps left before the work took place. Once all the<br />
work is completed we expect that the number of calls<br />
to the Repairs Centre will drop again.<br />
Customer satisfaction with the Modern<br />
<strong>Homes</strong> work to their home<br />
97%<br />
satisfaction<br />
External packages<br />
87%<br />
satisfaction<br />
Internal packages<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 11
National standard: Neighbo<br />
“Keeping neighbourhoods and communal areas clean and safe, working in<br />
relevant partners to help promote social, environmental and economic well<br />
Our HASBET (Housing, Anti-social Behaviour<br />
Enforcement Team) works hard to reduce anti-social<br />
behaviour through supporting victims and taking action<br />
against those who cause problems for their neighbours.<br />
To support this we work in partnership with <strong>Newcastle</strong><br />
City Council, Northumbria Police and Victim Support.<br />
We also work closely with ARCH (Agencies against<br />
Race Crime and Harassment) to tackle hate crime.<br />
In <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> we achieved 75% customer satisfaction<br />
with the service and referred <strong>10</strong>0% of cases to Victim<br />
Support. We investigated a total of 226 cases during<br />
the year and of those we began 99% of investigations<br />
within our agreed timescales. These timescales were<br />
reduced this year as a result of customer feedback to:<br />
Category 1 -<br />
response the next working day (this is for the most<br />
serious types of anti-social behaviour) including<br />
harassment and intimidation, hate-related incidents,<br />
drug dealing and misuse.<br />
Category 2 -<br />
response within three working days for incidents<br />
including noise, vandalism and alcohol-related<br />
incidents.<br />
Category 3 -<br />
response within five working days for incidents<br />
including pets and animal nuisance, vehicle nuisance<br />
and fly-tipping.<br />
The team not only works to reduce anti-social<br />
behaviour across <strong>Newcastle</strong>, but also aims to prevent<br />
it from taking place. HASBET have worked closely with<br />
our Customer Involvement Team to deliver the A2B<br />
(Access to Basketball) project where we engaged with<br />
young people to teach them the importance of respect<br />
and building communities to be proud of.<br />
Reaching the finals of the UK Housing Awards<br />
‘Creating Integrated and Safe Places to Live’ category<br />
in <strong>2009</strong>, and retaining their Charter Mark status with<br />
full compliance in 20<strong>10</strong> demonstrates the ongoing,<br />
excellent work of the team.<br />
We have also made a number of referrals to our<br />
Family Intervention Project (FIP) which aims to deliver<br />
intensive support to families who, due to their antisocial<br />
behaviour, were at risk of being evicted from<br />
their home. The FIP aims to break the cycle of poor<br />
behaviour, homelessness and disadvantage; help the<br />
family to get back on its feet and help children and<br />
young people back into education, employment and<br />
training. Figures from January 20<strong>10</strong> show that it has<br />
worked with 24 families in total. 17 of these have now<br />
been closed; and they continue to work with seven.<br />
And there has been a significant reduction in the<br />
number of incidents of anti-social behaviour from those<br />
families by 80%.<br />
Customers have played their part in helping to improve<br />
the areas in which they live. By taking part in estate<br />
walkabouts, estate standards groups and the Living<br />
in Flats group they have identified several areas<br />
for improvement. The estate standards group have<br />
reduced the number of unacceptable green areas on<br />
estates across the city, and on an estate walkabout<br />
in Scotswood tenants identified general repairs,<br />
environmental maintenance and a proposal for an<br />
improvement using Area Project Fund money.<br />
During <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> we carried out 264 block inspections<br />
and 241 passed. Where improvements were identified,<br />
actions were agreed to bring those blocks to the<br />
appropriate standard.<br />
page 12
urhood and community<br />
partnership with tenants and other providers where necessary. Co-operating with<br />
being, and with other public agencies to prevent and tackle anti-social behaviour.”<br />
HASBET aims to help people sustain their tenancies and eviction is only enforced as a last resort where a solution<br />
cannot be agreed. The team uses a multi-agency approach to tackle cases of anti-social behaviour and here is an<br />
example of one complex case which involved several partner agencies.<br />
1. Complaints were made to<br />
a Community Housing Office<br />
by a leaseholder who claimed<br />
their neighbour – a <strong>YHN</strong> tenant<br />
and her partner/carer (living<br />
at a different property on the<br />
same street) - were creating<br />
noise nuisance by arguing<br />
regularly and using foul and<br />
abusive language.<br />
2. After the Community<br />
Housing Office made initial enquiries, the<br />
leaseholder began to report incidents of<br />
retaliation from the neighbour including<br />
shouting at and threatening them.<br />
3. The case escalated<br />
when the tenants’<br />
partner was convicted<br />
of trying to “burn”<br />
the leaseholder out<br />
of their home. The<br />
Community Housing<br />
Office referred the<br />
case to HASBET.<br />
6. Throughout the<br />
case the tenant was<br />
assessed, under the<br />
Mental Health Act,<br />
several times.<br />
5. HASBET attended<br />
a number of multiagency<br />
meetings to<br />
discuss the case and<br />
the tenant was warned<br />
several times about her<br />
unacceptable behaviour.<br />
4. The tenant was bipolar and had<br />
other mental health issues, so we made<br />
a referral to Adult Services and made<br />
sure we adhered to the Prevention of<br />
Eviction Protocol to make sure they had<br />
support to sustain their tenancy.<br />
7. The tenant was served<br />
with a Notice of Seeking<br />
Possession when her<br />
behaviour failed to improve.<br />
Her partner already had a<br />
postponed Possession Order<br />
for non-payment of rent at<br />
his address.<br />
8. HASBET worked with Regulatory Services<br />
and Public Protection (RSPP) to pursue more<br />
formal enforcement action. RSPP served<br />
an Abatement Notice in respect of the<br />
nuisance towards the leaseholder. A Senior<br />
Environmental Health Officer said that the<br />
recordings of the noise nuisance were the<br />
worst they’d heard.<br />
9. HASBET also pursued<br />
possession of the<br />
tenant’s property and<br />
issued injunctions against<br />
the tenant and her<br />
partner to try and stop<br />
the anti-social behaviour.<br />
13. By the time we were granted possession over<br />
200 complaints had been made against the tenant<br />
and her partner. This case demonstrates how difficult<br />
it can be to reach a satisfactory resolution. Residents<br />
being prepared to report anti-social behaviour are<br />
vital in helping us take action against those whose<br />
behaviour makes life difficult for their neighbours. In<br />
this case the victims were prepared to take a stand<br />
and provide evidence to HASBET which meant that<br />
we could take legal action to stop the anti-social<br />
behaviour.<br />
11. <strong>YHN</strong> attended<br />
court with the<br />
support of the<br />
leaseholder,<br />
Northumbria Police<br />
and RSPP.<br />
<strong>10</strong>. The court would not<br />
grant an injunction against<br />
the tenant until another<br />
formal assessment of her<br />
mental health had been<br />
made. Her partner signed<br />
an undertaking which he<br />
went on to breach several<br />
times.<br />
12. Possession of both<br />
the tenant’s and her<br />
partner’s properties<br />
was granted and both<br />
were evicted.<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 13
National standard: Tenant in<br />
“Providing choices, information and communication that is appropriate to the<br />
way. Offering a wide range of involvement opportunities and consulting with<br />
against the Tenant Services Authority standards. Treating all customers with<br />
Learning from, and acting on, the feedback that<br />
customers have given us is helping us improve<br />
our services. Sometimes the changes that we’ve<br />
introduced can seem quite small. But when you<br />
put them together within a planned approach to<br />
improving the experience for customers, the results<br />
can be very effective. And so we’re pleased to report<br />
that formal complaints are falling whilst general<br />
customer satisfaction continues to rise.<br />
The changes we have introduced included;<br />
• setting up an anti-social behaviour sounding board<br />
to get customer views on how we can improve the<br />
way we deal with anti-social behaviour,<br />
• introducing the ‘complaints r us’ scrutiny panel to<br />
monitor the quality of letters sent to customers in<br />
response to a complaint, and<br />
• introducing a Readers Panel where customers can<br />
comment on pieces of literature, before they go to<br />
print, to make sure they are clear and concise.<br />
Many of the comments we’ve received have been<br />
about the ways in which customers can access our<br />
services and as a result we’ve continued to look<br />
at how we can improve existing methods as well<br />
as introduce new ways. We recently introduced a<br />
digital TV channel which allows customers to find<br />
out information on a range of services as well as an<br />
interactive ‘contact us’ form. We have also developed<br />
an online service which allows customers to view<br />
their rent statements online.<br />
We have also increased the number of ways<br />
customers can get involved. For instance, they<br />
now have the chance to influence some really big<br />
decisions like the setting of our priorities in our<br />
service plans and influencing the content and layout<br />
of our service standards.<br />
We continue to involve customers in the review of<br />
our policies and procedures, including the customer<br />
service strategy and in the design of the new<br />
customer service charter.<br />
In addition, feedback from customers has helped<br />
us to make a difference to lots of services and<br />
information that we provide.<br />
This graphic shows how setting up a tenants’ panel in June 2008,<br />
deal with complaints from 39% in 2008/09 to 58% in <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong>.<br />
and this is traditionally a difficult thing to get right.<br />
Involvement Complaints<br />
Comment & Complaints Policy introduced - April 2007<br />
600<br />
involved<br />
tenants<br />
2,352<br />
informal<br />
complaints<br />
809<br />
formal<br />
complaints<br />
Reduced timescale to respond from 15 to <strong>10</strong> - days November 2007<br />
• A group of mystery shoppers developed a welcome<br />
pack for new tenants; they told us what should<br />
be included in the packs such as basic cleaning<br />
products and cloths, and that all the products<br />
should be environmentally friendly.<br />
• Customers were involved in developing a customer<br />
training programme pilot. They told us what kind of<br />
training they’d like to attend. The pilot was a success<br />
and has resulted in an annual training programme.<br />
• The Reader’s Panel reviewed the new tenant<br />
handbook to make sure it contained relevant<br />
information and was free of jargon.<br />
85%<br />
Satisfaction<br />
of involved<br />
residents<br />
39%<br />
Satisfaction of<br />
complainants<br />
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr<br />
2007/08<br />
page 14
volvement and empowerment<br />
diverse needs of customers and approaching complaints in a clear, simple and accessible<br />
customers, enabling them to influence policies and services and assess our performance<br />
respect; understanding diverse needs.”<br />
to focus exclusively on how we deal with complaints, has helped increase customer satisfaction with the way we<br />
It’s particularly encouraging for us, as customers are unlikely to feel particularly positive about having to make a complaint,<br />
Complaints panel introduced – June 2008<br />
2,315<br />
informal<br />
complaints<br />
1,000<br />
involved<br />
tenants<br />
Readers panel introduced – October 2008<br />
51%<br />
Satisfaction of<br />
complainants<br />
New customer service team introduced - January <strong>2009</strong><br />
ASB sounding board introduced - January <strong>2009</strong><br />
87%<br />
Satisfaction<br />
of involved<br />
Leaseholder group reviewed - November <strong>2009</strong><br />
1,200<br />
involved<br />
tenants<br />
residents 77%<br />
Satisfaction<br />
of involved<br />
residents<br />
909<br />
formal<br />
complaints<br />
2,881<br />
informal<br />
complaints<br />
58%<br />
Satisfaction of<br />
complainants<br />
638<br />
formal<br />
complaints<br />
May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul<br />
2008/09 <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong><br />
• Customers helped us to set our priorities for the year.<br />
Some of our <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> service plan targets came as a<br />
direct result of customer feedback.<br />
As part of our efforts to ensure we treat all of<br />
our customers fairly and give everyone the same<br />
opportunities to get involved, we have consulted with<br />
several customer groups. We have:<br />
• consulted with our older customers when developing<br />
a local offer for sheltered housing residents. They told<br />
us what was important to them and agreed the local<br />
offers,<br />
• held a session with our Asylum Seeker Unit (ASU)<br />
customers to develop the ASU service standards, and<br />
• held meetings with young people to help improve<br />
services and influence the build of our new<br />
accommodation, specifically for young families,<br />
on Jubilee Road, Gosforth. They told us their most<br />
important elements for design such as car parking,<br />
play facilities and support staff, and were consulted<br />
on the choice of contractor.<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 15
National standard: Value for<br />
“Planning how we manage our resources to provide cost-effective, efficient,<br />
Demonstrating how spending has been prioritised, how value for money has<br />
Using<br />
customer<br />
satisfaction<br />
feedback when<br />
reviewing<br />
constructors<br />
Constructors<br />
have made<br />
community<br />
improvements<br />
including new<br />
kitchens in<br />
community<br />
centres,<br />
sponsorship<br />
of local football<br />
teams and<br />
helping people<br />
into employment<br />
through<br />
apprenticeships<br />
Increase in<br />
trade at local<br />
businesses such<br />
as newsagents,<br />
bakeries and<br />
sandwich shops<br />
Switched<br />
from timber<br />
to UPVC<br />
windows<br />
Quarterly<br />
reviews of<br />
contractors to<br />
maintain high<br />
quality and value<br />
for money<br />
Withheld<br />
work from<br />
contractors until<br />
they showed an<br />
improvement<br />
Donations<br />
from constructors<br />
such as TVs and<br />
DVD players and<br />
health and<br />
safety talks in<br />
schools<br />
Gave a<br />
higher proportion<br />
of our modern<br />
homes work to<br />
our more efficient<br />
constructors<br />
page 16
money<br />
quality services and homes to meet tenants’ and potential tenants’ needs.<br />
been achieved and plans and priorities for future value for money activities.”<br />
Value for money has always been an important<br />
requirement for us. Any efficiency savings are put back<br />
into the organisation to improve the services we provide<br />
customers and offer them more choice.<br />
We also aim to make sure that customers receive excellent<br />
services that meet their needs.<br />
Our approach to achieving value for money is set out<br />
in the <strong>YHN</strong> Efficiency Strategy. The strategy has already<br />
helped us make savings across the organisation. For<br />
instance, new procurement contracts have realised<br />
significant savings in relation to the Modern <strong>Homes</strong><br />
Programme and the print and design services we buy<br />
in, and we have reviewed some of our Service Level<br />
Agreements – resulting in either better value for money<br />
from the existing provider, procuring a new provider or<br />
bringing some of the services in-house.<br />
Economic forecasts remain pessimistic for the country as<br />
a whole, but we have reached a secure financial position<br />
which means that we should be able to maintain the<br />
level of service that our tenants have come to expect, and<br />
consider developing additional services which we think<br />
will improve the lives of our customers. It also means we<br />
have some time to prepare for how we can respond to any<br />
deterioration in funding and other cost pressures.<br />
Our finance team have been working hard, behind the<br />
scenes, to plan our finances for the future but all staff play<br />
their part in helping to identify potential savings.<br />
We have carried out Business and Financial planning<br />
exercises with staff and are planning another round in<br />
the near future. These exercises aim to identify where we<br />
can make efficiency savings, improve services and develop<br />
service plans for the coming year. Some great suggestions<br />
have already been made and we hope staff will continue<br />
to identify areas where they think efficiencies can be made<br />
such as reducing paper usage, working in greener ways<br />
and the possibility of merging teams.<br />
Our staff have been working hard to improve our<br />
performance around void relet times and rent collection,<br />
both of which have made a hugely positive impact on<br />
our financial position. We have reduced the cost of<br />
providing the Housing Management Service and the cost<br />
of maintaining our properties. We regularly compare<br />
ourselves to other local housing providers to see where we<br />
can improve the value for money of our services.<br />
How we spend your money on behalf of<br />
<strong>Newcastle</strong> City Council & <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong><br />
<strong>YHN</strong> Property<br />
Maintenance;<br />
£28.7m<br />
Renewal<br />
Charges;<br />
£19.6m<br />
22%<br />
Reserves;<br />
£12.4m<br />
15%<br />
9% 11%<br />
<strong>YHN</strong> Tenancy<br />
Services; £14.6m<br />
22%<br />
<strong>YHN</strong> Care<br />
Services; £6.3m<br />
Other<br />
Management<br />
Costs;<br />
£20.5m<br />
Investment & Loan<br />
Charges; £28.7m<br />
Tenancy services: Otherwise known as ‘the frontline’. This includes<br />
our network of Housing Offices, Concierge service, Leasehold team,<br />
<strong>Newcastle</strong> Furniture Service. The figures also include costs related<br />
to Ground Maintenance, District and Group Heating schemes, and a<br />
specialist Customer Service and Improvement team that works with<br />
staff to ensure that they give the best possible service to customers.<br />
Property maintenance: Maintenance and improvement of homes.<br />
Care services: Support services for older and vulnerable<br />
customers. Includes Sheltered Housing, Mobile Wardens, Homeless<br />
Accommodation, Asylum Seekers Unit, Young People’s Service, and our<br />
Advice and Support team.<br />
Other management costs: Sometimes termed ‘back office services’<br />
this figure includes staff and structural costs associated with the<br />
provision of services for our staff. This includes teams that make up<br />
our Directorates for Finance and Resources (such as Finance, IT) and<br />
Business Strategy (such as Organisational Development, Customer<br />
Involvement).<br />
Investment and loan charges: Interest payable on loans and<br />
investment income.<br />
Renewal charges: The depreciation and impairment costs<br />
associated with the Housing Revenue Account stock. Impairment costs<br />
reflect the difference between the cost of the Council’s assets in the<br />
accounts and its estimated value. This years figure reflects the fall in<br />
general house prices.<br />
Reserves: Provisions we’ve made for future years’ expenditure<br />
- to cover potential shortfalls in funding for our Modern <strong>Homes</strong><br />
programme, for example.<br />
5%<br />
16%<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 17
National standard: Governanc<br />
“Providing arrangements which adhere to relevant legislation, are accountable<br />
the reputation of the sector. Managing resources effectively to ensure viability is<br />
Value for money continued<br />
By establishing our charitable subsidiary, Leazes <strong>Homes</strong>,<br />
we have been able to maximise funds to drive our new<br />
build programme of development. We have also accessed<br />
other grant funding to subsidise the programme, which is<br />
helping to ease the pressure on demand for social housing<br />
in the city whilst generating more rental income and<br />
allowing us to make improvements to tenants’ homes that<br />
help to reduce fuel bills and improve energy effi ciency.<br />
Most of the funding for our Support and Care services<br />
comes from contracts we have secured from Supporting<br />
People. We are required, under those contracts, to<br />
demonstrate that we run those contracts effi ciently and<br />
effectively, and that the additional activity is producing<br />
positive outcomes for customers. Results to date clearly<br />
show that these services are helping our customers<br />
manage their debts and access any relevant benefi ts,<br />
which gives them a better chance of sustaining their<br />
tenancies. This helps us collect as much rent as possible<br />
and reduces the number of evictions for rent arrears that<br />
we have to make.<br />
We are also able to reinvest money from services that<br />
operate at a surplus such as NFS, our furniture service,<br />
back into the core services that we provide to customers.<br />
This allows us to continue to improve those services,<br />
enhancing the overall experience for our customers.<br />
Part of our overall improvement programme is to review<br />
all <strong>YHN</strong> services to make sure that they are the best they<br />
can be for the best possible price. Where the service being<br />
reviewed is provided to tenants, they are involved in the<br />
review process through consultation. By involving tenants<br />
we can check whether the services are meeting their<br />
needs.<br />
During <strong>2009</strong>, <strong>YHN</strong> reviewed the concierge service. Tenants<br />
were consulted about the review and given information<br />
about the options available for future service provision,<br />
and the cost of those options. Following the consultation<br />
changes to the service were agreed, including the<br />
introduction of a central control room to monitor CCTV<br />
and door entry systems, with onsite and responsive staff to<br />
deal with tenants’ issues.<br />
Value for money is and continues to be a priority for <strong>YHN</strong>.<br />
We feel that we are in a strong position to adapt in the<br />
face of spending cuts and will continue to encourage staff<br />
and customers to put forward their suggestions for further<br />
effi ciency savings and areas for improvement to services.<br />
Judith<br />
Common:<br />
Independent<br />
Board Member<br />
Who am I?<br />
For the last 30 years I’ve<br />
worked in the Northumbria<br />
area as a police offi cer and<br />
that brought me into contact with a range of people<br />
across the Tyne and Wear region. I’ve worked in both<br />
the east and west of the city and therefore feel a<br />
strong connection to <strong>Newcastle</strong> and the people living<br />
in it.<br />
When I retired from the police service I felt that I still<br />
wanted to, and still could, give something back to<br />
<strong>Newcastle</strong>.<br />
Why I joined the <strong>YHN</strong> Board<br />
Whilst working for the police I got to meet a lot of<br />
different people and interact with the community.<br />
I often saw people when they were at their most<br />
vulnerable and for them, their home and having<br />
stability are very important to them. I wanted to be<br />
part of <strong>YHN</strong>’s board because they don’t just provide<br />
somebody with a house, they provide a home and offer<br />
structure and support mechanisms to enable them to<br />
live in that home. It really does make a difference to<br />
how people manage their lives, and that’s what I liked<br />
about <strong>YHN</strong>. Being on the board also enables me to use<br />
my past experiences to good effect.<br />
How did I become a board member and<br />
what’s involved?<br />
I applied to become a board member and went<br />
through quite a rigorous interview process. It is<br />
important that people are joining the board for all the<br />
right reasons and bring the right skills to the board, so<br />
that each person adds value to the work the board is<br />
involved in.<br />
page 18
e and financial viability<br />
to tenants, the TSA and other stakeholders and safeguard taxpayers’ interests and<br />
maintained.”<br />
I came here two years ago and I’ve just been reinterviewed<br />
for a place on the board for another<br />
three years. There’s a significant time commitment<br />
to being a board member, which is made clear<br />
at the outset. There are many ways that a board<br />
member can get involved in <strong>YHN</strong> but the board<br />
meetings themselves take place every six weeks<br />
and are the main mechanism for decision making.<br />
So, I think it’s important that you attend as many<br />
board meetings as you can throughout the year.<br />
As well as board meetings there are other meetings<br />
to attend and committees that service the main<br />
board. Most board members are also members<br />
of other committees. I chair the Performance<br />
Committee which has been running for a year. In<br />
simple terms this makes sure that <strong>YHN</strong> delivers<br />
what it says it’s going to deliver.<br />
A day in the life…<br />
You can’t just go to a board meeting and make<br />
multi million pound decisions without all the<br />
background information to hand.<br />
I receive board papers one week before the board<br />
meeting takes place so if there is something on the<br />
agenda that I don’t know the background to, I have<br />
the chance to find out more. This might be through<br />
talking to key stakeholders about their views and<br />
expectations. It’s important that I increase my<br />
awareness and understanding of an issue so that<br />
when the time comes to make a decision, I’m<br />
fully informed and in a good position to give my<br />
opinion.<br />
Before the meeting takes place I will have read<br />
and analysed papers, spoken to officers for more<br />
information and gone to the area in question to see<br />
how our decisions are going to affect the people<br />
who live there. It’s about making decisions that<br />
affect real people and making sure that you take<br />
their views into account, as well as the views of the<br />
organisation and other stakeholders.<br />
I have recently completed the intermediate<br />
governance award through <strong>YHN</strong> and I’m going<br />
on to do the advanced award. I do this in my<br />
own time. I have learnt a lot about governance,<br />
which in turn makes me more confident about the<br />
organisation, which enables me to carry out my<br />
role successfully.<br />
What I enjoy about being a board<br />
member<br />
I’m really committed to <strong>Newcastle</strong> and the people<br />
of <strong>Newcastle</strong>. Having the ability to make decisions<br />
that impact upon the lives of the people living in<br />
the city, and to help people who are vulnerable,<br />
means a lot to me.<br />
It’s the interaction of <strong>YHN</strong> with other organisations<br />
in the city that’s of particular interest and having<br />
involvement with other organisations to create<br />
community cohesion.<br />
What have I learnt?<br />
There’s a lot more to housing than I originally<br />
thought! These last two years have really brought<br />
home to me how dynamic and forward thinking<br />
<strong>YHN</strong> is, how privileged I am to be part of that<br />
organisation and just how broad their role is.<br />
<strong>YHN</strong> is a really progressive, proactive organisation<br />
that’s constantly looking at the future and<br />
constantly looking at how it can do better for the<br />
people in the city. And the drive has to come from<br />
the board. We have to look after the interests<br />
of the people of <strong>Newcastle</strong>, making sure they’re<br />
getting excellent services that are value for money.<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 19
How we run ourselves<br />
<strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong> is run by a board of 19<br />
people. In accordance with government guidance<br />
for the setting of ALMOs, the organisation’s board<br />
of non-executive directors has equal representation<br />
of tenant, independent and council members. Six<br />
tenants, six council nominees, six independent people.<br />
The Board is led by an independent Chair; this<br />
position sits outside of the three constituent groups of<br />
board members.<br />
The Board is responsible for:<br />
• Setting our vision and our strategic objectives<br />
• Agreeing how we deliver services<br />
• Setting the budget each year and making sure that<br />
we spend it wisely<br />
• Agreeing improvements to services and homes<br />
• Monitoring all of our work to make sure that we<br />
meet our objectives<br />
Following a review of the committee structure, we<br />
set up five committees in September <strong>2009</strong> to look<br />
at particular issues in more depth and provide a<br />
less formal environment to develop work before it is<br />
presented to the Board. The committees are:<br />
• Audit<br />
• Customer and Service Delivery<br />
• Finance and Resources<br />
• Performance<br />
• Remuneration<br />
Following a review of our area boards we have<br />
replaced these with a programme of themed meetings<br />
which complement the comprehensive range of<br />
existing opportunities for involving and engaging<br />
with tenants and residents across the city. Themed<br />
meetings are carried out in different ways to reflect<br />
the subject matter and the needs of the local<br />
community.<br />
<strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong> Board <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong><br />
During the year George Allison, P J Morrissey and Margaret O’Callaghan stood down from the Board. John Cuthbertson<br />
also retired from the Board in September <strong>2009</strong> and we would like to thank those board members for the contributions<br />
they have made to <strong>YHN</strong>.<br />
During<br />
<strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> there<br />
were a number<br />
of changes<br />
to Board<br />
membership.<br />
Steve Murphy (Chair)<br />
Bill Bowman Judith Common Bill Drury<br />
Veronica Dunn<br />
Roger Harral Rob Higgins Gerry Keating Gordon Knox<br />
page 20
<strong>YHN</strong> Management structure<br />
John Lee<br />
Chief Executive<br />
• Communications<br />
• Equality and Diversity<br />
• Governance and Board Support<br />
Sheila Breslin<br />
Assistant Chief Executive<br />
and Director of Business<br />
Neil Scott<br />
Director of Tenancy Services<br />
• Assets & Programming<br />
• Business Strategy<br />
• Investment Delivery<br />
• Organisational Development<br />
• Customer Involvement<br />
• Citywide Services<br />
• Customer Service<br />
• Housing Management<br />
• Property Maintenance<br />
• Support and Care<br />
Ross Atkinson<br />
Director of Finance and<br />
Resources and Company<br />
Secretary<br />
• Finance (Business support; Income; Revenue)<br />
• Procurement<br />
• Right to Buy<br />
• Central Administration<br />
• Information Technology<br />
• Human Resources<br />
We also welcomed Veronica Dunn, Mike Lynch and Mary McMahon to the Board.<br />
Mike Lynch<br />
Jim McLaughlin<br />
Mary McMahon<br />
Ammar Mirza<br />
Margaret O’Callaghan<br />
John James Reid<br />
Bob Renton<br />
Nitin Shukla David Slesenger Lynn Stephenson<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 21
Performance<br />
We collect a large amount of performance information<br />
to tell us and others how well we do, compared to<br />
what we set out to achieve and in comparison to other<br />
organisations. The information is used to celebrate<br />
success and to identify areas where we need to do<br />
better.<br />
Some performance indicators are set by the<br />
government, while others are our own, designed to<br />
show whether we are doing what is right for our<br />
priorities.<br />
In <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> we exceeded targets including:<br />
• satisfaction with the repairs and maintenance<br />
service,<br />
• number of days sickness (per full time employee),<br />
and<br />
• net rent arrears.<br />
Even though we’ve improved on the previous year’s<br />
performance with our Modern <strong>Homes</strong> Programme,<br />
we did not meet our <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> target. This was largely<br />
due to the introduction of a new way of appointing<br />
contractors to carry out the programme which is<br />
starting to realise cost savings without compromising<br />
quality.<br />
Performance around rent collection was particularly<br />
strong this year. As we exceeded our targets in<br />
2008/09 we expected a slight increase during <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong><br />
but we are pleased to report that we exceeded the<br />
<strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> target and rent arrears are now at their<br />
lowest since <strong>YHN</strong> was created.<br />
We need to improve in some areas including:<br />
• satisfaction with the overall housing service,<br />
• number of homes made decent.<br />
A snapshot of our performance in some key areas is below and opposite.<br />
Performance indicator 2008/09 <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong><br />
outturn target outturn<br />
Satisfaction with overall housing service 73.1% 81% 79.1%<br />
Number of homes made decent 5885 7683 6137<br />
Satisfaction with the repairs and maintenance service 95% 92% 95%<br />
Number of days sickness (per full time employee) 11.45 <strong>10</strong>.2 <strong>10</strong>.11<br />
Average void relet time 34.8 days 27 days 23 days<br />
Net rent arrears £2,473,741 £2,650,000 £2,076,388.18<br />
page 22
73.1%<br />
81% 7683<br />
79.1%<br />
5885<br />
6137<br />
08/09<br />
outturn<br />
09/<strong>10</strong><br />
target<br />
09/<strong>10</strong><br />
outturn<br />
08/09<br />
outturn<br />
09/<strong>10</strong><br />
target<br />
09/<strong>10</strong><br />
outturn<br />
Satisfaction with overall housing service<br />
Number of homes made decent<br />
95%<br />
92%<br />
95%<br />
11.45<br />
<strong>10</strong>.2<br />
<strong>10</strong>.11<br />
08/09<br />
outturn<br />
09/<strong>10</strong><br />
target<br />
09/<strong>10</strong><br />
outturn<br />
08/09<br />
outturn<br />
09/<strong>10</strong><br />
target<br />
09/<strong>10</strong><br />
outturn<br />
Satisfaction with the repairs<br />
and maintenance service<br />
Number of days sickness (per full time employee)<br />
34.8 days<br />
£2,473,741<br />
£2,650,000<br />
£2,076,388.18<br />
27 days<br />
23 days<br />
08/09<br />
outturn<br />
09/<strong>10</strong><br />
target<br />
09/<strong>10</strong><br />
outturn<br />
08/09<br />
outturn<br />
09/<strong>10</strong><br />
target<br />
09/<strong>10</strong><br />
outturn<br />
Average void relet time<br />
Net rent arrears<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 23
Financial accounts<br />
Independent auditors’ report to the member of<br />
<strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong> Limited<br />
We have audited the financial<br />
statements of <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong><br />
Limited for the year ended 31 March<br />
20<strong>10</strong> which comprise the Group<br />
and Parent Company Income and<br />
Expenditure Accounts, the Group<br />
and Parent Company Balance Sheets,<br />
the Group Cash Flow Statement,<br />
and the related notes 1 to 18. The<br />
financial reporting framework that<br />
has been applied in their preparation<br />
is applicable law and United<br />
Kingdom Accounting Standards<br />
(United Kingdom Generally Accepted<br />
Accounting Practice).<br />
This report is made solely to the<br />
company’s members, as a body, in<br />
accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16<br />
of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit<br />
work has been undertaken so that we<br />
might state to the company’s members<br />
those matters we are required to state<br />
to them in an auditor’s report and for<br />
no other purpose. To the fullest extent<br />
permitted by law, we do not accept<br />
or assume responsibility to anyone<br />
other than the company and the<br />
company’s members as a body, for our<br />
audit work, for this report, or for the<br />
opinions we have formed.<br />
Respective responsibilities<br />
of directors and auditors<br />
responsible for the preparation of the<br />
financial statements and for being<br />
satisfied that they give a true and fair<br />
view. Our responsibility is to audit the<br />
financial statements in accordance<br />
with applicable law and International<br />
Standards on Auditing (UK and<br />
Ireland). Those standards require us<br />
to comply with the Auditing Practices<br />
Board’s (APB’s) Ethical Standards for<br />
Auditors.<br />
Scope of the audit of the<br />
financial statements<br />
An audit involves obtaining evidence<br />
about the amounts and disclosures<br />
in the financial statements sufficient<br />
to give reasonable assurance that<br />
the financial statements are free<br />
from material misstatement, whether<br />
caused by fraud or error. This includes<br />
an assessment of: whether the<br />
accounting policies are appropriate to<br />
the group’s and the parent company’s<br />
circumstances and have been<br />
consistently applied and adequately<br />
disclosed; the reasonableness of<br />
significant accounting estimates<br />
made by the directors; and the<br />
overall presentation of the financial<br />
statements.<br />
As explained more fully in<br />
the Statement of Directors’<br />
Responsibilities the directors are<br />
page 24
Financial accounts<br />
Independent auditors’ report to the member of<br />
<strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong> Limited (continued)<br />
Opinion on financial<br />
statements<br />
In our opinion the financial<br />
statements:<br />
• give a true and fair view of the<br />
state of the group’s and the parent<br />
company’s affairs as at 31 March<br />
20<strong>10</strong> and of the group’s and the<br />
parent company’s surplus for the<br />
year then ended,<br />
• have been properly prepared in<br />
accordance with United Kingdom<br />
Generally Accepted Accounting<br />
Practice, and<br />
• have been prepared in accordance<br />
with the requirements of the<br />
Companies Act 2006.<br />
Opinion on other matter<br />
prescribed by the<br />
Companies Act 2006<br />
In our opinion the information given<br />
in the Directors’ <strong>Report</strong> for the<br />
financial year for which the financial<br />
statements are prepared is consistent<br />
with the financial statements.<br />
Matters on which we<br />
are required to report by<br />
exception<br />
We have nothing to report in respect<br />
of the following matters where the<br />
Companies Act 2006 requires us to<br />
report to you if, in our opinion:<br />
• adequate accounting records<br />
have not been kept by the parent<br />
company, or returns adequate for<br />
our audit have not been received<br />
from branches not visited by us, or<br />
• the parent company financial<br />
statements are not in agreement<br />
with the accounting records and<br />
returns, or<br />
• certain disclosures of directors’<br />
remuneration specified by law are<br />
not made, or<br />
• we have not received all the<br />
information and explanations we<br />
require for our audit.<br />
Caroline Mulley (Senior statutory auditor)<br />
for and on behalf of Ernst & Young LLP, Statutory Auditor<br />
<strong>Newcastle</strong> upon Tyne<br />
2nd September 20<strong>10</strong><br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 25
Financial accounts<br />
Group income and expenditure account<br />
For the year ended 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
Note £’000 £’000<br />
Turnover 2 31,338 29,898<br />
Operating costs 3 (31,247 ) (29,847 )<br />
Operating profit 91 51<br />
Interest payable and similar charges 4 (53 ) (51 )<br />
Profit on ordinary activities before taxation 5 38 -<br />
Taxation on profit on ordinary activities 8 - -<br />
Profit on ordinary activities after taxation 14 38 -<br />
All amounts relate to continuing activities.<br />
There have been no recognised gains and losses other than those shown in the<br />
income and expenditure account in both the current and prior years, therefore no<br />
Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses has been prepared.<br />
page 26
Financial accounts<br />
Company income and expenditure account<br />
For the year ended 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
Note £’000 £’000<br />
Turnover 2 31,338 29,898<br />
Operating costs 3 (31,247 ) (29,847 )<br />
Gift Aid payment 3 (38 ) -<br />
Operating profit 53 51<br />
Interest payable and similar charges 4 (53 ) (51 )<br />
Profit on ordinary activities before taxation 5 - -<br />
Taxation on surplus on ordinary activities 8 - -<br />
Profit on ordinary activities after taxation 14 - -<br />
All amounts relate to continuing activities.<br />
There have been no recognised gains and losses other than those shown in the<br />
income and expenditure account in both the current and prior years, therefore no<br />
Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses has been prepared.<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 27
Financial accounts<br />
Group balance sheet<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
Note £’000 £’000<br />
Fixed assets 9 2,681 -<br />
Current assets<br />
Debtors <strong>10</strong> 7,468 2,159<br />
Cash 40 2<br />
7,508 2,161<br />
Creditors: amounts falling due in less than<br />
one year 11 (6,150) (2,161)<br />
Net current assets 1,358 -<br />
Total assets less current liabilities 4,039 -<br />
Creditors: amounts falling due in more than<br />
one year (4,001) -<br />
Net assets 38 -<br />
Capital and reserves 38 -<br />
These financial statements were approved by the Board and authorised for issue<br />
on 1st September 20<strong>10</strong>.<br />
Signed on behalf of the Board<br />
Steve Murphy<br />
Chair, <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong><br />
page 28
Financial accounts<br />
Company balance sheet<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
Note £’000 £’000<br />
Fixed assets 9 2,681 -<br />
Current assets<br />
Debtors <strong>10</strong> 7,468 2,159<br />
Cash 2 2<br />
7,470 2,161<br />
Creditors: amounts falling due in less than<br />
one year 11 (6,150) (2,161)<br />
Net current assets 1,320 -<br />
Total assets less current liabilities 4,001 -<br />
Creditors: amounts falling due in more than<br />
one year 12 (4,001) -<br />
Net assets - -<br />
Capital and reserves - -<br />
These financial statements were approved by the Board and authorised for issue<br />
on 1st September 20<strong>10</strong>.<br />
Signed on behalf of the Board<br />
Steve Murphy<br />
Chair, <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong><br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 29
Financial accounts<br />
Group cash flow statement<br />
For the year ended 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
Note £’000 £’000<br />
Net cash flow from operating activities 15 (1,229 ) 50<br />
Returns on investments and servicing<br />
of finance – interest paid (53) (51)<br />
Capital expenditure<br />
Acquisition and construction of<br />
housing properties (2,688) -<br />
Capital grants received 4,008 -<br />
1,320 -<br />
Increase in cash 38 (1 )<br />
page 30
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
1. Principal accounting policies<br />
The financial statements have<br />
been prepared in accordance<br />
with applicable United Kingdom<br />
Accounting Standards. A summary<br />
of the more important accounting<br />
policies is set out below.<br />
Basis of preparation<br />
The financial statements have been<br />
prepared on the historical cost basis<br />
of accounting.<br />
Turnover<br />
Turnover, which excludes VAT,<br />
primarily represents fee income<br />
received from <strong>Newcastle</strong> City<br />
Council for the management and<br />
maintenance of <strong>Newcastle</strong> City<br />
Council’s housing stock. All turnover<br />
arises in the United Kingdom.<br />
Taxation<br />
Deferred taxation is recognised in<br />
respect of all timing differences that<br />
have originated but not reversed<br />
at the balance sheet date where<br />
transactions or events have occurred<br />
at that date that will result in an<br />
obligation to pay more, or right to<br />
pay less or to receive more, tax, with<br />
following exceptions:<br />
• Deferred tax assets are recognised<br />
only to the extent that the directors<br />
consider that it is more likely than<br />
not that there will be suitable<br />
taxable profits from which the<br />
future reversal of the underlying<br />
timing differences can be deducted.<br />
Deferred tax is measured on an<br />
undiscounted basis at the tax rates<br />
that are expected to apply in the<br />
periods in which timing differences<br />
reverse, based on tax rates and laws<br />
enacted or substantively enacted at<br />
the balance sheet date.<br />
Tangible fixed assets<br />
Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost<br />
less accumulated depreciation. Cost<br />
includes the original purchase price<br />
of the asset plus any costs incurred<br />
in bringing the asset to its working<br />
condition.<br />
Depreciation is calculated to write off<br />
the cost or valuation of tangible fixed<br />
assets on a straight line basis over<br />
their useful lives as follows:<br />
Land<br />
Buildings<br />
not depreciated<br />
<strong>10</strong> – <strong>10</strong>0 years<br />
The carrying values of tangible<br />
fixed assets are reviewed for<br />
impairment when events or changes<br />
in circumstances indicate the carrying<br />
value may not be recoverable.<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 31
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
1. Principal accounting policies (continued)<br />
Government grants<br />
Where grants from the <strong>Homes</strong> and<br />
Communities Agency (HCA) have<br />
been received as a contribution<br />
towards the capital cost of a scheme<br />
they are treated as deferred income<br />
and are recognised in the income and<br />
expenditure account over the useful<br />
economic life of those assets.<br />
Pension costs<br />
The company participates in the Local<br />
Government Pension Scheme, through<br />
membership of the Tyne and Wear<br />
Pension Fund. The scheme is a final<br />
salary pension scheme and retirement<br />
benefits to employees of the company<br />
are funded by contributions from<br />
all participating employers and<br />
employees in the scheme. Payments<br />
are made in accordance with periodic<br />
calculations by consulting actuaries<br />
and are based on pension costs<br />
applicable to the various participating<br />
organisations.<br />
Costs are charged to the income and<br />
expenditure account over the period<br />
benefiting from the employees’<br />
service and disclosures are given as<br />
required by FRS17.<br />
2. Analysis of turnover<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
<strong>Newcastle</strong> City Council Housing Revenue<br />
Account management fee 30,635 29,442<br />
Rental income 33 -<br />
Other income 670 456<br />
31,338 29,898<br />
page 32
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
3. Analysis of operating costs<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
Employee costs 25,340 23,709<br />
Premises 1,086 1,263<br />
Transport 507 487<br />
Supplies and services 4,314 4,388<br />
31,247 29,847<br />
<strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong> Limited has a subsidiary Leazes <strong>Homes</strong> Limited which has<br />
charitable status.<br />
Under the corporate gift aid tax treatment regime, the company has donated<br />
<strong>10</strong>0% of its trading profit to Leazes <strong>Homes</strong> Limited in respect of the year ended<br />
31 March 20<strong>10</strong>. For the purposes of corporation tax the amount paid is treated as<br />
a charge on income, thus reducing the chargeable profit to nil.<br />
4. Interest payable and similar charges<br />
Interest payable of £52,849 was incurred during the year (<strong>2009</strong>: £51,144). This<br />
relates to in-year movements in notional cash balances, largely due to the<br />
profiling of management fee receipts.<br />
5. Profit on ordinary activities before taxation<br />
The profit on ordinary activities before taxation is<br />
stated after charging/(crediting):<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
Audit fees 15 <strong>10</strong><br />
Depreciation of owned assets 16 -<br />
Release of deferred capital grants 7 -<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 33
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
6. Employee information<br />
The average number of persons employed during the year, expressed as equivalent<br />
of full time employees was:<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
Housing management 616 612<br />
Administration and clerical 183 183<br />
799 795<br />
Costs for the above persons were:<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
Wages and salaries 20,868 19,274<br />
Employer’s National Insurance contributions 1,383 1,349<br />
Employer’s pension costs 2,889 2,917<br />
Training 200 169<br />
25,340 23,709<br />
7. Directors’ emoluments<br />
The remuneration paid to the directors of the company was:<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
Aggregate emoluments payable to directors<br />
(including pension contributions and benefits in kind) 11 6<br />
page 34
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
8. Tax on profit on ordinary activities<br />
(a) Tax on profit on ordinary activities<br />
The tax charge is made up as follows:<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
Current tax:<br />
UK Corporation Tax - -<br />
Total current tax (note 9(b)) - -<br />
Deferred tax - -<br />
Tax on surplus on ordinary activities - -<br />
(b) Factors affecting current tax charge<br />
The tax assessed on the profit on ordinary activities for the year is different<br />
from the standard rate of corporation tax in the UK of 20%. The differences are<br />
reconciled below:<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
Surplus on ordinary activities before tax 38 -<br />
Surplus on ordinary activities multiplied by<br />
standard rate of Corporation Tax of 20% (<strong>2009</strong>: 20%) 8 -<br />
Expenses not deductible for tax purposes 6,161 5,980<br />
Non-taxable income (6,169 ) (5,980 )<br />
Total current tax (9(a)) - -<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 35
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
9. Fixed Assets<br />
Group and company<br />
Land Housing Assets in the Total<br />
course of<br />
construction<br />
Cost £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000<br />
As at 1 April <strong>2009</strong> - - - -<br />
Schemes Completed 755 1,0<strong>10</strong> - 1,765<br />
Additions - - 932 932<br />
As at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong> 755 1,0<strong>10</strong> 932 2,697<br />
Accumulated<br />
depreciation<br />
As at 1 April <strong>2009</strong> - - - -<br />
Charge for the year - 16 - 16<br />
As at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong> - 16 - 16<br />
Net Book Value<br />
As at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong> 755 994 932 2,681<br />
As at 1 April <strong>2009</strong> - - - -<br />
page 36
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
<strong>10</strong>. Debtors<br />
Group and company<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
Amounts due from <strong>Newcastle</strong> City Council 7,289 2,035<br />
Other debtors and prepayments 179 124<br />
7,468 2,159<br />
11. Creditors: amounts falling due in less than one year<br />
Group<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
VAT 1,113 619<br />
Amounts due to <strong>Newcastle</strong> City Council 2,393 994<br />
Accruals 2,644 548<br />
6,150 2,161<br />
Company<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
VAT 1,113 619<br />
Amounts due to <strong>Newcastle</strong> City Council 2,393 994<br />
Accruals 2,644 548<br />
6,150 2,161<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 37
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
12. Creditors: amounts falling due in more than one year<br />
Deferred income<br />
<strong>Homes</strong> and Communities<br />
Agency (HCA) Grant<br />
£’000<br />
Amounts receivable<br />
At 1 April <strong>2009</strong> -<br />
Receivable in year 4,008<br />
At 31 March 20<strong>10</strong> 4,008<br />
Recognised in income and expenditure account<br />
At 1 April <strong>2009</strong> -<br />
Recognised in year (7)<br />
At 31 March 20<strong>10</strong> (7)<br />
Balance<br />
At 31 March 20<strong>10</strong> 4,001<br />
At 1 April <strong>2009</strong> -<br />
13. Constitution<br />
<strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong> Limited is a company limited by guarantee and does not<br />
have any share capital. There is only one “member” of the organisation. That<br />
“member” is <strong>Newcastle</strong> City Council and the company’s Articles of Association<br />
state that no other person other than the Council Member shall be admitted to<br />
membership of the organisation.<br />
page 38
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
14. Reconciliation of reserves and shareholders funds<br />
Group<br />
Revenue Reserves<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
At beginning of year - -<br />
Result for year 38 -<br />
At end of year 38 -<br />
Company<br />
Revenue Reserves<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
At beginning of year - -<br />
Result for year - -<br />
At end of year - -<br />
15. Notes to the cash flow statement<br />
a) Reconciliation of operating surplus to net cash flow from operating activities<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
Operating Profit 91 51<br />
Increase in debtors (5,309 ) (467 )<br />
Increase in creditors 3,989 466<br />
Net cashflow from operating activities (1,229 ) 50<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 39
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
15. Notes to the cash flow statement (continued)<br />
Capital expenditure<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
Fixed assets (2,688 ) -<br />
Capital grant income 4,008 -<br />
1,320 -<br />
Returns on investing and servicing of finance (53 ) (51 )<br />
Increase in cash 38 (1 )<br />
b) Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net funds<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£’000 £’000<br />
Increase in cash in year 38 (1 )<br />
Change in net debt resulting from cash flows 38 (1 )<br />
Net funds at start of year 2 3<br />
Net funds at end of year 40 2<br />
c) Analysis of changes in net funds<br />
At 31 Cash At 31<br />
March <strong>2009</strong> flows March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
£’000 £’000 £’000<br />
Cash 2 38 40<br />
Net funds 2 38 40<br />
page 40
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
16. Related party disclosures<br />
<strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong> Limited is a<br />
local authority controlled company<br />
of <strong>Newcastle</strong> City Council established<br />
with no share capital and limited by<br />
guarantee. The Council has delegated<br />
responsibility for overseeing the<br />
management and maintenance of<br />
its residential stock, and of Housing<br />
Revenue Account services provided<br />
to the City’s housing tenants. £30.1m<br />
was earned from the Council in<br />
management fees in relation to these<br />
activities throughout the year (<strong>2009</strong>:<br />
£29.4m).<br />
In addition, transactions totalling<br />
£4.7m took place with <strong>Newcastle</strong> City<br />
Council (<strong>2009</strong>: £1.3m). This related to<br />
support services such as temporary<br />
staffing, general office supplies,<br />
legal services, human resources<br />
management, IT, exchequer services<br />
and other centrally administered<br />
services. These transactions are<br />
included within operating costs.<br />
With the exception of petty cash<br />
transactions, all cash book payments<br />
and receipts are made via <strong>Newcastle</strong><br />
City Council’s banking intermediaries<br />
with the net balance owing to or<br />
from the City Council being disclosed<br />
as a current asset or liability as<br />
appropriate.<br />
Leazes <strong>Homes</strong> Limited is a charitable<br />
subsidiary wholly owned by <strong>Your</strong><br />
<strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong> Limited. In <strong>2009</strong>-<br />
<strong>10</strong> transactions totalling £38k took<br />
place between <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong><br />
and Leazes <strong>Homes</strong> Limited. This was<br />
related to a gift aid payment made by<br />
the company.<br />
17. Pensions<br />
The company participates in the Tyne and Wear Pension Fund, which is a funded<br />
defined benefit scheme where contributions payable are held in a trust separately<br />
from the company. The main results and assumptions of the most recent valuation<br />
of the Tyne and Wear Pension Fund are as follows:<br />
Contributions to the scheme have been charged to the profit and loss account on<br />
a cash basis. A qualified actuary has determined contribution rates on the basis of<br />
triennial valuations using the projected unit method. The actuaries determined<br />
that in order to meet the funding target, the contribution rate would be set at<br />
17.3% for <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong> (2008/09: 17.3%).<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 41
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
17. Pensions (continued)<br />
Financial <strong>Report</strong>ing Standard No 17<br />
Under the requirements of FRS 17, the company is required to account for and<br />
disclose further information on its share of assets and liabilities of the Tyne and<br />
Wear Pension Fund at the end of the accounting period. The valuation at 31<br />
March <strong>2009</strong> has been updated by an independent qualified actuary on an FRS 17<br />
basis as at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong>. As required by FRS 17 the defined benefit liabilities<br />
have been measured using the projected unit method.<br />
This information is set out below:<br />
Main financial assumptions 31 March 31 March 31 March<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong> 2008<br />
% % %<br />
Discount Rate 5.5 6.5 6.8<br />
Inflation 3.9 3.6 3.7<br />
Rate of increase to pensions in payment 3.9 3.6 3.7<br />
Rate of increase to deferred pensions 3.9 3.6 3.7<br />
Rate of general increase in salaries 5.4 5.1 5.2<br />
page 42
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
17. Pensions (continued)<br />
Principal demographic assumptions<br />
Post retirement mortality 31 March 20<strong>10</strong> 31 March <strong>2009</strong><br />
Males<br />
Base table (in 2007) PNMA00 with PNMA00 with<br />
allowance for MC allowance for MC<br />
improvement factors improvement factors<br />
to 2007 to 2007<br />
Scaling to above base table rates 145 145%<br />
Cohort improvement factors (from 2007) 80% of LC 80% of LC<br />
Minimum underpin to improvement factors 1.25% 1.25%<br />
Future Lifetime from age 65<br />
(currently aged 65) 20.0 19.9<br />
Future Lifetime from age 65<br />
(currently aged 45) 22.1 22.1<br />
Females<br />
Base table (in 2007) PNMA00 with PNMA00 with<br />
allowance for MC allowance for MC<br />
improvement factors improvement factors<br />
to 2007 to 2007<br />
Scaling to above base table rates 130% 130%<br />
Cohort improvement factors (from 2007) 60% of LC 60% of LC<br />
Minimum underpin to improvement factors 1.25% 1.25%<br />
Future Lifetime from age 65<br />
(currently aged 65) 22.9 22.8<br />
Future Lifetime from age 65<br />
(currently aged 45) 25.1 25.0<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 43
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
17. Pensions (continued)<br />
Value of Assets<br />
20<strong>10</strong> 20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
Long-term Asset split at Long-term Asset split at<br />
rate of 31 March rate of 31 March<br />
expected <strong>2009</strong> expected 2008<br />
return<br />
return<br />
(% per annum) (%) (% per annum) (%)<br />
Equities 8.0 67.8 7.0 66.1<br />
Property 8.5 7.4 6.0 8.4<br />
Government Bonds 4.5 9.3 4.0 <strong>10</strong>.2<br />
Corporate Bonds 5.5 11.4 5.8 <strong>10</strong>.4<br />
Cash 0.7 1.3 1.6 0.0<br />
Other 8.0 2.8 1.6 4.9<br />
Total 7.3 <strong>10</strong>0 6.2 <strong>10</strong>0<br />
Reconciliation of funded status to balance sheet<br />
31 March 31 March<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
(£m) (£m)<br />
Notional value of assets 63.61 44.23<br />
Present value of liabilities (82.23 ) (56.86 )<br />
Net pension liability (18.62 ) (12.63 )<br />
<strong>Newcastle</strong> City Council has confirmed that it will assume any current and future<br />
funding surpluses or deficits relating to the company. Accordingly, the scheme<br />
deficit has been restricted to nil and the pension cost is based on contributions<br />
payable.<br />
page 44
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
17. Pensions (continued)<br />
Analysis of Income and Expenditure Account Charge<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£m £m<br />
Current Service Cost 2.51 2.22<br />
Past service cost 0.06 0.13<br />
Interest cost 3.77 3.32<br />
Expected return on assets (2.78 ) (3.62 )<br />
Curtailment cost 0.00 0.00<br />
Settlement cost 0.00 0.00<br />
Expense recognised 3.56 2.05<br />
Changes to the present value of liabilities during the accounting period<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£m £m<br />
Opening present value of liabilities 56.86 47.66<br />
Current service cost 2.51 2.22<br />
Interest cost 3.77 3.32<br />
Contributions by participants 1.04 1.03<br />
Actuarial losses / (gains) on liabilities 19.38 3.55<br />
Net benefits paid out (1.39 ) (1.05 )<br />
Past service cost 0.06 0.13<br />
Closing present value of liabilities 82.23 56.86<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 45
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
17. Pensions (continued)<br />
Changes to the fair value of assets during the accounting period<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£m £m<br />
Opening fair value of assets 44.23 50.97<br />
Expected return on assets 2.78 3.62<br />
Actuarial losses on assets 14.06 (13.25 )<br />
Contributions by the employer 2.89 2.91<br />
Contributions by the participants 1.04 1.03<br />
Net benefits paid out (1.39 ) (1.05 )<br />
Closing fair value of assets 63.61 44.23<br />
Actual return on assets<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£m £m<br />
Expected return on assets 2.78 3.62<br />
Actuarial gain/(loss) on assets 14.06 (13.25 )<br />
Net return 16.84 (9.63 )<br />
Analysis of amount that would be recognised in statement of total recognised<br />
gains and losses (STRGL)<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£m £m<br />
Total actuarial losses (5.32 ) (16.80 )<br />
Total loss in STRGL (5.32 ) (16.80 )<br />
page 46
Financial accounts<br />
Notes to the financial statements<br />
at 31 March 20<strong>10</strong><br />
17. Pensions (continued)<br />
History of asset values, present value of liabilities and deficit/surplus<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£m £m<br />
Fair value of assets 63.61 44.23<br />
Present value of liabilities (82.23 ) (56.86 )<br />
Deficit (18.62 ) (12.63 )<br />
History of experience gains and losses<br />
20<strong>10</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
£m £m<br />
Experience Gains/(Losses) on assets 14.06 (13.25 )<br />
Experience Losses on liabilities (19.38 ) (3.55 )<br />
18. Parent Undertaking<br />
The company is a local authority controlled company within the meaning of Part<br />
V of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, being a company under the<br />
control of <strong>Newcastle</strong> City Council. Copies of the financial statements for <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong><br />
<strong>Newcastle</strong> Limited can be obtained from the Company Secretary, <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong><br />
<strong>Newcastle</strong> Limited, <strong>YHN</strong> House, Benton Park Road, <strong>Newcastle</strong> upon Tyne NE7 7LX.<br />
The Directors consider that <strong>Newcastle</strong> City Council is the ultimate controlling party.<br />
www.yhn.org.uk page 47
Board and Committee calendar September 20<strong>10</strong> to August 2011<br />
September 20<strong>10</strong> October 20<strong>10</strong> November 20<strong>10</strong><br />
Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun<br />
30 31 1 2 3 4 5 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7<br />
6 7 8 9 <strong>10</strong> 11 12 4 5 6 7 8 9 <strong>10</strong> 8 9 <strong>10</strong> 11 12 13 14<br />
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 15 16 17 18 19 20 21<br />
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 22 23 24 25 26 27 28<br />
27 28 29 30 1 2 3 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 29 30 1 2 3 4 5<br />
December 20<strong>10</strong> January 2011<br />
February 2011<br />
Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun<br />
Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun<br />
29 30 1 2 3 4 5 27 28 29 30 31 1 2<br />
31 1 2 3 4 5 6<br />
6 7 8 9 <strong>10</strong> 11 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9<br />
7 8 9 <strong>10</strong> 11 12 13<br />
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 <strong>10</strong> 11 12 13 14 15 16<br />
14 15 16 17 18 19 20<br />
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 17 18 19 20 21 22 23<br />
21 22 23 24 25 26 27<br />
27 28 29 30 31 1 2 24 25 26 27 28 29 30<br />
28 1 2 3 4 5 6<br />
31 1 2 3 4 5 6<br />
March 2011<br />
Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun<br />
28 1 2 3 4 5 6<br />
7 8 9 <strong>10</strong> 11 12 13<br />
14 15 16 17 18 19 20<br />
21 22 23 24 25 26 27<br />
28 29 30 31 1 2 3<br />
April 2011<br />
Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun<br />
28 29 30 31 1 2 3<br />
4 5 6 7 8 9 <strong>10</strong><br />
11 12 13 14 15 16 17<br />
18 19 20 21 22 23 24<br />
25 26 27 28 29 30 1<br />
May 2011<br />
Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun<br />
25 26 27 28 29 30 1<br />
2 3 4 5 6 7 8<br />
9 <strong>10</strong> 11 12 13 14 15<br />
16 17 18 19 20 21 22<br />
23 24 25 26 27 28 29<br />
30 31 1 2 3 4 5<br />
June 2011 July 2011 August 2011<br />
Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun<br />
30 31 1 2 3 4 5 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7<br />
6 7 8 9 <strong>10</strong> 11 12 4 5 6 7 8 9 <strong>10</strong> 8 9 <strong>10</strong> 11 12 13 14<br />
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 15 16 17 18 19 20 21<br />
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 22 23 24 25 26 27 28<br />
27 28 29 30 1 2 3 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 29 30 31 1 2 3 4<br />
Meetings key<br />
Board<br />
Audit Committee<br />
Customer and Service Delivery Committee<br />
Finance and Resources Committee<br />
Performance Committee<br />
Please note: meeting dates can be subject to change.<br />
<strong>Annual</strong> report and accounts <strong>2009</strong>/<strong>10</strong><br />
<strong>Your</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> <strong>Newcastle</strong> Limited. Registered in England and Wales. Registration number 5076256.<br />
Registered office: <strong>Newcastle</strong> Civic Centre, Barras Bridge, <strong>Newcastle</strong> upon Tyne, NE1 8PR.<br />
A company controlled by <strong>Newcastle</strong> City Council.