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Annual Review 2017-18

Tai Tarian's Annual Review for 2017/18

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OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong><br />

MAKING A<br />

DIFFERENCE


Looking back on another<br />

successful year…<br />

Page 2<br />

Introduction<br />

Welcome from<br />

Jonathon and Linda<br />

Page 4<br />

Page 5<br />

Page 20<br />

Page 27<br />

Page 28<br />

Page 29<br />

Page 32<br />

Page 34<br />

Vision, mission and<br />

strategic objectives<br />

Our highlights<br />

Our performance<br />

Delivering our Offer<br />

Document Promises<br />

Involving our tenants<br />

Focus on our future<br />

Our board<br />

and executive<br />

managementteam<br />

Our figures<br />

At TaiTarian we have always been<br />

passionate about making areal<br />

difference to people’s lives and<br />

their communities.<br />

This year has seen anew phase in<br />

our development and in July <strong>2017</strong> we<br />

changed our name from NPT Homes<br />

to TaiTarian. As aWelsh organisation,<br />

we felt it was important to have aWelsh<br />

name. Taimeans housing and Tarian<br />

means shield, reinforcing our ethos<br />

that we don’t just provide homes but<br />

offer support and help to our tenants<br />

and communities.<br />

2|MAKING A DIFFERENCE


We launched our new Corporate Plan<br />

‘Focus on Our Future’ in the summer<br />

of <strong>2017</strong> and this demonstrates our<br />

commitment to putting tenants at the<br />

heart of what we do. Our vision is to<br />

continue building upon the foundations<br />

set down during the first seven years<br />

of our organisation and to focus on<br />

delivering services which exceed<br />

tenant expectations.<br />

We’re very happy to report that this<br />

year has seen us deliver the remaining<br />

offer document promises, this was<br />

approved by our Board inMay 20<strong>18</strong>.<br />

We’re very proud of this achievement<br />

and will continue to work hard to<br />

deliver on our new plans.<br />

We believe that the ongoing work<br />

with our tenants and stakeholders is<br />

integral to what we do and we look<br />

forward tocontinuing to work closely<br />

with our tenants, Board, employees,<br />

contractors and partners over the<br />

coming year. These partnerships<br />

enable us to carry on doing what we’re<br />

passionate about –making apositive<br />

difference to the lives of individuals,<br />

families and the communities we<br />

work with.<br />

Chair, Jonathon Davies and<br />

Chief Executive, Linda Whittaker<br />

Our staff have continued to shine,<br />

with anumber receiving awards<br />

during the year. Wealso gained<br />

the Welsh Government’s Platinum<br />

Corporate Health Standard, which<br />

is the highest possible accolade,<br />

for the work we’ve done to improve<br />

the health and wellbeing of our staff<br />

and communities.<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |3


‘We’re more than ahousing provider’<br />

We want to have apositive impact on our communities and the people who live in<br />

them. We believe we can do this by providing high quality homes, delivering great<br />

services and creating opportunities. This is reflected in our strategic objectives.<br />

Our Vision: Making aDifference<br />

Our Mission: Great Homes, Great Communities<br />

Our strategic objectives for <strong>2017</strong>-20<br />

We will;<br />

• Continue to invest in our current<br />

homes and communities<br />

• Develop our workforce to improve<br />

effectiveness of service delivery<br />

• Maximise our use of technology to<br />

deliver what matters to customers<br />

• Pursue opportunities for growth<br />

4|MAKING A DIFFERENCE


Our highlights<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |5


Our highlights<br />

We’ve got anew name<br />

In July <strong>2017</strong>, we changed our name<br />

from NPT Homes to TaiTarian.<br />

It is now six years since homes were<br />

transferred to NPT Homes from<br />

Neath Port Talbot Council, with the<br />

main purpose of the transfer being to<br />

bring homes up to the Welsh Housing<br />

Quality Standard (WHQS). This was<br />

achieved in March <strong>2017</strong>.<br />

As we look to the future wewill<br />

continue to invest in our homes and<br />

services ensuring we are meeting our<br />

tenants’ needs. We may also look to<br />

expand beyond Neath Port Talbot,<br />

continuing to focus on improving the<br />

services we deliver to our tenants.<br />

It felt the time was right to change our<br />

name, to help us achieve our future<br />

plans and also provide clarity within<br />

the local community that we are a<br />

separate organisation to the Council.<br />

Staff and tenant members were asked<br />

to give suggestions and more than 400<br />

possible names were received.<br />

Ashortlist of six names were put<br />

forward toastaff vote and TaiTarian<br />

was the clear favourite.<br />

As aWelsh organisation, we felt<br />

it was important to have aWelsh<br />

name. Taimeans housing and<br />

Tarian means shield, reinforcing<br />

our ethos that we don’t just<br />

provide homes but offer support<br />

and help to our tenants<br />

and communities.<br />

Linda Whittaker, Chief Executive<br />

6|MAKING A DIFFERENCE


Our highlights<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> | 7


Our highlights<br />

Old uniforms helping<br />

rangers in Zambia<br />

After changing our name we donated<br />

our old uniforms to the National<br />

Police Aid Convoys charity and<br />

were delighted to learn that they are<br />

now being worn byrangers at the<br />

Chipembele Wildlife Education Centre<br />

in Zambia.<br />

The rangers, who protect endangered<br />

animals from poachers, did not have<br />

uniforms so the donation has made a<br />

real difference.<br />

Jules Langstaff from the National<br />

Police Aid Convoys, who co-ordinated<br />

the donation, said:<br />

We are very grateful to TaiTarian<br />

for supporting this initiative<br />

and the uniforms are really<br />

appreciated by the Zambian<br />

wardens who are working hard to<br />

protect their country’s wildlife.<br />

8|MAKING A DIFFERENCE


Our highlights<br />

and experience to help them secure<br />

long term employment.<br />

The project has already had success<br />

with five of the first intake of recruits<br />

going on to gain full time employment,<br />

two with us and three with<br />

external organisations.<br />

Helping people back<br />

into work<br />

In summer <strong>2017</strong>, we launched anew<br />

initiative to help people struggling to<br />

find employment back into work.<br />

The Copper Foundation gives long<br />

term unemployed people 12 month<br />

contracts working alongside our<br />

experienced tradespeople to gain<br />

knowledge and experience in anumber<br />

of fields. They also receive mentoring<br />

and advice on how to compile CVs, fill<br />

in job application forms and interview<br />

technique training.<br />

By the end of their time with us, they<br />

will have gained the necessary skills<br />

Lewis Jones, who has gained ajob in<br />

our neighbourhood team, said:<br />

I’m over the moon to have landed<br />

this new opportunity. I’ve learned<br />

agreat deal over the past year by<br />

being part of the Copper Foundation<br />

project. I’ve worked with agreat<br />

bunch of boys and had fantastic<br />

support from my supervisors<br />

and manager.<br />

The project is set to expand further<br />

with up to 80 people being given<br />

opportunities over a five year period.<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |9


Our highlights<br />

Fire safety<br />

Acampaign was launched and<br />

acommunity event held to raise<br />

awareness of fire safety to ensurewe<br />

keep our tenants as safe as possible in<br />

their homes.<br />

Hundreds of leaflets weredelivered to<br />

all of our flats warning tenants about<br />

the risk of potential firesifcommunal<br />

areas arekept cluttered. Our staff also<br />

tagged any items they saw in those<br />

areas, explaining to tenants that they<br />

must be removed to ensuretheir safety.<br />

Our community event was held at NSA<br />

Afan Community CentreinSandfields<br />

with South WalesPolice and Mid<br />

and West WalesFireService, and we<br />

wereable to offer lots of advice to<br />

our tenants.<br />

Platinum Corporate<br />

Health Standard<br />

The organisation was delighted to<br />

be awarded the WelshGovernment<br />

Platinum Corporate Health Standardfor<br />

the work we have done to improve the<br />

health and wellbeing of our staff and<br />

the local community.<br />

The award, which is the highest accolade<br />

given by the Corporate Health Standard,<br />

is presented to exemplar organisations<br />

who demonstrate commitment to<br />

anumber of key areas including<br />

partnership working, community<br />

engagement, transport, sustainable<br />

building and employment skills.<br />

Organisations must also show evidence<br />

of best practice that has gone above<br />

and beyond to improve health and<br />

wellbeing, as well as giving something<br />

back to its local community.<br />

10 |MAKING ADIFFERENCE


Our highlights<br />

Corporate Health Standard<br />

Assessment Panel Chair,<br />

AvaFine, said:<br />

TaiTarian’ssubmission for the<br />

Platinum Corporate Health<br />

Standardaward was of the highest<br />

standard. The organisation really<br />

demonstrates asustainable<br />

commitment to the community<br />

which goes beyond their normal<br />

everyday business. It was fantastic<br />

to see the lengths they have gone<br />

to engage with all areas of their<br />

community –tenants, volunteers,<br />

businesses, schools and more.<br />

One of the initiatives that caught<br />

the judges’ eye was our Bee<br />

Project that helped us to connect<br />

with local communities, educate<br />

local young people about the<br />

importance of looking after wildlife<br />

and develop our outdoor areas.<br />

The work involved building bee<br />

hives and creating awildlife garden<br />

at our headquarters. Local school<br />

children were encouraged toenter<br />

acompetition to design bug houses<br />

for the garden and the winners<br />

and their classmates were then<br />

invited to meet our resident bee<br />

keeper and find out how the bees<br />

produce honey.<br />

The winners of the competition,<br />

Crynall Primary School pupils Sam<br />

John and Lowan Hitchings said:<br />

It was really fundesigning and<br />

making the bug houses and we<br />

learnt lots during our visit. We really<br />

had agreat time!<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |11


Our highlights<br />

Beware ofloan<br />

sharks campaign<br />

Our campaign to raise awareness of<br />

the dangers of illegal money lending<br />

and loan sharks has reached more<br />

than one million people.<br />

The focus of the campaign was a<br />

hard-hitting video based on the reallife<br />

experiences of one of our tenants<br />

and the misery, stress and dangers<br />

caused by borrowing money illegally.<br />

The campaign urged our tenants and<br />

anyone in our communities who has<br />

become avictim of aloan shark, to<br />

seek help and advice.<br />

Our tenant whose story was key to<br />

the campaign said after watching<br />

the video;<br />

It brought back alot of feelings<br />

about the situation Iwas in and I<br />

hope that people that are inthe<br />

same predicament that Iwas in<br />

watch your film and get the help<br />

which Ireceived from TaiTarian.<br />

Youtotally changed my life and I<br />

can’t thank everyone at TaiTarian<br />

enough who does this excellent<br />

work in helping people who are<br />

in trouble financially or otherwise.<br />

Keep up the good work and<br />

thanks for everything.<br />

Leaflets and posters were produced<br />

with details of the help on offer for<br />

our tenants. We also held a‘Money<br />

Saving Matters’ community event<br />

with partners to promote ways in<br />

which tenants can make their money<br />

go further.<br />

12 |MAKING ADIFFERENCE


Our highlights<br />

Five apprentices<br />

secure full time jobs<br />

Five apprentices who joined our<br />

organisation <strong>18</strong> months ago have<br />

gained long term roles in our<br />

trade workforce.<br />

Tomos Grace, Fraser Richards,<br />

Joshua Hambley, Morgan Jones and<br />

Shane Lewis have been studying<br />

for their Level 3Multi Trade Building<br />

Maintenance Operative Apprenticeship<br />

at Neath Port Talbot College while<br />

gaining work experience in<br />

our properties.<br />

Andrew Carey, Deputy<br />

Director of Assets, said:<br />

The apprentices have really<br />

impressed us in the last <strong>18</strong><br />

months and are fully deserving of<br />

their full time positions with us.<br />

We are proud to be investing in<br />

construction talent locally.<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |13


Our highlights<br />

Working with Michael<br />

Sheen to end high<br />

cost credit<br />

We’re proud to be supporting anew<br />

organisation founded by Port Talbot<br />

actor and activist Michael Sheen,<br />

aimed at tackling the unfair targeting of<br />

high cost credit to those who can least<br />

afford it.<br />

We’re one of the key partners of The<br />

End High Cost Credit Alliance which<br />

was founded by Michael in <strong>2017</strong> and<br />

launched in March 20<strong>18</strong>.<br />

The Alliance aims to find ways to make<br />

change happen and many of the ideas<br />

will be tested in Port Talbot.<br />

One of our strategic priorities is to<br />

seek opportunities to help tenants<br />

make their money go alittle further.<br />

The Alliance will help us to do this by<br />

exploring alternatives for tenants to<br />

access low cost credit.<br />

Michael said:<br />

From the very beginning of this<br />

initiative Isat down with TaiTarian<br />

to explore the challenges locally and<br />

they have been an integral part of<br />

the Alliance. Our message is simple,<br />

credit is good but not in asystem<br />

where itisunfairly targeted and<br />

maximised for profit over<br />

social impact.<br />

We need ideas, we need solutions<br />

and most importantly we need to<br />

act. Ilook forward toworking with<br />

TaiTarian to create afairer deal for<br />

our communities and the<br />

entire country.<br />

14 |MAKING ADIFFERENCE


Our highlights<br />

Pledging to end<br />

mental health stigma<br />

Our commitment to supporting our<br />

staff and tenants who may have mental<br />

health struggles was underlined when<br />

we signed up to the Time to Change<br />

Wales pledge on World Mental<br />

Health Day.<br />

The pledge, which aims to improve<br />

understanding about mental illness,<br />

reinforces our aims to think and act<br />

positively to help people who may be<br />

suffering. It follows on from aseries<br />

of awareness raising events we held<br />

during Mental Health Awareness week.<br />

Michael Harvey, from Time to<br />

Change Wales, said:<br />

We are really thankful to<br />

TaiTarian for supporting us. It’s<br />

really important that organisations<br />

get behind our campaign and<br />

help tackle the stigma that exists<br />

around mental health.<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |15


Our highlights<br />

Giving back to our<br />

communities<br />

Our Community Challenges went<br />

from strength to strength with nine<br />

projects including community centres,<br />

churches, playgroups, schools and a<br />

local foodbank benefitting.<br />

Outdoor spaces were transformed<br />

and buildings given make overs,<br />

including new kitchens<br />

and redecoration.<br />

The challenges are apartnership<br />

programme between us and our main<br />

contractors to give something back<br />

to the community by providing free<br />

building or maintenance work.<br />

The biggest challenge took place at<br />

Ysgol Hendrefelin in Bryncoch and<br />

involved our staff clearing overgrown<br />

grounds, building new paths and<br />

erecting fencing. Anew viewing<br />

platform was created along with<br />

seating areas in asensory garden.<br />

16 |MAKING ADIFFERENCE


Our highlights<br />

Angela Lewis, from Ysgol<br />

Hendrefelin, said:<br />

We are sograteful to TaiTarian for<br />

the work they have done at the<br />

school. It has opened the space<br />

up and helped pupils explore<br />

their senses and discover the<br />

environment around them.<br />

Many of our workforce helped to<br />

deliver the building in just 11 days,<br />

making areal difference to the charity<br />

which supports children in care and<br />

young adults who are transitioning to<br />

independent living.<br />

Chris Jones, TaiTarian Property and<br />

Maintenance Inspector, who took<br />

part in the build, said:<br />

Our staff also joined forces with<br />

other local organisations to support<br />

aspecial BBC DIY SOS project in<br />

Swansea. The popular television show<br />

aimed to build anew headquarters for<br />

Roots Foundation Wales aspart ofthe<br />

Children in Need appeal.<br />

When we heard that DIY SOS<br />

were looking for people to help<br />

out at their Children in Need build<br />

in Swansea, my colleagues and I<br />

jumped at the chance to take part.<br />

It was agreat experience to be<br />

part of the project and we all felt<br />

very proud to have been able to<br />

contribute to this worthy cause.<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |17


Our highlights<br />

Award winning staff<br />

We’re proud that the great work<br />

our staff do every day has been<br />

recognised by anumber of<br />

national awards.<br />

Our Organisational Development<br />

(OD) team scooped ahat-trick of<br />

wins at the Wales HR Awards, being<br />

named HR Team of the Year and OD<br />

Specialist Kelly Mordecai won Best<br />

HR Professional as well as the overall<br />

award ofHRStar.<br />

Our work with contractor Mi-space UK<br />

Ltd to upgrade wiring and insulation in<br />

tenants’ homes received the Customer<br />

Excellence Award atChartered<br />

Institute of Housing Cymru Welsh<br />

Housing Awards.<br />

The project, which took four years to<br />

complete, was praised for an excellent<br />

approach to customer service that<br />

showed ahigh level of satisfaction<br />

with 98% of tenants reporting a<br />

good experience.<br />

<strong>18</strong> |MAKING ADIFFERENCE


Our highlights<br />

Our Transport<br />

Manager, Mair<br />

Jones, won<br />

Transport<br />

Manager of the<br />

Year at the UK<br />

<strong>Annual</strong> Talent in<br />

Logistics Awards.<br />

Mair, who is responsible for keeping<br />

our fleet of 130 commercial vehicles<br />

on the road, was praised for her<br />

outstanding commitment to road user<br />

safety, customer service excellence<br />

and high levels of compliance.<br />

Charlie Thwaite, one<br />

of our young<br />

apprentices,<br />

was a finalist in<br />

the Youthbuild<br />

UK Awards.<br />

The <strong>18</strong> year<br />

old apprentice<br />

carpenter was<br />

shortlisted for the<br />

Young Builder of<br />

the Year award inrecognition of the<br />

outstanding progress she had made<br />

since joining our organisation.<br />

Stephanie Preedy, works in our Assets<br />

department, was shortlisted for the<br />

Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru<br />

Apprentice of the Year award. She<br />

was recognised for her commitment,<br />

learning and excellent people skills<br />

shown in her role with tenants.<br />

Our organisation was also a finalist<br />

in the Integration and Collaborative<br />

Working and Client of the Year<br />

categories of the Constructing<br />

Excellence in Wales awards.<br />

We were recognised for our<br />

refurbishment work on Ty Gnoll<br />

Newydd in Neath and providing value<br />

for money.<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |19


Our performance<br />

Seal of approval from<br />

Welsh Government<br />

Our latest Regulatory Judgment from<br />

Welsh Government, which assesses<br />

how we have been performing over<br />

the last year, was Standard –the<br />

highest possible rating.<br />

The purpose of the assessment is<br />

to ensure that the organisation is<br />

well governed with good levels of<br />

tenant involvement. It also assesses<br />

whether the risks facing the business<br />

are well managed, that there are<br />

robust processes in place to assess<br />

performance and that measures are<br />

being taken to continually improve the<br />

services offered to our tenants.<br />

The assessment also looked at our<br />

financial performance to ensure weare<br />

financially sound and are<br />

delivering value for money<br />

in all areas of the business.<br />

20 |MAKING ADIFFERENCE


Community reinvestment<br />

Using the Welsh Government’s Value Wales Toolkit we have been<br />

able to demonstrate that for every £1 spent on our major works<br />

programme £1.99 is reinvested in our local communities out of a<br />

maximum £2 achievable.<br />

Financial inclusion and universal credit<br />

Our financial inclusion team provides<br />

advice and support to tenants<br />

experiencing financial difficulties.<br />

Working jointly with our income team<br />

they provide support on benefit<br />

changes, budgeting and digital<br />

support. Tenants are also supported<br />

to claim and manage their universal<br />

credit claims.<br />

We try to make access to advice<br />

and support as easy as possible for<br />

tenants including over the telephone,<br />

at home visits and through our benefits<br />

advice surgeries.<br />

£3.9m<br />

609<br />

79%<br />

1,666<br />

1,751<br />

Additional benefits and<br />

Direct Housing Payments<br />

for our tenants<br />

Benefits advice surgery<br />

appointments<br />

Home visits<br />

Telephone advice<br />

Benefits appeal success rate<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |21


Repairs<br />

We want our tenants to feel proud of their homes. Our dedicated staff and<br />

contractors are committed to delivering ahigh quality repairs service.<br />

7,420 3,261 19,556<br />

Emergency Repairs Urgent Repairs Non-Urgent Repairs<br />

90 %<br />

99.99 %<br />

Gas Safe<br />

Homes<br />

98%<br />

Tenant satisfaction<br />

with the latest repair<br />

completed at<br />

their home<br />

Overall Tenant<br />

satisfaction with<br />

our repairs and<br />

maintenance service<br />

22 |MAKING ADIFFERENCE


Tenant satisfaction<br />

We have seen an increase in satisfaction<br />

levels over the last year.<br />

97%<br />

91%<br />

TRUST US<br />

would<br />

recommend us<br />

to family and<br />

friends<br />

93%<br />

say our rent<br />

provides value<br />

for money<br />

84%<br />

satisfaction<br />

with the way<br />

we deal with<br />

anti-social<br />

behaviour*<br />

83%<br />

say we listen<br />

and acton<br />

tenant views<br />

92%<br />

neighbourhood<br />

satisfaction<br />

Quality of<br />

94 %<br />

their home<br />

90%<br />

say we provide<br />

the service<br />

customers<br />

expect<br />

*550 surveys from July <strong>2017</strong> to March 20<strong>18</strong> (*<strong>18</strong>1 surveys)<br />

94%<br />

overall service satisfaction<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |23


What our customers have said<br />

This year we received 243 compliments from our customers,<br />

here are some of the things they said:<br />

“Thank you for the wonderful<br />

service Ihave received today.<br />

Iwanted to say thank you for<br />

how fast someone attended to<br />

the property and how pleasant<br />

all staff Idealt with today were.”<br />

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. The<br />

boys did amarvellous job on my garden.<br />

They cut down the trees, cleaned up after<br />

themselves and they weremarvellous,<br />

you’reall marvellous to me anyway.I’ve<br />

never seen anyone work as well as the<br />

boys do in TaiTarian. I’ve got alovely<br />

garden Ican sit in now.SoIjust want to<br />

thank you very much.”<br />

“I wanted to say how fantastic<br />

Ifound the inspectors who<br />

attended the property as they<br />

were sothorough and really<br />

listened to me regarding an issue<br />

with the shower. Iwanted to say<br />

thank you to them and really<br />

wanted to praise the service<br />

they provide.”<br />

24 |MAKING ADIFFERENCE


“They are the only people who<br />

helped me directly when Ihad the<br />

most difficult time in my life. Now<br />

Iknow that there are people who<br />

can help when you’ve lost hope.<br />

Big big thank you.”<br />

“Fantastic, lovely job.<br />

Absolutely brilliant, Ithink<br />

they deserved acall tosay a<br />

big thanks. They were really<br />

lovely. Clean, tidy and neat!<br />

There wasn’t aspeck of dust<br />

or paint anywhere –they<br />

really did alovely job!”<br />

“I wanted to thank the gentleman<br />

Ispoke to on the phone and the<br />

plumber who attended to resolve<br />

ablockage on the shower trap.<br />

The gentleman Ispoke to on the<br />

phone was polite and very helpful<br />

and arranged for the work to be<br />

completed quickly,the plumber<br />

who attended arrived quickly and<br />

was brilliant. He was polite and<br />

resolved the issues thereand<br />

then. Ican’tpraise both boys<br />

enough. The out of hour’sservice<br />

is brilliant.”<br />

“Tai Tarian totally changed<br />

my life and Icannot thank<br />

everyone who does this<br />

excellent work in helping<br />

people who are introuble<br />

financially or otherwise<br />

enough, keep up the<br />

good work and thanks<br />

for everything.”<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |25


Our people<br />

86%<br />

of our staff<br />

stayed with<br />

us throughout<br />

the year<br />

We are passionate<br />

about developing<br />

our employees<br />

and invested<br />

£300,000<br />

in the last year<br />

Staff<br />

turnover<br />

is low<br />

We sponsored 21 EMPLOYEES<br />

to embark onaqualification in their<br />

specialist areas<br />

For 14 of these we secured<br />

funding from the Welsh<br />

Government<br />

TRAINING DAYS:<br />

ONLINE<br />

475.5<br />

DAYS<br />

FACE-TO-FACE<br />

2,074<br />

DAYS<br />

Our staff are<br />

more engaged<br />

than staff in 83%<br />

of comparable<br />

organisations<br />

of employees<br />

76 % live locally<br />

26 |MAKING ADIFFERENCE


Delivering our Offer Document Promises<br />

The Transfer Offer Document outlined 1<strong>18</strong> promises which we committed<br />

to deliver to our tenants and we’re very pleased to confirm that delivery of<br />

the final promises were signed off by our Board inMay 20<strong>18</strong>.<br />

The final promises delivered were:<br />

1<strong>18</strong><br />

Environmental<br />

improvements<br />

100%<br />

complete<br />

Grounds maintenance about improvements to fencing<br />

and boundaries.<br />

Security<br />

improvements<br />

100%<br />

complete<br />

Security doors, lighting and communal fire improvements.<br />

Improvements<br />

to Haven<br />

Housing<br />

Schemes<br />

100%<br />

complete<br />

Shower/wet rooms installed for all tenants.<br />

Automatic doors installed for communal areas and entrances<br />

where applicable.<br />

All decoration works to internal areas have been delivered.<br />

All internal re-modelling works have been undertaken.<br />

Atenant handbook is in place at all schemes.<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |27


Complaints<br />

We want to hear from our customers when things<br />

go wrong and aim to resolve problems as quickly<br />

as possible.<br />

Complaints provide valuable feedback and help us<br />

to continue to improve our services.<br />

Complaints<br />

171 dealt with<br />

90 %<br />

were resolved<br />

within 30 days<br />

Involving our tenants<br />

Our Academy, agroup of our<br />

members, helped us in assessing<br />

how we’ve performed. By working<br />

jointly with our staff and reviewing<br />

performance information, they helped<br />

us to develop aset of improvement<br />

actions, all of which are set out in our<br />

Making aDifference storyboards. Our<br />

Academy also reported their findings<br />

to the Board for approval before<br />

the storyboards were published on<br />

our website.<br />

They play an important role in our<br />

self-evaluation and we’re delighted<br />

with their work, which helps us to<br />

continually improve services to<br />

our tenants.<br />

Ienjoy being part of the Academy<br />

and having the opportunity to<br />

review the work TaiTarian delivers<br />

to its tenants.<br />

Eddie Rawles, Academy Member<br />

28 |MAKING ADIFFERENCE


Focus on our future<br />

During the year we launched our new<br />

Corporate Plan for <strong>2017</strong>-20, ‘Focus<br />

on Our Future’. Since then work has<br />

commenced on all of the initiatives<br />

within the plan.<br />

Continue to invest in our<br />

homes and communities<br />

We want to make our communities<br />

more attractive so tenants can<br />

feel proud of where they live. Our<br />

external boundaries programme will<br />

see us improving gardens, fencing<br />

and communal land. We are also<br />

developing community services, our<br />

plans include;<br />

• Upgrading our neighbourhoods<br />

• Providing the best possible homes<br />

for our tenants<br />

• Ensuring our processes are fit<br />

for purpose<br />

• Developing<br />

community<br />

services by<br />

creating job<br />

opportunities,<br />

developing<br />

affordable credit<br />

options and working with<br />

partners on financial literacy<br />

initiatives for tenants and<br />

their children<br />

We are now beginning to see the<br />

outcome of our work with areas<br />

being transformed.<br />

Through our Copper Foundation<br />

initiative five of the seven individuals<br />

recruited in <strong>2017</strong> have moved on to<br />

permanent employment.<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |29


During March there<br />

were positive<br />

messages in the<br />

media regarding<br />

our initiative to<br />

develop affordable<br />

credit options for our<br />

tenants, with Michael<br />

Sheen launching the End<br />

High Cost Credit Alliance.<br />

We are proud to be akey member of<br />

the Alliance and are looking forward<br />

to continuing to develop alternatives<br />

to high cost credit and stopping the<br />

targeting at those who can least affordit.<br />

• Improving our succession and<br />

workforce planning<br />

Our staff development programme<br />

is progressing well and many of the<br />

initiatives to work more effectively<br />

have commenced. We’ve held aseries<br />

of events to let our staff know how<br />

well we’re doing in progressing our<br />

strategic objectives. These events<br />

were agreat success and alot of<br />

positive feedback was received on the<br />

good work we’re doing.<br />

Develop our workforce to improve<br />

effectiveness of service delivery<br />

Our ambition is to make our people<br />

feel inspired and supported to work<br />

effectively to ensure wedeliver the<br />

best experience to our tenants.<br />

We will achieve this by;<br />

• Adapting roles and structures<br />

to reflect changing tenant and<br />

organisational priorities<br />

• Enhancing the skills, engagement<br />

and performance of our people<br />

Maximise our use of technology to<br />

deliver what matters to customers<br />

As an organisation committed to<br />

continuous improvement we want to<br />

ensure we’re delivering what matters<br />

to our tenants. We will achieve this by;<br />

30 |MAKING ADIFFERENCE


• <strong>Review</strong>ing and streamlining<br />

processes to ensure they are fit<br />

for purpose<br />

• Making it easy for tenants to<br />

interact via technology<br />

• Ensuring staff have accurate<br />

information available at their<br />

fingertips at all times<br />

• Providing arange of options<br />

for tenants to interact, based<br />

on their diverse requirements<br />

or preferences<br />

We want to provide accessible ways<br />

for tenants to interact with us, in away<br />

they want and at atime<br />

that suits them.<br />

We’re currently<br />

working on a<br />

new portal,<br />

which will<br />

enable<br />

tenants to<br />

apply for<br />

housing,<br />

make a<br />

payment<br />

and report a<br />

repair online.<br />

Pursue opportunities for growth<br />

Through our growth initiative we aim<br />

to provide an additional 300 homes by<br />

2020. We are progressing this through<br />

building new homes and buying back<br />

homes in areas where weknow people<br />

want to live. We will achieve this by;<br />

• Increasing our stock of homes both<br />

inside and outside the Borough<br />

• Expanding opportunities for<br />

intermediate and social market rent<br />

• Considering options to help people<br />

own their own home through<br />

building for sale<br />

• Exploring opportunities<br />

for collaboration with<br />

other organisations<br />

During the year we started building<br />

23 new homes on three different sites<br />

and the new homes will be ready for<br />

residents during 20<strong>18</strong>.<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |31


Who are the Board and Executive Management Team?<br />

We are governed by avoluntary Board made up of tenants, Council nominees and<br />

independent members.<br />

The Board has overall responsibility for:<br />

• Ensuring the organisation is accountable to tenants and other stakeholders<br />

• Approving and monitoring policies to support the Corporate Plan<br />

• Monitoring our performance and ensuring the organisation is meeting the<br />

outcomes set in the Corporate Plan<br />

Board members<br />

Jonathon Davies<br />

Chair and Independent<br />

Member<br />

Shelley Bosson<br />

Vice-Chair Co-optee Member<br />

Samantha Jones<br />

Tenant Member<br />

Steve Mundy<br />

Independent Member<br />

Denise Davies<br />

Tenant Member<br />

Harry Lloyd<br />

Independent Member<br />

32 |MAKING ADIFFERENCE


Sonia Reynolds<br />

Council Nominee<br />

Peter Maggs<br />

Co-optee Member<br />

Rosalyn Davies<br />

Council Nominee<br />

Mike Jones<br />

Co-optee Member<br />

Alan Lockyer<br />

Council Nominee<br />

Steffan ap Dafydd<br />

Council Nominee<br />

Resigned board members<br />

Helen James (Independent)<br />

Daniel Smith (Tenant Member)<br />

Annette Wingrave (Council Nominee)<br />

Our ExecutiveManagement Team<br />

Linda Whittaker<br />

Chief Executive<br />

Claire Maimone<br />

Director of Housing<br />

John Andrew<br />

Director of Finance,<br />

Corporate Services,<br />

Company Secretary<br />

(Resigned May 20<strong>18</strong>)<br />

Steve Tucker<br />

Interim Director of Assets<br />

OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |33


Our figures<br />

On 1st April <strong>2017</strong> we had total cash of …<br />

£22.5m<br />

We had money coming in from …<br />

Rents<br />

£37.7m<br />

Service charges<br />

£1.9m<br />

Grants from Welsh Government and Local Authority £6.5m<br />

Property sales -Right to Buy and other £2m<br />

Other income<br />

£0.5m<br />

Total<br />

£48.6m<br />

We spent it on…<br />

Improving and repairing your homes and communities<br />

Buying and building more homes for rent<br />

Service costs<br />

Tenancy management and support services<br />

Interest payments and other finance costs<br />

Total<br />

£40.8m<br />

£2.3m<br />

£2.6m<br />

£6.4m<br />

£7.8m<br />

£59.9m<br />

To do this we had to borrow… £0<br />

This left us with total cash at 31st March 20<strong>18</strong> of… £11.2m<br />

34 |MAKING ADIFFERENCE


OUR ANNUAL REVIEW APRIL <strong>2017</strong> -MARCH 20<strong>18</strong> |35


For our Highlights video of our annual<br />

review visit www.taitarian.co.uk

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