Quarterly report April-June

In June, we switched to PayPoint so we can offer customers the most reliable and convenient ways to pay us. The changes include new technology to show pending payments, an automated payment line which is cheaper to ring; and the ability for us to send customers a convenient payment link by text. 

Another key benefit of the switch will be a vastly improved direct debit payment service later this year, allowing these to be set up and amended online, rather than via a paper form.

In 2024/2025, there will be an extra week of rent to pay if you are on a weekly tenancy agreement or licence. This is because the days of the week fall so there are 53 Mondays in this financial year, instead of 52 (rent weeks always start on a Monday). 

Working out if you're responsible for this extra payment and how much you need to pay depends on any benefits you receive, how you pay your rent and how often. But we've made it easier to find out what it means with instant personalised guidance.

Our focus on equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) helps to drive our progress. We also recognise that we need a diverse workforce that reflects our region’s demographics to be successful.

Houseproud Pledge

We’ve recently committed to the Houseproud Pledge, a way for housing associations and local authorities to affirm their dedication to equality and assistance for LGBTQ+ customers.

For many of these customers, the concept of home is especially important as a safe place where they can openly express their sexual orientation and/or gender identity without fear.

Committing to this pledge demonstrates our strong dedication to fostering safe, comfortable, and inclusive homes and neighbourhoods for all.

Read more about the Houseproud Pledge here .

Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) micro grants celebrate community equality and difference

For Pride month in June, we partnered with Oxfordshire charity, Didcot TRAIN. The charity set up its LGBTQIA+ Allyship group early in 2022, to address the lack of support for young LGBTQ+ individuals outside of Oxford city centre. Their weekly ‘SHOUT!’ sessions provide safe spaces for the community and allies to connect, learn, and support one another.

An SNG EDI micro grant enabled the group to visit the Queer Britain Museum - the first and only LGBTQIA+ museum in the UK. This was a fantastic opportunity for members to celebrate LGBTQ+ history and contributions, in addition to their usual weekly sessions.

This summer we ran a competition for all SNG customers to celebrate their gardens and green spaces of all shapes, colours and sizes! Winners were announced on 3 September and you can find more information here.

In May we launched SNG’s ‘Big Help Out’ fund - providing community groups in our communities with up to £300 to empower volunteering during the national ‘Big Help Out’ weekend.  

Volunteering can promote connections between generations, bridge gaps in communities and harness the strengths of all age groups. Making a difference in your community can also boost wellbeing, enabling people with different experiences to meet and develop long lasting connections.  

Our SNG ‘Big Help Out’ fund supported 25 groups and funded a wide range of initiatives that promoted volunteering: from litter picks/clean ups to community fun days and volunteer recognition events. 

• In total, the funding benefited 3,918 people and engaged 461 in volunteering. 
• 100% of the organisers also agreed that the support had ‘helped increase the awareness of our project or group locally’ and that the support has ‘positively impacted our wider community’.

In June, we ran an Employment and Skills Community event for the Picket Twenty community. It was an opportunity for customers to get advice around employment, benefits, debts and tenancy support: some even came with a CV ready for review! 

We look forward to building on the opportunities we identified and continuing to support the local community here.

Our team in North Hampshire analysed local Tenant Satisfaction Measure (TSM) data earlier this year, to see how else they could address customer concerns.  

Bishops Green stood out for feedback about anti-social behaviour (ASB) issues, despite us not finding any historical reports of this in the area. That insight led to a door-knock survey, when we spoke with 23 residents who reported issues like name-calling, broken glass, speeding motorbikes, and an incident at the community centre.  

In response, we partnered with the police, fire services, Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council and the local Community Association. Key action included: 

• Community walkabouts with safety officers 
• Partnering with Vivid housing association and Environmental Health to resolve unsafe land issues 
• Co-funding a three-year community coordinator role for the community centre and acquiring funding for a wellbeing room there 

These efforts also secured funding for two full-time youth workers and more activities in the area over the summer.  

This is just one great example of the power of customer feedback in helping our communities thrive.

As part of the ‘Living Together’ Programme led by the Community Investment and Partnership Team on the Isle of Wight, local teams there worked together to run six Community Spring Clean Days across SNG communities.

The days gave residents the chance to have a declutter and to help combat fly-tipping in these specific neighbourhoods. A flyer was also shared with advice on different low-cost ways that unwanted items could be collected in the future. The project was a massive success with residents saying they were very grateful and appreciated our support.

As part of the recent Building Safety Act, we’ve developed a Building Safety Resident Engagement Strategy for all our buildings over 18m/7 storeys. 

After consulting all residents of these blocks about the proposed strategy, our Building Safety and Compliance team have also started organising engagement events as an extra way to gather resident feedback on communication and safety issues at each site.
 
Our first event was held at Quay Point in Bristol in June, where the team discussed building and fire safety and evacuation procedures with residents, and addressed any other questions and concerns they had. About 30% of customers came along and we received really positive feedback. We hope these events will strengthen relationships, build trust, and help residents feel confident and safe in their homes.

“Lovely afternoon delivered from the Fire Safety Team at Quay Point. A really lovely team of people, delivering a great job to the residents”. - Resident attending Fire Safety Event.

Following on from a successful first event at Quay Point in Bristol, the Building Safety & Compliance team have been holding further engagement events for customers of our other taller buildings. 

At a session at Nile Court in Poole, Dorset, one resident shared an experience where their family were stuck in a lift while they were outside. Despite following instructions, they hadn’t felt sure about what was happening.

This feedback has helped us to improve our guidance for such situations - making sure there are clear instructions for those outside, as well as inside, a lift. It’s a great example of how such sessions can help amplify the voice of customers and further improve their experiences. 

You can view the revised lift checklist and guidance on our website.

The Art of Giving

In our Housing for Older People schemes, residents shared memories through motivational talks, connecting with peers, family, and friends. 

Jane Fletcher, Organiser: “Our older community has so much to share, and it’s been a joy to watch them reminisce, laugh, and bring generations together.”

Tony Clem, Gilbert Court: “It was surprisingly interesting! I’d love more meetings like this and look forward to the reminiscing quiz next time!”

Youth Club on Wheels

SNG helped raise £19k to support Young Bristol’s mobile youth service, engaging young people in hard-to-reach areas.

Shea Stew, Youth Lead: “We’ve had great engagement – cooking sessions and talking to young people have been highlights. Being able to chat about how things are going in their lives has been great and gives them another trusted adult they can turn to.”

Proud achievements: 32 residents benefited, with 8 reporting reduced ASB, 12 feeling more confident, and 6 doing more exercise – contributing £155,656 in social impact.

World Party Day

SNG partnered with Basingstoke Multicultural Forum for a vibrant community event celebrating different cultures. 

Mayor of Basingstoke: “A fantastic and vibrant show that made our borough proud. I was so impressed by everything, including the cultures represented and the reception I was given.”

SNG Community Investment and Partnership Lead: “It’s been amazing to support an event that brings communities from different background together – it was all brilliant!”

The Talk Shop, Plymouth

In Devon’s North Stonehouse, we extended funding to Cliik’s Talk Shop, creating a welcoming space for locals to connect.

From April-June 2024, it engaged 90 residents, boosted confidence for 24 adults, and delivered £843,694 in social impact. 

In quarter 1, we:

• Answered phone calls in an average of 1 min 41 secs (vs 2 min target)
• Answered emails in an average of 23 hrs 0 mins (vs 48 hrs target)
• Responded to 82% of social media messages within 1 hour (vs 80% in 1 hour target)

We carry out regular surveys with customers, after they’ve experienced a particular service and through wider ‘perception’ type surveys. Overall customer satisfaction was at 64% for the end of June and customer trust was 67% compared. In our post-call customer surveys, we received an average rating of 4 out of 5 from customers.   

We now have a new process to follow up with customers about their feedback and hope this will give us even greater insight to help improve services and provide customers with a better experience. 

‘Ease of repair’ satisfaction improved slightly to 7.7 out of 10 – including 55% of customers now rating this service as 9 or 10 out of 10. We are continuing to focus on catching up with outstanding repairs and on completing repairs in a timely way as we know this is the most frustrating thing for affected customers. 

Dealing with complaints also remains a top priority and an area where we know we need to do more with only 51% of these responded to within our set timescales in quarter 1.  

Our centralised complaints team is beginning to have an impact, taking more proactive and effective action to resolve complaints at the earliest opportunity (and giving customers a single point of contact). This led to a 15% improvement in resolving complaints at stage 1. Our property teams also continue to focus on closing longer-standing cases.

Between April and June 2024, we saw some great results: 

Debt advice 

• SNG helped customers to reduce or clear £9,038.70 of arrears over the three-month period 
• The service also generated £50,294,328 in social value during quarter 1

Financial inclusion 

• The service helped save an average of £5,823.71 for each customer 
• We supported 1,192 cases of financial inclusion intervention (such as through fuel/heating vouchers, food pantry packs, the welfare fund or white goods.) 

Employment and skills 

• 53 people were helped into work or better work 
• 619 training outcomes were achieved 
• 28 people were supported with business start-ups and self-employment

Community investment

• 160 community organisations supported
• Supported 6 ageing well programmes and initiatives
• 182 young people took part in youth social action through our SNG #iwill programme
• Contributed to 4 environment and place programmes and initiatives
• Supported 196 young people with their education, wellbeing, employment and financial resilience through the Blagrave Trust
• In addition, we launched four community grants programmes: our SNG Big Help Out , Thriving Communities Fund , SNG #iwill Fund , and the Move on and Thrive Fund.

Funding 

• We also secured £414,921,32 of external funding to enable our services and support to help more customers. 

Here’s what one customer recently said about their experience of the employment and skills service: 

 “I have seen an extremely significant impact on my mental health, confidence and general wellbeing since we were connected. Not just in an employment or education aspect but in other key areas of my development as a person. I have gained more clarity in what direction my life is going, and with that, I have seen improvements in all areas of my life.  

Having SNG’s employment and skills in work team in my corner has given me the tools I need to find success in my future.” 

As well as the sorts of local action described in the ‘You asked, we did!’ section, we’ve continued to develop key partnerships in each of our ten locality areas. These delivered a wide-ranging programme of successful community investment and engagement to support over 9,500 customers. Here are some April to June highlights.

School holiday activities

We collaborated with local organisations to provide activities and food programmes for families and young people, promoting health, well-being, and reducing social isolation over the Easter holidays.

For example, over 40 children in Hungerford enjoyed creating great memories through a range of Easter activities at a local community centre, outdoor spaces, farm and cinema. They shared their excitement, saying things like “I feel like I’m taking an active part in my community”, “Spending time with family and friends”, and “The youth club makes me feel happy”.

You can also find more information about our summer holiday activities here.
 

Safer Streets (Newbury) and Safer Somerford (Christchurch)

In both these areas we’ve supported community-led initiatives to reduce ASB and improve safety through local partnership working, CCTV, youth outreach and community clean-ups.

Move On and Thrive grants programmes

The latest round of funding was launched for two related youth empowerment funds on the Isle of Wight. These offer grants of up to £10k for organisations, as well as individual grants for young people facing financial hardship. The focus is on five key areas: transport costs, health and wellbeing, personal development, digital inclusion, and moving into a new home. Find out about Move on and Thrive here.

Anti-social behaviour 

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) significantly impacts people’s lives, making it a key focus for us. In April we saw 77 new cases, 70 in May and 76 in June. We report on these, and on customer satisfaction with our handling of ASB cases, to our regulator and are always striving to improve.  

We’ve been working hard on our approach to ASB and have made a strong start this year. Customer satisfaction scores from surveys at the closure of an ASB case, and from surveys of random samples of customers, are on or above target.   

Safeguarding 

We’ve seen a slight decrease in safeguarding concerns compared to last year (76 new cases in April, 57 in May and 43 in June). However, the number of people experiencing a mental health crisis remains high - due in part to the cost-of-living crisis. Our teams are working hard to provide advice, refer people to support services, and offer grants to help mitigate these pressures.  

Please remember, you can always access our fully funded 24-hour mental health text support service ‘Not Alone’ - provided by our mental health partner: Shout. To use this service simply text ‘NOTALONE’ to 85258. 

Domestic Abuse  

We’ve seen a significant increase in domestic abuse cases compared to last year with 34 new cases in April, 32 in May and 33 in June. We’re working hard to ensure all victims and survivors get the support they need.  

This rise is partly due to national trends and the cost-of-living crisis, as well as our efforts to raise awareness of the service and develop it over the last nine months.  

We’ve added extensive information to our domestic abuse webpage, including support resources for both victims and perpetrators. (Please note, clicking the link can appear in your browser history. Women’s Aid offers advice on how to cover your tracks online.) 

• In quarter 1, we completed 729 lettings, of which 544 were re-lets to existing homes 
• We also completed 185 lets on new-build homes 
• We received 769 applications for Swaptracker  
• The average time to process a mutual exchange was at 68 days, down from 77 in the last quarter 
• We also completed 185 mutual exchanges during the three months

• In quarter 1 our Customer Income Advisors took 700 referrals 
• They also closed 725 cases, with 608 (84%) of these customers engaging with the service and working with us to maximise their income and improve their financial resilience 
• The team assisted 316 customers to maximise their benefits, 176 customers with changes of circumstance, 106 with their Universal Credit claims, 104 with money management, 81 with budgeting advice and 80 with their rent arrears 
• 24 customers applied for discretionary housing payments, of which 20 were successful in receiving these 
• The advisors also referred 105 customers to our in-house debt advice team, ensuring they received expert debt advice and could explore viable options for their situation 
• The team also referred 140 customers to our Employment and Skills team, which offers a personalised service of guidance, support, and practical help to access training or work.

Repairs

Our 'Maintain and improve my home' project has delivered a range of benefits for customers. These include new video repairs inspections (to make sure we can send the right person with the right skills) and extra SMS reminders about appointments - to reduce the risk of customers not being in for their repair. 

Behind the scenes, we've worked to improve which core materials different trades stock in their vans. We also launched a new contractor portal and framework, so we can give customers real-time information on repairs done by our subcontractors. And we're working with our teams to find out, from the 'bottom up', what other improvements we can make to our service.

In April to June we completed over 52,000 responsive repairs (including emergency and out of hours jobs). Customer satisfaction with these increased to 86.6% and dissatisfaction dropped to 13.4%. In addition, we: 

• completed work on 553 empty homes 
• replaced 204 kitchens, 165 bathrooms and 108 roofs 
• fitted new windows to 121 homes 

Gas               

We're responsible for safety checks at nearly 41,000 homes and non-domestic buildings with a gas supply or appliances. Only two homes were non-compliant in quarter 1. 

As well as all these safety checks and repairs, we also installed:

• 210 replacement boilers through our planned programme
• 302 new boilers following a responsive repair issue
• 6 Air Source Heat Pump systems - in addition to our wider ‘retrofit’ improvement programme

Electrical 

In quarter 1, we raised over 9,000 electrical repairs and electrically tested over 3,500 homes to make sure they were safe. We also:

• completely rewired 122 homes 
• upgraded 1,600 electrical distribution boards 
• renewed main fuseboards in 398 homes
• completed modernising of 2 passenger lifts

We installed modern electrical storage heating systems to 43 more homes - including a project, led by Dimplex and British Gas, to give these customers the option of cheaper electricity via a competitive overnight tariff and fitting of a free gateway (connected to the heating) that works with a smart meter to allow British Gas to charge the heating system as part of a wider UK network energy storage initiative.  

A large programme of communal electrical works is also underway and we work closely with customers when communal power supplies need to be temporarily suspended for some of the work to take place. A recent example is at York House, a housing scheme for older people in Calcot near Reading.