ForViva_Annual Report_V16_Digital(2)

Annual Report 2017/18

Together we really do achieve more. “ “ Tim Doyle, Group Chief Executive

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Introduction

Creating and connecting communities is at the heart of what we do at ForViva. Excellent progress has been made this year on delivery of the Community Impact Strategy, improving wellbeing and enabling communities to contribute towards vibrant, safe and sustainable neighbourhoods. Thank you to all our partners and stakeholders for your continued investment and commitment towards this aim. The projects and initiatives that feature in this Annual Report are designed to show the breadth of activity delivered and the positive outcomes being generated as a result of working in partnership with communities. I do hope you enjoy reading it. Andy Zuntz, Chair

As a social purpose business, we remain dedicated to our vision of improved lives. To do this, we need to work with like-minded people and organisations. I’m pleased that this year we’ve continued to collaborate with our existing partners and forged new partnerships. This helps to deliver the growth needed to achieve our ambitions and create more opportunities to make a difference. Together we really do achieve more. I hope you’ll see many examples of this throughout this Annual Report. Tim Doyle, Group Chief Executive

Contents We’re a social purpose business and five key priorities shape the way we work. We use these to stay focused on the essentials of the business and apply them to deliver positive outcomes in partnership with communities.

Community Impact

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Homes

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Look out for the following icons:

Service Excellence

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Viability

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Case Study

Growth with Purpose

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Reference material

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Community Impact

Throughout 2017/18 we worked together with communities and partners on community impact activities to improve wellbeing and deliver positive outcomes in ForViva communities.

28 activities

Grants of £136,176 (internal and external) awarded to communities

Working with 18 schools

89 delivery partners

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Positively impacting 12,962 tenants and customers

£2.7m social value generated

£1.04m extra benefits/ grants brought in for tenants

£626,795 of internal and external investment

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Community Impact

Health

Our aim: Residents will have increased quality of life.

1,896 hours of weekly activities across sheltered schemes to connect people and ensure social inclusion

520 homes had aids and adaptations installed (worth £546,137) to improve wellbeing and enable people to live independently in their homes

30 households with support needs have assistive technology to ensure they are able to live independently

29 people with dementia became more mentally and physically active by attending Music for Memories sessions

“

If it wasn’t for the social activity I’d be sitting at home staring at the walls. Now I’ve made new friends.

Encouraging healthy eating and lifestyles Know It, Grow It gets young children to think creatively about what they eat by growing their own food . During the year, 228 pupils learned how seeds germinate and how to recognise different plant families, as well as planting and

“ Luncheon Club participant

tending to their own produce in their school community gardens. 35% (80) now eat fruit and vegetables every week. A further 19% (44) have taken their learning back home and grow food in their family garden. Eight out of ten pupils who took part in our focus group said they also did more exercise through gardening.

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“ I like taking home- grown potatoes home.

My mum cooks them for my tea.

“ Katie,

Year 5 pupil

544 young people became more active by attending summer school activities

118 young people became more active by attending

362 school pupils became Dementia Friends, increasing their understanding of dementia

Parkour and Play Streets sessions

Read the Parkour case study

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Community Impact

Education & Employment

Our aim: Residents will, where able to, be working and/or learning.

Building career prospects for women

The Women with Wings project helps women that don’t speak English as their first language to share enterprise ideas.

The group was established through support from ForViva’s Don’t Keep it Under Your Hat business support programme. It’s proved a huge success, connecting local mums with organisations that give them the support to make their business dreams a reality whilst fitting around their childcare commitments. Group founder Jasmin Bakhre said, “We found mums that weren’t engaging with enterprise support programmes because they weren’t. We wanted to help them better understand how they could take their ideas to the next level and find sustainable employment .”

69 people moved closer to employment

by taking part in work placements

34 people gained useful experience for getting into employment through job searching and CV writing

“ I’ve got a qualification and gained work experience which has given me more confidence. “ Taylor, Bright Futures programme

Read about “This Dad Can” business start-up

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254 people connected with an employment pathway

to improve their career prospects

Read more about Bright Futures

199 people took up training with 247 qualifications gained

95 people went on to secure a job

Read Andrew’s story

“ I’ve learned

new skills and feel motivated.

Read Stuart’s story

9 My family are made up for me and things are looking good. “ Barry, Motiv8 programme

Safe Communities Community Impact

Our aim: Residents will feel that where they live is safe.

Youth injunction order makes community safer

Landmark legal action has been taken by Villages to tackle a teenager’s anti-social behaviour (ASB), helping to make the Knowsley community safer . The youth was served with a Civil Youth Injunction Order by Liverpool Youth Court - the first of its kind to be handed out in Knowsley. The teenager’s persistent anti- social behaviour, which involved criminal damage and threats, was impacting the lives of a number of

local people. The situation led to Villages taking emergency action, working closely with Merseyside Police to deal with the issue and request the injunction. The 12-month order prevents the teenager from going to certain parts of Knowsley, contacting certain people in the area, inciting or being involved in any anti-social behaviour or criminal damage or carrying a knife in a public place.

6,854 hours of youth engagement/ diversionary activity reduced youth anti-social behaviour by 74% (92 to 24 incidents in three years) saving £34,000 of public funding

“

The Smart Choices mentoring programme

helps our vulnerable pupils to talk and make adjustments to lead a happy, fulfilling life.

Read the BAYSE case study

“ Head Teacher, Westwood Primary School

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“

The Brookhouse youth club has made a real difference. Young people are more engaged and involved

and there’s been a reduction in ASB.

“ Councillor David Lancaster

Seven primary school pupils completed a ten week intensive mentoring programme with an 85% improvement in behaviours (reducing from 204 areas of concern to 31)

1,059 reports of ASB were resolved in partnership with local agencies

Read the Salford ASB case study

101 reports of persistent ASB resolved through legal action

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Community Impact

Neighbourhood

Our aim: Residents will be actively contributing towards making their neighbourhood a great place to live.

Community Fund enables local community improvements

Almost 13,000 people have benefited from becoming more active in their communities, gaining new skills and improving their health and wellbeing, after accessing Community Fund grants worth £45,925. The Fund offers grants of up to £500 to help fund community projects and initiatives. Local group the SMART Recovery Group, which helps people stop addictive behaviours, has positive things to say about the impact that funding has made. They said, “We have provided the only recovery group within the Little Hulton area, assisting local residents to receive support in relation to all aspects of recovery. This will reduce the burden on social care, health and policing in the area .” Other projects to benefit include Walkden Junior Cricket Club, which has created three junior teams, contributing to a reduction in anti-social behaviour in the area. Meanwhile, the Sparky Summer Camp is teaching valuable life skills to young people through team building, as well as improving health and wellbeing .

Neighbourhoods were proactively managed through 821 breach of tenancy cases

Grounds maintenance improved the appearance of 31 neighbourhoods in Salford

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“

My son had a breakdown and was going to be evicted but your officer helped him to resolve his benefits and housing issues.

“

Properties and land were brought back into use to meet additional housing need for

180 households

Staff and contractors gave 527 hours of time (worth £4,126) and donated £18,366 to good causes

“ We’re working with young people on team building exercises which is creating a stronger local community.

New tenants accessed financial assistance worth

£20,410 to move into their new home, through reconditioned furniture and decoration vouchers

“

Sparky Summer Play Group

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Homes

Providing high-quality, sustainable homes that help meet demand for housing is a top priority for ForViva. We offer a range of properties to suit the needs of diverse households across the North West.

Addressing the national housing shortage We’re committed to playing our part to address the national housing shortage by providing much-needed affordable homes.

• £15.8m was invested in building more than 160 new homes. • 42 homes for affordable rent in rural areas were ringfenced for people in housing need with a local connection so they can remain in their community. • 230 other new properties started on site.

• 32 one-bedroom homes were built to help prevent under occupancy and the impact of the Spare Room Subsidy. • Five derelict buildings that were a blight on the community were replaced with new homes, improving the appearance of neighbourhoods. • 40,000 responsive repairs were completed with nearly all repairs completed on the first visit and nearly all repair appointments kept. • 6,000 emergency repairs were undertaken and all were completed within the 24 hour target time. • Tenants reported high levels of satisfaction with their repairs service.

Improvements and repairs to homes • Over £5.6m was invested to improve properties and communal areas. • We were one of the first providers to enhance fire safety

after the Grenfell disaster by installing sprinkler systems in our 17 high-rise blocks as part of a £5m programme. • Nearly 98% of 356 residents surveyed were satisfied with the gas servicing service.

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100% of properties have a valid gas servicing certificate

100% of properties meet the Government’s Decent Homes Standard

The Willows

The Willows is a thriving community of 103 high-quality homes built on the site of the former Salford Reds rugby ground. The development was designed around the needs of the local community, with a mix of homes for shared ownership and affordable rent. Streets were named after former players to leave a lasting legacy.

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The operatives texted me before my appointment to let me know they were a few minutes away and were extremely polite. “ “

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Providing affordable warmth and reducing carbon omissions Compared to the national average our new build homes have significantly better energy performance. Lower energy costs and carbon emissions save tenants money and help protect the environment. • Energy bills for a new build

• More than 180 households were enabled to keep warm thanks to energy advice, saving a total of £28,000 - an average of £152 each.

three-bedroom house are around £1,200 cheaper than the national average and carbon emissions reduced by two tonnes.

Home energy ratings:

Very efficient

City West 74.39

Villages 70.14

Not efficient

Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) rating:

0 - 10 10 - 20 20 - 30 30 - 40 40 - 50 50 - 60 60 - 70 70 - 80 80 - 90 90 - 100

Very efficient

ForViva new build homes 81.00

UK average 60.90

Not efficient

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Service Excellence

We take pride in delivering excellent services. We’re always looking for ways to improve and work closely with tenants, communities and partners to make this happen.

Satisfaction with our services 3,410 satisfaction surveys were carried out with tenants, using an independent company.

80% 88.2% (3,006 out of 3,410)

TARGET

PERFORMANCE

Net promoter score (2017/18)

Measures the willingness to recommend a company’s products or services to others.

Would not recommend -100

Would recommend

0

49.6

100

City West and Villages combined

More people are accessing services through digital channels

76,352 digital contacts handled by our service centre in 2017/18 compared to 53,584 in 2016/17, a 43% increase

A 33.5% increase in tenants and customers accessing our news through social media

152,798 inbound telephone contacts handled by our service centre in 2017/18 compared to 174,478, a 12% decrease

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Secured grants of

£22,500 for tenant digital champions to deliver training sessions for others

171 tenants improved their digital skills through training

More people are benefitting from being online

Digital training enabled 171 tenants to gain skills to manage their tenancies online , take control of their finances, look for employment and keep in touch with friends and family.

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Tenants access their welfare benefits entitlement and/or discretionary payments We work closely with tenants who are affected by welfare changes and experiencing poverty. Through a range of interventions, including effective use of partnership support from external agencies, the following outcomes have been achieved:

• 308 tenants were supported to maximise their income by £293,000, an average of £951 per person. • No households affected by the benefit cap who engaged with our service were evicted, with 66 out 79 affected tenants supported to apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment.

• 7,177 Discretionary Housing Payments and backdated housing benefits payments were received, sustaining tenancies . • 1,090 tenants were supported when moving on to Universal Credit , including 104 through the Full Digital service. The rent collection rate for these tenants is 99.67%, an increase of 1.26% on 2016/17.

“ I had just come out of a domestic violence

320 tenants sustained their tenancies through 944 interventions

relationship and you helped me out a lot.

“

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“

Meeting nationally recognised standards Our accreditations demonstrate our commitment to delivering first-class services to tenants:

They took the courtesy to explain everything and accommodated my mother’s needs

®

as she has sight loss.

The operative went above and beyond to ensure the boiler was safe for us. “ “ Meeting service standards agreed with tenants Our new service standards were launched in April 2017 and reflect areas that tenants said were most important to them. Performance is monitored by tenant inspectors through 80 measures including mystery shopping and phone surveys. In total, inspectors passed 75 out of 80 measures (94%).

“

We were awarded Compliance Plus in five areas of our Customer Service

reaccreditation: demonstrating innovation in the areas of new developments, leadership, partnership working, sheltered housing and consultation of tenants.

Influencing service development

• A Tenant Congress monitors the Group’s performance and developed an involvement toolkit providing staff with guidance on how to involve tenants in service changes. • Tenants in our digital focus group helped create the staff and tenant app – First Touch – which improves digital access to services. • The Disability Forum recommended changes to the refurbishment of City West’s Little Hulton office which improved access for tenants with disabilities.

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Scrutinising service delivery against standards

Our two scrutiny groups audited three services – grounds maintenance, external areas of flats and communication in repairs. The groups made 19 recommendations.

Recommendations for improvement

Positive Feedback

A review of procedures to ensure they are still fit for purpose.

The regular contact we have with local authorities to ensure no areas of grounds maintenance are neglected. The way we carry out, record and monitor quarterly block inspections. How easy it is for a tenant to report a repair and how we make them aware of the process.

Grounds maintenance

External areas of flat blocks

Considering the inclusion of some communal areas in the grounds maintenance programme. Find ways to improve communication with tenants during follow-on works.

Communication in repairs

441 checks of five different service areas were carried out by tenant inspectors

100% of tenant inspections carried out were marked as satisfactory

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Complaints and Compliments

We use tenant feedback from complaints to put things right and continually drive service improvements.

Complaints City West Total complaints – 874

Villages Total complaints – 164

Escalated to ombudsman 1

Escalated to ombudsman 0

Resolved through a two-stage formal complaints process 66 (8%)

Resolved through a two-stage formal complaints process 11 (7%)

Resolved informally 807 (92%)

Resolved informally 153 (93%)

Complaints responded to within published timescales – 100% (67 out of 67)

Complaints responded to within published timescales – 100% (11 out of 11)

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Number of complaints upheld or partially upheld

City West – 76%

(51 out of 67)

Villages – 36%

(4 out of 11)

Reasons for complaints City West and Villages combined

Other areas

Grounds maintenance

15.7%

Service centre team

2.22%

2.79%

Investment works

44.03%

6.94%

7.90%

Neighbourhood management

20.42%

Responsive repairs

Gas servicing/repairs

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“ My neighbourhood officer put me at ease and kept me informed every step of the way.

Compliments

“

We’ve received 319 compliments for a range of services, including our service centre and older people’s services.

Service improvements from complaints are published online for both City West and Villages.

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Viability

ForViva has ambitious plans backed by strong leadership, resilient governance, and the financial capability to deliver. We maximise commercial opportunities so that we can increase our viability as a business and we work with partners to invest in communities, build new homes and provide services more cost-effectively.

Operational savings Value for money We achieved the following efficiencies:

£3,000 saved through sourcing alternative legionella and asbestos training providers

£96,000 saved through tenants and customers accessing services through digital channels £71,000 saved against the original budget set for Villages’ investment works (kitchens, bathrooms and doors)

52% reduction in

administration time by managing staff Learning and Development through an electronic system

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£142.3m Turnover £

£139.2m Reserves

£360.4m Housing property assets £

24,000 Number of properties owned and managed

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Governance Our Board sets the strategic direction of the business and ensures the viability of group members. Each subsidiary has its own Board to guide the individual businesses and ensure that objectives are delivered. Compliance with regulatory standards • The Regulator for Social Housing awarded ForViva the highest possible ratings – V1 for viability and G1 for governance . T his followed an In-Depth Assessment of the Group’s risk profiles, financial capabilities and governance arrangements.

ICT systems are resilient and can expand with the business • We have invested more than £600,000 in our ICT infrastructure to ensure our systems are resilient and can be scaled up as the Group continues to grow and evolve.

Income management Our income management team works closely with tenants to ensure rent is collected promptly and arrears are reduced in order to keep the business viable. • Tenant arrears have reduced by £80,931 over the year • £53,591 more in arrears was collected from former tenants this year

Rent collected as a percentage of rent charged:

101.5% (City West and Villages)

Total rent arrears owed at end of March 2018:

£2,906,079

March 2017:

£80,931 less rent arrears in March 2018 compared to March 2017

£2,825,148

March 2018:

Current tenant arrears as a percentage of rent debit: 2016/17: 3.87% 0 100%

2016/17: 3.85%

100%

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“ I have learning difficulties and the staff have helped me a lot.

“ They helped me with my situation and put a system in place so I could pay my arrears.

“ Tenants value the advice and support given We provide specialist support and advice to tenants affected by welfare reform. • Of 479 tenants surveyed, more than 92% (422) were satisfied with the service they received .

“

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Growth with Purpose

We believe in growth with social purpose. That’s why we’re working with partners to explore opportunities for growth that will allow us to reinvest profits in communities.

Investing in new homes • Construction of The Withens, a £12.4m extra care scheme , is underway in Stockbridge Village and due for completion in 2019. It will improve health and wellbeing and prevent over- reliance on Health and Social Care services.

• A mill that lay vacant for 20 years in Sunnybank, Kirkham, has been demolished in preparation for 23 new affordable homes, with a second phase of development now underway to create 32 units in total. • Three outdated sheltered schemes in Salford have been demolished as part of a £5.8m regeneration project to provide 54 new homes.

ForViva Group Structure 2017/18

ForViva - Group Structure

CommunityBenefitSociety. Registerednumber24123R. NonCharity.

Company LimitedbyShares. Registerednumber (TBC) withCompaniesHouse. For Capital

Company LimitedbyShares. Registerednumber8259035 withCompaniesHouse.

Company LimitedbyShares. Registerednumber (TBC) withCompaniesHouse.

CommunityBenefitSociety. Registerednumber 30483R. ExemptCharity.

CommunityBenefitSociety. Registerednumber28874R. ExemptCharity.

LibertyGroup Investments Ltd Company LtdbyShares CH968396.

CommunityBenefitSociety. Registerednumber7006. NonCharity.

CommunityBenefitSociety. Registerednumber7006. NonCharity.

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£6m invested to provide 39 affordable homes for key workers in Ordsall

£1.4m development scheme is underway in Salford to provide affordable housing for LGBT+ people to improve their security and wellbeing

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Attracting new business • In partnership with the Athena consortium we have accessed funding from the European Social Fund and Big Lottery Fund’s Building Better Opportunities programme. The Motiv8 programme provides outreach support to help people furthest away from the labour market into work. Motiv8 has enabled 14 people to get on the path to employment and has since been expanded to include business start up advice and construction training.

• In March 2018 a national training and apprenticeships centre for gas engineers launched in Salford. The Liberate Academy has an Accredited Certification Scheme testing centre providing training to hundreds of gas engineers across the country.

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Managing more homes • We took over the management of 5,500 homes in Ellesmere Port and Neston on behalf of Cheshire West and Chester Council in July 2017, under the brand ForHousing. This has increased the number of homes ForViva owns and manages to 24,000.

• ForLiving is bringing forward the development of The Orchards in Urmston. The scheme will provide 58 apartments and family homes, with 52 for outright sale. All profits will be reinvested into building more affordable homes. • ForLiving built 13 shared Enabling more people to become homeowners

Reducing homelessness • We secured a nine-year contract to deliver homelessness support services for Cheshire West and Chester Council. The service started on 1 April 2018 under the brand forfutures. • The Greater Manchester Housing Partnership, of which ForViva is a member, has been awarded a £1.8m government Social Impact Bond to reduce rough sleeping. 270 properties will be made available by the partnership to support Greater Manchester’s most entrenched rough sleepers and help them access and keep a home.

ownership homes this year, giving people the chance to get on the property ladder.

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Getting in touch

Your feedback is important to us. If you have any comments or suggestions on this Annual Report please get in touch with us.

forviva.co.uk

hello@forviva.co.uk

0300 123 5522

Large print, audio and braille formats can be requested by email or phone

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