Our purpose is to create quality homes, provide excellent services and develop thriving communities.

So how do we do this?

Well, through our core services we help hundreds of people every year move into a home they can afford, find work, receive the right services and enjoy their homes and communities.

But this is only part of what we do.

Last year, we invested in seven new housing schemes for older people and began the construction of two purpose-built schemes, close to St Helens town centre, supporting wider plans to regenerate the heart of the Borough.

With a combined investment of £15,503,000, the schemes will comprise of 155 one and two bedroom apartments, where over 55s can lead healthier, more independent lives for longer.

The second phase of our popular Treetops development also got underway. Following a further investment of £5,260,000, an additional 52 new homes will be built in Sutton, helping even more people onto the housing ladder in an affordable way.

We also forged new relationships with the Department of Work and Pensions to help tenants already on or at risk of moving onto Universal Credit.

Finally, we’re involved in an ambitious project, working with the local authority and healthcare providers, to revolutionise the way health and social care is delivered in St Helens. Change like this won’t just ensure St Helens is fit for the future, it will transform people’s lives and we’re proud to be a part of it.

And the reason we can do all this is because we’re part of a growing and aspirational housing group that’s investing, changing lives and responding to the challenges our communities face.

We rent homes, we build homes and we invest in St Helens and its people every single day.

Rob Young
Group Chief Executive

What’s New

A snapshot of some of our achievements

Every year we rent, oversee and maintain more than 13,000 homes. We help people manage their money, find work and live better. These are our core services.

What you might not know is we also:

Invested in seven new housing schemes for older people
Began construction of two housing schemes for over 55s
Began 190 new homes for rent or shared ownership
Became a key partner in an initiative that will revolutionise health and social care in St Helens
Supported 1000s of customers affected by welfare reforms and Universal Credit
Updated, improved and simplified Under One Roof for would-be home renters
Found that 8 out of 10 customers were satisfied with the overall service we provide

Making a difference every day

Letting homes, maintaining and repairing homes, dealing with enquiries, collecting rent and making your neighbourhood a nice place to live are things we do on a daily basis.

We want these services to be the best they can be, so we’re constantly reviewing, revising and improving them.

What’s new this year?

Our objective: Making online services quicker and more convenient

Websites can help you find what you need or do what needs to be done, in a few quick clicks. With this in mind, we transformed ours. We redesigned it to make it easier to read. We introduced an interactive help centre where you can search by keyword or topic and find what you’re looking for faster.

So what did you think? Well:

The percentage of customers going online to get in touch, pay or report repairs is now more than 56%

The number of people paying online almost doubled.

Homes

Maintaining and repairing homes

81% of our tenants are satisfied with the quality of their home and, although 100% of our homes meet the Government’s Decent Homes Standard, the process of maintaining our homes never stops!

£26.45

The average spent on every home, every week, last year

£6,827,000

Spent on routine maintenance, this is everyday repairs

£2,825,000

Spent on planned maintenance, this is larger scale work like kitchens and bathrooms

How well did we perform?

98.5%
Of emergency repairs completed in our target time
90.6%
Of responsive repairs completed in our target time
99.95%
Of homes have a valid gas safety certificate

Your safety is our priority, so we take legal action against those properties we cannot access.

85%
Of customers are satisfied with our repairs, and we continue to work towards improving this.

Money

Your rent enables us to do the things we do

The rent you pay does so much more than pay for the home you live in. It means that we can repair and maintain your home now and in the future. It means that we can keep it (and you) safe with gas checks, water checks and electrical checks. It pays for people to help you if and when you need advice or support, it helps find you a job if you need one and much, much more.

So thank you for paying your rent.

Did you know?

We’re currently owed almost £3.4m in arrears. Every pound of rent we don’t receive has an impact on our services and how many people we can help.
79.3% of tenants think their rent provides value for money
98.42% of rent was collected
4.23% of current arrears, that’s £2,662,887, is owed to us from current tenants
1.24% of current arrears, that’s £752,934, is owed to us by former tenants
Of all your bills your rent is the most important so we’ve made sure there are lots of ways to pay it. By not paying - even once - means that you’re breaking the terms of your Tenancy Agreement and you risk losing your home.

Your pound and what it pays for*

Every pound we collect in rent and service charges helps fund our day-to-day activities. Here’s a breakdown of how each pound is spent:

29p
Management costs for the delivery of our services, staffing and offices
7p
Services including grounds maintenance, caretaking, communal heating and lighting (where applicable)
15p
Day-to-day repairs in response to customer requests
6p
Planned maintenance and improvement works like annual gas servicing and repainting
8p
Major repairs and improvement projects on properties
1p
Tailored support and independent living services
16p
Annual depreciation charge which is the decrease in the value of the housing properties
13p
Other Social Housing Activities this mainly includes social investment
1p
Non-social housing activities
4p
Other - this mainly includes the provision for bad debts

*£94.35
Based on average social rent for a 3 bedroom property

Helping tenants in need

With changes to welfare reform, and the challenges of Universal Credit, making ends meet has never been harder for many people.

Our Money Advice Team has worked tirelessly throughout the year and managed to secure a whopping £518,452 to help struggling tenants in need.

£301,679
Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) awarded to 743 tenants Discretionary Housing Payments are extra payments from the Local Authority for those on Universal Credit who need more help with their housing costs.
£1,960,867
Alternative Payment Arrangements (APA) during the year. An APA enables payment of Universal Credit benefits to be made directly to us if you are in arrears.
956
Over 55s supported through the Staying Home Service

Services

129,837 calls were taken last year

Our customer service centre deals with an average of 517 calls a day.

We know we’re not perfect. That’s why we’ve made a service commitment to answer 90% of calls within 20 seconds.

Managing complaints

Every business gets complaints and ours is no different. But we do work hard to respond to, and where possible resolve, every complaint we receive.

Here’s how we did last year:

194
Complaints received, just four more than the previous year
84.5%
Of complaints were dealt with within 10 days, against a target of 94%

What customers are complaining about

20%
Related to the quality of work
16%
Related to poor communication
15%
Related to failure to complete a repair right first time

The remaining 49% included; appointments not kept, promises not kept and unexpected delays.

What we’ll do to improve things

We’ve set new targets to reduce the number of complaints we receive and will:

Improve communications with repairs and maintenance
Improve communications with external contractors

Empty homes ready to let

When someone moves out of a property, we work quickly to make it ready for the next tenant. First, we carry out any necessary repairs. Then we do essential safety checks.

7% of tenancies ended, leaving 906 empty homes
Under 7 weeks average time it takes to re-let a property
1.97% income loss when a property is empty, this is £1,276,320

Neighbourhoods

We want you to feel happy, safe and secure in the neighbourhood you live in

82%
Of tenants are satisfied with their neighbourhood
52%
Of tenants would recommend us to a friend

Creating pleasant places is an ongoing activity for us. Here are just some of the things we did to improve our areas last year:

Worked in partnership with the local authority, Police, Fire Service and Neighbourhood Action Groups to make communities safer and cleaner
Introduced a specialised Anti-Social Behaviour team to tackle perpetrators and change behaviour
Provide tenants with tailored support to help them remain independent, stay in control of their lives and enjoy a better quality of life

You said, we did

Each year we conduct surveys to see how you feel about the services we offer.

You said:

7 out of 10 customers felt that we listen and act on your views but 3 out of 10 felt more could be done.

We did:

We created the Customer Consultative Forum (CCF), a group of tenants representing other tenants who scrutinise the board and our activities.

We did:

We have upped the number of surveys we conduct to focus on more services than ever before. If you’re asked to take part, please do.

We did:

We also introduced Torus Talk, a Facebook group discussing a wide range of topics related to our activities. If you’d like to join the group visit Torus Talk

We did:

The CCF have already completed a scrutiny review of our Customer Contact Centre. As a result of the review they have made a service commitment to answer 90% of calls within 20 seconds.

Employment

Helping you into work

Being in work does so much more than boost your income. It lifts your confidence and raises self-esteem too.

Our team works with employers across the region to bring you the latest job opportunities. They also provide weekly drop in sessions to help with job applications, job searches and CVs.

All of which helps towards your claimant commitment if you’re on Universal Credit.

161
People helped into employment
103
People supported into training and education
279
Weekly Job Hubs providing information and career guidance
625
People getting one-to-one support and skills advice

Value for Money

We are committed to providing value for money across everything we do

We aim to work efficiently and effectively, delivering the best service we can at the lowest reasonable cost to maintain high quality.

The better our value for money, the more we can invest and the more we can improve services.

£0.7m
Last year we reduced our operating costs by £0.7m

The Government has changed the formula we used to set our rents which means by 2020 we will have £18 million less income. As a result, we are still making efficiencies as a business.

These savings have helped us to:

£37m
Invest £37m in developing new homes

Any surplus goes into existing homes, repairs, services and new homes

We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to live in a home they can afford. But we need more homes of the right size in the right places. Last year we built or began around 190 new homes in St Helens. Selling a percentage of these homes helps people buy a home more affordably and generates money that we reinvest back into our existing stock, services or more new homes.

As a group, we aim to invest £416,000,000 in new homes over the next 7 years, not only in St Helens but across the surrounding areas of Warrington, Wigan and West Lancashire.

£1.6m
Invest £1.6m into local communities

We also attracted £0.8m in external funding

St Helens is our home every bit as much as it’s yours and we want people to want to live here. The money we invest in local communities is designed to make a real difference by improving the appearance of estates, improving opportunities for local people and improving quality of life.

Open the door on our performance!