Annual Report 2019-20
I am proud of what we have already achieved together
Jan Goode, Executive director of neighbourhoods
Housing Plus Group highlights importance of affordable homes in local villages
Tracy and Richard became the first tenants of a newly-built bungalow in a small rural development. The couple had previously rented privately but needed a more secure home with better accessibility after Richard became ill.
Income
Total rent collected over the last year was
£87,078,573
Total percentage of rent arrears across the Group was
1.86%
against a target of 3%.
Rent arrears of
£683,811
were outstanding from current tenants.
Rent arrears of
£384,248
were outstanding from former tenants.
Customer support
Our support helped customers secure
£2,901,327
in additional income.
563 customers
were supported by the money advice team, helping them to reduce debt, maximise income and budget efficiently.
Full marks for homework club pilot
Our debt counselling service helped customers make savings totalling
£12,856
Customers’ savings included
£18,550
in water bills and other utilities.
We helped
115
customers back into work, training, volunteering and education.
1,207
customer support sessions were provided at our Digital Dens in Shropshire. The Dens also provided regular access to the internet for local people.
3,704
people attended our training programmes, including 1-2-1 support, job clubs and work placements.
104
people gained learning certificates through the Digital Dens and seven achieved City & Guilds qualifications.
16
young people received life skills support through work with the Prince’s Trust and Wolverhampton College.
We used National Lottery and European funding to help
75
people get into work, education, training or volunteering.
Making a positive difference
Proud to support community champions
Customer involvement
100 involved customers
have been recruited.
Giving us a total of
883 involved customers
across the Group.
The customer-led scrutiny panel volunteered
327 hours
of their time to give feedback on our services.
Customer panel members volunteered
218 hours
“I know that we’re listened to. As customers, we can make a difference”
Over 270 involved customers
regularly share their views to help us improve services
2,696 surveys
were carried out to get customers views on our services.
17 actions
were implemented from their recommendations...
...in
three key projects
Allocations
2,922
new tenancy agreements were signed.
1,286
empty properties were returned to a lettable standard.
86.51%
of tenants sustained their tenancy for more than 12 months.
Customer satisfaction
378
compliments were received.
553
complaints were received.
57%
of complaints responded to in 10 day target.
14.2 days
Average days to respond to a complaint (service level agreement - 10 working days).
92%
of complaints received resolved at stage 1 of the complaints process
Customer services
72%
of queries were resolved in a single contact. *
88%
of customers were satisfied with the service provided at our call centres.*
80%
of customers found our communications easy to understand.*
156,365
answered calls from our customers.
9,445
customers visited our reception in Shrewsbury.
*Information stated does not include statistics from Stafford and Rural Homes.