Spring 2023
Connect over coffee Residents sharing their time Aiming for a greener future
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with our Be Active programme Put a spring in your step
Maintaining our locations
Resident Support Fund
Meet a property surveyor
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Transforming repairs and planned works
Hello and welcome... …to Life, our resident magazine.
C hanges to how we deliver our planned works and repairs across Anchor locations are due to come into effect from early 2025. While our existing contracts for these are not up for renewal until 2025, we’re starting this work now to allow time to consult with residents. It’s all part of the process we need to follow to determine which new or existing contractors to work with, as explained in the documents you should receive with this magazine. Once we have gathered residents’ comments, we’ll use that information to inform how we will invite suppliers to apply for the contracts. We’ll consult with residents again when we’ve identified our potential suppliers, and
hope to have them appointed in mid to late 2024 so that they’re ready to start in 2025. In any year, across our 1,700 locations we’d expect to carry out between 120,000 to 140,000 repairs at a total cost of around £20 million – so getting the best value for money for our residents and introducing simplified and efficient ways of working is essential. And with significant changes in the property and construction sector nationally – where rapidly increasing costs have seen firms small and large leave the sector – it’s critical we have a repairs and planned works contract process which is robust and effective to deliver great results for the years ahead.
W ith the days starting to get longer, it’s lovely to see the first shoots of spring appearing at the locations I’ve visited recently. Residents I speak to tell me they value the work we’re doing to help with cost of living challenges. You can read more about that in this edition. Our Resident Support Fund (page 5) is one example. Another is our Be Wise team, which provides practical assistance and support to help you make the most of your money. It’s important we take care of ourselves too, and I hope you find the support and activities available through our Be Well programme (pages 4, 5, 10 and 11) help motivate and inspire you to do so.
We’re also looking further ahead – planning how we make our existing properties more energy efficient and thinking about how we meet our longer-term sustainability targets. You can read more about our approach on page 12.
Sarah Jones Chief Executive
Life magazine is also available online at www.Anchor.org.uk/Resident-Publications Please speak to your local manager or our Contact Centre on 0800 731 2020* if you need audio or large print versions. Anchor is the trading name of Anchor Hanover Group, which is a charitable housing association with Send your feedback about Life magazine to: Life@Anchor.org.uk or write to: Life, Anchor, 2 Godwin Street, Bradford, BD1 2ST
registered society No 7843. Registered Provider No. LH4095. *There are several different phone numbers within this magazine. Calls to 0800 and 0300 numbers are usually free. Please check with your phone provider as charges for calls to other numbers may vary or be included within your call package.
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Keep on moving
Feel more of a benefit T o support with the rising cost of living, here are some of the benefits increasing in April for people of state pension age:
I t can be hard to motivate yourself to be active during the colder months. That’s where our Be Active wellness and movement programme can help support your health and wellbeing. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, try our exercise booklets at your own pace or our live online sessions. Access pre-recorded
as qualifying for just £1 of Pension Credit can open the doors to other financial aid.
exercise videos, including movement to music and yoga, on our website. Visit www.Anchor. org.uk/BeActive , or contact our Resident Wellbeing Lead on 07523 943 501* , email BeWell@Anchor. org.uk or ask your local manager for details.
• Attendance Allowance – for those who need personal care, up to £68.10 low rate and £101.75 high rate • Pension Credit – for those on a low income, minimum income guarantee amount rises to £201.05 (single person) and £306.85 (couples) Remember to update departments, such as Housing Benefit, Council Tax and the Department for Work and Pensions, with changes to your circumstances. For instance, your new rent amount or an increase in your private pension. It’s worth rechecking your eligibility if you don’t already receive benefits,
A resident at Douglas Veale House said, “I enjoy the exercise classes (pictured above). It helps me mentally and keeps me physically fit.”
Check your entitlement with the help of our Be Wise service: • Online at www.Anchor.org. uk/Benefit-Entitlement- Calculator • Email BeWise@Anchor.org.uk • Call on 0800 023 4477* .
Cover star, and former movement to music teacher, 88 year-old Wendy Hardwick says: “Anchor’s Be Active exercise classes provide a good opportunity to keep moving.”
Pop the kettle on and join us for a natter E veryone needs someone to talk to which is why, since Ambulance, British Heart Foundation and
Resident Support Fund W e’ve developed a fund for essentials, to help residents who: • Are finding food, energy, or
Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. Model making, the Titanic, and even genealogy have been covered by resident guest speakers too. For more information or to enquire about being a guest speaker, call 07523 943 501* during office hours or email BeWell@Anchor.org.uk
May 2020, we’ve hosted more than 130 virtual coffee mornings. Held every Tuesday and accessed by Zoom or phone, these provide an opportunity to chat with residents across Anchor and hear from interesting guest speakers - including St John’s
Please have details of any savings, income or benefits you receive to hand (for example, bank statements or letters) before applying: • Online at www.Anchor.org.uk/ Cost-Living-Support • Email SupportFund@Anchor.org.uk • By speaking to your local manager • Contacting our Be Wise team on 0800 023 4477* .
emergency items hard to pay for due to low funds or unexpected expenditure • Have no savings available for the above (this excludes savings tied into bonds or trusts which are not immediately available) • Are happy to talk to our Be Wise team about their benefit entitlement and/or how to save money on their regular expenditure.
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Listening, acting and communicating
872 hours of insight from residents
C ommunication is one of the common themes residents tell us is key to improving the experience they receive. While we’ve had some positive feedback from the satisfaction surveys residents take part in, the negative feedback shows we can improve and encourage better communication from colleagues. Whether that’s in relation to a complaint or our services in general, it’s clear residents really vaue being kept informed about what’s happening and when. In response, we’ve already provided colleagues and residents with our updated complaints timescales, which set out clearly when communications should be issued. And our complaints training materials have been updated too, with additional information available to help local managers respond to complaints. This year, working with our Customer Relations team, we will continue to highlight the importance of good communication with colleagues, encouraging face-to-face conversations and phone calls. We’ll showcase how these things can all make a big difference to the customer experience colleagues provide.
T hat’s approximately how many hours members of our formal resident groups spend providing valuable feedback and a resident voice, to help inform and shape what we do and how we do it. In the last six months, we held a number of focus groups with engaged residents from our formal groups. They discussed topics such as sustainability (page 12) and the reprocurement of our new repairs and planned works contractors (mentioned on page 3). Our Communications Group is also helping ensure Anchor’s communications are as clear and easy to understand as possible.
Group Chair Carl Proctor said:“We’re helping the review of our Resident Annual Reports for homeowners and tenants. We will be sharing our suggestions on how to make those reports more interesting and easier for residents to digest.” We also invite residents to join our Resident Voice Panel to provide in- depth feedback on a range of topics,
via post or email. To find out more about any of our groups or how
Be
to join them, please email BeInvolved@Anchor.org.uk or call 07786 703 779*
Our formal groups:
64 residents are members of our groups
Who’s there? Acuity Research are the independent company conducting satisfaction surveys on our behalf throughout the year, mostly by phone but also by email or letter. They will explain why they’re calling and only ask your opinion of our services - they won’t ask any financial questions. If you have call display on your phone, genuine calls will show a Brighton area code (01273 093939), emails will be from Acuity@arap.co.uk and letters will include a return envelope to Freepost Plus RTKY-SUZU-LZUE.
Residents’ Council
Residents’ Rainbow Group Communications Homeownership Property, Building Safety and Sustainability Independent Residents’ Complaint Panel Scrutiny Panel
Each year, there are on average:
equates to 81
formal group meetings , which
resident hours and 872
senior Anchor colleague hours 142
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Taking the initiative to identify and resolve issues
Tackling condensation
D uring the colder months, it’s important to allow excess moisture out of our homes to avoid condensation issues - as one resident discovered after reporting an issue through our repairs process. With condensation droplets on walls and mould growth starting in corners and on window seals in their rented bungalow, our property surveyor worked with them to monitor and understand the notably high humidity and condensation levels.
Once the surveyor restored their extractor fans, the resident implemented their recommendations: • To keep kitchen and bathroom doors shut • Have kitchen and bathroom windows open or the extractor fan on when doing or drying washing, cooking, or bathing. Their combined approach has reduced humidity and condensation levels significantly, addressing the issues and preventing a recurrence.
P roperty Surveyor Sean Johnston explains how Property and Assets colleagues are building stronger connections while they identify and address issues in buildings across our housing communities. “Half of my time is spent at locations, overseeing contractors, completing surveys and providing advice to local and area managers and residents on building issues or repairs. It’s a collaborative way of working that’s building great relationships and momentum, providing better outcomes for residents” Sean’s remaining time is spent supporting planned works – our schedule of refurbishment and replacement of things like bathrooms and kitchens. He conducts on-site surveys, prepares documentation, checks planned works and repairs are meeting
the required standards, works with contractors and resident liaison officers, and attends resident meetings ahead of the works. “With surveyors overseeing both planned works and repairs, our knowledge of one informs the other, as we might identify something needs replacing because we’re aware of repeated repair requests for it.”
routine ‘Don’t Walk By’ inspections, is helping us to identify issues at an earlier stage and reprioritise planned works effectively.” “For example, if I see something assigned for replacement next year has much more life left than something listed for three years’ time. I can change the scheduling to ensure we’re spending money when and where it’s needed.”
Get out and about more, for less T here’s good news for those who don’t yet qualify for a senior travel pass, as the
government has extended its bus fare cap, which was due to end on 31 March. This means a single fare will cost no more than £2 throughout spring and into early summer, until the cap ends on 30 June.
Property surveyors like Sean routinely check for and provide advice on building issues residents may encounter.
“Electronically recording useful information and an action list during our
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T his year, we’re acting on your feedback and bringing back the ‘Blooming Marvellous Gardener’ category into our Loving Later Life Awards, to replace our separate Gardening Competition. With categories recognising grandparents to pets, technology savvy surfers to wonderful neighbours, our Loving Later Life awards help celebrate those making a real difference in their Anchor community. Any resident can be nominated by fellow residents, colleagues, friends, and family. So, if you know a worthy winner, look out for details of when the award nomination window opens this summer and make sure you put them forward. Celebrate members of your community
Grow your own soup
A nchor has been recognised as an accredited employer by the Living Wage Foundation. This means our organisation commits to implementing the Living Wage Foundation’s Real Living Wage rates (independently calculated to meet the cost of living) following an annual pay review each spring. While we pay a range of salaries to our colleagues, none of them are below the Real Living Wage rate. We also understand the benefits of a multigenerational workforce, for our organisation and our residents, and have signed up to the Age-friendly Employer Pledge with The Centre for Ageing Better. It’s a nationwide programme for UK employers who Supporting our colleagues
recognise the importance and value of older workers. If know someone who would like to work for Anchor, they can take a look at the opportunities available across our care, housing, or support teams at www.Anchor.org.uk/Careers
C elia Binns and The Gardening Group at Earls Lodge, Failsworth won our Best Fruit and Vegetables category in last year’s Gardening Competition. Here’s Celia’s tip for growing your own soup from scratch, to enjoy yourself or share with your community. “Fill a 24-inch diameter plant pot with compost, then plant five carrot seeds, two or three onion sets, two turnip seeds and three celery seeds and that’s your soup mix completed.” “We also prefer to grow our Tumbling Tom tomatoes in hanging baskets for residents to help themselves when ripe. Our community also enjoy picking peas in their pods and harvesting potatoes from grow bags.”
Growing older and wiser O lder adults often face the myth
your own time, including ones covering Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, poetry, PDSA Pet First Aid Training, and our Creative Care Kit. We’ve also partnered with The Skills Network to provide easy access to government funded Level 2 qualifications at no cost. For more information about Be Skilled or the
qualifications, email BeWell@Anchor.org.uk or call 07523 943 501* .
that they can’t learn new skills. But anyone can learn new skills and knowledge, which can help fight against dementia too. To help our residents continue to grow and learn, Be Skilled - our free and exclusive online learning resource - offers courses to do in
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W ith rising energy costs and the impact carbon emissions are having on the climate, it’s hugely important for our organisation to be as sustainable as we can. Some of the positive steps we are taking are shared in our latest annual Sustainability Report (available at www.Anchor.org.uk ), which includes actions we’ve taken to improve energy efficiency and help reduce residents’ energy costs. One example is our programme of Cavity Wall Insulation funded by E.ON, that’s already insulated nearly 8,000 residents’ homes. With 83 per cent of our rented and care homes EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) rated C+, we’re developing plans to reduce our climate footprint further. Liz Davenport, Property Sustainability Building a greener future
Director, has been working on the development of Anchor’s new Sustainability Strategy with the help of resident focus
groups and our Residents’ Council. “Launching this year, the strategy includes how we’ll contribute further to the government’s commitment for cutting carbon emissions in the UK. We’ll be setting ourselves challenging targets to deliver energy and water savings and increase biodiversity, as well as reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.” “2023 also sees pilots for electric vehicle charging points at a number of our housing locations, as we know many residents want this facility. There are a number of challenges associated with this but we are hoping to learn lots from the pilot.”
Our new Wharfeside care home in Otley was built to be carbon-neutral. With a ground source heat pump just part of the energy efficient technology, Wharfeside is a great example of how we’re working to make our buildings more energy-efficient.
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