“Improve Services and Communication between Cottsway and Residents”

Resident Scrutiny Panel2014/2015

Annual Report

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Contents

Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Chair’s statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Meet your Resident Scrutiny Panel & Support Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Our Achievements: 2014/15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Progress & Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7

Scrutiny 5 – Condition of Cottsway’s Empty (Void) Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Top 10 tips for a successful Scrutiny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

How we Scrutinise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Next steps 2015/16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Definition from: Oxford Concise Dictionary

RESIDENT ‘A permanent inhabitant

of a town or neighbourhood’

SCRUTINY‘ A close investigation or examination of details’

PANEL ‘A group of people forming a team in a discussion’

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“Cottsway’s Resident Scrutiny Panel make evidence based recommendations to improve services and communication between Cottsway and residents”

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Resident Scrutiny Panel Chair’s Statement:It has been an eventful and productive year for the Resident Scrutiny Panel (RSP). At the beginning of 2014, Cottsway’s Agenda 8, modernising restructure was well underway and as a result, the timing wasn’t right to undertake a scrutiny project for either Cottsway or the RSP. Several areas were scoped for our next project, however; these areas were heavily involved in the restructure and it was felt it would be counterproductive to undertake a scrutiny during this time of immense change. Therefore, we made a group decision to suspend scrutiny activity and take time to strengthen our terms of reference, establish a finance sub-group, and impact sub-group. The finance sub-group monitors, forecasts and approves RSP expenditure and is also responsible for submitting the annual RSP budget proposals to Cottsway’s Board. The impact sub-group captures and measures the impact and/or outcomes of our implemented recommendations, monitors the RSP’s Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and oversees our annual plan. We also produced our first report which documented our achievements and activities since the RSP’s inception in 2011.

My vice-chair, Jo, and I, decided we wanted to facilitate our own away-day in 2014, instead of hiring an outside facilitator. We not only thought this would demonstrate Value for Money (VFM) but also would give us an opportunity to tailor-make a programme concentrating specifically on teambuilding and tighter cohesion as a group. Jo and I both received training in Belbin, which helped us to create effective team-working and gain clearer understanding of the dynamics within the panel. It also enabled us to see where a member’s strengths were not being capitalised on or used to greatest effect. Belbin has helped us to uncover and maximise untapped potential within the panel. During the away-day we created: our purpose statement, our mission statement, and developed our operating principles for greater team working. We also began to formulise a template for each scrutiny role – a step-by-step guide to streamline uniformity and consistency in capturing the evidence. This not only helps new RSP members to understand and learn the process of each step, it can also be helpful in unifying and clarifying the evidence collected; streamlining the process for the report writing team.

Cottsway’s RSP have been a leading Best Practice example on the national stage of housing. Our award winning scrutiny model has been seen at the Chartered Institute of Housing’s (CIH) SE Annual Conference (2014) in Brighton, and the CIH’s SE Practitioner’s Conference (2013/2014). As the RSP Chair, I was approached to co-develop a Scrutiny Conference for CIH that took place in London, December 2014. Never a panel to rest on our laurels, this year we have undertaken a Quality Assured Scrutiny (QAS) audit to find out what we do well and discover areas where improvement is needed. QAS is commissioned by the CIH, the Tenant Participatory Advisory Service (TPAS), and Housing Quality Network (HQN). We are looking forward to getting the results and learning from the experience.

We completed our 4th scrutiny on ‘How do Cottsway Learn from Complaints?’ and we are in the beginning stages of scrutiny # 5 – looking at Cottsway’s voids standard. Jo and I are completing our Belbin accreditation and we plan to facilitate our annual away day once again in July. Unfortunately this year past also saw the resignation of several panel members, due to ill health, and family commitments. While being on the panel is a commitment and a lot of work, training is provided and the skills and confidence you develop can help in many areas of life. Looking forward – the RSP are a strong panel and would love to encourage anyone who is interested and wants to make a difference to: ‘Improve services and communication between Cottsway and Residents.’ Please contact us for more information on how to get involved.

In May the RSP are planning on hosting an open-day event to share more about why scrutiny is important, what scrutiny is, and how we do it. The RSP team will be there to answer any questions you might have and see if you could make a difference too. Please keep your eyes peeled for more information. We hope to see you there!

Leslie Channon

Scrutiny Panel Chair

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Leslie Channon [1]Chair of the RSP and Winner of Cottsway’s 2014 ‘Resident of the Year’ AwardAs a busy single mum of two small boys, besides my role as RSP Chair, I am currently in my final six months of my Master’s degree in Housing Studies at the University of Westminster. My dissertational research will explore the social impact (benefit) to residents from becoming involved with their landlord. I currently serve as a Board member on the Chartered Institute of Housing’s South East Board. I have spoken nationally on co-regulation and Cottsway’s Award winning Scrutiny Model, and co-developed a successful CIH SE Scrutiny Conference in London.

Jo Bunyan [2]Vice Chair of the RSP and Chair of the Impact GroupMy background is in leading and facilitating improvements within the NHS, I’m well into my second year of being a Scrutiny Panel member and have been successful in becoming Vice Chair of the RSP and Chair of the Impact Group. I am enjoying representing tenants and being able to use my experience towards making improvements within CHA for the benefit of the residents and the organisation. We are continuing to demonstrate the importance and value of having a Residents Scrutiny Panel by regularly reviewing and developing how we scrutinise areas of CHA this will mean we are consistently improving too.

Chris Spencer [3]Chair of Finance sub-groupI’m now retired but throughout my working career I have gathered 40 years experience in a sales and marketing role. I hope that I can use the knowledge and experience in my job and personal life to create a better future for all Cottsway residents.

Christine Ledamun [4]

My past experience of starting up new businesses, my life experience and my age is what I bring to the panel. I lived in Spain for ten years and came back to the UK to help my daughter.

Dave Chapman [5]

Having been a Resident Inspector with Cottsway prior to the forming of the Resident Scrutiny panel and having experienced the way in which Cottsway encourage tenants to participate and challenge them into finding ways to improve the service provided for the tenants it seemed a natural progression for me to become more involved and apply for the RSP. Having been selected and although at times it has been challenging, with the support I get from Cottsway and fellow RSP members I am still enjoying the experience and hopefully along with the other members of the panel we are making a difference for the tenants.

Gillian Browning [6]

I have been a member of the Resident Scrutiny Panel for three years now and I must say it has been a great experience. During this time I have been given so much support from the other panel members plus lots of training from Cottsway. This has helped me gain knowledge about how Housing Associations operate so that I can make a positive contribution to the panel. I would definitely encourage other residents to join this panel as you would be well supported and your voice could make a difference.

Gill Sollis [7]

I have always lived in the Witney area and used to run my own business. I joined the resident scrutiny panel in April last year and was on the CSI panel before this. I joined the RSP to help make things better for Cottsway residents

Andy CrossI’ve worked at Cottsway for over 13 years now, all of this time engaging with residents and trying to get them involved in helping shape services and improve the business. In my time at Cottsway there have been huge changes, but I’m still as passionate about what I do and have a firm belief that the involvement of residents is a key part of the business. Working alongside the Scrutiny panel, and other

groups, you see how dedicated and determined residents can be and what a difference can be made - the scrutiny panel should be proud of what they have achieved. I’m sure there are other residents in our communities who are just the same – why not come give it a try?

Vicki PaxfordI’ve worked as the Communities Manager at Cottsway for almost six years and have had the pleasure of working with the Scrutiny Panel for the last four of those years. As well as working with us to improve services to all residents the Scrutiny Panel also hold us to account on your behalf, challenging us to look at what we do from a residents’ point of view. Personally, I really enjoy seeing how Panel members have grown

in confidence as they work together as a team, learn new skills and increase their knowledge of the social housing sector. I would really encourage anyone who is interested, for whatever reason, to find out more and think about joining the Panel as the benefits for the individual, our residents and Cottsway itself are huge.

Meet your Resident Scrutiny Panel

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Meet the Support Team

Could this be you?

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Our Achievements: 2014/15At the beginning of 2014 Cottsway’s Agenda 8 restructure was underway and the RSP collectively decided to take time to review and strengthen our own operating procedures:

• Established a Finance sub-group with Terms of Reference

• Established the Impact sub-group with Terms of Reference

• Appointment of a Project Manager for each Scrutiny

• Facilitated our own Away-Day (VFM)

• Belbin team roles individual and team

• Carried out team temperature check

• Completed Scrutiny # 4 - complaints

We listen to each other

We are not afraid to challenge

We respect each other’s opinions

We seek support when

needed

We don’t interrupt each other in

meetings

We are punctual at

meetings

We keep meetings to

time

We reflect and improve how we

scrutinise

Accountability

• Respond to emails

• Fulfilling roles/tasks allocated

We use iPads to communicate –

i.e. FaceTime

Our Team Culture:

We trust each other

What we are proud of:

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Scrutiny 2 RepairsAs part of Agenda 8, CHA recognise that mobile working will make a big difference. Currently some of our recommendations are held back due to this, once mobile working is in place a lot of the recommendations will dovetail in such as; offering 2 hour appointment slots, offering evening and weekend appointments, texting appointment reminders. Residents will also be able to support their repair requests with photographic evidence, this means that the repairs operatives will know exactly what the problem is and come with the right equipment to complete the repair. Mobile working will also reduce the amount of time the operatives spend back at base collecting job paperwork. By stopping sending the repair acknowledgement letter CHA have saved around £12,000 per year.

Scrutiny 1 Lettings Following our first scrutiny CHA have introduced what they call a journey meeting, this takes place regularly and from this a formal structure has been put in place to monitor and report for each property the time the property has been empty, the time taken to do any work required in the property (this is now all done in-house) and when it has been re-let. This is to minimise the turnaround time as an empty property means that there are people not being accommodated and that the organisation is not earning money.

Progress and Impact

Impact

Residents

Quality

Sustainability of Change

The impact group was established as a subgroup of the RSP with the purpose of:• monitoring and reviewing all scrutiny recommendations and agreed

actions

• establishing the impact of scrutiny recommendations, in terms of resident and staff satisfaction, value for money, sustainability and quality.

• monitoring the progress with the RSP’s annual plan, including agreeing amendments

• lead on the production of the annual report to residents and stakeholders

• Report to residents via the annual report

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Scrutiny 3 Anti-Social BehaviourFollowing RSP recommendations the policy has been reviewed and there is now clarity of what is and isn’t ASB and what the expectations for residents are regarding CHA’s response

to ASB. The ASB process has been redesigned, CHA now have dedicated staff as leads for ASB. Describing them as the go to people for specialist

knowledge, this means that staff have someone to go to for advice or who can take on complex cases. This also means that by

having a greater knowledge on the floor they are able to deal with cases more efficiently. CHA are taking more

ownership for the outcomes and have improved their communication with residents. Multi agency working has improved and there has been a very positive response from the police in how CHA are dealing with complaints.

Scrutiny 4 ComplaintsFollowing recommendations CHA have re written

the policy on complaints to ensure it is a solid policy to deliver against. It is currently being reviewed by

a group of residents who were previous complainants for feedback, this will be valuable as they are residents

who have experienced the previous process. As per recommendation CHA have committed to the Chartered Institute

of Housing Complaints Charter to align processes and policy against it and to enable them to improve, learn and measure service. CHA are focussing on getting the processes and structures right for the complaint process before they can begin to implement the recommendations around learning from complaints. This will ensure that there is a consistent and standardised approach to complaint handling and that the policy and procedure align and comply with current regulation – good practise.

CHA state that the overall aim for the complaints process is to make it more holistic and ensure it works for the customer.

They feel that they are not sure they would have achieved this without scrutiny. As an organisation CHA see scrutiny as people

who challenge the current position, and in turn see that staff also have this responsibility, collaboratively this will create a culture of

continuous improvement. CHA also report that overall the pace behind the delivery of recommendations is greater now than it was previously. Also, as

the residents scrutiny panel learn and improve from each scrutiny it undertakes the recommendations are more clearly defined, this enhances the value scrutiny brings and

enables staff to get better at creating and delivering action plans around it.

Progress and Impact

Impact

Residents

Staff

Value for Money

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Scrutiny 5 – Condition of Cottsway’s Empty (Void) Properties

The Scrutiny Panel will undertake a scrutiny on the standard (condition) of empty properties using Cottsway’s own Empty Property (Void) Standard: “Clean, Safe and Secure”. As part of our scrutiny we will visit empty properties, hold resident focus groups, undertake resident and staff interviews, and look at Cottsway documents in a desk top review. After gathering the evidence, the RSP will report their evidence based findings in the form of a written report and make recommendations for improvement to Cottsway’s board.

Scrutiny 6 – Interdepartmental Communication

Scrutiny 7 – Service Charges

Scrutiny 8 – Cottsway’s Improvement Strategy?

Our five Key Drivers:

What will make a difference to

residents

Using feedback from residents

What would you like to see us scrutinise?

What will lead to improved services &

organisational performance

What is manageable &

achievable

Take into account strategic

direction & department restructures

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Training provided to the Scrutiny Panel

Top 10 tips for a successful Scrutiny

Look at issues that matter to residents; making a real difference in their lives

Have a clear, realistic, and achievable plan in place

Be open-minded – open to new ideas and view points

Invest in quality training

Think independently of Cottsway, whilst also maintaining a good relationship

Team-building, team-work, and support – utilising everyone’s strengths

Have full buy-in from Cottway’s Board and staff

Dedicated – invaluable support and knowledge

Robust governance shows accountability

Base findings on facts and evidence. We ‘triangulate’ evidence

Triangulate = capture evidence from numerous (more than two) sources to firm and strengthen the facts.

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• Tenant Participation Advisory Service - Presentation skills, • Housing Quality Network - report writing, running resident focus groups, interview skills,

moderation on each scrutiny, committee skills• Microsoft Office applications• Online training - Introduction to Governance, Introduction to Social Housing, and data protection• Belbin accreditation• T.A.P Coaching

External Training

• Tenant Participation Advisory Service - Group Working, Personal Development, Housing Finance, Regulation of Social Housing, Reform of Social Housing, Value for Money, Performance Management, Chairing Skills, Scrutiny Away Day

• Repairs Workshop, STAR Workshop Coventry• Trafford Hall Tenant Scrutiny Level 2

Workshops

• Conferences - Strictly Scrutiny and Money Matters, Welfare, work and more, Greensquare Scrutiny Event, Co-regulation Conference, CIH South East Conference & Exhibition, Anti-Social Behaviour Conference, TPAS Conference 2012 and 2013

• In House Briefings - Overview of Customer Services, Overview of Corporate Services, Overview of Property and Development

• CIH South East Conference and exhibition 2013 & 2014• CIH South East Practitioner Conference• CIH South East Scrutiny Conference 2014• CIH Complaints Conference 2014

Conferences & Briefings

Data Protection Governance Business Plan & Bribery Act

Equality & Diversity Monitoring and Reporting

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How we Scrutinise

Scoping meeting: to see what we want to

scrutinise

Staff interviews: scripted in-

person interviews

Resident interviews:

scripted telephone interviews

Job Shadowing:

follow a staff member’s routine

job duties

Bench marking:

compare results against similar

housing associations

Write the report: document evidence, findings,

and provide recommendations

Present the report to the

Board

Process mapping: from

beginning to end

Desk top review: to look at the relevant documents and

policies

Focus Groups:

residents and/or stakeholders – a

scripted structured round-table group

to gather evidence

Stakeholder interviews: scripted in-

person interviews

Audit: to monitor, take

stock, and look for patterns or

inequalities within a specified area

Moderation meeting: an

external facilitator leads the panel to test the evidence

and/or see where we need to investigate

further

Scrutiny roles assigned to

members

Action plan and implement

recommendation

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Next Steps 2015/16

Next generation of RSP members – succession planning

Host a ‘Recruitment Day’ in May

Further embed Scrutiny throughout the organisation to get the buy-in from all levels of the business

Work on closer links with the Board so we have influence and be involved with the strategic direction of the organisation

Annual Away Day – July 2015 – Establish our annual plan, team-build, re-group, reflect and refocus

Continue networking with other housing associations to promote and share Best Practice!

Continue to speak at a national level on the work that the RSP has achieved so far

Use an improvement cycle after every scrutiny to evaluate and review how the RSP work together in order to further develop and improve future Scrutinies

Further strengthen and embed the finance sub-group

Continue to embed and monitor the impact of our recommendations.

Carry out another team temperature check to monitor progress since the first temperature check

Review team culture – are we doing what we agreed we would do?

Document current

processes

Implement new processes

Review and analyse

Explore alternatives

Design revised

processes

Improvement Cycle

Cottsway House, Heynes Place, Avenue Two, Witney, OX28 4YGTelephone: 01993 890000 • Freephone: 0800 8 766 366 • scrutiny@cottsway.co.uk

www.cottsway.co.uk

Cottsway Housing Association is a registered society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014.

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