I promise we will...

Matthew GardinerChief Executive, Trafford Housing Trust

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We pledge to fulfil our Promises to our customers

Hi,I’m Matthew Gardiner, Chief Executive of Trafford Housing Trust. I am proud to introduce you to our new Promises.What are our promises? They are the standards you can expect from us when we deliver services to you. They have been developed to improve your access to our services, give you a better experience of dealing with us and to make you proud of your home and the community you live in.

Read more about how they were developed in my introduction in Pulse.

You can also look at our website to find out more information and in June there will be a film illustrating what the Promises mean to you. You will be able to watch this by logging onto our website www.traffordhousingtrust.co.uk

Once you have read through our Promises, please feel free to give us some feedback either by getting in touch on our Facebook or Twitter pages.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/traffordhousingtrust Twitter: @talktrafford

We will be monitoring how well we are delivering these Promises and report back to you each year.

I look forward to us keeping these Promises to you.

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How to access our services

We promise to make contacting us as easy as possible - when it suits you, the way it suits you.

The Customer Hub

Our Customer Hub is open from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, except on Public Holidays, the business closure between Christmas and New Year and other advertised occasions.

The Customer Hub will always try to resolve an issue immediately. If however they are not able to, they will pass your query on to another member of staff who will contact you with an answer within 48 hours.

We also provide an out of hours service that customers can contact in an emergency.

Our Reception Service

We provide a reception service at:

Sale Point, 126 – 150 Washway Road, Sale M33 6AG, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

Stretford Mall, Stretford M32 9BD Monday to Friday, 10am to 2pm

The Old Trafford Community Centre, Shrewsbury Street, M16 9AX Monday 9am – 12.00; Tuesday 2pm – 4 pm; Friday 9am – 1pm

We will also provide local Customer Access Points where you can meet staff at:

Altrincham Hub Broadheath Sure Start

Broomwood Centre Pickford Court

Urmston Library Pavilion Lodge

Wardle Close Sale Moor Community Partnership Centre

We will always make a private interview room available for you to talk with our staff.

You can contact us by text, email, letter, Twitter and via our Facebook page. We will reply to you as soon as we can but always within 10 days.

If you make a complaint we will:

Try to agree a resolution to the issue within two days

If this does not resolve the issue we will undertake a formal investigation and report back to you in 10 days

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the investigation you can ask for an Independent Review which involves two Board Members and a member of the Executive Team to review the issue

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Kathryn AsprayService Lead, Customers

If the Customer Hub does not answer your call we will always phone you back the same day.

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Repairs to your home

We are introducing a new two hour appointment system. This should be more convenient to you, improve our response times and reduce missed appointments – that’s our Promise!

How quickly will we complete repairs?

Emergencies: In one working day from when the repair is reported

Urgent jobs: Within five working days from when the repair is reported

Routine repairs: Within 15 working days from when the repair is reported

Fencing, plastering, gates and flagging: In 20 working days from when the repair is reported

Appointments

We will give two hour time slots for appointments. These begin at:

8am

10am

12 noon

2pm

9am – 3pm (to avoid the school run)

In the evening at 5pm

On a Saturday at 8am or 10am

We will send a text reminder the working day before an appointment.

We will ask for feedback on the repairs service every month and use this to develop service improvements.

Handy Fix

We will offer all tenants and leaseholders access to a reliable, low cost service to assist customers with undertaking minor repairs and small jobs in their home.

Contact us on 0300 777 7777 to find out more.

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95% of repairs right first time

98% of repairs in timescale

That’s our promise

Emma RichmanService Lead, Repairs

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Allocations and Lettings

We promise to bring empty homes up to an acceptable standard before we let them and we will only rent them to people who will make a positive impact on your community.

Allocations

The Trust will advertise empty properties through Trafford Council and their contractor Housing Options Service, Trafford (HOST). Customers are able to register and bid for properties online at the HOST office at Friars Court, Sale. You can contact HOST on 0161 912 2230 or email host@salford.gov.uk

The Trust receives nominations from Trafford Council to these empty homes and we make offers to these nominees.

Lettings

We will offer accompanied viewings on all properties.

When each property is let it will:

Have a mains operated smoke alarm

Have major plasterwork that is sound

Have a kitchen that has at least one sink unit, one base unit and one wall unit

Be secure and have had a lock change on the front door

Have a new toilet seat

Be clear of any items and have clean floors and surfaces

Have had a check of the gas supply and that all gas appliances are safe to use

Have had an electric check and that all electrical items are safe to use

Have a garden clear of rubbish

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We will let empty properties as quickly as we can so that we lose no more than 1% of our income to empty homes.

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Investment in your home

We are improving homes and neighbourhoods and we promise to keep you informed of our progress, if you are affected by this work.

Letting you know about future works

We will provide a statement of works indicating the likely works to take place to your home over the next five years.

We will give tenants notice at three months, three weeks and one week prior to undertaking major works to your home.

All homes will have:

Modern kitchens and bathrooms under 20 years old

Modern heating systems with boilers under 15 years old and heating system under 25 years old

Modern electrical standards with wiring under 25 years old

External items such as roofing, pointing, chimneys to be replaced at the end of their component lifecycle

Sound structure and free from damp

By 2017, all external doors to properties meet modern security standards

Double glazed windows that provide good security

An annual survey of all gas appliances

An inspection of the electrical installation every 10 years

Hard wired smoke detectors

Modern wall and roof insulation where needed

Around your home

We will invest £4m over 4 years to upgrade the external environment around residents’ homes. This will be invested in parking, green areas, highways under the Trust’s control, lighting, fencing and other similar areas in the neighbourhoods where our tenants live. We will consult with residents to decide how we allocate this fund to maximise its impact.

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Communal areas

All communal areas to sheltered schemes, walk up flats and high rise blocks will be brought up to the ‘Millom Standard’ (see page 10) by the end of 2016. These blocks will have new flooring, new energy efficient lighting, plastering where required and decoration to a ‘hotel standard’. The internal areas of these blocks will be decorated every 5 years.

The painting of external communal areas of sheltered schemes, walk up flats and high rise blocks will be decorated every 8 years.

Old Trafford Masterplan

By March 2014 we will undertake improvements for tenants in Clifford Court, Pickford Court, Grafton Court, Princess Court and Empress Court. These improvements will be:

New windows

Balconies converted into winter gardens

New energy efficient heating system linked to a centralised boiler which is attached to solar thermal panels

New kitchen

New bathroom

These blocks will also have:

External cladding

New entrance pod with enhanced security

Upgraded communual areas to the Millom Standard

Upgraded lifts

A communication plan is in place to ensure residents, staff and partners are kept up-to-date, this includes:

Texting

Updates on the website

Notice Boards

Meetings

Graeme ScottAssistant Director, Investment and Growth

We are aiming to ensure over 98.5% of our customers are satisfied with the service we provide when improving their homes.

On major contracts we will work with our contractors to employ two trainees per million pound of expenditure on labour.

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Money support service

We will provide lots of different ways for you to pay your rent, making it as easy as we can for you. We promise to help you manage any arrears or debt through our Money Support Team.

Customers can pay their rent by

Direct Debit

Standing Order

Post Office

Pay Point

Internet

Telephone

Internet bank transfer

The team will operate 9am to 9pm, 7 days per week.

The Team will support customers in arrears but expect payments to be made as required by the tenancy agreement.

Support and advice

We will provide:

A financial assessment to all new tenants prior to tenancy commencement

Debt advice

Employment support and job seeking advice

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Sharon WhiteManager, Social Inclusion

The collection of rental income is essential to the continued financial health of the Trust.

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Your tenancy

We will support you to make your tenancy a success.

Fixed Term Tenancy

If you are a new tenant moving into:

A house

A flat in a multi-storey block (this is a block of eight floors or more)

A flat of two bedrooms or more that is not a multi-storey block nor specially designed for older people

You will be offered a 12 month introductory tenancy. We will visit after 6 and 9 months to discuss your tenancy with you. If your tenancy has been conducted satisfactorily, you will then be offered a Fixed Term Tenancy of at least 2 years.

Assured Tenancy (lifetime tenancy)

If you are a new tenant moving into a property that is not listed above you will be offered an Introductory Tenancy followed by an Assured Tenancy.

Supporting you in your tenancy

We will carry out a pre-tenancy interview including a financial health check prior to the tenancy starting. We will also visit new tenants between 4-6 weeks into their tenancy to ensure they have settled in and to resolve any outstanding issues. If from these initial visits further support is considered necessary, visits will be carried out at 6 months and 9 months into the tenancy.

We will undertake home (MOT) visits to you if:

We do not have relevant information about you

A member of staff or other agency has raised a concern about the tenancy

We have not had contact from you for over 12 months

The visit is to help you maintain your tenancy successfully. We will write to let you know when we are visiting.

We will visit at least 700 tenants a year to do an MOT visit.

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Services to older people

We promise to support vulnerable residents by bringing our sheltered homes up to a high standard, having staff that support you to live independently and providing TrustCall, a 24-hour monitoring service.

For those customers who live in one of our sheltered schemes we will provide

A Scheme Manager service for your scheme that operates from Monday to Friday.

Your Scheme Manager will: Undertake a support plan with customers when

they move in and then review this each year or if your needs change

Carry out welfare checks as agreed with the customers

Work with the residents of the scheme, supporting activities and social events

Provide advice and support on tenancy issues, such as repairs, how to pay your rent and health and safety issues

Act as an advocate to support customers with health, care and support needs to ensure they receive the best service possible

Manage building services such as cleaning, grounds maintenance; servicing of equipment

Sheltered schemes also provide a: Communal lounge for customers to use for activities and social events

Laundry Cleaning service that includes the windows for the communal areas in each scheme

Investment in sheltered schemesAll sheltered schemes communual areas will be brought up to the Millom Standard by late 2016.

The Millom Standard is:

Contemporary modern decoration to hotel standard

Plastering to brick walls

Enhanced improvements to manage fire risk issues and help those tenants with disabilities

Improved lighting and emergency lighting

New carpets, furniture, blinds and curtains

For those tenants who receive our TrustCall service TrustCall provides

24-hour monitoring of emergency calls from TrustCall customers and we will agree a response to each call

If required TrustCall will:

Make a referral to an emergency service or other agency as required

Visit the customer within 40 minutes

TrustCall will also provide support to sheltered schemes when the Scheme Manager is not on duty by giving access to the block via the intercom system and either phoning or visiting customers where this has been agreed.

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How we will deal with anti-social behaviour (ASB)

We will

Agree an action plan and support plan with you if you report ASB

Agree how and when to update you on the case

Aim to resolve the complaint to your satisfaction

Adopt a supportive approach to working with victims and witnesses

Demonstrate a strong focus on identifying and minimising risk

Who will support you if you report ASB?

You will have a named individual with responsibility for your case. This will be either a Home Living Advisor or a Neighbourhood Partner who will be responsible for managing each case of ASB from when it is first reported to its conclusion. They will draw on the expertise and skills of the Police and Trafford Council. This will integrate THT’s tenancy powers with those of the criminal law and licensing/taxation.

We will respond to reports of ASB as follows:

High level ASB: A member of staff will contact you within one working day

Medium level ASB: A member of staff will contact you within 2 working days

Low level ASB: Details will be taken and passed to the relevant staff member who will contact you in due course

The levels of ASB are categorised on the website www.traffordhousingtrust.co.uk

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With each ASB report, we will assess the situation and in some cases we may respond more quickly

That’s our promise

We promise to support you if you make a complaint of anti-social behaviour.

Tony Lowry Assistant Director of Neighbourhoods

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Your neighbourhood

We are proud of our neighbourhoods and want them to look great, so we commit to providing exceptional caretaking and grounds maintenance services.

We will complete estate and block inspections in our neighbourhoods with customer and partner involvement. We will publish the date of these inspections in advance to encourage participation.

In low rise blocks (up to seven storeys) we will provide a caretaking service to the following standards:

Clean and maintain communal areas including lifts, lighting and bin rooms at least every two weeks

Clear the litter in external communal areas at least every four weeks

Remove any fly tipping from within the block or the communal grounds of the block on each visit

If you report an issue with the communal area to us we will respond within three working days (or 24 hours if it is considered dangerous or a health and safety issue).

If you report graffiti we will remove this within five working days (or three days if it is offensive).

In multi-storey blocks (those with eight storeys or more), we will:

Provide a caretaker for each block (and a cover if they are off)

Do a daily check of the block and fire risk check and deal with issues that are identified

Clean the foyer, toilet area and lift daily

Clean the communal area and landings once per week

Clean the bin rooms and bulk refuse area once per week

Check communal lighting daily and replace bulbs or order a repair as required

Litter pick grassed areas and pathways twice per week

Have a Closed Circuit Television system which we can use to view images if required

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Managing neighbourhoods is best done in partnership with local people, local communities and key partners.

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In multi-storey blocks, we will

Inspect the working of lifts monthly

Undertake an annual inspection of the Digital TV system

Complete an annual inspection of gas appliances in homes

Complete an annual inspection of laundry appliances

If there is a lift breakdown we will be on site within one hour.

If the Digital TV has a fault we will be on site the same day (except Christmas Day and Boxing Day).

We will work with residents to undertake a block inspection every 3 months.

Our Estates

We will provide a Grounds Maintenance Service in partnership with Greenfingers who will:

Cut grass in the growing season every two weeks and remove the cuttings

Keep flower and plant containers and areas around hedges clean, and free of litter and weeds

Inspect and rectify dead, diseased or dangerous trees in communual areas

If, from a visit or referral from another agency, concern is raised about the condition of a garden we will visit the customer, assess the issues and agree an action plan to resolve any issues.

The Community Panels have a fund that it allocates within its neighbourhood. The panels will ensure that this is advertised widely and is easy to apply for.

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Involving you

We want to know what you want, so we promise to provide a variety of ways for you to get involved in the decision-making processes, which affect your home and life.

There are a variety of ways to get involved in improving our services

These are:

Completing a comment or complaint

Speakeasy Consultation Club

Mystery shopping

Customer Days

The Review Crew

Customer Action Groups

Customer Inspectors

Quality and Insight Panel

Leaseholders Together meetings

The Youth Board is made up of 10 young people from across Trafford and they look at issues which are most important to them about their neighbourhood or the Trust. They will meet at least 6 times per year.

We will provide financial support to recognised Tenant and Resident Groups.

We will support individuals to become involved with the Trust through group and individual training

and advice.

Community

We offer a variety of ways to get involved in developing your community.

These are:

Community Panels in each of our 5 main areas

Tenant and Resident Groups

Block champions

Estate walkabouts

Coffee mornings in sheltered schemes

Nominating local people for Trafford Treasures awards

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Our staff will be able to signpost or support customers who want to know about how they can get involved in our services or their neighbourhood.

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Community development

We promise to support community initiatives, working with you to decide where we should spend money in the community and what the priorities are.

We will attract at least £120k per annum in external funding.

Community Development Post

This will be a part time post for six months per individual. The post will support the individual to develop a range of skills that they can utilise to help support and develop their own community.

Sale West and Ashton Partnership

We will continue to take a lead role in developing the Sale West Centre and how this contributes to the local community through managing and shared funding of the Sale West and Ashton Partnership Development Lead post and match funding partner’s contribution to the project of £5k per annum until 2013.

Youth Team

The Community Panels contribute £130k per annum to fund a Youth Team. This is a three year agreement ending in 2015. The Youth Team work with the Community Panels to agree an annual work plan.

A fourth Youth Worker will be employed. This Youth Worker will focus on Trafford wide initiatives such as the Youth Board, the Youth website, volunteering and capacity building programmes.

This worker will also provide sessional support to the community based projects.

Big Society Projects

We will complete four Big Society projects each year.

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For young people, we will:

Have a £5,000 fund for each of our 5 areas to support youth activity

Undertake 4 surveys a year with young people

Develop a Facebook page for young people

That’s our promise

Julie NelsonCommunity and Partnerships Engagement Manager

C21/0512/102941

Registered in England No: 04831118 • Charity Registration No: 1106967

Leaseholder ServicesLeaseholders receive the following Promises (as described in this Promise document).

Access to services

Repairs (but this will only be communal repairs)

Investment (but this will only be investment in the communal area or structure of a block)

ASB advice

Neighbourhood services

Customer involvement

Community development

We will provide all leaseholders with a five year plan of the intended work to their block. If these works are more than £5,000 we will offer to meet and discuss this. We will contact all leaseholders who are affected by planned major works to discuss the proposed work and to give notice in advance of our Section 20 duties to allow them to prepare for and understand any major works affecting them.

We will give leaseholders a number of ways to pay for major works. These will include:

Immediate payment

Five year payment with an interest free loan

In specific circumstances we will consider making a charge on the property

We host quarterly Leaseholder Together meetings to discuss issues effecting leaseholders and giving presentations and information on subject matters determined by the Leaseholders.

Mia JamesLeaseholder Lead