achieving value for money - Affinity Sutton

ACHIEVING VALUE FOR MONEY

2013/14

Affinity Sutton Group Limited Achieving Value for Money 2013/14

TABLE OF CONTENTS

4

Our Overall Approach

4

Responding to the current environment

4

Our Assets

5

New Homes

6

Investment in Communities

7

Procurement

7

Financing

9

Transparency and Scrutiny

9

Looking Forward

9

Methodology


1.0

Our Overall Approach

1.1 Affinity Sutton Group (ASG) has always taken value for money seriously. We believe in delivering good quality services at the best available price. This philosophy has been at the heart of our business strategy for many years. The Group has grown over the last 10 years through a series of mergers and through the development of new homes. We have 57,000 homes and a programme to develop 10,000 new homes in 10 years, including a number of regeneration projects designed to transform some of our older properties into modern homes. We have this year embarked upon a major change programme which is redefining the services we offer our customers and the way in which we work. In future years this will enable us to make significant savings to reinvest in building desperately needed new homes. This is becoming ever more vital in an era of reducing grant where we are more and more dependant on our own resources in order to fulfil a core part of our social purpose – increasing access to affordable housing. 1.2 This year the Group made a surplus of £75m on a turnover of £320m which exceeds any we have generated before. In 2012/13 we made a surplus of £60m on a turnover of £305m. Delivering a strong financial performance is critical as it enables us to provide services to our existing homes and residents and fulfil our mission to provide new homes for those who cannot access decent quality, affordable accommodation. The group targets a reduction in operating costs annually and this year we have again delivered a real reduction in operating costs of £69 per home. This is achieved despite some very challenging pressures which have seen real increases in costs incurred by the business. The Appendix illustrates the efficiencies the business has delivered this year, many of which will generate continuing savings in future years. We estimate the business delivered efficiency savings this year of £12m and procured goods and services which will result in future savings of a further £13m. This year we also delivered £75m in savings which directly benefitted our residents through work schemes, debt advice and improvements to the energy efficiency of their homes. The two case studies in this report contain specific examples.

2.0

Responding to the current environment

2.1 The importance of securing value for money is well understood by staff throughout the business. This year we continued to work on our group wide change programme which we believe will transform the way in which we deliver our front line services. These changes will make us a ‘digital by default’ organisation with residents enabled to self-serve and access much improved online systems. Other channels will be available to residents who don’t have access to the internet but we know from detailed research we have undertaken that our residents are increasingly IT literate and they conduct many areas of their lives in a digital

4 2013/14

environment. In the next five years we know that the demand to access services by phone or letter will fall away with an expectation that all our services will be digitally enabled. In response we are procuring an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system which will give us the technical capability to achieve this transformational change. We expect the return on our investment to generate savings in our running costs of between £5m and £8m per annum in future years.

3.0

Our Assets

3.1 The Group has homes which date back to the turn of the last century, the legacy of our founder William Sutton. We also own stock transferred from local authorities including homes built in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. It is not always the oldest stock which demands the greatest investment. Last year we commissioned Savills to work with us to develop a comprehensive understanding of the homes we own, their future reinvestment needs, and their forecast return over 30 years. We have integrated this information into our business systems and can now track the impact of interventions we make in our stock, including financial, over the lifetime of the asset. The majority of our homes are in asset groups where the projected planned maintenance and running costs are less than the anticipated rental income, generating a positive return over 30 years. Only 4,700 of our properties have negative or marginal net rates of return over the same period. This has enabled us to begin developing a new asset management strategy which encapsulates the opportunities and challenges that we face in keeping our homes in good condition.

A review of some of our most challenging estates has led us to prioritise significant investment in Barne Barton in Plymouth in the next five year business plan cycle. As a major landlord in the area we have a responsibility to ensure that our homes remain fit for purpose. This estate was former military accommodation and never intended for long-term permanent accommodation. Therefore it requires substantial investment to renew and sustain it. Alongside that we have a number of older Victorian estates in London and we are actively looking at how we might be able to improve the condition and energy efficiency of these London homes at the same time as releasing some of the latent value in the land there to assist in meeting the costs of reinvestment in areas of the country where land values are lower. We aim to fund reinvestment and regeneration work from our own resources without recourse to long term borrowing. We aim to utilise the proceeds from sales of new homes built for outright sale and we predict this income will exceed £1.2bn. This will enable us to fund and support our programme of new homes. However we plan not to rely on sales income because we know that the markets can be volatile. We test our assumptions modelling reductions in the values we obtain from sales of up to 40% and delays in sales taking place of up to 24 months to ensure that the plan can withstand such events and to assess the strength of our planned


remedial actions.

Based on stock condition surveys we spend each year in excess of £50m on planned major works to existing homes. This level of investment means that our homes meet the Decent Homes Standard with failing and ageing components replaced in the year they fall due. This year we let two major new contracts to deliver planned investment in the Bromley area and the South. These contracts are worth £10million per annum each for the next five years.

3.2 Our overriding objective is to keep our homes in a lettable and serviceable condition, however we realise that over time homes may become uneconomic to rent, or may simply be unsuitable to let on social tenancies. We aim to have the best available information so that we can secure the best long term return from our assets. This year we generated receipts of £6m from disposals of homes which were no longer suitable for social housing lettings.

We worked with the Community Investment team who engaged with residents throughout the project to harness the wider sustainability impacts that large scale retrofit can have, including getting several into training and work through the scheme itself. Other initiatives included help for residents to develop community projects in their neighbourhoods, debt advice, energy tariff switching, getting online and providing residents with training and employment opportunities.

4.0

4.1 We have for many years been a large scale developer of new homes. Over the last few years we have delivered an annual programme of around 1,000 homes, focussed largely but not exclusively in the South East and London. We have a programme to complete 10,000 new homes in 10 years, including a number of regeneration projects.

We have a programme to deliver procurement efficiencies and we continuously review services and costs. We have a dedicated procurement team who manage procurement projects across the Group as well as producing policy and procedures, monitoring the market for trends and providing best practice advice. The Procurement Team provides guidance and support across the organisation, covering strategy guidance and contract management advice. Since 2009 the cumulative savings delivered through procurement efficiencies exceeds £25m.

The Procurement Team’s work with Development includes advice on consultants’ frameworks, working with employer’s agents on OJEU projects and the best way to help achieve efficiencies through the tender process. Standard documentation has been produced for consultants to use. New methods of recording procurement process outcomes and performance of contractors are being established in order to analyse and apply the market knowledge to future procurement.

We have Framework agreements in place with employer’s agents, architects and CDMCs to deliver services below the cost ceiling whilst maintaining quality outcomes. These agreements have fixed fees for the period of the framework, bringing not only greater cost control but also the benefits of streamlined working processes, closer working relationships and access to a wide pool of experience. The employer’s agent and CDMC frameworks will be re-tendered over the coming 12 months with a view to generating further opportunities for innovation and best value. A number of our consultants have brought us projects which we have been able to progress, thus boosting our development pipeline. We also have in place a solicitors’ framework and have recently introduced a valuers’ framework to drive forward efficiency, quality and consistency, this has resulted in savings in the first year of £108k which we expect to be recurring annual savings.

Leicester Belgrave – a joint Planned Investment and Reinvestment and Strategy team retrofit project A programme of external wall insulation was carried out to 231 homes on our Belgrave estate in Leicester last year with several also receiving loft insulation top ups and new boilers. The appearance of the estate has been transformed and residents are beginning to benefit from reduced energy bills, with approximately 1 tonne of CO2 per year from every property to be saved. The project reflected a significant amount of both social and financial value for the organisation and for residents. The overall cost of the works was nearly £2m but Affinity Sutton received 80% funding for this from the Energy Company Obligation scheme. We also secured a further £160,000 funding from the Green Deal cashback scheme. As part of our challenge to reduce our environmental footprint by 20% by 2020, all internal and external communal lighting in one area on the estate was upgraded to high-efficiency LED - saving over 50% of the energy use of the existing lighting. In addition to improving the properties themselves, a strong focus on resident engagement, community investment and embracing local diversity has helped to make it a truly sustainable retrofit project. To ensure that energy savings were maximised, and using learning from our FutureFit research project, every household received an educational session with the contractor’s Resident Liaison Officer who was specially trained in energy efficiency. As part of this advice every household also received an EnergyFit Toolkit, Affinity Sutton’s own comprehensive overview of how residents can take control of their energy usage. Residents were also offered OWL energy display monitors to keep track of their electricity usage, and water butts for their garden to conserve water.

New Homes

2013/14 5


We require our main contractors to manage the supply chain to ensure continuity of supply, innovation and cost control. As part of our procurement processes we review the supply chains of all stakeholders and require them to state how these will support the delivery of the contract. Our Employer’s Requirements include a schedule listing preferred materials and components, including specification of doors, windows, heating systems and sanitary fittings, together with a list of preferred suppliers. Alternative suppliers are considered upon application by the contractor, providing an equal or higher standard and quality will be delivered. This helps maintain a degree of product consistency and quality, whilst also reducing future maintenance costs.

4.2 In 2010 the Group established a new entity, Affinity Sutton Professional Services. This is a build and design company to deliver one stop professional services to development which optimises the usage of our VAT group arrangements. In its first three years of operation we saved £1.9m in VAT on development scheme costs and this year (13/14) we achieved a VAT saving of £0.7m. 4.3 Benchmarking against the performance of the g15 London developers shows that our new build acquisition and works costs are competitive in the peer group. Although like others we have seen tender prices increasing this year and evidence of particular markets where labour shortages have meant less appetite from contractors to bid for new work.

5.0

Investment in Communities

5.1 Each year the Group funds £4m of Community Investment projects and this year secured matched funding of £1m to support projects in neighbourhoods where we are the predominant landlord. 5.2 This year the team is on track to support and help a record number of people in the areas where we are a significant local landlord: • Our Ready2Work employment service helped a record 881 people into work, 80% of whom remain in work for longer than six months • A record 85 apprenticeships were provided • 3,399 training outcomes were delivered for residents by the Ready2Work team • We established partnerships with 30 local and national employers to place our residents into work • We successfully delivered the government’s Work Programme in Bromley supporting 193 long term unemployed people into work • The first national partnership between a housing association and a credit union (Leeds City Credit Union) was launched

6 2013/14

with 775 new credit union accounts taken up • Our Money Matters service helped save residents an estimated £4.5m • 775 affordable loans were provided to residents; 1,317 residents referred for free debt advice • Over 3600 residents received financial advice and we secured £1.8m on their behalf in benefits they were entitled to receive • Our EnergyFit offer was redesigned to be more customer centric with a content overhaul. Web pages were improved and a high number of Toolkit requests have been received both online and offline. The programme was also shortlisted in the Sustainable Housing Awards • Our Get Connected service helped increase the number of residents online from 69% to 74% • 6,586 young people benefitted from local sports and arts projects • Six community ambassador programmes were launched around the country • We supported 50 community centres to be the focus of activities for their communities and we supported eight to transfer into long-term community management • We supported 53 local community improvement projects with £201k of small grants benefitting 12,307 people 5.3 The value that communities derive from this investment is difficult to quantify, so we have been working with HACT to develop a set of financial values which can be attributed to particular interventions. This work has been well received by other landlords and we are hopeful will be adopted in the sector as a tool to measure the impact that community investment has on peoples’ lives. This work has assessed the value of the achievements listed above. In this year alone it is the equivalent of £58m, principally derived from getting people into work or training and helping them to manage their finances better. These benefits directly impact on our residents and the communities they live in and we are very proud that this work has helped to improve and transform their lives.

Ryan Peachey - How Ready2Work helped me kick-start my career “Last August I went along to a Jobs Fair organised By Affinity Sutton for local residents to find out about work placement opportunities. Whilst browsing the stalls I got speaking to two representatives of CBS, which carries out Affinity Sutton’s general repairs, about gaining some office experience.


through procurement.

As promised, the Ready2Work team at Affinity Sutton followed up with me soon after on the phone, invited me down to the office to talk more about the opportunity at CBS and within weeks I started on my work placement. I’ve honestly not looked back.

6.2 Procurement savings translate into budget reductions or fund additional activity. In 2014/15 budgets have been reduced from savings made in procurement activity in previous years.

I learnt so much on my placement, the experience was invaluable and I was able really broaden my skills by learning to navigate new computer systems and developing my customer service. Towards the end of my vacancy I saw a post had become available for an Apprentice Contracts Administrator which I applied for and was successful. The contract is a year long in which I will be studying for a Level 3 NVQ Qualification in Business Administration. So not only do I have a paid job I will be able to gain a nationally recognised qualification.

6.3 Total cash savings achieved through the Group’s procurement activity for 2013/14 stand at £1m. Procurement aims to ensure value for money is achieved at the awarding of contracts and extends to strategic delivery. We expect to deliver additional value from the tender process as well as the ongoing contract management.

7.0

My life has definitely changed. My self esteem has returned as it was lost when I fell unemployed and I have met amazing people and made some fantastic new friends.

7.1 Our emphasis on maintaining strong financial results has made Affinity Sutton one of only two social landlords in the country with the highest credit rating score. We have a number of key financial ratios which form a set of financial golden rules. Amongst other measures, these target year on year decreases in operating costs as a key indicator of efficiency. Below is an extract from an annual benchmarking report for 2012/13. This shows ASG as a top quartile performer on social lettings operating cost per unit and that customer satisfaction rating is above average compared to our peers.

My confidence has grown so much and now I feel that I have a purpose. I’m proud knowing that I make an important contribution daily to a large business.”

6.0

Financing

Procurement

6.1 The group maintains a savings register which is independently verified and which lists all savings achieved

Average Cost / SH Unit

Resident Satisfaction

£7,000 £6,000 £5,000

93% 79%

81%

100%

95%

84%

80%

83% 75%

69%

74%

75%

82% 74%

71%

80%

63%

£4,000

60% £3,000 40%

3,360

3,642

3,942

4,009

4,543

4,890

5,027

5,334

5,368

5,426

5,488

5,626

6,156

6,400

Affinity Sutton

L&Q

MHT

Southern Housing

A2 Dominion

Amicus Horizon

East Thames

Circle Anglia

Peabody

Catalyst

Notting Hill

Network

Family Mosaic

Genesis

£0m

3,170

£1,000

Hyde

£2,000 20%

0%

2013/14 7


7.2 We carry out an annual financial benchmarking exercise where we look at 26 financial measures and compare ourselves with the London g15 group of housing associations plus five large national housing groups, namely Guinness, Home Group, Places for People, Sanctuary and Riverside Group. 7.3 In 2012/13 ASG had 15 measures in the top quartile; nine measures in the second quartile, two measures in the third quartile and four in the fourth quartile. 7.4 The measures in Quartile 3 are Routine and Cyclical repairs per unit and Sales Margin. In Quartile 4 are Major Repairs per unit, Total Maintenance Costs per unit, Void Rent Loss and Major Works as a % of Total Operating Costs per unit. 7.5 The high level of investment we make in maintaining our homes and our discretionary spending when investing in our communities impact significantly on these results. Traditionally the Group has committed to a higher level of spend on our properties than our peers. This year we tendered two major works contracts covering Bromley and the South and we are working hard to ensure our planned and day to day repair costs are competitive and offer value for money. Over the winter we, like many landlords, experienced an unprecedented demand for repairs due to unusually bad weather and storm damage. In addition we changed our external repairs contractor during the year and we have experienced some mobilisation issues. This has taken time to

resolve and the combination of high demand and operational issues has led to challenges in delivering the service we expect. Nonetheless our overall target for days to complete repairs was 12 days, which we exceeded, and customer satisfaction with repairs was 86%. The repairs contractor market is a challenging one with work awarded on very low prices which in our experience is unrealistic given the demands and expectations of our residents. The Group also has an in-house repairs contractor which has responsibility for day to day repairs delivery to half our homes. We have during the year renegotiated the basis of the service and expect to make efficiency savings of around £1.5 million per annum. Void rent loss at 2% is higher than most of our peers and is one of the areas we have been focussing on in our change programme. 7.6 We annually submit financial and operating performance data to Housemark, the sector’s main benchmarking service. The Group’s operating costs are analysed by six main business activities and our peer group is g15, the 15 largest London housing associations. Performance is largely as reported in previous years with the exception of development which is affected this year by a lower number of completions. 7.7 In September 2012, we launched a £250m, 30 year fixed rate secured bond with a coupon of 4.25%. We estimated last year that this will give the Group a present value saving

EFFICIENCY SUMMARY FOR AFFINITY SUTTON Cost KPI Quartile Business Activity

Cost KPI

Overheads

Affinity Sutton (2012/2013)

Affinity Sutton (2011/2012)

Overhead costs as % adjusted turnover

Mid Upper

Mid Upper

Major Works & Cyclical Maintenance

Total CPP of Major Works & Cyclical Maintenance

Mid Upper

Mid Upper

Responsive Repairs & Void Works

Total CPP of Responsive Repairs & Void Works

Mid Lower

Mid Lower

Housing Management

Total CPP of Housing Management

Mid Upper

Mid Upper

Development

Staff involved in standard units developed per 100 units

Lower

Mid Upper

Estate Services

Total CPP of Estate Services

Mid Upper

Mid Upper

8 2013/14


of around £30 million over 30 years. The proceeds of the bond enabled us to restructure our existing loan book and introduce revolving facilities to lower the cost of carrying the cash proceeds from the bond. We estimate this saving alone to be £1.8m over three years. This year we have focussed on reducing further any volatility in the income and expenditure account arising from the new Financial Reporting Standard (FRS). Whilst not an efficiency saving as such, predictability in accounting treatment is a key contributory factor in creating the right conditions for the business to flourish. 7.8 We were also among the first to agree an innovative new property insurance arrangement with Igloo, a special purpose company which is expected to result in annual savings in premium costs of around £0.2m and to improve our focus on risk management.

8.0

Transparency and Scrutiny

8.1 This year we have published a range of information about our spending, both on our website and in our annual report. As part of our commitment to transparency, we will continue to keep this under review with the aim of increasing the amount of information we make available as well as consulting with our residents about the information we publish.

9.0

Looking Forward

9.1 Our focus on delivering efficiencies and value for money continues, even more so as we face the twin pressures of shrinking public funding and welfare reform changes impacting on revenues. Driving efficiency and value for money through procurement and the major programmes of works will remain a key focus as will our determination to involve residents in looking at our services and identifying opportunities where we can make savings.

10.0

Methodology

10.1 This report has been compiled by a small task and finish team drawn from all areas of the business. All teams in the business were asked to provide evidence of value for money and efficiency savings in their area. The individual contributions were then verified and checked to source evidence. The report has been considered by the Group Audit Committee and the ASG Board. It will be published on our website and made available to residents and other stakeholders. It represents our interpretation of the regulatory requirements and reflects learning from the previous year’s return.

8.2 Our website contains details of payments to our top suppliers, the pay and reward offered to our staff and board, key statistics and performance information, action taken to combat tenancy fraud, delivery performance on our affordable homes programme, our current regulatory rating, our code of conduct and the results of resident scrutiny. We have done this to demonstrate to our residents the services we provide and the cost of providing those services. 8.3 Following last year’s launch of the Regional Scrutiny Boards (RSBs), the Group continues to support and develop the RSBs in a programme of work which examines performance in core areas of the business and making service improvement recommendations to the Board.

Positive outcomes during the year have included: • Scrutiny of a main partnering contractor’s ‘first time fix’ procedures the outcome of which is helping increase the number of repairs being completed on a first visit. • Scrutiny of the way Affinity Sutton manages Community grants and Community Assets. This has led to more efficient grant administration and auditing processes, and also improved communication with groups using our community facilities. • Scrutiny of the Affinity Sutton website resulting in the development of a long term improvement plan to improve the functionality and self-service element of the website.

2013/14 9


11.0

Appendix

Breakdown of 2013/14 efficiencies:

Summary Efficiencies

£12,087,494

Future Efficiencies

£12,969,890

Residents benefit

£75,310,039

Team Name

What Action Was Taken

Efficiencies 2013/14

Notes

Action Centre

Process improvements in the Action Centre to reduce mutual exchange application handling time.

£6,500

Efficiency

Aashyana

Consolidation of two offices in Bristol to one location.

£46,720

Efficiency

£450,000

Future Efficiency

£57,688,421

Residents benefit

£535,755

Efficiency

£5,436,780

Residents benefit

Community Investment

Realignment of CI budget to investment returns from Community Foundation.


Social Impact measurement tool developed with HACT - helps quantify cost/benefit ratio, and our impact to society and target resources to maximise social value.


Focus on productivity and efficiency has enabled employment service to support more people into work for the same cost as last year.


Savings in benefit payments by supporting the unemployed into work.


Internal recruitment - by recruiting residents directly we are saving on advertising and recruitment costs.

£14,400

Efficiency


E-learning courses - greater use of online training which is much cheaper than face to face.

£69,250

Efficiency


Volunteer work experience programme.

£20,740

Efficiency


Community Assets strategy - transfer of management to community groups and improvements to collection of rent and income.

£150,000

Efficiency


Youth Outreach projects targeting ASB hot spots in North, London and South.

£570,000

Efficiency


Community Grants Programme - outsourced to specialist provider.

£40,000

Efficiency


Community Fit Project - ‘retrofit and ‘green’ technologies installed in Community Centres reducing energy bills.

£10,000

Efficiency


Physical regeneration projects which improve land and reduce ASB and complaints.

£100,000

Efficiency


Helping residents manage their money better through free debt advice which saves them money.

£6,000,000

Residents benefit

10 2013/14



Digital Inclusion - Get Connected programme to promote internet use and generate residents savings from being online.

£1,120,000

Residents benefit


Referral to free (to end user) debt advice to residents.

£1,400,000

Residents benefit


Referral to free (to end user) debt advice to residents.

£700,000

Residents benefit


Money saved by diverting residents to low cost loan providers.

£600,000

Residents benefit


Digital Champion volunteers delivering training to get residents online.

£22,000

Efficiency


Using video conferencing, Skype and phone conferencing instead of face to face meetings.

£2,000

Efficiency


Marketing and promotion of Get Connected and Money Matters programmes via text message rather than leaflets.

£7,000

Efficiency


Value of activity provided by partner organisations at no cost to ASG (matched funding and grants).

£650,000

Efficiency


Fundraising role to raise external funds for community programmes.

£650,000

Efficiency

ASG & CBS Call Centre

Improvements to call answering at the CBS and ASH call centre.

£95,284

Efficiency

Customer Relations

Automation of repairs complaint reporting - reduced staff time manually running reports; prioritise work and deal with handling complaints instead.

£22,628

Efficiency

Rent Arrears Management

New way of working for the arrears recovery team, ensuring early intervention and proactive approach.

£50,000

Efficiency

Rent Arrears Management

Delivery of new system to ensure payments are taken at point of contact with residents ensuring arrears recovery action is efficient and effective.

£690,000

Efficiency

Human Resources

Changes to pension schemes.

£500,000

Efficiency

Human Resources

Changes to pension schemes.

£2,000,000

Future Efficiency

Human Resources

Consolidation of training and delivery of sessions inhouse.

£65,350

Efficiency

Human Resources

Digital animation created for delivery of Additions to reduce the number of roadshows.

£40,000

Efficiency

Information Systems

Review and subsequent cancellation of Annual Licence Fee, Maintenance and Support contracts of software systems that are no longer being used.

£40,557

Efficiency

Information Systems

Negotiated extended Annual Licence Fee, Maintenance and Support contract at a reduced price and changed suppliers to reduce the annual cost.

£8,036

Efficiency

Information Systems

Re-harvesting of Microsoft Data Centre software licences.

£61,278

Efficiency

Project Office

A review of the ASB policy and procedure leading to more consistent (and less onerous) service standards for dealing with ASB reducing staff time spend on handling cases.

£100,000

Future Efficiency

2013/14 11



Notes

Project Office

We reviewed the estate inspection procedure to ensure we were inspecting only as often as needed and that inspections were as efficient as possible. This has led to savings in staff time and on printing and posting.

£87,664

Future Efficiency

Project Office

We stopped sending quarterly rent statements to our residents saving on printing and postage costs.

£45,000

Efficiency

Project Office

We devised a new signup form that consolidates all previous forms (35+ pages) onto a single form (14 pages). The new form can be completed and returned on iPads saving time, printing and postage.

£2,500

Efficiency

Team Name

What Action Was Taken

Estate Services - East

Reviewed how to provide the cleaning service to all the blocks of flats in Hertsmere and decided it was more cost-effective to provide the service in-house.

£45,500

Efficiency

Estate Services - South West

Following the introduction of PDAs for caretaking staff the service was rescheduled to make better use of staff time to cover more areas and reduce wasted time between jobs. Furthermore the performance monitoring of services have improved service quality.

£11,000

Efficiency

Residential Involvement

Savings were made on the National Residents’ Council 2013 by booking train travel in advance and negogiating with suppliers e.g. hotel about costs.

£14,500

Efficiency

Residential Involvement

The Resident Involvement Team introduced improved communications including to the website so that residents can access information online. Texting is also used as a method to contact residents. The changes have saved staff time, printing and postage costs.

£4,296

Efficiency

A number of local estate offices were closed and disposed of or converted.

£24,000

Efficiency

A review of the use of skips was completed and the number was reduced by more than half. This made environmental and cost savings.

£11,226

Future Efficiency

Estate Services - East

Reviewed concessionary gardening service which provides free grass and hedge cutting to eligible tenants in Hertsmere.

£18,000

Efficiency

Housing Services - BEST

Bringing in-house the clearance of dumped bulky rubbish items previously carried out under contract.

£8,000

Efficiency


Cost comparison exercise carried out to obtain best value on cleaning chemicals and equipment used by the Environmental Services Team (London).

£10,000

Efficiency


Introduction of a new stock control system which electronically records the EST (London) chemicals and equipment usage reducing waste and saving money.

£5,000

Efficiency


Introduction of other electric vehicles within the EST (London) vehicle fleet for use by newly created floating caretaking post covering inner London estates. This will reduce overall running costs.

£3,000

Efficiency

Housing Services - West

Exeter area staff restructure, reducing 0.5 of an NHO post, has provided a more cost efficient service.

£17,733

Efficiency

Housing Services - North

Estate Services - North

12 2013/14


Supported Housing London

Tenancy audit team – tenancy fraud investigations. Service contracted in Borehamwood for a further year which will increase the number of properties available to let.


Tenancy sustainment teams are working with tenants to assist with financial management where the tenancy is at risk due to rent arrears.


Tenancy audit team have prepared their own cases for court and used DIY applications to gain possession of properties being sublet.


£10,000

Efficiency

£462,000

Residents benefit

£11,300

Efficiency

Tenancy audit team have successfully recovered properties being used or occupied fraudulently.

£684,000

Efficiency

ASPS

Savings in VAT from use of design and build company.

£674,125

Efficiency

Asset

Call outs through to working on arrival and misuse/ vandalism have been included up to the first £300 in the contract.

£22,000

Efficiency

Asset

Previously agreed rates per site were £525.00, plus vat per site. However, a reduced rate of £325.00 plus vat was negotiated which applies to new sites, and where two sites are close enough to allow inspections to be carried out to both in a single day.

£1,440

Efficiency

Asset

One contractor has agreed to carry out surveys for 17 sites – FoC.

£10,710

Efficiency

Asset

Renegotiating capital works SoRs.

£72,000

Efficiency

Asset

Improved void standard at reduced cost.

£87,500

Efficiency

Asset

Typically site/condition surveys attract a charge of £110.00 per site, however one contractor agreed to carry out surveys of new sites free of charge.

£1,760

Efficiency

Asset

10% Saving on the unit price for fire alarm servicing.

£80,000

Efficiency

Asset

Reduction in lift contract and maintenance costs.

£72,512

Efficiency

Property Investment

Purchase of long-leasehold flat in Bromley for £50,000 from LB of Bromley.

£50,000

Efficiency

Planned Investment

Anticipated efficiency/shared savings from our partnering contract.

£505,000

Efficiency

Planned Investment

£2.1m of external wall insulation works carried out to 230 homes at Leicester (ASG funding of £500k with ECO grant of £1.6m).

£1,600,000

Efficiency

Planned Investment

Anticipated rebate on national redecoration contract (3% on £2.7m works).

£81,000

Efficiency

Planned Investment

Competitive tenders secured on leaseholder works.

£340,000

Efficiency

Planned Investment

Competitive tenders secured on consultant stock condition surveys.

£55,370

Efficiency

Process improvements in the voids and lettings procedures has reduced costs and increased efficiency.

£12,000

Efficiency

Keyworker & Market rented

2013/14 13



Notes

£2,000

Efficiency

CBS

Trained Operatives to aid diagnostics to repair rather than renew faulty showers and double glazing. This led to more economic repair fixed first time with less inconvenience for the customer.

£10,000

Efficiency

CBS

Improved zoning, scheduling and productivity of trade staff will lead to reduced travel time, improved fuel consumption and reduced CO2 emissions.

£130,000

Future Efficiency

CBS

Material costs remain static absorbing inflationary increases. Negated approx. 1.5% on £1.4m.

£21,000

Efficiency

£25,000

Future Efficiency

Marketing

A resident handbook was printed and sent to every resident in 2012 at a cost of £60k. Further copies of the handbook were then printed and included in the sign up pack for new residents at a further cost of £70k. The handbook has now been replaced with a specific area on the Affinity Sutton website with an area for FAQs.

£15,000

Efficiency

Marketing

In 2013 the residents’ annual report was produced in a digital format only.

£22,000

Efficiency

Development

Architects Framework.

£29,750

Efficiency

Development

Employer’s Agent Framework.

£88,500

Efficiency

Development

CDMC Framework.

£12,000

Efficiency

Development

Legal Framework.

£293,000

Efficiency

Development

Valuers Framework.

£108,000

Future Efficiency

£15,000

Residents benefit

New 5 Year WAN contract - to commence from 13/14.

£250,000

Efficiency

Human Resources

Tendered contract - Office services - mobile phone & BlackBerry costs for staff.

£250,000

Efficiency

Human Resources

Project to review documents stored at off-site storage facilities.

£35,000

Efficiency

Operations

Roll out of Environmental Services Monitoring System (handhelds).

£58,000

Future Efficiency

£10,000,000

Future Efficiency

Team Name

Keyworker & Student Accommodation

CBS

New Development Energy Savings IMS

Group Centre

14 2013/14

What Action Was Taken A review of commercial operations keyworker schemes and student accommodation office opening hours was completed. Opening hours were tailored to demand which resulted in a more efficient use of front line staff resources.

Video conferencing function introduced for all mobile based staff reducing need to travel and cost of meeting facilities. Improved document control negating need for hard copy procedure guides and user manuals. Recycling of obsolete PDA units.

Higher build standards/Air Tightness.

IFRS102 swaps - avoidance of i&e turbulance.


Operations

Welfare Benefits: focus attention on arrears reduction as this is where we really get the benefit.

£1,887,838

Residents benefit

Group Centre

Accommodation Strategy: annual savings expected from the various projects undertaken.

£355,000

Efficiency

£1,462,500

Efficiency

£195,000

Efficiency

Asset

Savings on CBS Day to Day works.

CBS

Total People Resource Saving of £292k pa. Achieved through restructure (£184k) and pension savings (£108k). Changes have come into effect part way through year.

2013/14 15

Affinity Sutton Group Limited Industrial and Provident Society No.28038R Homes & Communities Agency No. LH4087 Registered Office: Level 6, 6 More London Place Tooley Street, London SE1 2DA Telephone 0300 100 0303 www.affinitysutton.com