Annual Report 2019/20 - Bedford Citizens Housing Association

Welcome to our Annual Report from Bedford Citizens Housing Association.

Chairman's Report

Welcome to this 2019 Annual Report which covers the ﬁnancial year to March 2020. Once again it has been a busy and productive year here at Bedford Citizens Housing Association. Keeping present and future residents at the heart of what we do has continued. We have changed our Housing team and given them more focus on the upkeep of our properties. We have also changed how we deliver care and are now using a digital system to record all of our interactions with our residents at Charter House. This system has a gateway which allows relatives to remotely check in on the care their relative is receiving at Charter House. In December we were inspected by CQC and our local Care Standards team. I am pleased to report that both inspections gave a good report about the care that we deliver.

At our regular board meetings we have been reviewing our Key Performance Indicators and looking at the ways we can improve and continue to deliver excellent services to our residents and tenants. As a Board we want to understand the operational challenges faced by the staff teams and to make good decisions on future direction. I must thank my fellow Board Members who have served during the year with me.

I want to say a special thanks to all the staff at BCHA who do such a great job supporting our residents and tenants. Towards the end of the financial year in March 2020 their courage and care was clear. As we all stayed at home to stay safe the staff team continued to work hard to care for and support our residents and tenants. For this and all their work I together with all of my fellow Board members express our deepest thanks.

Finally I want to thank all our residents and tenants. They support each other and make our roles so satisfying. We look forward to improving your homes and our communities with each year that passes.

Dick Wilkinson | Chairman

Value for money

BCHA recognises the importance of demonstrating we deliver Value for Money (VFM) to our residents, tenants, governing body, stakeholders and our regulators.

VFM is defined as the relationship between effectiveness, efficiency and economy, often described as the value chain. VFM is a positive and desirable outcome for any organisation of any size.

BCHA has a relatively flat management structure, providing a local service and operating mainly from one centre, as such it already has in place an operating structure well placed to demonstrate relatively low costs, high productivity and successful outcomes.

Since April 2019 we have made changes to the way that Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) are reported. We have agreed a new set of measures with the Board which are aligned to our benchmarking group to allow performance to be monitored against that of other providers. These key measures reflect the objectives set out in our business plan. These numbers show how we are improving value for money and investing in efficiencies. We set targets for our Key Performance Indicators to enable BCHA to measure the progress it is making in improving value for money for its customers.

Sector Scorecard and VFM Commentary

As a registered provider of social housing we have to report in our accounts to the Regulator how we have performed over a number of areas to demonstrate that we offer value for money to our communities and residents. Some of the metrics are very technical and are about how we cover interest payments on our loans, many of the metrics we use to measure are the same as we have reported to our residents and tenants year on year. These are the key performance indicators that the Senior Management Team monitor on a monthly basis and the Board review each quarter. Each year we develop a delivery plan to measure the progress we are making towards our forward looking targets which reﬂects our forward focused 5 year business plan.

Table showing sector scorecard results and comparison to the Small Providers Benchmarking Group (SPBM).

We have compared our sector score card performance with other small providers using the smaller providers benchmarking group. There is a great deal of diversity amongst smaller providers both in the types of housing they provide and also in their business mix. BCHA unlike many other providers has a 72 bed care home, which impacts upon our overall financial performance but is an important support for older people in a sector where needs are increasing but supply is being reduced.

Maintenance Cost per Property

This graph shows the maintenance spend split between responsive and void (which is reactive) and major and cyclical work (which is planned).

BCHA’s aim is to see a shift in the way money is being spent on maintenance. We wish to move away from reactive repairs to more planned, and more effectively procured, maintenance representing greater value for money. Reactive repairs often occur when something has failed. Waiting for something to fail offers poor customer service and increased costs in procuring the repair. The trend has shown that we have moved away from higher spend on reactive repairs and are now focusing more on planned works.

Arrears as a % of the Annual Rent Debit

Current Tenant Arrears as % of the Annual Rent Debit

This graph shows how much current arrears are as a proportion of the annual rent debit. BCHA charges a monthly rent and Housing Benefit is paid 4 weekly. This can give rise to movements in performance (for example Aug & Sept).

Average re-let time

Re-let time is calculated when a property is let. This graphs shows the total number of calendar days a property was void divided by the number of properties let in that month.

Digital Transformation

BCHA is investing in its IT systems in order to improve efficiencies and reduce errors across the business. During 2019/20 we introduced a digital care planning system to our care home and will follow this with a digital medication administration system. At BCHA we see digital transformation as the integration of people, processes and technology that will deliver the real benefits to customers, staff and the business as a whole. This work builds on the earlier introduction of a digital people management system. Having more digital solutions in place has assisted us in keeping relatives in contact with the care residents are receiving electronically. This has been an excellent way to maintain a clear understanding of the care being delivered at both Oak Way and Charter House.

Annual Report to Tenants

Finance Report

Chief Executive's Report

Another busy and productive year has passed with Bedford Citizens Housing Association providing care support and homes in Bedford. The focus of our work this year has been to plan how we look after our buildings and improve the ways that we record the care and support we deliver to our residents and tenants. Delivering on our aim of delivering quality care support and homes is what drives all our passionate and caring staff. To do this we have recruited Edith Shah to our Senior Management Team, Edith brings a great deal of experience of property maintenance. Edith is planning our maintenance programme for the next 30 years. In the financial year 2019/20 we replaced the passenger lift at Maydenbury House and carried out a door replacement programme. We also decorated the outside of Bedesmans House and improved security at the scheme. We aim to continue to focus investment in our properties in a more planned way to deliver greater value for money to all our customers.

The Care Quality Commission carried out an unannounced inspection and their report published in December 2019 gave Charter House an overall rating of Good in all five areas. In our care services at Charter House and Oakway House we have now adopted a digital care planning system. This allows us to record all our care interactions and to give access to relatives so that they can follow the care notes every day and see the care their loved one is receiving. This helps people stay in touch and know what is happening every day.

I am immensely proud of the staff team here at BCHA and towards the end of the financial year this report covers (2019/20) they demonstrated their commitment to the care and support they deliver. Whilst many services stopped in March 2020 the team here at BCHA continued to deliver care and support to our residents and tenants. It was a steep learning curve to work out new ways of working and continue to support our residents and tenants in different ways. I want to thank all of the staff team for their resilience and continued hard work in some very difficult circumstances.

The coronavirus pandemic brought a great many challenges to everyone. We have all needed to learn to do things differently. The team here at BCHA have been innovative in setting up video calling and safe visiting spaces to keep people in touch with loved ones.

Once again I have been very fortunate to have the support of the excellent BCHA board in what has been a year with many challenges especially in social care, and I am extremely grateful to them. I remain as enthusiastic and committed as ever to deliver the best housing and support whilst also creating safe environments for all our residents, tenants and the staff team

Marie Taylor | Chief Executive

Corporate Publications

Click on the links below to view our corporate publications, our values and statements of purpose.