How Effective is the Alliance Homes Assisted Decorating & Gardening Service?

How Effective is the Alliance Homes Assisted Decorating & Gardening Service?

Executive Summary 1. Introduction Alliance Homes Spotlight on Quality (SQ) team was established in March 2014 to act as a critical friend to Alliance Homes and its partners, by carrying out effective scrutiny of Alliance Homes performance and service delivery. The SQ team will help to deliver co-regulation by holding Alliance Homes to account in fulfilling its service delivery role and ensuring it delivers value for money as well as good quality services. Members will review performance to ensure that services are focused around residents needs, recommending improvements where appropriate and highlighting examples of good practice. 2. Background & scope In this review, the SQ team has chosen to carry out a review of Alliance s Assisted Gardening & Decorating Service. The Spotlight team plans to review at least two areas of service each year. There are a number of factors which will determine which areas are chosen, for example: Concerns over performance Resident dissatisfaction with a particular service as expressed through the results of satisfaction surveys or anecdotal evidence Concerns about the impact of government policy, for example welfare reform Services which have not changed for years or good practice which has been seen elsewhere The was chosen for this review following a meeting with managers from the Housing Team. This service has not been reviewed for a considerable time and Alliance has concerns that it may not be working as efficiently as it should be and meeting the needs it was designed for. 3. Methodology We carried out this review by: Meeting with key staff and reviewing documents provided by Alliance Homes Meeting frontline staff involved in the services Carrying out focus groups with residents who currently receive the services Comparing the service with those provided by other housing providers Researching other agencies who might be able to provide similar services In all the above activities we focussed on answering the following key questions: Key questions: Should Alliance be delivering this service? How far does the service achieve value for money? How well is eligibility being monitored? January 2015 Page 1

Does Alliance know enough about its residents to be able to effectively market and target the service to the right people with the right needs? 4. Key findings & recommendations Our detailed findings and recommendations can be found in the main body of this report. However, here is a summary of the key strengths and weaknesses we found in this area of the service, followed by a list of our key recommendations: 4.1 Our key findings: Strengths: These schemes assist tenants who receive them to enjoy and have a pride in their homes and maintain the terms of their tenancy at no direct cost to themselves These services contribute both to keeping neighbourhoods tidy and helping to reduce void costs when homes are relet Tenants receiving both services were generally satisfied with the quality of these services Weaknesses: Both services are currently only accessed by a very small percentage of eligible tenants due to being poorly advertised and targeted Eligibility criteria for both schemes is not consistently checked or applied and the gardening service is over-subscribed leading to a large waiting list despite some evidence that some tenants receiving the service may not be eligible Neither service provides good value for money as unnecessary work is sometimes carried out (e.g. rooms unnecessarily decorated, gardens maintained despite eligible tenants having moved), specification and monitoring of gardening work is inconsistent and the decorating service is expensive 4.2 Our key recommendations: We recommend that Alliance Homes should: Consider levying a small charge to tenants for both these services. This could be in the form of cash or by using the ProPoints scheme Review the qualifying criteria for both schemes and ensure eligibility is independently verified to ensure the services are meeting the correct needs Advertise and promote both services to increase take-up by eligible tenants Consider additional means of providing these services, for example using an adopt a garden scheme, or the use of apprentices and/or social enterprise The service should be managed and monitored more effectively, for example, to prevent some properties which are ineligible continuing to have gardens maintained under this service and unnecessary decoration being carried out. Work should be specified & communicated better to tenants. January 2015 Page 2

Spotlight Report 1. Introduction and background Alliance Homes Spotlight on Quality team was established in March 2014 as a replacement for the previous Alliance Scrutiny Panel. Membership of the SQ team currently stands at five residents of Alliance Homes, supported by an independent trainer and mentor who has been appointed to support the team and help it to become established. The independent mentor will chair team meetings for the first few months. Further recruitment will take place on an ongoing basis in order to continue to grow the SQ team to an optimum number of around 10 15 members. The SQ team acts as a critical friend to Alliance Homes and its partners, by carrying out effective scrutiny of Alliance Homes performance and service delivery. The SQ team will help to deliver true co-regulation - holding Alliance Homes to account in fulfilling its service delivery role and ensuring it delivers value for money as well as good quality services. Members will review performance to ensure that services are focused around residents needs, recommending improvements where appropriate and highlighting examples of good practice. The key objective of scrutiny is: To enable residents to shape and improve services provided by Alliance Homes Group and its partners. This is the second review undertaken by the SQ team. 2. Scope of review 2.1 We started planning for this review by considering various aspects of Alliance Homes Assisted Gardening & Decorating services including: 2.1.1 How well does the service meet the needs of the residents it is designed for? 2.1.2 How well is the service managed and delivered? 2.1.3 How far does it deliver the service that tenants want and need, or is money being spent unnecessarily? 3. Methodology 3.1 This section sets out the various methods used to carry out our review. 3.1.1 The team reviewed a selection of documents provided by Alliance, including o o Promotional leaflets about the services A management summary describing both schemes including their objectives and perceived strengths and weaknesses January 2015 Page 3

o o o Application forms and qualifying criteria for each scheme Price lists and specifications and samples for the decorating service Customer insight data collected by Alliance and the forms completed to collect this data 3.1.2 The team also carried out the following reality checks : o Focus groups with groups of residents who receive each service asking them the following questions: How did you find out about the service and how did you apply? What evidence of eligibility did you have to provide? How does the service meet your needs and does it meet your expectations? How would you have coped if the service did not exist? How could the service be improved? Would you be prepared to pay a contribution towards the cost of the service? If so, how much do you think would be reasonable? o Meetings with Alliance staff involved in the planning and delivery of each service 3.1.3 The team also compared Alliance s Assisted Gardening & Decorating Service with a number of other housing providers, including Severn Vale Housing Society, Knightstone, Curo, Merlin Housing Society, Yarlington Housing and Bristol City Council. 3.1.4 We also carried out some research to establish whether there were other agencies who could provide the same service. 4. Findings 4.1 Introduction In this section we will describe each service and set out our findings about each in turn, assessing their strengths and weaknesses and comparing them with other housing providers. 4.2 Assisted Gardening Service 4.2.1 Description The assisted gardening service is a non-obligatory service (in other words, not an obligation of the tenancy agreement) that Alliance Homes offers to its tenants. In order to be eligible for the service, tenants must satisfy the following criteria: January 2015 Page 4

Aged 70 years or over or in receipt of either Attendance Allowance or Higher Rate Disability Living Allowance Have no family or friends willing and able to undertake basic gardening work Have no-one in their household able to undertake basic gardening work This service is carried out within Alliance Homes wider grounds maintenance contract, currently carried out by an external contractor, Landscape Services Ltd and administered by Alliance s Property Care Services team. The current contract is in place until March 2017 and the value is 140,000 per annum excluding VAT. During the 2013/14 growing season the service was provided to 348 addresses with 50 on the waiting list. The service consists of basic garden maintenance tasks carried out between March and October including: eight grass cuts and some general maintenance, pruning and tidying tasks. 4.2.2 Comparison with other providers The team carried out some research into whether other housing providers offer similar services to Alliance s assisted gardening scheme. The results are set out in the table below: Organisation Assisted Gardening Provided? (Y/N) Provided Free to Qualifying Tenants? (Y/N) Contribution Required? Comments Knightstone N - - Yarlington Y N Small charge Merlin N N - Operated a scheme, but now ceased. May reintroduce but with a charge. Curo Y N 5.79/ 3.78 Weekly Severn Vale Y Y N Partnership with Gloucester Wildlife January 2015 Page 5

Bristol City Council N N - Refer to Care & Repair From these comparisons we can see that only one of the providers in our survey, Severn Vale Housing Society, carries out this service at no cost to the tenant. The service in that case is provided in partnership with Gloucester Wildlife. The only two other providers who offer an assisted gardening service, Yarlington and Curo, both make a small weekly charge for the service. Bristol City Council, while not providing a service themselves, do refer tenants to Bristol Care & Repair, an agency that provides this type of service to qualifying tenants. 4.2.3 Reality checking We carried out a focus group attended by 8 tenants, all who currently receive the assisted gardening service. The detailed responses to questions are attached at Appendix 1, but the general feeling from tenants was: The service is very helpful to them as they are not able to carry out gardening themselves. It helps them to feel better about themselves and their home stops them feeling guilty about letting the garden become overgrown The service helps maintain the tidiness of the neighbourhood They may be prepared to make a contribution to the cost of around 5.00 per week if Alliance decided that was necessary. However they felt the service should be improved if a cost was to be incurred. They would also consider using their Pro-Points as a reasonable way of contributing to the cost 4.2.4 Alternative means of providing the service One of the questions we considered was whether there were other organisations or agencies that could provide this type of service. We carried out some research into agencies that work in the North Somerset area and found that the available options were limited and also very expensive compared to the service Alliance provides, which is currently provided at no cost to tenants. January 2015 Page 6

4.2.5 Strengths In this section we list some of the strengths we found when examining the Assisted Gardening Service. Provides a necessary service to most residents who receive it, helping them to maintain and use their gardens when they are unable to do gardening themselves Enables them to stay in their homes and enjoy their gardens and keep to the terms of their tenancy Helps maintain the tidy appearance of neighbourhoods Helps reduce void costs when homes are being relet 4.2.6 Weaknesses In this section we list those issues we consider to be weaknesses in the Assisted Gardening Service. Firstly, although tenants receiving the service are generally happy, we found the following weaknesses: Questionable value for money as service not targeted accurately towards those in most need The service is not advertised or promoted Criteria used to establish eligibility is not consistently applied The effectiveness and efficiency of the service has not been reviewed for many years The service is currently over-subscribed and there is a long waiting list for the service No monitoring of contractors delivering the service leading to inconsistent delivery of service e.g. duration of visits Assessment of specified work to be carried out is not consistently communicated to tenants 4.2.7 Recommendations We believe that Alliance Homes should continue to deliver an assisted gardening service in order to meet its Corporate Plan Objectives. However, in order to address the above weaknesses we make the following recommendations: If the current criteria are maintained then eligibility should be independently verified January 2015 Page 7

The service should be managed and administered more effectively, for example, to prevent some properties which are ineligible continuing to have gardens maintained under this service The contract should be monitored to ensure consistent and effective delivery of the service The service should be widely promoted to increase awareness to those who need it A small charge should be levied for the service, and/or use of the Pro- Points scheme, which would allow a further 60 gardens to be included at no extra cost. This may discourage use of the scheme by those who have other means. Specification of works to be carried out at each property should be communicated to recipients of the service Alliance could consider other means of delivering a similar service, such as an adopt a garden scheme, or the use of apprentices and/or social enterprise to deliver this service 4.3 Assisted Decorating Service 4.3.1 Description The assisted decorating service is a non-obligatory service (in other words, not an obligation of the tenancy agreement) that Alliance Homes offers to its tenants. In order to be eligible for the service, tenants must satisfy the following criteria: Aged 70 years or over or in receipt of Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance Have no family or friends available to decorating work Have no-one in their household able to carry out decorating work Tenants accepted for the service can choose to have two rooms decorated or select from a range of other options including a variety of levels of decorating work. The full details are published in a promotional leaflet available from Alliance Homes. This scheme is delivered through adhoc contracts administered by the Building Surveyor (Cyclical Works) in the Property Care Services team. The current contracts have a value of 132,000 per annum (including VAT) and in 2013/14 some 170 addresses benefitted from the service. January 2015 Page 8

4.3.2 Comparison with other providers The team carried out some research into whether other housing providers offer similar services to Alliance s assisted gardening scheme. The results are set out in the table below: Organisation Assisted Decorating Provided? (Y/N) Provided Free to Qualifying Tenants? (Y/N) Contribution Required? Comments Knightstone N N - - Yarlington Y Y Small Charge Merlin N N - Considering reintroducing scheme with a small charge Curo N N - Refer to Handy Help Severn Vale N N - - Bristol City Council N N - Refer to Care & Repair Currently Yarlington Housing is the only organisation that we looked at that delivers an assisted decorating service. This service is provided at a small charge to tenants. Merlin is considering reintroducing this type of scheme but with a small charge. 4.3.3 Reality checking We carried out a focus group attended by 10 tenants, all who currently receive the assisted decorating service. The detailed responses to questions are attached at Appendix 1, but the general feeling from tenants was: The service helps tenants to keep their home to a standard they are happy with, and also to comply with their tenancy agreement It helps them to carry out work they would not otherwise be able to, reducing stress and worry They felt the service could be improved by having more rooms included, also the quality of the service should be checked They also felt there was too long a wait before applying to have further rooms decorated All tenants in this focus group said they would be prepared to pay a contribution, for example using the ProPoints scheme January 2015 Page 9

When asked how they found out about the service, word of mouth and the Insight magazine were the most frequent, also information was provided at some Alliance hosted events and coffee mornings held at sheltered schemes In addition to the above comments, one tenant said that if the service was not available he would have to get friends or relatives to assist. This suggests there may be a small number of tenants receiving the service who could get help from elsewhere. 4.3.4 Alternative means of providing the service One of the questions we considered was whether there were other organisations or agencies that could provide this type of service. We carried out some research into agencies that work in the North Somerset area and found that the available options were limited and also very expensive compared to the service Alliance provides, which is currently provided at no cost to tenants. 4.3.5 Strengths In this section we list some of the strengths we found when examining Alliance Homes Assisted Decorating Service. The service helps to maintain the interior of some Alliance properties which might otherwise be in a poor state of decoration Tenants who have received the service were mostly very happy with it 4.3.6 Weaknesses In this section we list those issues we consider to be weaknesses in the service The service is not providing good value for money as it is expensive (e.g. it exceeds the void standard) and is only reaching a limited need The amount of work allowed in each home is limited The service is not well publicised, therefore it is not meeting the needs it is designed for Some rooms are decorated when not necessary Criteria is not being followed consistently January 2015 Page 10

4.3.7 Recommendations The decorating service should be better publicised. The current leaflet should be updated and more widely available. Other means of publicity should be considered Review the qualifying period and criteria for eligibility for the service Review the specification of work required, for example the level of work provided Alliance could consider other means of delivering a similar service, such as the use of apprentices and/or social enterprise Alliance should consider levying a small charge for the service, possibly using the ProPoints scheme 5. Conclusions and recommendations 5.1 Conclusions 5.1.1 Overall both services were found to be very helpful to those who received them. However, having not been reviewed for such a long period, they now require an overhaul in terms of more cost effective management, administration and monitoring to deliver better value for money. 5.1.2 The areas of best practice were: Delivering both services continues to meet with Alliance Homes Corporate Plan Objectives of assisting those who through no fault of their own need help to maintain and live in their homes 5.1.3 The key strengths we found were: The services were of benefit to those tenants who received them, enabling them to stay in their properties and have pride in them whilst also keeping to the terms of their tenancy agreement The services helped keep down the cost of bringing empty homes to re-letting standard, both in terms of time and materials used 5.1.4 The areas which required improvement were: Advertising The leaflets were out of date and/or lacking necessary information Monitoring of services making sure that they went to those who really needed them and reducing the waiting lists 5.1.5 The key weaknesses we found were: Neither service is providing good value for money due to not being sufficiently targeted to meet the right needs, being expensive, January 2015 Page 11

considering the relatively small number of tenants assisted, and often carrying out unnecessary work Eligibility criteria was not being consistently applied, leaving long waiting lists with services not always reaching the right tenants and therefore unnecessary costs 5.2 Summary of recommendations Assisted Gardening Service: Continue to offer this service in keeping with Alliance Homes Corporate Plan Objectives Review and improve the management, administration and monitoring of the service Advertise this service more widely to raise awareness of the service for those who really need it Introduce a charge and/or use the Pro-Point Scheme as a contribution to the overall cost of the service Consider incorporating an adopt a garden scheme or the use of apprentices and/or social enterprise to widen the provision of the service and reduce costs and waiting times Monitor the contract more effectively to ensure work is specified and communicated better to tenants receiving the service Assisted Decorating Service: Continue to offer this service in keeping with Alliance Homes Corporate Plan Objectives Advertise this service more widely to raise awareness of the service for those who really need it Introduce a charge and/or use the Pro-Point Scheme as a contribution to the overall cost of the service Considering other means of delivering the service for example, an apprentice scheme and/or social enterprise Review the qualification period and eligibility criteria for this service January 2015 Page 12

Appendices 1. Appendix 1 - Results of Spotlight on Quality focus group with residents Assisted Gardening Scheme: January 2015 Page 13

Assisted Decorating Scheme: January 2015 Page 14