Community Engagement Strategy

Appendix A Community Engagement Strategy 2015-18 Author: Hilary Barber Date: April 2015 1

Strategy Overview and Aims We have been engaging with residents since we were established in January 2007, and before that residents were involved in the setting up of the ALMO. We will continue this commitment so we remain customer focused, with residents at the heart of everything we do. This makes business sense, because successful organisations in any sector need to understand and respond to their current and future customers. We will provide effective ways for residents to influence service quality and strategic direction, and capture this in our Business Plan. We also want to make sure our community investment programme is value for money and delivers the best results for residents - supporting thriving neighbourhoods and raising our profile. Lewisham Homes mission is to deliver great housing services for thriving neighbourhoods. Our strategic objectives are set out below and are the starting point for engaging residents: To provide Excellent Services across the board To develop Thriving Neighbourhoods through investment in our homes regeneration and through engaging with our communities To deliver a Sustainable Future by being well managed, investing in improving our services and delivering affordable services To be an Employer of Choice attracting and keeping skilled and motivated staff who can deliver an excellent service We have reviewed our approach, looking at what residents have told us, our business needs and regulatory requirements. Essentially we want to provide an approach that is: Effectively engaging by reaching a wider audience, using more modern communication techniques; Showing we are really listening and acting as a result; Good value for money, making use of partnerships; Achieving higher satisfaction. Where we are now What residents have told us We asked residents how they want to be engaged through the Housing Matters consultation in 2013; consulting with the Area Panel; and talking to residents through various surveys, the residents conference, and the summer estates events. The main message is that most residents want us to deliver a good service, and to not have to get involved. But where residents do want to be involved, they want the opportunity to feedback views about what matters to them, and see change as a result. There are also many residents who are unaware of engagement opportunities, so we need to work harder to communicate what we provide. The 2014 Tenant survey showed that we are better at informing/talking to residents than properly listening and engaging: 81% of tenants were satisfied with how we keep them informed 59% satisfied that we listen to views and act upon them. How we engage with residents We provide good quality written information, including: Home magazine, our website, and an annual report. We seek views through surveys, including the biennial Star satisfaction survey and service specific ones for repairs, major works, ASB, complaints, and for new tenants. Our formal engagement structure includes: Place on our Board for Resident members 2

Area panel a forum for involved residents, mainly from tenant and resident associations (TRAs) Scrutiny Panel enables residents to look in detail at specific services or performance issues Improvement Groups TRAs The formal engagement framework is supported by a dedicated team, as well as funding from the Lewisham Tenants Fund (through a tenant levy). This provides resources for local groups, resident conferences and training courses to build capacity. Formal groups have become less popular over time we have 21 TRAs, down from 33 in 2012, and a further 2 likely to be dissolved in 2015. This directly impacts on attendance at Area Panel. Those who do attend are very committed and work hard to support us in finding better ways to deliver our services, but we find the same dedicated few at a range of forums and events. Equality and Diversity We have analysed the profile of our most involved residents, and compared this to tenants as a whole. Details are in the table in appendix 2, but in summary this shows we are engaging with smaller proportions of younger people and people from BME backgrounds and faith groups. For example, the average age of attendees at Area Panel is 57, so we are not reaching out to a representative sample of residents in this way. Although this is similar to other housing organisations, we need to engage with younger residents, particularly as it is our younger residents who are the least satisfied. There are higher proportions of BME tenants in the younger age groups, so finding ways to engage with younger residents also ensures we reach more BME residents too. Community Investment Programme This programme supports our residents and communities through a number of projects and activities. This is partly funded by Lewisham Homes, and since 2011, commitments from the decent homes contractors. For the past three years LH has contributed around 100k, and the contractors contribution has varied from year to year, depending on turnover. In response to Welfare Reform and the down turn in the economy, we have invested in projects to support tenants getting back to work, including using reserves to fund apprenticeships. We have also focused contractors commitments on this with 78 apprentices taken on by the major works contractors through the Mayor s scheme, and over 1800 work placement days supported over the last four years. We have invested in financial inclusion through the Lewisham Credit Union, and have begun to support projects that will improve digital inclusion. Community projects have been selected by a panel of residents. Around 60,000 was allocated in this way for 2014/15, covering a range of community activities targeted at young people, older people and families. Two examples of recent successful projects producing positive publicity are the Love to Dance project and the Youth Conference held in February 2015. While many of the projects and activities have been worthwhile ventures, there has been a lack of a clear strategic approach and focus for what we are trying to achieve, or sufficient evaluation. Where we want to be We want to achieve top quartile performance, and to improve satisfaction to 82% for tenants and 60% for leaseholders by 2018. Our success as an organisation depends on 3

this, and we know that a key driver for satisfaction is how we communicate and engage with our residents. It is fundamental to delivering our strategic objectives To achieve excellent services we need to understand what matters to residents and what they would like to be improved. That means reaching out and engaging with more residents, and particularly a more diverse and representative group. We need to demonstrate we are listening and taking action; To ensure there are thriving neighbourhoods, we need to develop strong partnerships with key stakeholders and improve life chances for our communities. Community engagement will be key to achieving our asset management strategy building new homes, and improving homes and estates. To have a sustainable future, we need to maximise our investment and we will work in partnership with key agencies who can deliver more than we could on our own. We will aim to get good value from the Community Investment Programme, ensuring the aims and outcomes are clear, measurable and deliverable. And we will ensure we comply with regulatory and legal requirements. To deliver on all this we need to be an employer of choice, ensuring staff are skilled and motivated, and engaging with residents. How we will get there Implementation plan Our plan for improving our approach is attached at appendix 1. This sets out what we will do and when we will do it by. Performance indicators to measure our progress are set out in the table in appendix 2. Our approach is set out below - 1. Effective engagement with our residents a. Reaching more residents - We will do this by using more informal ways to engage that are convenient for residents and will attract a wider range of people. One key change is increasing online engagement opportunities and use of social media applications. The proportion of residents contacting us through the internet and email is rising, mainly through mobile phones and tablets. We will reach younger residents 1 - a group with a higher BME proportion and achieve a more representative view when we are consulting and engaging. We are planning to set up an online panel, borrowing ideas from existing market research panels and customer feedback applications, which is supported by our campaign to increase registration for on-line services. Using profiling, we aim to make the panel representative of our residents as a whole. The panel will be used for a programme of consultation activities, with flexibility for participants on how much they do. We will feedback results to the panel so they feel valued, and can see the action being taken. Our approach to social media has been experimental, but is growing and we have built up followers using a range of applications. It has been used for specific consultation exercises, like grounds maintenance and new build development. We will evaluate this and have a clear policy, so we use it in the most effective way. 1 Our last tenant satisfaction survey showed that 60% of tenants overall use the internet, rising to nearly 90% for those under 35 years old 4

When we are consulting on key issues for example, new build, our major works programme and estate improvement plans - we will use more personal contact, applying what has already been successfully used for Housing Matters. This is about keeping in touch and keeping it local. We are developing a robust consultation and engagement framework and well-coordinated strategic planning. We will also review our approach to resident surveys and look at how we can best achieve this, including using our staff more, ensuring they keep in touch with our residents particularly our back room staff. b. Formal engagement and governance - Structures for formal engagement will remain, because the relationship developed with involved residents enables them to directly influence policy, and for proposals and issues to be more thoroughly explored. It also allows residents to challenge our performance and service standards. However, we are streamlining this to make it more effective. A high degree of resident influence is achieved by residents sitting on our Board, as non-executive directors. Following the Governance Review, Board Members will meet and engage with residents at least once each year, to ensure they are in touch with resident views. Board will also receive reports from the Resident Scrutiny Panel. We will encourage residents to join our Board, as part of succession planning, offering appropriate support and training. The Area Panel will continue to be the main formal consultative body, and act as a consumer panel. In response to consultation with the Area Panel, it will be independently chaired, and focus more on issues that are important to residents. Consultation with Area Panel will include discussing feedback from residents in other formats (e.g. surveys, online panel). The Residents Scrutiny Panel will be used to help drive improvements in services identified by Area Panel. The scrutiny approach helps residents to challenge service delivery and to consider and influence solutions. Conclusions of the panel will be reported to Board. TRAs will continue to be supported, through grants, support and advice, though there will be less emphasis on this approach to free resources for less formal engagement. c. Capacity building We will provide support and training to support effective formal engagement and the succession pipeline for resident Board membership. An added benefit is helping support residents with improved employment prospects, using the skills and experience gained from such involvement and building confidence. In addition to training already provided we are rolling out an accredited training programme provided by a London University. d. Using the feedback This is key to gaining confidence that we listen, and we will ensure that we are using feedback as part of business planning and developing our strategies. Our annual report will set out what we have learnt and what we have done differently. We will also improve how we capture resident feedback from a variety of sources, including comments made to staff, and report key themes. Our annual engagement plan will support a proactive and holistic approach that focuses on the big issues we need to consult residents about, based on our business plan. Over the next years this will include new build development, improving the environment on estates and insourcing services. There will be a greater emphasis on promoting what we do well and what we have improved in response to resident feedback. Our external communication plan sets this out and includes using our resident magazine and annual report as well as 5

opportunities through online engagement, social media and the press. This will help raise our profile and help sustain engagement. 2. Community Investment a) Funding the community investment programme We will continue to make available funds from our management fee to support community projects, and this will be 100,000 for the year 2015/16. We will also continue to maximise the commitments made by major contractors for social value, and negotiate the best deal for each annual programme. b) Achieving value for money We will investing in priority areas, rather than reactively supporting a large range of bids. Deciding these priorities will include consultation, and consideration of business needs. Projects will be more focused on priorities for residents as a whole, rather than just reacting to bids that come forward for funding. The priority areas for the life of this strategy will be - Digital inclusion Financial inclusion Employment Health and well-being We will make sure that organisations delivering projects are focused on outcomes, which are deliverable and measurable. We intend using the HACT Social Value Calculator, which is endorsed by government as a good tool to measure and provide evidence of social impact. c) Partnerships By working with partners we can deliver more than we could on our own. We are currently seeking a few specialist community partners, reducing the number of suppliers, and making this easier to manage. By using specialists we are aiming to achieve a more innovative approach and deliver more exciting projects that deliver greater benefits. A partnership with the Albany in Deptford is being finalised and will provide a range of activities for residents as well as tapping into a wealth of positive publicity. We already have effective partnerships to deliver financial inclusion and digital inclusion, and are now reviewing provision of employment support. We will seek opportunities to support a social enterprise, working with key partners to deliver this. We do not intend setting up an enterprise ourselves, but will seek opportunities that are viable and support our priorities for investment. We will continue to work with the Lewisham Tenants Fund to build a positive partnership that supports effective engagement, and that funding reflects the changes in approach. We are helping provide publicity to LTF to support them. d) Community facilities LB Lewisham has completed a review of all community facilities in the borough and will be consulting groups about future usage of these facilities during 2015/16, followed by a transfer programme. For facilities that will be retained, it is proposed that the ones located on housing land will be transferred to us. This is a potential opportunity for development or social enterprise, but there are also risks as some are in disrepair, and there are no revenue budgets to support running costs. e) Corporate social responsibility As a public sector organisation, we are required by the Social Value Act to consider when commissioning a service how this can bring added economic, environmental and social benefits. In line with this, we will continue to consider the added benefits 6

we can achieve for residents and we will involve residents in major procurement exercises. We will continue to support apprenticeships to offer opportunities to young local people to get ready for employment. In addition we will look at providing more opportunities for residents to gain employment experience through Lewisham Homes. As set out in our People Strategy, we want our staff to feel proud of working for Lewisham Homes. To help engender this feeling of pride we are looking at the feasibility of providing time for staff to become involved in voluntary and charity work. We will also maximise opportunities for staff to engage with residents, particularly those not working in frontline jobs, for example taking part in the face to face surveys. 3. Regulatory compliance We already comply with the framework on behalf of LB Lewisham who is the registered provider, but will need to do this for ourselves, once plans to register as a provider ourselves have been implemented. Regulatory compliance applies only to tenants and not leaseholders. However, we have historically engaged and consulted with leaseholders in a similar way, and will continue to do so. The key ways we do this is by providing residents with - a wide range of opportunities to influence and be involved in the making of decisions about how services are delivered; and providing opportunities for residents to scrutinise our performance. Developing the strategy This strategy has included - An equality analysis assessment - this has found no changes in approach that would have an adverse impact on any particular group of residents. The strategy includes an broaden that will engage with a more diverse group of residents, which should have appositive impact on groups currently under-represented in the more formal structures. Consultation with residents about their views about engagement and community investment, as mentioned above. There have also been themed sessions with the Corporate Leadership Team and Executive Team, as well as with the Board in June 2014. Looking at what others do Poplar HARCA, Phoenix Community Housing, Halton Housing, LB Croydon and Greenwich The strategy will be reviewed and submitted to Board for approval in 2018. This is in line with the Regulatory Framework that expects registered providers to consult tenants at least once every three years on the best way of involving tenants in the governance and scrutiny of the organisations housing management service. Appendices 1. Action Plan 2. Profile of involved residents 3. Key Performance measures 7