April 2024: Extra Care Court Newsletter

Thank you to everyone who joined my ‘Grab a Cuppa with Kris’ session in February. It was a great opportunity to share key updates with you, but don’t worry if you missed it, we recorded the session and it is available to watch on YouTube via this URL. 

I appreciate that not everyone has access to a device they can join webinars on, so here is a summary of what I touched on during the session.   

Resident Survey feedback  

In the first ‘Grab a Cuppa with Kris’ session, I updated you all on the results of our Resident Survey. We now have the Care Satisfaction Survey results, and they show that overall 94 percent of residents who receive care are satisfied with the service. The target is 95 percent so we still have some improvements to make, and we will be looking at how we reach that target in the coming months.  

After further analysis of the Resident Survey, we identified four key areas: complaints, service and facilities, value for money and communication which will we focus on going forward. In terms of the next steps, every Extra Care scheme will have its own individual action plan and we are aiming to have these plans drawn up by the end of March.  

Rent and service charges 

You should have received a letter explaining the increased rent and service charges. If you are concerned about any of the charges or cost of living in general, please speak to your scheme manager. We do have initiatives that can help, such as the Helping Hands Fund which offers grants to those in need and offers support to access benefits.  

60^th Anniversary  

This year, Housing 21 celebrates its 60th anniversary as a Housing Association. We’ve got lots of opportunities for you to get involved and we’re encouraging each scheme to hold a summer celebration between May and September to mark this momentous occasion, and funds are available to put towards catering at an event.

Please do get involved – we would love to hear from you if you are celebrating your 60^th birthday or diamond wedding anniversary. Please email communications@housing21.org.uk with some brief information including your name(s), date of your birthday / anniversary, a photo to accompany your story with a line about how long you’ve lived at your scheme.

More information about our celebrations can be found on our website

60th anniversary photo competition

Each month the Communications Team will be showcasing entries from our photo competition on our Housing 21 Facebook page, tagging in the Facebook pages of schemes where you’ve got involved. In August, we will then hold a public vote for the best Extra Care photo; will it be you that wins?

Photos can be submitted by emailing Housing 21's Communications Team at communications@housing21.org.uk,  please make sure you have read the rules of entry before submitting. To read the rules of entry, please speak to your scheme manager who can make this available to you.

If you are unable to email the team, please speak to your scheme manager who will be able to on your behalf. 

Extra Care Resident Forum  
Our Extra Care Resident Forum, led by Ian Devereux, is working with us to make improvements including supporting regional managers to improve communications with residents, and clarifying the service charge information and looking at how we can present that back to residents.  
 
I’m really proud of the forum, they do some great work with us and are holding us to account to make sure we get things right for our residents. If you would like to find out more about the resident forum or if you have any questions for them, please get in touch via email: Kris.peach@housing21.org.uk and I’ll pass that on to Ian and the forum.  

Save the date: Grab a cuppa with Kris in 2024  
Make sure you save the dates of my upcoming sessions in your diary:  

• Tuesday 28 May, 10am 
• Wednesday 14 August, 12noon  
• Monday 18 November, 3pm    

We will share the link to the sessions nearer the time. 

From 1 April, new Government legislation will come into effect providing increased rights for residents and changing the way you can raise complaints with us.  

The Government has introduced the Social Housing (Regulation) Act giving residents more power to hold landlords to account.  

From 1 April, social landlords - including Housing 21 -, must adhere to minimum consumer and housing standards to ensure everyone is living in a safe, and good quality home. Those who fail to do so will face stricter consequences by the Regulator for Social Housing and the Housing Ombudsman, both of whom have been given new, increased powers.  

The new act focuses on four key consumer standards: 

• The Safety and Quality Standard which requires landlords to provide safe and good-quality homes for their tenants, along with good-quality landlord services 
• The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard which requires landlords to be open with tenants and treat them with fairness and respect so they can access services, raise concerns when necessary, influence decision making and hold their landlord to account 
• The Neighbourhood and Community Standard which requires landlords to engage with other relevant parties so that tenants can live in safe and well-maintained neighbourhoods, and feel safe in their homes 
• The Tenancy Standard which sets requirements for the fair allocation and letting of homes, as well as requirements for how tenancies are managed by landlords 

You can find out more on our website and we’ll be providing more information over the coming months:

The Housing Ombudsman Service has released a new Code of Handling Conduct which comes into effect on 1 April, and it brings in several changes to our Complaints Policy which is currently going through our Resident Complaint Panel and internal approval.  

We wanted to reiterate that our focus remains on resolving issues for you as quickly as we can, as we always have done.  

What does this mean for you? 

• There will be no more informal complaints, only formal complaints
• The formal complaints procedure itself remains a clear, two-stage process
• An increase in the time you can log a complaint from the time of the incident, from six months to 12 months (each case will be considered on its own merits out of this time)
• The way you can make a complaint remains through your scheme manager, via email to feedback@housing21.org.uk or by phone to our complaints line on 0303 123 1622. 
• An increase in the time you can escalate a stage one complaint to stage two to six months (each case will be considered on its own merits out of this time)
• We are updating our resident leaflet. 

The definition of a complaint remains the same and it’s simply an expression of your dissatisfaction about the standard of our services, actions or lack of action which affect you as an individual or group of individuals.  

What this does mean, is if you make a request for service for the first time be it a repair, antisocial behaviour or nuisance, this is defined as a service request. We aim to handle that the best we can and to your satisfaction. 

If we fall short of your expectations, then it’s important you know that you can raise a formal complaint which will be acknowledged, investigated and responded to at stage one within 15 working days (unless by exception, an extension is required for more complex cases). 

We will be working with your scheme managers and providing them with more detailed information so they can talk with you about this on scheme.  

If you have any feedback as to how you think we could improve our complaints process, please contact us at feedback@housing21.org.uk.

Have you had a positive experience with one of our employees?   

Perhaps they have supported you with claiming benefits, or generally gone above and beyond to support you?  

 If so, we would love to hear from you and to share your story to make sure our people are recognised for Making a Difference (MAD).  

 Please send your stories to the Make a Difference Team 

Have you tuned in to 21 Talks? 21 Talks is our podcast showing that at every age, everyone has important stories to tell and opinions to share.

We have episodes on the Extra Care Academy, inclusivity and getting to grips with tech, and every episode features our incredible Housing 21 employees and residents!

Have you listened to our latest episode on activities to positively impact your wellbeing? 

Stream now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or on our website. 

Your satisfaction and experiences are our top priority, and we genuinely value your input. That's why we're extending an invitation for you to share your valuable feedback on Trustpilot! 

You can help with this by leaving a review on the Trustpilot website to let people know about your experience.   

A reminder that all residents should now be testing their own pendant alarm once a month. This arrangement has the added benefit of helping residents to build confidence in using the equipment. Please ensure you test your pendant alarm from inside your accommodation, not in the communal areas.  

New residents, during their tenancy sign-up, are informed that it is a resident’s responsibility to carry out a monthly pendant test. However, where a Scheme Manager believes a resident is unable to test their pendant, or they have no immediate family members to support them, they will carry out the test. If you have any queries or concerns about pendants / pendant testing, please contact your local manager.   

Please don't forget to test your pendant alarm.

A monthly test is all it needs to ensure it is working effectively.   

If you have any comments on this newsletter, please contact your Scheme Manager. 

Update from the management team

Hello and welcome to the first management update, which will be included in your monthly newsletter from now on. I hope you will find this update useful and informative.

Firstly, a little about me. My name is Ashleigh Jarvis, and I have over 20 years of experience in housing and care. I started my career as a carer worker for many years in the community, a job I found really rewarding and suited my life at the time, having just had my son, Spencer. I joined Housing 21 nearly 10 years ago as a Care Coordinator at Shearman Court and soon moved into a registered manager role at Mere View. Since then, my career with Housing 21 has grown, and I have moved around the business in different roles. I have recently been successful in securing my current role as Head Of Extra Care South. If I am being honest, it is a role I never believed or thought was possible, but here I am and in a role I really enjoy.

My values very much tie into the ethos of Housing 21. I share their values and beliefs working for a non-profit organisation, with residents at the heart of all we do. In my spare time, I enjoy the outdoor life, walking the dogs and trying to keep myself fit and healthy by swimming every other day. Family also plays an important part in my life, with my son turning 21 in April.

I hope to meet you all soon and have started to book engagement meetings at all the services across the region.

Now Over To Michelle Byrd, Deputy Head of the South 

Hi everyone, I started working in the social care sector in 1997 as a care worker and have never looked back. Over the years I have progressed from a care worker to Senior care worker, team leader, manager and the regional manager with my current role being Deputy head of the south! I came to Housing 21 in 2013 as a care coordinator before moving to Oak house where I was the Housing and care manager, in 2020 I moved from Oak House to work in London at Cedar court followed by the regional extra care manager role.

I have now been with Housing 21 for 10.5 years and time has flown!

We have now fully recruited into all roles in the newly formed Extra Care South Region. The following people support your court managers.

Maureen Dunn is your regional manager for South 1 (maureen.dunn@housing21.org.uk)

Meadow Walk

Mere View

Shearman Court

Oak House

Blackbourne View

Greenlane

Redmayne

Paddy Geere

Holm Court

Darren Hebert is your regional manager for South 2 (darren.herbert@housing21.org.uk)

The Rise

Foyle Bank

Maple Court

Dairy View

Hillside Court

Bluebell Gardens

Alice Bye Court

Beeches Manor

Nikki Leigh Dipper is your regional manager for South 3 (nikki-leigh.dipper@housing21.org.uk)

Foxfields

Stanbridge House

Erdington House

Willow Gardens

Poppy Meadows

St Edmunds Court

Bishopfields Court

Somers Court

Emma Patten is your regional manager for South 4  (emma.patten@housing21.org.uk)

Brunel Court

Osprey Court

Crane Court

Brent Court

Caroline Square

Maritime House

Walstead Court

Hogshill Gardens

Monaveen

Marten House

Hello London and Kent. I just wanted to start by introducing myself to you - Caroline Kaiser, Head of Extra Care London and Kent. 

It has been quite a few months since I joined Housing 21 last December, and here is a bit about me:

Although my academic qualifications were more scientific than humanities, my deep love for my nan and helping people drew me into and kept me in the field of social care, which I must say, I landed in by accident as a university student. I have now worked in the sector for more than 35 years (I know, I don’t look it 😊!). I am especially excited about the timing of my joining Housing 21 as we celebrate 60 years of providing affordable housing to older people and enabling and empowering them to maintain their independence living in vibrant communities.

Before joining Housing 21, I held several leadership roles in organisations ranging between local government, third sector and the private sector; working for Bracknell Forest Council, Croydon Council, Sanctuary Group, Retirement Villages Group, Strada Care and Venture People (RCI Group) delivering domiciliary care, older people’s extra care housing, supported living and mental health recovery support.

On the personal front, I am a mother of two and enjoy sports, cooking, action movies, music, and dancing.

With the creation of the new London and Kent region, it gives me great pleasure to introduce the now fully filled regional management team comprising of four Regional Extra Care Managers (London) and three Neighbourhood Services Managers (Kent). I am assisted by Clare Maher as the Deputy Head.

We held our first regional meeting on April 10^th at Chamberlain Manor, Ashford where we discussed our strategic plans for this new financial year.

We shall now hear from both Clare and Jenny below:

Hello, I am Clare Maher, Deputy Head of Extra Care London. In September, I will have worked for Housing 21 for 20 years, and during this time I have held many different roles in both Retirement living, Extra Care and Learning and Development. I’m very attuned to Housing 21’s Values and behaviours and have great pride in being able to provide our Residents with great standards of Housing and Care and, enabling our Residents to live in a social and independent setting.

I have 2 children, 5 stepchildren and 6 grandchildren; family time is important to me and takes up my spare time. I feel that being family orientated gives me a strength and compassion to be able to relate, support and work with all Housing 21 employees and Residents in a positive way that brings security and happiness to all.

I am Jenny Graham and I have worked for Housing 21 for over 15 years, starting as a Neighbourhood Service Manager, when the Kent PFI schemes were building sites, and have watched them transform into fully operational schemes, full of life and community spirit. In 2010, I became the Operations Manager for Kent, and my role has expanded over the years, and I now have management responsibility for all the Extra Care schemes, within Kent and Medway.

My favourite part of the role is seeing the difference that our schemes can make to people’s lives, and I am very proud of my team who constantly strive to improve the services we deliver.

When I’m not at work, I enjoy reading, yoga and spending time with my grandson.

As the different schemes prepare to celebrate our 60^th anniversary, we shall also plan to be part of these celebrations as we visit the different courts. Look out in our next newsletter, when we shall have a schedule of the dates that the celebrations will be held, and which member of the team will be visiting each court.