Six Town Housing's Annual Report for 2020/2021 is available as four A4 posters.
These will be publicly displayed on noticeboards located within the communities Six Town Housing manage on behalf of Bury Council. These will also be emailed to our newsletter mailing list.
You can download the Annual Report design here or request printed copies by contacting us.
To ensure our Annual Report is accessible, you can also read text from the report without any graphics below.
Annual Report 2020/2021
Six Town Housing is pleased to present this report on behalf of Bury Council. It provides key information on how we’re performing. Download copies and view past reports at www.sixtownhousing.org/about-us
Working with tenants
"As a tenant, it is important that your voice is heard by Six Town Housing to
make a difference. Tenants are doing this by working with Six Town Housing by completing surveys, being involved in the Customer Review Group, being a part of community groups or Tenants and Residents Associations, attending walkabouts and expressing their needs and concerns." Tina Harrison OBE, Customer Review Group volunteer and Tenant Board Member.
Working through COVID-19
"Six Town Housing have continued to work within our communities during the lockdowns, whether that be supporting the council’s efforts in ensuring people get their vaccinations, carrying out repairs following strict safety guidelines in line with the government’s guidance or continuing to help people feel part of their community with the Community Heroes awards and various photograph competitions. We all know how challenging these last 18 months have been and these little things can make so much difference to people. Well done Six Town Housing for your efforts supporting communities during what has been a challenging period." Councillor Clare Cummins, Housing Portfolio Holder for Bury Council.
Tenant Engagement
Influence: Over 200 tenants contributed to our Business Plan for 2021 – 2024 by completing our online consultation.
Accessibility and Timeliness of Communication: 5,748 people on our email update list, who received 14 updates including e-newsletters. Sign up at sixtownhousing.org/about-us/tenant-e-newsletter
Transparency: Our last Annual Report was shared on 1st October 2020 as a digital infographic, video and noticeboard poster, receiving 860 total views online.
Independent scrutiny: 7 tenant volunteers lead a group that reviews our services. Please get in touch if you would like to join.
Our board (as of October 2021) is made up of 2 tenants, 3 councillors, 5 independent members (including the chair) and our Chief Executive.
Marlene Dawson, Customer Review Group volunteer, asks...“How do you learn from complaints?”
We always want to learn how we can make improvements to services. Complaints are another way we can make tenant led changes.
210 compliments received
12 formal complaints received
As a result of the Customer Review Group this year, Six Town Housing have:
■ Published our communal cleaning programme for blocks of flats online and increased the frequency of cleaning.
■ Developed our Customer Offers, which set out the standard of service customers can expect from us in key areas, and made these available online.
■ Improved the way we communicate information about the capital programme.
■ Introduced a customer app, which makes it easier for customers to do business with us.
Property
630 new kitchens installed in homes.
719 new bathrooms installed in homes.
99.3% customer satisfaction with improvement works.
93% improvement works completed within timescales. (96.7% last year).
234 homes received a central heating boiler.
Helena Donegan, Customer Review Group chair, asks... “Why were some improvement works delayed?”
This has been a result of the pandemic, which has created issues with us receiving supplies we need to carry out some work. We planned around this the best we could and kept tenants who were directly affected informed.
Safety
99.9% homes with a valid gas safety certificate.
99.9% homes compliant during electrical testing.
100% fire risk assessment compliance.
100% of communal areas checked and asbestos-safe.
100% of communal lifts compliant with safety standards.
100% of our sheltered schemes and offices were checked and are safe from legionnaires.
Repairs
23 days average re-let time (general needs). (21 days last year).
100% homes achieve the Decent Homes Standard.
Tina Harrison, Customer Review Group volunteer and Tenant Board member, asks...
“How have you kept repairs relatively high despite Covid-19? Were tenants kept safe?”
Many Repairs colleagues were furloughed for a short time until Government guidance said it was safe for us to enter homes while following safety guidelines. We issued a customer survey and most respondents said they did want us to continue carrying out repairs safely. As such we created strict risk assessments. We encourage all our Repairs Direct staff to have regular Covid-19 tests and they have been wearing masks in homes, social distancing and cleaning the area they worked in when finished. We did not enter homes unless asked to.
The Housemark performance summary said our maintenance performance was good,
and our costs were low.
99.13% customer satisfaction with our repairs service.
99.45% last year.
29,550 repairs and caretaking jobs, made up of:
Brick Laying 442
Void repairs 514
Caretaking 4835
Drainage 604
Electrical 5419
Flagging 328
Gas 649
Glazing 348
Joinery 4994
Labouring 1
New Works/HIA 1905
Plastering 804
Plumbing 4266
Roofing 702
Scaffolding 7
Sub-contractors 3699
Specialist Work (contracted) 33
Corporate
100.18% rent collected (on Bury Council owned homes).
99.86% rent collected (on Six Town Housing owned homes).
99.4% overall satisfaction with service. (98% last year).
Helena Donegan, Customer Review Group chair, asks... “What does 100.18% rent
collection mean, don’t you mean 100%?”
During the course of the year, some tenants sent us more rent than was required. This sometimes occurs when they want to get ahead with payments or more back payments come in than expected and will balance out eventually. We let tenants know if they are in credit.
Income
HOUSING REVENUE ACCOUNT (HRA)
£29,896,000 Rents from homes
£1,178,000 Other rents and charges
£16,000 Interest on balances
TOTAL £31,090,000
Expenditure
£6,866,000 Repairs and Maintenance
£8,749,000 Management of Properties and Services
£8,521,000 Funding for Major Repairs
£4,689,000 Loan Costs
£236,000 Unrecoverable rents and charges
£2,029,000 surplus retained for future investment in housing
TOTAL £29,061,000
Over 1,000 hours spent supporting Team Bury with the local response to tackling
Covid-19 (including marshalling at test and vaccination sites, calling vulnerable tenants, doorknocking to support the vaccine and attending response meetings).
Neighbourhoods
7,865 council properties (including Springs Tenant Management Co-operative).
17 environmental health enforcements and tenancy warnings (relating to noise-nuisance, denied gas check access, bonfires, waste in gardens, flytipping and more).
26 people supported into work, including apprenticeships.
79 Steps To Success participants (Course Attendees, Work Placements, Further Education, Volunteer Work).
Communication
39,103 calls received. (56,777 last year).
2,001 Facebook followers.
2,812 Twitter followers.
392 Instagram followers.
690 Linkedin followers.
90,943 website sessions (a new period of time when a visitor is engaged on the website).
4,026 i-housing users (self-serve). (2,564 last year).
5,339 live chats received. (1,188 last year).
Helena Donegan, Customer Review Group, asks...“The number of tenants using self-serve and live-chat seem to be growing rapidly while call numbers are dropping, are you making changes as a result?”
Yes, we are continuing to look at ways we can improve our digital services so that using these will become even more easier. For example, we launched a new app recently to help tenants report repairs, pay rent and access services wherever they are and whatever they are doing. This can be downloaded at sixtownhousing.org/app