Performance

In order to drive forward efficiency and value for money, each year we set targets based on the previous year’s performance and in comparison to other “peer” organisations, similar in size and nature to WHA.

Our overriding target is to “to deliver a financially strong and well managed business, fit for today and prepared for tomorrow achieve sector leading performance across all key indicators.”

We recognise that we can’t do this overnight but year on year we are looking to improve. Performance is reported to Board quarterly and we have also established eight high level key targets for staff which are reported monthly and detailed below.

Our Homes – Compliance

Each quarter we report to our Board on the nine main areas of compliance with legislation in relation to gas, fire detection, electrical safety, legionella, asbestos, lifts, ground contamination and flooding. As one of these elements of compliance, gas safety is a good indicator of how we are performing generally, and last year we maintained 100% compliance, and we need to continue to do this to remain within the law and to keep our customers safe.

By the end of March 2024, we will have maintained our 100% performance record and we will also track our performance where we have managed to obtain gas certs at least 42 days before their expiry.

Our Homes – Average repairs completed on time

Next to staffing costs, maintaining our homes is the largest area of expenditure for WHA and we pride ourselves on our performance to carry out our repairs service within our targeted response times of 21 days for routine repairs, 2 days for urgent repairs, and 1 day for emergency repairs.  In 2021/22, our annual average for repairs being completed on time was 97.42% and improvement of 2.19% on the previous year.

By the end of March 2024, we want the average percentage of repairs to be completed on time to be no less than 95.00%.

Our Viability – Empty Properties

We are fortunate to have a very high quality and well-maintained housing stock, but each year, about 80 of our properties will become empty and have to be re-let. For every day they remain empty the Association loses income. Last year, for example, rent lost through empty properties cost the Association nearly £18,937 with each property being empty for an average of  13.16 days, an improvement of 1.59 days on the previous year.

By the end of March 2024, we want to reduce the average number of days our properties are empty to 15 days.

Our Viability – Rent arrears

At the end of last year, our customers owed us £244,564 (4.29%) in rent arrears. It’s the rent we receive that pays for the vast majority of the services we deliver from subsidising our social value activities, helping pay for new homes, repairs and maintenance, and the wages we pay our staff. Rental income is our life blood and with the challenge of Universal Credit and Welfare reform generally it’s important that we retain our focus on income.

By the end of March 2024, the amount of money owed to WHA through rents will be no more than £244,500.

Our Customer Service – Satisfaction with overall landlord services

We use various methods to assess what our customers think of the service we provide. For example; every couple of years or so, we complete an Association wide satisfaction survey, at key interactions, such as when a customer gets a repair completed or as people move into their new home, or on completion of an adaptation, we try to assess how satisfied customers are with that specific piece of work or service.

This year we want to focus on the “Customer satisfaction with the overall service provided”. Using this score allows us to directly compare different aspects of our service, and also allows us to compare ourselves with other organisations inside and outside the sector.

By the end of March 2024, we will continue to be a top quartile organisation maintaining a satisfaction score of 90.74% which we achieved through our surveys in 2022/23.

Our Social Value

We use a range of indicators to demonstrate the Social Value we add each year as both a direct and indirect impact of the work we do. This might range from assessing the cost saved from all the volunteer work our customers undertake, to calculating how much employment we create locally through to our own staff and the services we buy in from others.  This year as well as producing Social Accounts for the first time in our history, the two of the high-level targets we want to focus on to help demonstrate our social value are:

Volunteer support – We like to encourage volunteering, be that through our customers who give up their time on our scrutiny panel, through to the volunteer programme we have in LifeTime which encourages people to be active and involved. Last year, the cash value of the volunteers that supported us across WHA amounted to £84,108. This year we want to achieve no less than £52,000.

Increasing income for our customers – A key part of our social value work is ensuring that our customers maximise their income. For example, last year, with our help, our customers directly benefited from £400,168 in additional income through welfare and other grants. This year we want to ensure our consistent performance with a target of £315,000.

Our Colleagues – Colleague Sickness

Sickness can be a significant cost to any organisation, it is also often a good barometer of staff engagement. Last year, we lost £18,742 due to colleague sickness which is lower than average and attributed to the increased level of working from home for colleagues.

By the end of March 2024 we want to ensure our cash loss though sickness does not exceed a maximum of £27,000.

Open our ‘Internal Performance Measures’ gallery below, to view our month-by-month progress against these targets.