Creating opportunities

We provide homes and support independence, but we also create opportunities to help people improve their quality of life. We support personal growth, education, and employment and put tenants at the heart of everything we do.

Tenants’ Voice

We are committed to placing tenants at the heart of everything we do, ensuring that our activities have a positive impact on people and communities. By listening to our tenants’ opinions and ideas, providing opportunities for feedback, and encouraging their involvement, we strive to create a transparent and accountable environment where tenants feel valued, and their diverse needs are met.

We learn from our tenants in many ways, like through tenant groups, surveys, digital platforms, community chats, local groups, and forums.

Highlights this year include:

Tenants’ Voice - Improving Services group

Our Tenants' Voice - Improving Services group is made up of tenants who review different areas of the organisation to identify what we do well and recommend improvements. The group reviewed our planned maintenance communication and aids and adaptation services and made several recommendations. Throughout the year, we supported our Tenants' Voice - Improving Services group with independent mentoring support.

Community checks

Our community tenant volunteers regularly check their local area to let us know how it looks, what is good, and what could be improved. This year, they conducted 38 community checks, up from 26 last year. These checks proved valuable and resulted in the removal of fly-tipped items, unblocking of drains, tidying of gardens, relaying of uneven paving flags, repairing of fencing, and clearing of pathways.

Community chats

Our community chats are a chance for us to find out what tenants and residents think about the area they live in. We do this by visiting homes in our neighbourhoods and asking tenants and residents to share their thoughts on our services and communities. During the year, we conducted 8 rounds of community chats. The feedback has been shared with tenants and used to create an improvement plan for each area.

Community events

We hosted 349 events with 3,662 attendees, including 1,587 independent living tenants. These events included social gatherings, training sessions, community events, consultations, and scrutiny meetings. Special events included our annual Progress in Bloom gardening competition, a scarecrow festival, the Progress Community Champion Awards to honour our dedicated volunteers and community groups, and our Cultural and Community event celebrating the diverse cultures within our communities.

Community centres

We provide funding for 5 community centres in 4 neighbourhoods in Lancashire where tenants and residents run their activities to benefit everyone in the community. In the future, we plan to develop a new way to engage with tenants in their communities called Progress pop-up events, which are set to begin in September 2024.

Tenants' Voice - Improving Services group

We hosted 349 events with 3,662 attendees, including 1,587 independent living tenants.

Real stories

Meet Fiona

Progress Futures

Over the last decade, Progress Futures has played a pivotal role in providing a free service to tenants and their families who need support accessing employment, further education, volunteering and training opportunities.

We support tenants and their families through a person-centred approach to improving their employment prospects and achieving their career goals and aspirations. We can do this one-on-one or as part of a peer group.

This year has seen important achievements and milestones for Progress Futures. Our focus has been on three key initiatives: Brighter Futures, DFN Project SEARCH, and apprenticeships.

Completion of MPT Steps Project

We are happy to report the successful completion of the MPT Steps project, which was funded externally and concluded in December 2023. The project, led by Active Lancashire, aimed to improve the employability skills of residents in some of Lancashire’s most deprived areas.

Through this project, we have supported more than 300 people to improve their employment prospects, skills, and confidence. We helped 58 people get back into employment or self-employment and 47 people not previously required to job-search, into employment or job searching.

To celebrate the project’s success, we held a thank you event for MPT Steps customers at one of our community centres. It provided a great opportunity to meet with past and current customers and celebrate their successes and plans.

The project’s success demonstrates our ongoing commitment to innovative solutions that bridge gaps in employment and training for those who need support the most.

Brighter Futures

Our Brighter Futures initiative continued to empower our tenants through practical work experience. By offering 6-month paid work placements at the Real Living Wage for 25 hours per week, funded by our Community Investment Fund. This year, 4 tenants gained valuable skills and workplace exposure.

1 participant has secured a 12-month fixed-term contract with us, while another has embarked on a 2-year apprenticeship within our organisation. These achievements are not just employment milestones but also signficant moments in their personal development journey.

Alicia apprentice stood smiling arms folded

Apprenticeship programmes

We have supported several tenants throughout the year with apprenticeship opportunities. This includes facilitating applications and interviews and providing essential training and education to prepare individuals for these roles. We offer practical assistance such as childcare and travel cost contributions, ensuring logistical challenges are not barriers to participation.

In 2023/24, we held 17 apprenticeship courses, with 7 completed by tenants and the remaining by colleagues.

DFN Project SEARCH partnership

As part of our commitment to social responsibility and inclusivity, we continued our partnership with DFN Project SEARCH and Runshaw College for the third consecutive year. This initiative is dedicated to a supported transition-to-work programme that significantly impacts the lives of young autistic adults and young adults with a learning disability. This year, we welcomed 7 students to work in placements across various departments in our organisation.

We welcomed 7 young adults with a learning disability or autism to work in placements across various departments in our organisation.

Real stories

Meet Alex

Real stories

Meet Jodie

Investing in our communities

We recognise that strong communities strengthen social connections and a sense of belonging. Our Community Investment Fund demonstrates our commitment to supporting and growing vibrant communities.

The fund is a vital resource managed by a dedicated panel of tenants and board members. This panel ensures that the fund is allocated in ways that have the greatest impact on our tenants and their communities.

This year, we significantly increased our investment in local communities, groups, and community-led projects, allocating £276,535, up from £197,376 last year. These funds supported 47 diverse projects including community gardens, youth activities, arts and crafts groups, food banks, and social activities for older people.

Our innovative Soup Dragon’s Den initiative funded 12 groups. This programme allows community groups to apply for up to £1,000 by pitching their projects at a community event. The event not only provides funding but encourages networking opportunities and community togetherness.

Additionally, our Charity Fund supported the fundraising efforts of 61 tenants and employees, contributing £11,813 to causes such as Key Unlocking Futures, St Catherine’s Hospice, Macmillan Cancer Support, British Heart Foundation, Fertility Network, ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, and more.

We are committed to enhancing our support for communities, ensuring our investments have a meaningful and lasting impact.