We continuously improve and innovate to maintain a strong, resilient, and responsible organisation. We must uphold high governance standards, deliver value for money, and champion a diverse and inclusive culture for our people and communities.
Financially resilient
We want to deliver sector-leading services, engage with our tenants and create homes and neighbourhoods where people can flourish. To do this long-term, we must demonstrate to our funders that we are financially strong. This means finding the right balance between our social purpose and our commercial focus.
Our financial performance for the year remained strong, with an operating surplus of £15 million from our day-to-day activities.
Although we comfortably met our performance expectations, this was a decrease of £1.1 million compared to last year due to increased costs for property repairs, electricity, and gas.
To achieve sustainable financial strength, we must do the basics well, including collecting rent from our tenants and minimising the time our homes sit empty. Our rent arrears for the year for current and former tenants was 5.4% against a target of 6.9%. The percentage of empty homes in the year was 5% against a target of 3.5%.
Our financial performance for the year remained strong, with an operating surplus of £15 million from our day-to-day activities.
Value for money
As a not-for-profit housing organisation, delivering value for money (VFM) is vital. Every pound we spend on homes and services should benefit our tenants, customers, and communities. Ensuring VFM is central to our strategy, and we set ambitious targets to achieve this.
In 2023/24, we focused on maximising our resources through smart financial management and strategic investments.
Key highlights:
- We effectively managed arrears, beating our target of 4.7 by 0.1%.
- We re-procured contracts worth £41.9 million, which saved us £0.2 million and improved services for our tenants.
- We invested £40 million in new properties, below our target of £41 million, and secured £7 million in grants to deliver 164 new rental units consisting of 76 general needs, 59 shared ownership, and 29 specialised supported housing. Of these units, 114 were delivered through Section 106.
- We approved an investment of £69.7 million over 5 years to deliver an average of 2,100 components (e.g. bathrooms and kitchens) each year. In 2023/24, we spent £10.1 million on replacing 1,880 components including kitchens, bathrooms, fire doors, rewires, lifts and commercial boilers, slightly below our target of £10.6 million, but still a significant investment.
- We maintained a strong operating margin of 12.3%, which despite being slightly lower than our target of 14.6%, we expect to grow by 3.9% over the next 5 years.
Understanding our social housing cost per unit is a key focus. Our target for overall headline cost per unit for 2023/24 was £7,326, for supported living, £11,417, and for general needs/independent living, £4,755. The actual overall headline cost per unit for 2032/24 was £7,511, for supported living was £12,206, and for general needs/independent living was £4,627. The RWP portfolio includes a significant proportion of leased-in stock, which increases the cost per unit compared to owned stock. For 2024/25, these targets are increasing to reflect the additional investment in property compliance.
In addition to ensuring that our activities deliver VFM, we also seek to provide value to the broader community and the public purse. One example is our work with adult social care commissioners to use technology to increase the quality of life and reduce the cost of social care for thousands of older people.
A number of social value initiatives have also been carried out throughout the year, with our suppliers helping to supply a large shed at The Place Community Centre, undertaking gardening works and community clean-up days. Our suppliers also helped support activities at our independent living schemes and our Soup Dragon’s Den event.
Every pound we spend on homes and services should benefit our tenants, customers, and communities.
Delivering social value
As a responsible organisation, our commitment goes beyond providing high-quality housing. We support independence and provide opportunities through various services that benefit individuals and generate economic and social advantages for communities.
These services include help finding work, training opportunities, money advice, homelessness support, refuge accommodation, support for older people, technology-enabled care, specialist-supported living accommodation, and more.
Throughout the year, we have continued to work closely with colleagues, contractors, and other suppliers to positively impact our communities. This includes:
- Our continued sponsorship of Typhoons RUFC, Lancashire’s first inclusive rugby club.
- Arjo sponsored our Soup Dragon’s Den events in May and November, contributing to the food and refreshments for 100 attendees.
- Bell Group donated and built a greenhouse at one of our RWP properties to support a garden project.
- UK Landscapes provided planters and compost to an RWP project, making the garden more accessible to tenants.
- C&W Berry Ltd donated a large shed to a community centre in Leyland, offering much-needed storage facilities for community services.
- Howards Decorators funded and organised eight bingo sessions at our independent living schemes.
- Consortia provided Christmas hampers to support tenants in independent living schemes during the holiday season.
We support independence and provide opportunities through various services that benefit individuals
Learning from complaints
Listening to and acting on feedback is crucial for continuous improvement and transformation of how we do things. Complaints offer valuable insights and opportunities to learn from our tenants and customers and to enhance their experience.
Overall, we received fewer complaints last year than in the year before. Changing how we deliver some of our repairs has improved satisfaction with our repair service. We have also introduced two dedicated complaint resolution officers and a ‘learning from complaints’ forum.
From April 2023 to 31 March 2024, we received 1,198 complaints and 190 compliments across the Group. Of these, 854 were recorded as Stage 1 complaints and 53 as Stage 2. Positively, we resolved 291 dissatisfactions at the first point of contact to the tenant’s satisfaction.
We are members of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme and conduct an annual self-assessment against its Complaint Handling Code to ensure compliance and to learn from customer feedback to improve our services.
Our service improvement plan uses insights from complaints performance to identify ways to improve - and to keep us on track. Progress is monitored, and we report on it quarterly to the Executive Board, tenants, and NED leads.
Key areas of focus include continuing to embed our positive complaints culture through training, briefings and regular check-ins, improving communications relating to complaints, including processes, policy, accessibility and transparency, and better reporting.
Overall, we received fewer complaints last year than in the year before.
Our people and culture
We firmly believe that our employees and non-executive directors are our greatest resources. We achieve even more by working together and valuing everyone's contribution.
We hold Investor in People—Silver accreditation, and our personal development opportunities align with our Strategic Plan and Business Priorities, which are underpinned by our mission, vision and values.
As well as providing tenant training and development opportunities, we invest in our employees to help them improve their skills, confidence and future job prospects. Over the past year, learning opportunities have ranged from mandatory training and e-learning to coaching, mentoring, and developing a customer service framework.
During 2023, we worked on raising awareness of our employee experience and unique employer offer, focusing on the Group’s values and culture. Our employer brand communications are inclusive and accessible, reflecting our colleagues’ diversity of origin, identity, thinking and lived experience. We held culture workshops across the organisation to understand our colleagues’ experiences and to inform our aspirational culture charter.
In June 2023, we updated our People Strategy, showing that we are on track to deliver objectives supporting our colleagues. Our most recent employee engagement survey had a 71% response rate, with an Engagement Index Score of 82% and a healthy Employee Net Promoter Score of +21.
Feedback from employees shows that they find their work rewarding, enjoy the company of their colleagues, and feel that their manager cares about their health and wellbeing. We continue to focus on employee wellbeing and work-life balance.
Championing equality, diversity and inclusion
We are committed to making equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) a central part of our culture. Our goal is to create an environment where everyone can thrive together. Embracing diversity and striving for equity is essential to our vision and values, guiding everything we do for each other, our tenants, and our customers.
Celebrating Black History Month
EDI Strategy
Our strategic approach
In 2023, our board approved our EDI Impact Statement, which outlines our responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 and guides our commitment to providing equal opportunities for our diverse workforce, tenants, and customers. Our 2023-2026 EDI Strategy and Action Plan establish clear objectives to drive positive changes and reap benefits from an EDI perspective. This strategy is overseen by our EDI Working Group, which meets quarterly to monitor the operational delivery of our EDI initiatives.
Jen McGuinness, NED board diversity programme
Board Diversity Programme
The 2023/24 period was the second and final year for 3individuals participating in the Group’s Board Diversity Programme. We work with the Housing Diversity Network to help trainee non-executive directors improve their skills. This year, 2 out of 3 trainees secured positions on our committees.
A diverse and inclusive recruitment strategy
Recruitment
We are committed to inclusive recruitment practices and support applicants with disabilities as a Disability Confident Employer. We also encourage applications from individuals over 50 as an Age Positive Employer. In 2023, we introduced a new application tracking system to support applicants who may need additional assistance. We also revised our job postings to ensure that they used inclusive language and introduced bias-reduced hiring practices.
Cultural celebration event
Awareness campaigns, events and EDI employee networks
We support events and significant dates throughout the year to celebrate and raise diversity awareness. These events provide a platform for misrepresented and underrepresented groups. Additionally, we host an annual cultural and community celebration event that brings people together to celebrate our diverse communities and the many activities and support they offer.
We have 4 EDI employee networks to support our colleagues: Roots, Carers Together, Pride in Progress and Meno Movers. These groups meet regularly to connect colleagues, raise awareness, challenge inequality and stereotypes, and increase confidence in leading conversations about EDI.
Colleagues take part in safeguarding training
Learning and development
Our EDI training includes equality and diversity in the workplace and covers physical disabilities, learning disabilities, autism, LGBTQ+, menopause, unconscious bias and understanding inclusion and belonging.
Cultural and Community Celebration event
Volunteering
We continue to offer colleagues one paid volunteering day per year and provide opportunities throughout the year to volunteer in our communities, benefiting our tenants and the local communities we serve.
Our Wellbeing Champions
Wellbeing
We prioritise the wellbeing of our colleagues through various initiatives and support systems, including Wellbeing Champions, who are a point of contact for emotional or mental health support. This year, we developed a menopause toolkit, introduced 4 weeks of paid paternity leave, rolled out free period products in the workplace, provided financial and pension webinars, developed a wellbeing library, and published frequent wellbeing articles and promotions on the colleague intranet.
Accessible spaces
Accessible spaces
Our response to the Better Social Housing Review and the Regulator of Social Housing’s standards involves working more closely than ever with our tenants to tailor and improve services. In 2023, we improved accessibility by providing Easy Read, large print materials, and animated videos with captions. We launched a Tenant Disability Group to ensure our services are equitable and supportive for all. We have also committed to making our offices and community spaces as accessible as possible, installing ‘Changing Places’ toilets in any new offices open to the public, and being a carer-friendly employer.
Volunteering outside
DFN Project SEARCH
We have continued delivering DFN Project SEARCH for a third consecutive year. This international transition to work programme is committed to transforming the lives of young autistic adults and young adults with a learning disability.
Maggie Shannon, Board Member
Closing the pay gap
Our 2023 Gender Pay Gap Report shows a mean pay gap of 6.9% (unchanged from 2022) and a median gap of 14.8% (up from 10.8% in 2022). The ethnicity pay gap reporting is being developed, and for 2023, we can report a mean pay gap of 4.6% (down from 6.5% in 2022) and a median pay gap of 0.0% (down from 3.4% in 2022).
A responsible approach to safeguarding
We are committed to keeping adults with care and support needs and all children safe and well. We take responsibility for upholding their rights to live free from neglect, harm, and abuse and ensuring they are protected and supported at every step of their journey.
This year, we received 71 safeguarding concerns, which is 52 fewer than last year. The most common types of concerns were neglect, including self-neglect, followed by domestic abuse, emotional abuse, and financial abuse. The local authority safeguarding team accepted 31% of our referrals.
Our dedicated Safeguarding Team meets quarterly to oversee all safeguarding matters. We must create a culture of respect and trust in which tenants can feel supported by us in their times of need. To do this, we have reviewed our safeguarding process to enhance reporting and aim to address all safeguarding concerns, even those that do not meet the local authority’s safeguarding threshold.
Our charity, Key Unlocking Futures (Key), continues to provide vital support through our ‘Safe at Homes’ programme. This programme supports people who want to stay at home or cannot access a refuge. Key also runs a 24-hour helpline and a school programme to teach children about healthy relationships.
We are proud to have developed an accessible animated film to raise awareness of safeguarding.
Real stories
Mr D
A tenant was originally referred to our Community Safety Team because they had provided access to their home's mandatory electrical testing.
Upon investigation, it was discovered that the tenant did allow access during the last appointment. However, the engineers could not do their work because of the property's poor condition.
Recognising that the tenant was vulnerable, an access injunction was considered unnecessary. However, because it was urgent to complete the electrical testing before the current safety certification expired, a community safety officer took immediate action to help the tenant.
The officer visited to assist and referred to social care to address neglect issues. The community safety officer arranged a quick clean-up of the necessary areas to make the electrical testing possible.
The main problem was the build-up of food containers, newspapers, and bottles that cluttered the floors. With the tenant's consent, the team removed approximately 15 to 20 bin bags of rubbish, allowing the engineers to carry out the electrical testing.
After the successful testing, our contractors thoroughly cleaned the entire property. The tenant was very happy with the help received and noted a significant improvement in their quality of life.
The tenant was very happy with the help received and noted a significant improvement in their quality of life.
Our journey to being carbon-neutral
We are dedicated to supporting the reduction of carbon emissions and creating a better environment for the future. Our core purpose is to provide high-quality, affordable homes to those in need, and environmental sustainability is crucial to our mission.
This year, we updated our Environmental Sustainability Strategy to align with our Asset Management and Development Strategies. This covers all business activities, including existing and new homes, engaging with tenants, fleet transport, and office operations.
We are working towards the government's targets of building low-carbon homes by 2025 and ensuring that all our homes produce zero net carbon emissions by 2050. This means removing the same amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as we produce.
Throughout the year, we have launched several initiatives to reduce our long-term impact on the environment and address fuel poverty among tenants.
During 2023/24, we:
- Set up a tenant group focused on sustainability that meets every 6 months to discuss our green efforts and get feedback from tenants.
- Recruited two new employees into the Environment and Sustainability Team.
- Continued to improve the energy efficiency of our properties through an investment programme that covers insulation, energy-efficient windows and doors, and fuel-efficient heating systems.
- Started a programme to upgrade the heating system at Saltcotes Place by installing high heat retention storage heaters and new unvented cylinders.
- Increased the percentage of properties with an EPC from 71% to 80% and decreased the percentage of properties rated EPC D or below from 32% to 27%.
- Improved our overall energy efficiency by increasing our Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) from 72.1 to 72.29.
- Worked with United Utilities on a funded scheme to fit water-saving devices at 453 properties.
- Completed the first year of a two-year retrofit project. This involved installing energy efficiency measures such as external wall insulation and air source heat pumps in 46 properties across Lancashire and Cumbria to bring all our properties to an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of C.
We are working to help our tenants affordably heat their homes and reduce fuel poverty by improving energy efficiency. This includes better insulation, more efficient heating systems, and renewable energy sources. These efforts also reduce our carbon footprint, cut waste, and improve natural areas.
We have made significant progress in improving energy efficiency in our buildings. For example, we are delivering 3 communal LED lighting upgrades at Derby House and Tuson House independent living schemes and 1 of our supported living schemes, with estimated energy savings of up to 70%. We have also upgraded the heating systems at Ashwood Court and Charleston Court independent living schemes, including installing gas boilers, building management systems that can be accessed remotely, and improving controls in the flats.
We are actively involved in zero-carbon partnerships to reach zero-carbon targets. As part of the Vantage Zero Carbon Club, we collaborate with registered providers and local authorities to share best practices and maximise value for money in retrofit projects. Additionally, through our new contract management standard, we work with contractors and suppliers to reduce the environmental impact of work on our behalf.
We will continue sharing best practices with the government, other housing providers, tenants, and supply chain partners.
Energy efficient homes on Weeton
A national voice
We support the annual national gas safety campaign to help you promote gas safety and keep people safe.
National Social Housing Safety and Compliance Week
National Social Housing Safety and Compliance Week is an annual event highlighting safety and compliance at all levels within social housing. We pledge to keep our tenants safe by maintaining and continuously improving home safety standards.
Starts at Home is a national day of action where our members and campaign supporters unite to showcase the value of supported housing.
Stop Social Housing Stigma (formerly known as the ‘See the Person’ campaign)
We are a founder supporter of See the Person. This national tenant-led campaign was established in 2017 to help smash the stereotype publicity around social housing. We continue to actively support the Stop Social Housing Stigma campaign, promoting the value and benefit our tenants and customers bring to our communities.
Purple Tuesday
The Group supports Purple Tuesday, a social movement and change initiative working to improve the customer experience for people who are disabled and their families 365 days a year by committing to changing at least one practice a year that will lead to greater inclusion and accessibility.
We support Mencap's annual Learning Disability Week.
Carers Week is an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring, highlight the challenges unpaid carers face, and recognise their contribution to families and communities throughout the UK.
Supported Housing in Partnership (SHiP)
We are a member of SHiP.
White Ribbon and 16 Days of Action
We support the annual White Ribbon and 16 Days of Action campaigns to end domestic abuse.
Pledges
We have undertaken several pledges aligned with our shared vision and values.
Age-friendly Employer Pledge
The Group has signed the Age-friendly Employer Pledge, a free nationwide programme launched by the Centre for Ageing Better to improve the recruitment, retention and development of older workers.
Disability Confident Employer
Disability Confident organisations play a leading role in changing attitudes for the better.
CIH Make a Stand pledge
We have pledged to Make a Stand against domestic abuse. The pledge has been developed by the Chartered Institute of Housing in partnership with Women’s Aid and the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance to enable housing organisations to make a visible commitment to support people experiencing domestic abuse.
Dementia Friends
The Group supports Dementia Friends, an initiative by The Alzheimer's Society, to change people’s perceptions of Dementia.
National Housing Federation Commitment to Refer
We have signed up to the NHF's Commitment to Refer to make a positive, public statement that shows housing associations are serious about ending homelessness.
Harry's Pledge
The Group has committed to working towards Harry's Pledge, which includes making our offices and community spaces as accessible as possible, installing ‘Changing Place’ toilets in any new offices that are open to the public, and being a carer-friendly employer.
Homes for Cathy commitments
We have united with other housing associations and homelessness charities to help end homelessness and have signed up to nine Homes for Cathy homelessness commitments, developed with Crisis, which guide and benchmark best practice within our organisation.
South Ribble Dementia Action Alliance
We a members of the South Ribble Dementia Action Alliance part of our commitment to improve the lives of those living with dementia and their carers.
Respect ASB Charter
We have signed up to the new Respect Anti-social Behaviour Charter for housing. The purpose of the charter is to improve the anti-social behaviour services of housing bodies.
Other commitments
Brighter Futures
Our Brighter Futures programme offers fully paid job placements for 6 months to give our tenants a stepping stone into paid employment.
Learning Disability England
We are a member of Learning Disability England.
Learning Disability and Autism Housing Network
We are a founder member of the Learning Disability and Autism Housing Network.
Modern slavery
We are committed to preventing modern slavery and human trafficking in all our corporate activities and to ensuring that our supply chains are free from slavery and human trafficking.
DFN Project SEARCH
DFN Project SEARCH is an international transition-to-work programme committed to transforming the lives of young people with learning disabilities and autism.
Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG)
We are a member of VODG.
Zero Carbon Club
With decarbonisation at the heart of the social housing sector's agenda, 43 housing providers have joined forces to create the Zero Carbon Club. The group represents approximately three quarters of a million homes across the UK.
Awards
Inside Housing Affordable Housing Awards - Finalist Campaign of the Year
Progress Housing Group 2021/22 Group Annual Report.
Inside Housing's Housing Heroes Awards -
Finalist Tenant of the Year
Joan Musker, tenant and Chair of Wade Hall Community Association.
Inside Housing's Women in Housing Awards - Finalist Board/Committee Member of the Year category
Lynne Cubbin as Chair of Trustees Key Unlocking Futures.
Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Gold Award
Inside Housing's Housing Development Awards - Finalist Best Supported Housing Development
RWP's Annear Place supported living scheme.
Accreditations
