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Housing Services Manager

December 2014

Olympic Office Centre, 8 Fulton Road HA9 0NU

Telephone 020 8830 6777 Fax 020 8450 9777

[email protected] www.campbelltickell.com

Campbell Tickell Ltd Incorporated in Cardiff (England & Wales) Registration number 4713939

Registered office 14 Accommodation Road, London NW11 8EP VAT number 743 6943 08

December 2014 Dear Applicant Waltham Forest Housing Association – Housing Services Manager Thank you for your interest in this position. Enclosed is the information you will require to assist you in completing your application. To apply please can you:

Provide an up-to-date CV which shows your full career history with any breaks explained – we recommend that this is no longer than three pages;

Write a supporting statement detailing how you are a good candidate for this post, why you are interested in it and how you have the experience, skills and potential to fulfil the person specification. We suggest that you tell us about some key examples in some detail, ones that illustrate that you have the experience and skills that WFHA needs. – we recommend that this should be a maximum of around three pages;

Complete the declaration form; and

Indicate on the declaration form if you cannot attend any of the interview dates.

Please note that applications can only be considered if all the documentation is completed. However, it is not mandatory to complete the equalities section within the declaration form. The information requested is for monitoring purposes in line with our commitment to equality and diversity, and will not affect the outcome of your application. Once complete, please send your application, preferably in MS Word format, by email to [email protected] or by post to: Campbell Tickell Recruitment, Olympic Office Centre, 8 Fulton Road, Wembley, HA9 0NU. Due to postal unreliability we recommend you e-mail your application to us wherever possible to avoid missing the deadline.

mailto:[email protected]

Waltham Forest Housing Association Housing Services Manager

September 2014 of 22

Applications must be received by Monday 12th January 2014 at 12 noon. It is your responsibility to ensure that we have received your application. If you do not receive confirmation of receipt of your application from us within 24 hours of sending, please call 020 3434 0990 to ensure it has arrived. You should also ensure that you use a secure email address from which to send your application, as our system will filter out emails if it believes them to have been sent from unsecured sites that are often used to send spam emails. In order to avoid last-minute IT issues, we also ask that you allow yourself ample time to submit your application in advance of the deadline. Details of the selection process can be found on page 21. Please do contact me if you wish to have an informal discussion about the role or if you have any questions on 020 3434 0990. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards

Mary Hope Senior Associate Consultant


September 2014 of 22

Contents

Page

Welcome letter from the Director of Housing & Support 5

About Waltham Forest Housing Association 6

Our staff 9

Job description 11

Person specification 17

Organisation chart 19

Principal terms and conditions of service 20

Key dates and the selection process 21

The advertisement 22

The following supplementary information can be downloaded from www.campbelltickell.com:

Business Plan 2014

Financial Accounts 2014

Annual Report 2014

To find out more please also visit the Waltham Forest Housing Association website at: www.wfha.org.uk

http://www.campbelltickell.com/

http://www.wfha.org.uk/


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Welcome letter

Dear Applicant In 2013 WFHA commemorated working in the London Borough of Waltham Forest for 50 years, providing housing and support, predominantly to Older People. It was a memorable year where our past was celebrated with tenants and stakeholders, but now is the time to build on our foundations and enter a new era. The Board and staff have an appetite for growth in services and buildings and so we are actively working towards our first new development in several years, and we have a number exciting options and opportunities. We have recently carried out a review of our Maintenance Services and will be implementing new procedures for procurement and monitoring, whilst maintaining our high standards of customer service. We are therefore looking to strengthen our Management Team with two new posts to join our Support Services Manager in providing in managing all of our frontline staff. The new posts of Housing Services Manager and Asset Services Manager will be responsible for providing customer, housing and maintenance services to our 325 tenants and a variety of services to a further 45 tenants of other housing associations. Working for a small local organisation, we are able to offer you a wide remit of experience and opportunity to change the lives of those who we support as an integral part of our Middle Management Team. We will want you to play a full and active role in that team and support us, drive us and lead us on a range of issues. We are very focused on what we do, on our customers and are passionate about our outcomes. We are proactive and energized about our work. We obviously want the best person for each of the jobs, and personality and attitude will play a big part in our decision. If we sound like the sort of people you like to work with and you can be a real part of that sort of environment, then please look further and seek to join us. If you would like to talk to me directly please call me, or speak to our recruitment consultants Campbell Tickell, who know us well.

Yours truly

Hayley Mulhall Director of Housing and Support Waltham Forest HA


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About Waltham Forest Housing Association

About Us Our origins lie in the distant past of 1963 when Chingford Lions set up a Housing Association to provide shared housing accommodation for older people. Waltham Forest Housing Association was set up in 1970 providing general needs accommodation for families and single people, and we came together in 1974. Our core business is still specialist housing, predominantly for older people, but also adults with Learning Disabilities, including Autism. We still work solely in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. We currently own 329 homes, manage a further 17 homes and have 30 supported housing tenancies that we support, for when we also organise events and social activities. We are a small association and have a turnover of £2.3m but were able to deliver a surplus in 2013-14 of c£600k. Our income is derived from rents and fees whilst our main areas of expenditure are salaries, property maintenance and interest charges. What we do

Our Mission is to deliver and promote valued services that meet the changing housing and support needs of our community and particularly those in later life. We campaign for the rights of under-represented and vulnerable people. As one consequence we have become involved in the Dementia Alliance in Waltham Forest and all are staff are trained in Dementia Awareness. We are aware that our residents needs are

changing and are determined to adapt what we do to meet those needs.

WFHA continue to providing efficient, cost effective and streamlined services. We involve our tenants and listen to what they have to say. We ask them to comment on service standards, and having listened to them we have worked in partnership with both the local authority and the health service on issues arising out of hospital discharge. We want to help bring agencies together and prevent readmissions. We have joined procurement partnerships so that our size does not prevent us from obtaining great value for money.


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Waltham Forest is one of the most diverse boroughs in London and we never forget that. We strive to ensure that we better reflect our culturally diverse community and tailor our services to meet the needs of the local community. We want to be a provider of choice for housing and services, so like other Registered Providers we have been ensuring all our properties meet the Decent Homes standard. We have a planned maintenance programme which enables us to do work when properties are empty. We have been replacing windows, kitchens, bathrooms, heating systems, lifts and next year will be replacing some roofs. We have not been developing for several years but are now in a position to start to provide new homes as well as new services. This is an exciting position to be in. Our People

WFHA is managed on a day to day basis by the Chief Executive, who is supported by the Director of Housing & Support and the Director of Finance. We have a total of just 16 staff: so there is good atmosphere of mutual support and co-operation across the organisation. We have a non executive Board of tenants and independent non executives who steer our strategic course and hold the executive to account for delivering our agreed objectives.

All staff are based at our new offices in Church Hill in Walthamstow – just a few minutes walk form the great transport hub of Walthamstow Central and near the shops and amenities of the town. Our Plans We have a robust financial position and have consistently generated surpluses over the years. We want to maintain that and:

Increase WFHA’s underlying operating surplus through improved efficiency and greater control on costs.

Continue to develop our robust financial model to project the impact of our Business Plan over 30 years.


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Ensure that we continue to comply with all financial covenants with lenders, while maintaining sufficient headroom as contingency against unforeseen circumstances.

Provide resources to accelerate the stock re-investment programme and ensure that the Decent Homes Standards that we have achieved are maintained.

Provide resources to subsidise new developments, subject to financial constraints, in addition to Government grant funding if available, to provide better value for money and meet our growth targets.

Build on stringent scheme appraisals as part of our asset management strategy, recycling any funds raised through disposals to support our growth objectives.

Regulation and Quality Assurance WFHA is regulated by the Homes and Community Agencies (HCA) and as a small Association can expect a lighter touch regulatory regime, but there is still a requirement to be able to demonstrate that the Association meets the requirements of the regulatory framework, adhering to current legislation and maintaining its homes to a decent standard with a strong commitment to Equality and Diversity. Our Supported Housing services are inspected and graded by our commissioners and in 2013 the association achieved five A and one B rating on the six core areas of the Quality Assessment Framework (QAF), giving us the best score in the Borough. Also in 2012, WFHA were re-accredited with the CHS Code of Practice for floating support service. In 2013 we had to retender the support services and were successful in maintaining all the existing contracts and were awarded a three year contract with the possibility of a further year’s extension.


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Our Staff

Senior Management Team

Linda Milton Chief Executive

Martin Isaacs Director of Finance

Hayley Mulhall Director of Housing and Support

Middle Management

Cheryl Whittle Support Services Manager


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Staff

Tina Addai-Poku Sheltered Housing Officer

Sharon Littlejohn Governance Officer

Angela Cook Housing Officer

Jennifer Quarrie Finance Officer

Jane Howard Sheltered Housing Officer

Hollie Nicette Customer Services Officer

Ruth Kintu Sheltered Housing Officer

Sally Rowe Interim Sheltered Housing Officer

Lianne Murphy Interim Customer Services Officer


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Job Description – Housing Services Manager

Reports to Director of Housing and Support

Responsible for Housing Officer and Customer Services Officer

Overview

WFHA is committed to providing responsive, consistent and high quality services both to its tenants, and to other internal and external customers. Our Housing and Support Services provision are at the heart of this, providing the infrastructure that enables the front-line service and WFHA as a whole to function effectively.

Job Purpose

Responsible for the effective management and development of Housing Services ensuring a customer focussed service delivered to tenants and partner organisations in line with WFHA’s strategic objectives and plans. Additionally, as a member of MMT contribute to the strategic vision and direction of all service provision, working proactively with colleagues in MMT to resolve day to day problems and issues. Below is a summary of the key responsibilities of this post. This list is not intended to be comprehensive but to highlight main areas of responsibility and performance objectives. Specific targets will be agreed with you by your line manager and will be subject to regular review.

Key Responsibilities

Customer and Housing Services

Provide direction, training and guidance to your staff team in respect of tenancy management and office support issues including:

Nuisance and antisocial behaviour.

Arrears management and control.

Possession proceedings and enforcement.

Representing RP in court.

Tenant engagement and tenant involvement.

Service charges and costs.

Lettings and allocations.

Attending tenants meetings.

Best Practice and matters of legislation.

Facilities management functions.

Complex case management as appropriate.


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To ensure the delivery of effective management, monitoring and control of current and former tenant rent arrears, and that tenants have access to appropriate advice and support to ensure that their income is maximised.

Ensure the smooth and efficient administration of the voids and allocations processes working closely with colleagues, contractors and external referral agencies to minimise delays in re-letting and maximise rental income.

Responsibility for Health and Safety and FRA compliance for WFHA offices.

Co-ordinate, monitor and manage WFHA’s complaints process.

Responsible for the collating, monitoring and delivery of agreed KPI’s, taking action to remedy poor performance/outcomes.

Seeking to continuously improve service quality, including voids management; lettings and allocations; rent arrears; neighbour nuisance and anti-social behaviour; complaints and compliments.

Reporting to the Director of Housing and Support, develop an effective approach to tenant engagement and involvement so tenants’ views better inform WFHA service delivery. Develop new approaches to meet changing needs, demands and expectations.

Develop and deliver the communications strategy ensuring quality information is provided to tenants in correspondence, newsletters, ad hoc reports, including developing effective use of digital technology.

Co-ordinate the production and distribution of the tenants’ newsletter in accordance with WFHA’s agreed timescales.

Participate in and co-ordinate the out of hours On Call Service on a rota basis.

Facilitate Tenants Focus Group.

Facilities Management, Office Support and Administration

Ensure that the team deliver an effective facilities management and administrative service to all tenants, colleagues and stakeholders as appropriate.

Working with others

Work closely with all colleagues to support the delivery of an effective Housing and Customer service.

As a member of MMT work proactively and at a strategic level with the Support Services and Asset Services Managers, and with SMT to ensure high levels of service are maintained in all areas of business.

Represent and actively promote the work of WFHA with relevant statutory and voluntary agencies and key partners.

Actively contribute to the development of new business opportunities, new initiatives and the development and implementation of best practice in housing,


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customer and facilities management services.

Managing and developing services

Work in accordance with established policy and procedures, making recommendations to the Director of Housing and Support on changes/improvements, developing new approaches to meet changing needs, demands and expectations of tenants.

Regularly review and update policies and procedures relevant to your areas of responsibility in line with the law and best practice.

Managing and developing people

Management and supervision of direct reports, undertaking regular one to ones and annual appraisals.

Contribute to the recruitment and selection process and ensure the adequate induction and training of staff.

Coach and mentor staff to develop skills and knowledge; develop a flexible customer focused workforce, taking appropriate action when required.

Actively participate in team meetings, one to ones and annual appraisals, identifying own and others learning and development needs.

Financial Management and Control

Manage and monitor devolved budgets and authorise expenditure, ensuring value for money within agreed budgets and delegations, in line with WFHA policies and procedures.

Other

To assist in the preparation and submission of tenders for external contracts and new business.

To lead and/or contribute to all submissions for external accreditation and validations.

Report to and attend meetings of Management Teams, Board and Committees, preparing and presenting reports as required.

Maintain an overview of the law and best practice in respect of housing management, human resources, and office support functions.

Undertake all other tasks commensurate with post as required by your line manager.

Core Responsibilities

Equality and Diversity

Ensure that the services you provide and those to which you contribute operate on the basis of equality of treatment for all and avoid unfair discrimination, while having special


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regard for the varying needs of different sections of the community.

Customer Care

Ensure that you always deal with internal and external customers courteously and efficiently and develop positive working relationships with them.

Service Delivery and Quality

Understand the nature of Waltham Forest Housing Association’s services, the needs and demands for these, and the expectations on your areas of responsibility, internally and externally. Deliver a consistent and high quality service, continuously monitoring and evaluating service quality and delivery, formally and informally, responding positively to customer feedback and complaints.

IT and data protection

Ensure that appropriate data is collected and controlled in accordance with agreed procedures and statutory requirements. Develop recording systems and procedures to ensure that service delivery is monitored and evaluated and that appropriate arrangements are in place to report to the Board on Key Performance Indicators.

Confidentiality

To ensure that all personal and /or confidential information about WFHA and its business is appropriately safeguarded and only disclosed to people with a genuine right to know.

Regulatory Compliance

Comply with the law and best practice in your area of responsibility.

Risk Management

Identify and keep under continuing review all potential risks affecting your areas of work. In liaison with your line manager and colleagues ensure that there is a clear understanding of the nature of each risk and the strategies required to manage or reduce it as appropriate.

Health and Safety

Work safely, efficiently and without endangering your health and safety and that of your colleagues or any other person.

Policies and Procedures

Ensure that you are familiar with all WFHA policies and procedures that relate directly or indirectly to your areas of work.

Personal Development

Take responsibility for your own professional and technical skills development in liaison with your line manager, actively participating in one to ones, staff appraisals and team /


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organisational meetings.

Code of Conduct

Operate at all times within the framework of the Association’s staff code of conduct.


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Person Specification – Housing Services Manager

Criteria Essential Desirable Method of Assessment

Experience

Experience of working proactively with tenants to achieve successful outcomes in the delivery of services that meet tenants’ needs.

Interview

Significant knowledge of best practice in housing management, facilities management and customer service.

Interview

The post holder is likely to be professionally qualified or qualified by experience within the social housing sector.

Application

Experience in managing a staff team, preferably combining both housing and office management.

Application

Experience of attending court, presenting evidence and representing the housing provider at key stakeholder meetings and managing tenant complaints.

Interview

In depth knowledge of housing policy and practice and the legal framework of social housing, including rent collection and arrears control, income maximisation, maintenance and voids management, lettings and allocations, tenancy enforcement and the effective management of anti-social behaviour.

Application / Interview

Leadership and management

Ability to lead and develop effective teams to deliver quality service outcomes, to be both strategic and to cover for colleagues at all levels when needed.



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Proven ability to develop staff potential and to tackle issues of capability and conduct when required.


Ability to prioritise, analyse and solve problems and achieve results against tight deadlines by taking a proactive approach.


Ability to lead by example, demonstrating WFHA core responsibilities.


Customer Focus

Demonstrable skills and ability to provide a customer focused service responding proactively and positively, keeping customers informed and managing expectations appropriately.


Ability to manage situations in which customers are unhappy about the level or quality of service, and to proactively find solutions to problems.


Ability to occasionally manage difficult and aggressive customers when needed.


Negotiating and influencing

Experience of using effective negotiating and influencing skills within teams, with tenants and partners.


Ability to promote WFHA and work effectively with key stakeholders and business partners.


Communication

Ability to communicate information clearly and concisely whether verbally or in writing, with a wide range of audiences.


Computer literate – self servicing and able to undertake own correspondence, write reports and to use complex spreadsheets to manage maintenance budgets and expenditure.

Application


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Knowledge

Understanding of the regulatory framework.

Application

Understanding of the legislative framework.

Application

Understanding of the challenges of delivering quality and cost effective services within small housing associations.

Education and Training

Minimum education to A level or equivalent, or relevant professional, academic or management qualification or relevant transferable experience.


Demonstrable commitment to and evidence of continuous professional development and learning.

Application


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Organisation Chart


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Principal terms and conditions (For information purposes only)

1. Position Housing Services Manager 2. Salary and benefits The salary is £ 40k pa* *We are currently undertaking a salary and benefits review.

Salaries are reviewed by the Board annually for April each year. (WFHA Scales including Outer London Weighting)

3. Pension

Membership of the SHPs scheme. The Association pays the employers contribution set by the scheme.

4. Holiday entitlement

20 days rising to 25 after 1 years’ service, and a maximum of 30 days after 5 years service. 3.5 additional days holiday are given between Christmas and New Year.

5. Working hours Normal hours of work are 35 hours per week based around the usual business

working week. 6. Place of work

Your place of work will be the Waltham Forest Housing Association’s registered address at Energy Centre, 31 Church Hill, Walthamstow, London E17 3RU.

7. Sick Pay entitlement

There is a progressive entitlement to enhanced sick pay, subject to length of service. Subject to the deduction of any statutory sick pay to which you may be entitled.


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Key dates and the selection process

Closing date: Monday 12th January 2015, at 12 noon

First Interviews: Tuesday 20th January 2015 (WFHA Head Office)

Final Interview with candidate presentation:

Friday 30th January 2015 (WFHA Head Office)


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