Annual Report 2021-22

New Ways of Working

During the pandemic we adapted to new ways of working, meeting and engaging. We learned that distance doesn’t need to be a barrier and that people with busy lives could still be involved with shaping services and influencing decisions at Estuary. 

This has led to exciting, ongoing work to make resident involvement more accessible and suitable for residents that typically could not commit to attending face-to-face meetings in Southend. 

 

FER Goes Virtual

FER held their first virtual AGM and continued to meet online, embracing hybrid meetings (some online and some face-to-face) when restrictions were lifted. 
FER continued to be a part of how Estuary is governed by attending Customer Experience Committee meetings with senior leader and Board members to monitor performance and participate in decision making. 
FER shaped our Customer Strategy through a series of workshops and meetings with senior leaders. 
Approved Estate Improvement Budget applications, including a bike store at Falcon Way, using the Social Value Fund from our repair contractor Axis. 

 

Attended Training

• Effective questioning.
• Customer Ambassador Training.
• Planning Events Training.

 

Reviewed and Approved Policies

• Mutual Exchange Policy.
• Estate Management Policy.
• Data Protection Policy.
• Tenure Policy.

 

Took Part in the Recruitment and Selection Process for:

• Chair of Board.
• Head of Customer and Housing Services.
• Customer Engagement Manger.
• Customer Ambassadors.

 

What is Customer Contact?

The first point of contact for many of our customers, our contact centre operates 8am until 5pm, Monday to Friday. Our team answer and record all forms of contact, whether that be on phone, via our website, email or social media.

Preferred Forms of Contact:

In the period 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022, the team have fielded over 37,000 phone calls, over 30 times more than all other forms of contact combined.

We received: 

• 37,041 Phone calls (95%)
• 1,186 Emails* (3%)
• 853 Online forms (2%)
• 116 Social media (1%)

Reasons to Contact Us

The top reasons for contact via socials, email and via online webform are as follows:

Via Social Media

• Matters related to responsive repairs.
• Matters related to Mechanical and Electrical.
• Reports of Anti Social Behaviour.

 

Via Email 

• Matters related to responsive repairs.
• Reports of Anti Social Behaviour.
• Waiting list enquiries.

 

Online Forms

• Reports of Anti Social Behaviour.
• Resident Improvement Application.
• General enquiry.

 

Busy Times

Overall, the volume of calls is around the same each month, at around 3,200 calls. The busiest month was March with 3,658 calls answered and the quietest December at 2,184. Both of these would be expected due to a storm late February and rent increase letters being sent around March, and December being both a naturally quieter month and the office is closed from Christmas Day until 2nd January. 

* emails are from Nov 21 and only initial contact.

Summary

In the period 1st April 2021 - 31st March 2022, we received 636 Expressions of Dissatisfaction, 391 Complaints, 147 Compliments and 6 Suggestions.

An Expression of Dissatisfaction is defined as “where there is any contact where the customer is not happy with a standard of service that we provide and they are reporting it to allow us to take action to put something right.”

 

Breaking Down the Complaints

Of the total 391 complaints received. 339 were Stage 1 complaints. 51 were Stage 2 complaints, where a senior leadership review is needed and 1 moved to External Stage 4, which includes involvement with the Housing Ombudsman Service.

 

Top Four Complaints

• Time taken to carry out works (18%)
• Failure/time taken to respond - contractor (12%)
• Communication (12%)
• Failure to keep appointment - contractor (7%)

 

Compliment Quotes

"...all of your customer ambassador staff who spoke to me when I called were very helpful, professional and respectful help me”

 "Estuary Housing has been amazing to me and my family starting from my first flat”

 "...people like you are so hard to come about”

 

Anti Social Behaviour

We always want to provide a safe environment for people to live in, so tackling and reducing anti-social behaviour is really important to us. In comparision to last year, although our highest reported incident type remains the same with noise nuisance, our ASB complaints have significantly reduced from 437 in 2020/21 to 280, with less legal action needed overall. 

Our stats for 2021-22:

• 280 cases were opened.
• 26 had legal action taken.
• 2 evicitions due to ASB.
• 79% were satisfied with the case handling.
• 72% satisfied with the outcome.
• 2 were referred to mediation.
• Noise was the most commonly reported type of ASB.

 

Compliments for the team:

"Good communication from Housing Officer. Home visit arranged and we agreed an  Acceptable Behaviour Contract. Nuisance has ceased”

"I felt the situation was handled very well and very quickly”

 

Settling in Contact, Tenancy Reviews and Audits:

Housing Officers carry out a tenancy review for all new customers within 6 to 8 weeks of them receiving the keys for their property. Other reviews are carried out at 9 months, 3 or 5 years depending on the Tenancy Type. Tenancy Audit visits were put on hold during the Pandemic, however, officers did attend where additional support was needed. Housing Officers contact Shared Owners within 3 months of them moving in to ensure they’re settling into their new property.

Stats for 2021/22:

• 471 Tenancy Reviews completed (494 in 2020/21)
• 38 Tenancy Audit home visits (7 in 2020/21)
• 2 Shared Owner settling in contact (51 in 2020/21)

 

Supporting Customers

Housing Officers made regular contact with customers who have a vulnerability and received the below excerpt from feedback submitted by a customer’s next of kin:

“My son is an Estuary tenant, living in a disabled flat. He is disabled, on oxygen and has stage 4 terminal illnesses. The Housing Officer and her colleagues (one of whom I had the pleasure of speaking with yesterday when he phoned to ensure my son had the necessary help he needs) have all been very kind and supportive too, and it’s reassuring to have a name and number to give this much welcomed support. They too are a credit to your company. Therefore, please can you pass on our personal and grateful thanks for the kindness, care and support they give to us and others in need.”

Housing Officers supported domestic abuse victims/survivors by referring them to specialist agencies, arranging ‘safe’ works at their property and assisting with transfers to alternative accommodation where recommended. One of the Housing Officers and Income Officer received the below compliment:

“I moved here due to severe DV and relocated under your housing association. Since living here for a couple of months I have nothing but positive praise regarding …who have done all they can to help me feel settled, safe and assisted with any queries or issues I have in a professional and caring manner. I would like this email to be recognised by their manager/s and for this to be formally noted on their working capabilities of valued hard working members of your team that are a credit to Estuary.”

Housing Officers supported 10 customers with hoarded properties; of these 2 properties were returned to us and 2 were significantly improved. Housing Officers work closely with other agencies and continue to actively work with 6 customers.

Stats for 2021/22:

• 383 Residents with a vulnerability.
• 25 Domestic Abuse victims/survivors.
• 13 Safeguarding referrals.
• 10 Hoarded property.

Performance Information

Lettings and Voids

 

Lettings and Voids

Social Rented	Market Rent
146 properties relet.	32 properties relet.
30 new homes let.	21.1 days to relet empty properties (voids).
34 days to relet empty properties (voids).

 

Rent Allocation, Arrears and Evictions

Rent Allocation, Arrears and Evictions

Social Rented	Market Rent	Shared Ownership
100% rent collection.	104% rent collection.	106.5% rent collection.
3.41% rent arrears as a % of rent collectible.	0.86% rent as a % of rent collectable.	1.12% rent as a % of rent collectable.
3 evicitions for rent arrears.	2 evictions for rent arrears.	N/A evictions for rent arrears.

 

Income Maximisation Assistance

We’ve helped our customers to maximise their income by supporting them claim benefits i.e. Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance, Council tax support and Disability Living Allowance amongst others. As well as this, we’ve assisted with correcting mistakes in their benefits resulting in higher payments and have been successful in helping customers get the disability element of Universal Credit. We have also taken failed applications through to successful results at Mandatory Reconsideration and Tribunal. We have given food vouchers and used our Tenants’ Emergency Assistance Fund to help residents sustain their tenancy.

Total Value £418,534.00

The Tenants’ Emergency Assistance Fund helped 12 households’ total value of £2,500. It helped with a variety of things including washing machines, bedding as well as gas and electric top ups.
We worked with our partners, Axis, who donated £500 so we could purchase shopping vouchers at Christmas – this helped 8 families and 5 single occupancy households.
We have supported residents to claim Housing Benefit, Universal Credit Housing Element and Discretionary Housing Payments. We have also successfully removed deductions for bedroom tax, non-dependant deductions and the benefit cap.
We’ve also assisted with complex Universal Credit issues and backdates which has gone onto rent accounts. 

Total value £350,725.00

OVERALL GAIN £769,529
 

With our help, our customers can pay rent and bills better and clear arrears that may have built up when their benefit was reduced. The extra money can pay for the care they need or transport to provide a better quality of life.
We can take away the stress of managing claims, reconsiderations or appeals rather than doing it on their own. This will help our residents feel more supported and let them know their landlord cares.
There is also the hidden value of improving mental health by maximising income, and extra money going into local community.

Who are GEMS?

GEMS (Ground Estate and Maintenance Services) are the primary providers of cleaning and grounds maintenance services across the Associations stock. 
Hi Spec Services provide cleaning and grounds services to our neighbourhoods in Colchester and Clacton. 
Over 15,000 services are provided annually to keep the environments around our customers homes clean, safe, and well maintained. 
GEMS are also on hand to deal with the day-to-day emergencies that arise which include dealing with fly-tipping, graffiti removal, and broken glass. 
Whilst on site the team will regularly report communal repairs, anti-social behaviour, health and safety concerns, and report back any customer queries. During 2021-2022 GEMS reported and recorded over 1000 of these issues. 
We regularly work collaboratively with customers on how we can improve their estate environment, this has included planting shrubs and trees, improving access to parking areas and installation of flower beds. 

Stats for 2021/22:

• 1,861 flytipping incidents.
• 89 fly tippers identified.
• 6,809 cleaning and grounds services
• 7,026 incidents responded to by GEMS including dealing with Fly Tipping, Waste and Anti Social Behaviour

Compliment for GEMS

"...very friendly, helpful, kind...we really appreciate him and all he does”

With safety remaining a top priority, we have continued to focus on its Building Quality and Safety strategy by continuing to invest in building remedial and fire safety works during. 2021/22. 
Building remedial and fire safety works is an area of significant importance and a risk throughout the Housing sector, however we’ve taken a proactive approach to ensuring our customers feel safe within their homes. This was achieved by focusing on remedial works at two of the Association’s high-rise buildings (18 meters+), and by proactively securing and receiving Government Grants from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) during 2021/22.
All potentially dangerous or unsafe fire doors have now been replaced or adjusted, and only low risk fire doors are outstanding.

 

How Money Was Spent (in £000's)

• £3,757 Major repairs.
• £6,218 Routine and cyclical repairs.
• £6,738 Fire remedial works.
• £7,420 Development of new homes.
• £16,276 Staff salaries and management.

 

Routine and Cyclical Repairs

We entered into a new long-term responsive repairs and voids contract with Axis Europe on the 1 April 2020 following a rigorous and robust procurement exercise. Performance for the second year of the new contract has remained consistent with the final year of the interim repairs contract with 99.3% emergency repairs and 94% routine repairs completed on time against the new contract targets of 100% and 93% respectively.

The role of our care and support teams in supporting people has never been more important to ensure that people receive personalised support to benefit their health and wellbeing and enable them to live healthier and more independent lives. Staff worked incredibly hard to make sure people were safe and well cared for during the most difficult times.

And of course, the hard work didn’t stop. Staff continued to provide excellent care and support to customers, demonstrating their resilience and commitment. 

Many outside places again remained closed reducing the choice of outside activities due to COVID-19. However, our schemes continued to provide activities such as walking groups and gardening clubs and they celebrated memorable Christmas and Easter events at home

One resident continued their commitment to the Federation of Estuary Residents (FER) during 2021/220. This provided a voice for our customers, helping to assess policies and discussing proposed changes to Estuary Housing Association that would affect them and their peers.

Our focus, naturally, has continued to be to keep residents safe, by implementing Government guidelines on infection control procedures and Health & Safety measures. We also purchased uniforms, garden furniture, outside garden games and a summer house to facilitate family visits. Our commitment to keep our residents safe remains our top priority.

We’re committed to investing in initiatives that strengthen communities and aid individuals, through a belief that a positive social impact is created through these activities. The wellbeing valuation allows us to measure the success of our social interventions and also demonstrate value for money by comparing the impact of different activities.

 

Social Return on Investment

1 person was actively involved in the tenants’ group, FER.
Social Value - £3,945 

11 residents from across 4 schemes, regularly attended a walking group. text 
Social Value - £63,977

2 residents participated in a gardening club for 2 hour per week.
Social value - £2,789

3 people were supported to their hobby of music by attending the Music Man. 
Social value - £5,890

1 person was supported to cease smoking. 
Social value - £2,882

10 residents regularly attended a social group. 
Social value - £14,982

6 residents regularly participated in mild exercise; 

• 4 went swimming in the hydropool, 
• 1 played Boccia and 
• 1 went trampolining.

Social Value - £22,655

The total social value for 2021/22 is £117,120

This means that for every £1 spent, £5.84 of social value was achieved.

2021/22 Board Overview

Our Approach to Value for Money

Our Board approves our overall strategy to achieve value for money and we provide more detail about our approach in our Annual Financial Statements, available in our annual reports section.

VFM means different things to different stakeholders. It’s described at Estuary as the way to assess whether or not the Group has obtained the maximum benefit from the goods and services it acquires and provides, within the resources available. It’s delivered by achieving the optimum balance between economy, efficiency, and effectiveness. It not only measures the cost of goods and services, but also takes account of the mix of quality, cost, resource usage, fitness for purpose, timeliness, convenience and satisfaction, to judge whether or not, when taken together, they constitute good value.

This description remains valid and is guided by the following vision:

Estuary to become a financially efficient organisation with a Lean and modern approach to amazing customer service.

What does this mean?

Financially Efficient – To increase operating margins from both business streams (Social Housing and Care & Support), by operating in both a commercial and social purpose manner.

Lean – To consider how Estuary provides its services both to its customers and internally between departments. Are there more efficient and effective ways of doing things? Comparing how our peer organisations delivery their services gives us the opportunity to enhance where possible the experience for our own residents.

Amazing Customer Service – Are we allocating an appropriate level of resources to the services that provide better customer satisfaction and make services the best that they can be within the resources available? 

The business benefits of an ingrained VFM to the Group is important, in terms of reducing waste and improving the quality of delivery of our services. This in turn maximises our opportunity to grow whilst improving service, in line with our Strategy and our customers’ priorities.
 

Measuring Performance

During 2021/22, we measured our VFM performance through a suite of performance indicators that have been approved by Board. These indicators have been selected as they reflect the key requirements of each of the 6 corporate priorities and are reported to Board on a quarterly basis. These metrics are agreed by Board annually.

In addition, the safety of our residents is our primary focus, EHA successfully received funds from the Building Safety Fund (BSF) and insurance receipts during the year for the remedial works on Kings House and Vickers House to comply with building safety regulations. 

 

2021/22 How do we compare?

We also monitor our performance against the Sector Scorecard both in terms of its year-on-year performance and in comparison, to other similar Housing Associations operating in our region. These metrics have been grouped together to provide greater transparency. Performance is highlighted below: 

Sector Scorecard

Metric	EHA (1)	EHA	Regional Benchmark (2)	Global Accounts Median (3)
	2020/2021	2021/22	2020/21	2020/21
Health of Business
Operating margin (SHL)	28.90%	33.28%	31.82%	26.30%
Operating margin (Overall %)	21.00%	25.25%	27.80%	23.90%
EBITDA (MRI)	127.80%	157.43%	182.57%	183.00%
Development Capacity and Supply
New supply delivered (social)	1.80%	0.70%	1.86%	1.30%
New supply delivered non social housing units	0.00%	0.00%	0.10%	0.00%
Gearing %	54.20%	52.38%	47.73%	43.90%
Investment
Reinvestment	4.60%	2.67%	5.34%	5.80%
Effective Asset Management
Return on captial employed (ROCE)	1.70%	2.72%	3.14%	3.30%
Operating Efficiencies
Headline social housing costs per unit	£5,160	£5,198	£2,957	£3,730

 

Analysis of Performance

The Estuary Board made the significant decision to address the remedial works at Kings and Vickers House in March 2021. The provision of this in 2020/21 and the subsequent insurance and Building Safety Grant (BSF) receipt in 2021/22 have been reflected in the figures above, with further waking watch costs provided for, as the works progress to completion.

 

Health of the Business

Our operating margin (for Social Housing Lettings and overall) has improved significantly since 2020/21, with the former exceeding the sector median. This was driven by the exit of nursing services and slowdown of the development programme.

Our EBITDA-MRI interest cover has also improved and is at the highest level since 2016/17 but again we note that we are below regional averages. We are looking to build significant headroom through efficiency savings over the life of the next Corporate Strategy to 2025.

 

Development Capacity and Supply

Our gearing has improved due to surplus cash balances used to repay our loans. We do not compare favourably to our peer group, but recognise Estuary’s historical development aspirations has maximised borrowing capacity throughout the last 15years. New opportunities were paused during 2021/22 whist the fire safety remedial works commenced.

 

Investment

Investment in our homes has fallen compared to the previous year and is lower than the regional and sector averages, and this is driven by both the pandemic, supply chain pressures on our planned programme and creating capacity to address the fire safety remedial works at Kings and Vickers House. 

We have close to 100% stock condition data and SAP (Standard Assessment Procedure) rating information that allows us to appropriately programme our investment programme to ensure our stock is both compliant and sustainable. We continue to provide financial resources of 30% above Decency Homes Standard in our annual budgets.

 

Effective Asset Management

Our ROCE (Return on Capital Employed) has improved compared to the prior year, but acknowledge we are below our peer and sector averages. Again, this was affected by supply-chain challenges.

 

Operating Efficiencies

We acknowledge that Estuary is more expensive than the sector median and its peer group, and significantly different to the sector median of £3,957 for the prior year. A breakdown by expense type* can be shown below.

Operating Efficiencies

Metric	Actual		Peer Group
	2020/21	2021/22	2020/21
Metric 5 - Headline social housing cocsts per unit (CPU)	£5,160	£5,198	£3,957
Management CPU	£1,124	£702	£1,144
Service charge CPU	£780	£713	£480
Maintenance CPU	£1,486	£1,441	£1,205
Major repairs CPU	£839	£851	£703
Other social housing CPU	£1,041	£1,492	£425

 
The biggest variation to the peer group relates to ‘other social housing CPU’, which makes up £1,068 of the £1,241 variance. This is principally due to Care and Support management costs and our Development Team costs. We also acknowledge our Service charge CPU is higher than our peer group and will be reviewed as part of our Customer Service Standards review in 2022. Following the exit of nursing services and registered care this will fall in subsequent years.

* Metric is excluding remedial works provision. 

Board Member Snapshot Update

Retired	3	Average attendance	96%	Female members	4*
Resigned	1	New members	4	Male members	7*

* as of September 2021

Board Members

George Kieffer Chair BM | GR	Ian Martin Chief Executive BM	Michael Hadjimichael Chief Financial Officer BM
Richard Bint Chair of Audit & Risk Committee BM | AR | GR	Janis Gibson Chair of Services Committee and Care and Support Committee BM | SC | CS | GR	Robert Nichols BM
Simone Russell BM | AR | CS	Richard Moriarty Senior Independent Director, Chair of Governance and Remuneration Committee Joined 2021 BM | GR	Carol Williams Joined 2021 BM | SC | CS
Patrick Symington Joined 2021 BM | AR	Claudette Marcano Joined 2021 BM | AR	Chris Blundell   Resigned April 2021 BM
Richard Rowntree Retired September 2021 BM	Paul Kingston   Vice Chair, Chair of Services Committee and Care & Support Committee Retired September 2021 BM | SC | CS | GR	David Holmes Chair of Audit & Risk Committee retired September 2021 BM | AR | GR

 

Key

AR	Audit and Risk Committee	SC	Services Committee
BM	Board Member	CS	Care and Support Committee
GR	Governance and Remuneration Committee

This year has been positive from a financial viewpoint and we have been able to deliver a surplus for the year of £10m. Throughout all of the financial decision-making processes, the safety and well being of our residents were always in our mind.

We were delighted to be able to deliver on our planned maintenance programme, which included our vital compliance activities, including gas safety.

We were able to demonstrate to our residents that we spent the budget that was allocated for remediation work and improvements to their homes, showing that we are putting their comfort and safety first. The decision to commence these works in the last financial year continues to be a good business decision to have carried out a large proportion of the works before costs became inflated and materials and supplies were difficult to source in the aftermath of the pandemic. We hope to complete these works in 2023.

I have been delighted by our response to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) compliance with the Governance and Financial Viability Standard downgrade from G1/V2 to G2/V2. We have strengthened our financial position and ensured that our objectives for the new corporate strategy 2022-25 can be fully funded. I am confident that we will return to G1/V2 during the latter part of 2022/23.

There will be challenges ahead, and Estuary is experiencing the ‘cost of living’ challenges that all our residents are also facing. The decisions we made over the last year, with careful planning and mitigations, means we are well placed to continue our commitment to making a positive impact on both the environment and the future health and well being of staff and residents. We continue to set aside funds to continue to explore sustainability measures to run throughout the whole business and the homes of our residents to improve their energy efficiency.

Our full set of financial statements are available to view via our Annual Reports Page.

Key Financials and Numbers

	2021/22	2020/21
Income and Expenditure	£m	£m
Turnover	42.1	39.8
Turnover - Social Housing Lettings	29.5	28.7*
Operating Surplus	10.9	6.5
Interest Payable	7.2	6.8
Surplus/(Deficit) for the year	10.0	0.7
Comprehensive Gain/(loss)	12.1	(2.4)
Balance Sheet	£m	£m
Tangible Fixed Assets - Housing Properties	383.3	379.6
Investment Properties	56.1	49.9
Investment in New Housing Properties	7.6	14.7
Capitalised Major Repairs	2.8	3.1
Debt	218.9	217.4
Deferred Grant Income	138.0	140.5
Reserves	75.3	63.2
Units
Total Social Housing Stock Owned and Managed	4,286	4,267
Total Units Owned and Managed	4,716	4,726
KPIs
Interest Cover	142.8%	120.9%
Gearing	52.4%	54.2%

* Support charges are no longer presented within Social Housing Lettings (2020/21 updated). These are now included in Other Social Housing Activities. 

The Group is reporting a turnover of £42.1m (2020/21: £39.8m), an operating surplus of £10.9m (2020/21: £6.5m), surplus for the year of £10.0m (2020/21: surplus of £0.7m) and a comprehensive gain of £12.1m (2020/21: loss of £2.4m).

The Group’s turnover is £42.1m (2020/21: £39.8m). This is due to an increase in First Tranche Shared Ownership Sales of £2.6m from £3m in 2020/21 to £5.6m in 2021/22. The prior year, 2020/21 reflected a year where onsite Developments were paused, and the property sales market was temporarily closed. It therefore reflected a year of reduced trade, compared to 2021/22 which reflected a full year of trade. Turnover from Social Housing Lettings has increased £0.7m from £28.8m in 2020/21 to £29.5m in 2021/22 due to new units being completed during the year and a rent increase of 4.1% being applied to the majority of the Group’s stock.

The Group’s operating surplus is £10.9m (2020/21: £6.5m). Included within the operating surplus is the expense for remedial works at the Group’s high rise buildings totalling £1.1m (2020/21: £2.8m).

The Group achieved a surplus for the year of £10.0m (2020/21: surplus of £0.7m).

Further to all notes above, included within this is a gain on the movement in fair value of investment properties of £6.4m, being £5.6m greater than the gain of £0.8m recognised in 2020/21.

Following the remeasurement of the movement in fair value of the SHPS pension obligation gain of £2.1m (2020/21 loss of £3.1m), the Group made a comprehensive gain of £12.1m, being £14.5m greater than the comprehensive loss of £2.4m in 2020/21.

As a result of the above remeasurement, the Group’s reserve balance has increased £12.1m from £63.2m in 2020/21 to £75.3m in 2021/22.

Group member Estuary Homes Design Limited, continued to deliver its development pipeline, generating a turnover of £8.1m (2020/21: £11.4m) in the year and a surplus of £0.02m (2020/21: £0.04m)

Group member Accession Homes Limited, delivered profits before tax of £0.2m (2020/21: £0.09m) which was generated by the sale of land held within its portfolio, to a third party. Profits from this activity will be Gift Aided to the Association, in order to cross-subsidise the development of further affordable housing.