South Essex Homes becomes first in the country to deliver equality excellence

Stop Press
Date: December 2010

EQUALITY EXCELLENCE

South Essex Homes becomes first in the country to deliver equality excellence

South Essex Homes has become the first social housing management organisation in the country to be assessed as operating at an ‘excellent’ standard for its equality practices.

The recognition for the arms length management organisation (ALMO) which manages some 6,000 council properties in Southend–on-Sea reinforces its commitment to delivering excellent customer care to its 12,500 residents.

Equality is an increasingly important issue to South Essex Homes as its residents make up a diverse community with 44 per cent of tenants being over 60 years old, 30 per cent having a disability and nine per cent being from a Black and Asian Minority Ethnic background.

The Equality Framework for Social Housing run by Local Government Improvement and Development, which is tailored to the demands of housing organisations, including ALMOs (arms length management organisation), is assessed by a panel of highly-experienced peers.

Engagement with tenants is extremely important for South Essex Homes and a key aspect in the ALMO model of social housing management. Implementation of the equality framework has improved the dialogue between the ALMO and its tenants as new feedback facilities have been established. Tenants can communicate through day to day contact with ALMO staff, can report problems online via the website and there is a mystery shopper scheme where the organisation is secretly assessed to ensure levels of service are upheld.

South Essex Homes has gathered data on its resident profile in order to identify and address the individual needs of its customers. This currently covers 88 per cent of tenants and is used to flag up cases where extra care may be required and allows staff to tailor the services they provide. One example of this would be producing written communications in different languages to accommodate for the ALMOs non-English speaking community.

This framework has also provided staff with a platform to promote the services they offer including their work with vulnerable groups such as domestic abuse victims, the disabled and those who have been affected by anti-social behaviour.

South Essex Homes runs a Tenancy Sustainment Course for these vulnerable groups in partnership with the Southend Adult Education College. This course aims to help tenants learn about living as part of a community and how they can successfully manage their tenancy.
 
The residents of South Essex Homes played a major part in securing this accreditation taking the assessment panel around their estates, meeting and speaking with them at focus groups and demonstrating the benefits they are now experiencing.

South Essex Homes Chief Executive, Mike Gatrell said: “Equality is not about treating everyone the same, but about recognising that they have individual needs to be met in different ways. We work with a diverse community and have always been proactive in promoting equality but it is fantastic to be the first housing organisation in the country to have this commitment recognised by the LGID.

“We are committed to supporting our tenants with excellent customer care. I want to say thank you to all our residents, we are extremely proud of what we have achieved and their support has been fundamental to our success.”

Southend-on-Sea Borough Councils Executive Councillor for Adult Social Care, Health and Housing, Anna Waite, said:” I am pleased South Essex Homes has been officially recognised for the work it has been doing on equality and diversity”.
“I would like to congratulate South Essex Homes and hope they continue to make progress for the benefit of the Boroughs residents.”

Local Government Improvement and Development (formerly the IDeA), supports improvement and innovation in local government, focusing on the issues that are important to councils and tenants and promoting the sharing of best practice. The Equality Framework for Social Housing was established in response to ALMOs concerned that the framework for local government was not specific enough to the work that they were doing.

Local Government Improvement and Development National Advisor for Equalities and Cohesion, Michael Keating said: “It should go without saying that local democracy is anchored in ‘knowing your community’. What is important is a passionate commitment to the people you serve, embedded within values driven by strong leadership and understood by all staff. This is exactly what South Essex Homes has demonstrated”.

Staff at South Essex Homes will not be resting on their laurels and plans are already being put into place to implement recommendations from the inspection such as extending the resident profile to include 90 per cent of tenants by the end of the financial year. In future South Essex Homes will also be working with the local strategic partnership and stipulating in its contracts that contractors have equality measures in place.

For more information about the Equality Framework for Social Housing visit: www.idea.gov.uk