HRABP - Draft 8 - Flipbook - Page 35
7 Achieving Value for Money
1. Introduction
The need to achieve value for money
(vfm) in the housing service is a key
priority.
Maximising the income we
receive and reducing expenditure on
administration, while
delivering an
effective and efficient service is important
to ensure that we can maximise
investment in the existing housing stock
and provide new homes.
The Housing Service has embarked on a
transformation programme during 2018,
with the objective of achieving step-change
improvements to the service and ensuring
that our objectives and operational
processes align with the East Suffolk
Housing Strategy and corporate East
Suffolk Business Plan. This programme will
drive vfm in relation to economy,
efficiency and effectiveness of the services
we deliver. There will be continued
measurement of tenant satisfaction to
ensure that management services achieve
high satisfaction levels. The reintroduction
of benchmarking with similar social
landlords will provide insightful data for
this purpose. This section of the business
plan considers these transformational
projects that will take place over 2018 –
2019 and delivers vfm.
2. Economy
We are reviewing savings to reduce costs
as well as looking for opportunities that will
raise revenue. Projects currently identified
include:
•
Contracts procurement is used
in
many areas of our work to deliver
cost savings but we wish to refine our
approach. We have for example
considered procuring longer term
contractual arrangements (eg housing
IT) that will deliver annual cash savings
and new modules on the current
contract as well as help
us engage on longer term projects with
Orchard Housing to bring potential
future efficiencies.
•
Linking
with
our
Gateway
to
Homechoice partners to deliver the
House Exchange service that tenants
use to register for, and find mutual
exchanges. This has saved £2,500 each
year as well as releasing staff time saving an additional £900 per annum.
•
We
are
introducing
barcode
technology for rent payment which will
be easier to use and will bring cash
savings by removing the need for
expensive specialist payment cards. This
technology will also to be used for
document management, reducing the
risk of error and assuring long term safe
storage with reduced costs of copying,
printing and storing.
3. Efficiencies
We recognise that the housing service exists
in a dynamic environment, requiring us to
adapt to the changing needs and demands
of our current and future tenants. We are
reviewing the way we work and deliver the
service to achieve efficiencies.
Projects that we are planning during the
next two years are:
•
Introducing mobile working to our
workforce carrying out responsive
•
repairs,
providing
‘real-time’
information and saving time for
both the operative and the office
staff. Additionally, a messaging
service notifying a tenants when
the work operative will arrive will
help avoid missed calls.
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