Notes of the Residents’ Council meeting
20 February 2013
Yvonne Robertson House &
Ardath residential care home, Bexhill
In attendance:
Betty Towner, St Peter’s Mews (BT), Bryan Ridge, Old Park Close (BR), Carol Weeden, Waldron Court (CW), Charlotte Carp, Sheltered Housing Manager (CC), Coral Raiment, Devonport House (CR), Geoffrey Smith, Yvonne Robertson House (GS), Gillian MacNab, Oakwood (GMN), Jenny Cook, Oakwood (JC), Joyce Jackman, Waldron Court (JJ), Judy Walker, Sackville Court (JW), Kay Curtis, The Cedars (KC), Kit Eustace, Nevill Court (KE), Lizzie Gurr, Communications Executive (LG), Lynn Markwick, Yvonne Robertson House (LM), Mollie Gillam, Bourne Court (MG), Nina Crump, Head of Communications and Resident Involvement (NC), Pat Neil, Old Park Close (PN), Patricia Kornitzer, Martlet Court (PK), Stan Bentall, Bourne Court (SB), Stephen Wischhusen, Clevedown (SW), Yvonne Atkinson, Operations Director (YA), Robin Baldock, The Rowans (RB).
Apologies: Joan Sumner, Corner House, Pamela Gardner, Nevill Close, Rose West, Corner House, Michael Gough, Ashleigh Glegg, Cynthia Orwell, Clevedown.
Item / Discussion / Action1. / Welcome and introductions
SW welcomed everyone to the meeting, including three residents who were observing the meeting.
2. / Minutes of previous meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting are agreed to be accurate and there were no matters arising
3. / Sussex Housing & Care update
CC updated the group and shared the following items:
· SHC has now closed the rented scheme, Fairholme in Lewes. Only two residents chose to live with alternative housing providers. We worked closely with the residents to find them appropriate accommodation.
· We continue to work with the residents’ at Downash House and Court in Flimwell. The re-housing of residents from the House has happened much quicker than expected.
· SHC continues to work with leaseholders at Downash Court to identify the future plans for the Court.
· SHC is looking at ways to support residents with dementia as this is a growing issue and the organisation needs to make sure it has a robust approach to dementia and is supportive of residents’ needs. Martin Burke is leading on the development of a dementia group and would like to invite a representative from the council. Residents to let CC know if they are interested in joining.
· Plans were in place to deal with snow and our sites coped well. Wet weather in 2012 meant that there have been some extra repairs to our properties.
· SHC is developing disaster recovery plans for natural or manmade disasters to make sure arrangements are in place for residents and staff in the event of a disaster.
· SHC is currently auditing the leasehold sales process because feedback from residents indicates that the process could be improved.
YA gave an update:
· SHC has ambitious plans for repairs and maintenance of its independent living and rented sheltered properties and has allocated £900k for this in 2013-2014 compared to £600k in 2012-2013 (note: this does not cover leasehold properties, as residents commission their own works). The programme of works is being developed. SW asked that each scheme representative is given this programme for their scheme. YA said that employees will visit schemes to announce the works at consultation meetings, and will involve council members in the process. Examples of works include lifts at Clevedown and Martlet Court’s dining room and lounge revamp.
· YA spoke about SHC’s duty to prevent legionella and the current dilemma about putting in expensive new mixer valves or capping the water temperature at the tap so not to scold residents. / Residents
4. / Sub group feedback.
KC spoke about the communications sub group
· The changes to the winter edition of New Outlook were received well by residents.
· Discussion was had about how leaflets should be displayed, it was agreed that display racks would be better.
· The facebook page for SHC is now live and it would be a good forum for everyone to communicate and create positive discussion. KC thought that the Facebook page should be promoted in the next residents’ newsletter.
Complaints sub group
· KC said that recently one complaint had reached stage three of the process and said how interested she was to be involved and represent residents’ point of view at the hearing.
· CC fedback to the group about changes to the complaints policy following input from the Ombudsmen and that she had received compliments about SHC’s complaints process which has been shared as best practice with other organisations. / LG
5. / Universal credit
CC gave an introduction to universal credit and some of the proposed changes. SHC will put together a strategy for communicating the universal credit changes with residents.
A summary of the key points are:
· The Welfare reform act 2012 introduces major changes to the benefit system.
· The changes are designed to have an impact on people of working age, but some changes will affect older people.
· Universal credit will be introduced from October 2013, but this deadline may be extended.
· Universal credit will replace housing benefit. Older people may be affected if they live with someone who is under pension credit age.
· If you are already claiming pension credit you won’t be affected, unless you have dependent children living with you or you are in a low paid job.
· There maybe a new saving limit imposed for pension credit which will be £16k.
· Disability living allowance will become personal independence payments (PIPS) which will be dependent on your personal circumstances. If you are over 65 then you won’t be reassessed, however the new assessment is more robust.
· Council tax benefit will be replaced with a new localised scheme which will change in 2013-2014.
CC said SHC will wait to hear more about the practicalities for the proposed changes and there will be work for SHC to make sure residents are kept informed and supported throughout the process.
JC asked whether there will be a person at Head Office or at the local authority who will help with individual cases. CC said SHC will be making a decision as to how the organisation supports residents, but said that scheme managers will be able to sign post to relevant services once more is learnt about universal credit.
The group agreed to revisit Universal Credit at the next meeting. / NC
6. / Scheme manager remuneration
YA said that taxation has changed and so will affect all our scheme manager’s remuneration. YA gave some background and said that it recently came to SHC’s attention that the way the organisation currently pays scheme managers could be challenged by the tax office. This is because having a residence as a scheme manager is a benefit and should be taxed.
YS shared SHC’s plans and proposals to meet new tax laws and said that scheme managers are currently being consulted about these plans.
YA said it will result in the service costing more but that SHC need to decide with residents, how much of this cost is included in residents’ service charge. Any changes will begin from April 2014 and not this year.
KE asked whether the organisation will therefore move away from having residential scheme managers. YA said it’s always been SHC’s intention to perpetuate the residential scheme manager service but these changes are impacting on this service model. YA reassured the group that residents will influence the decisions and review different options to make sure they get value for money.
MG asked whether SHC could reduce scheme manager hours to compensate. YA said that reducing staff hours to less than 30 hours has an impact on various subsidies and benefits residents get, so it may be preferable to share a scheme manager so residents’ receive a minimum of 30 hours per week.
SB asked about the time taken to travel between sites and YA confirmed that this will be taken into account in the sums.
YA said the council will be kept informed and residents will have meetings at the schemes and a briefing note will go into resident newsletters.
7. / Rents and service charges
YA explained that there is a different service charge model for leaseholders and rented accommodation. Leasehold is flexible, residents are charged for what they use, and rented is a fixed cost which is the recommended model for rented schemes and was easier to administrate.
YA said overtime the costs for providing services had changed and SHC plan to review the rents and service charges over the next 12 months, to identify the actual costs of the scheme and the services provided. SW asked when any new charges will take effect, YA said April 2014.
YA said that there will be meetings at each scheme to discuss scheme specific needs.
BR asked for a breakdown of service charge costs. YA said it varies from scheme to scheme and as part of the exercise of meeting to discuss rents and service charges, the tenancy agreement will be reviewed to make better use of plain English and to state all items in the service charge.
YA proposed that SHC enter into consultation with residents about the rents and service charges, the group agreed.
MG – asked why leaseholder’s payment when they sell their property has risen from 1.2% to 2% of the sale price. YA explained to the group that the money from the payment upon sale goes into a sinking fund for repairs and this works well. YA confirmed that the sinking fund contribution is a fixed rate percentage as stated in the lease and therefore can’t be changed by SHC, but will speak to MG outside of the meeting. / YA
8. / Residents handbook for sheltered housing
LG thanked everyone who had made comments and contributed to the final draft of the revised handbook. LG explained that the handbook had been reviewed by the residents’ council, communication sub group, scheme managers and employees at Head Office and presented all the changes that had been made following feedback.
The group agreed all the changes and recommended the handbook is now published to all residents living in rented sheltered accommodation.
JW asked about SHC’s pet policy and whether there could be local variations to the policy. CC said this would need to be discussed and agreed with residents locally.
9. / Compensation policy
CC introduced the compensation policy and said that this is the first time a formal compensation policy has been developed and discussed. SHC wishes to make sure any compensation is awarded in a consistent and fair manner. CC said that the organisation is not encouraging bids for compensation, but the policy is to help residents who have suffered loss or damage from a service.
CC said that following the complaints sub group in February there have been changes to the compensation policy.
CC asked the group for their approval in publishing it. Everyone agreed.
10 / Any other business
· SW said that one leaseholder scheme is complaining that they don’t get a response from head office when they make contact. NC to speak to resident outside of the meeting.
· MG asked about service and management charges increasing year on year. YA said that the organisation conducts a salary survey which benchmarks the organisation’s salaries against other similar roles and has agreed to pay a median salary – not the highest.
· Not every topic covered at the meeting is relevant for leaseholders. BT said that a leaseholder’s sub group may be a good idea however, transport costs and staff time would need to be considered. The group discussed the benefits of having both parties at one meeting, which helps improve knowledge and also discuss topics which are relevant to everyone which avoids duplication. The group concluded that the residents’ council would not divide.
· Terms of reference for the residents’ council sub groups regarding the length of service of residents. It was agreed that this would be discussed at the next meeting.
· PK asked whether resident council members could have a structure chart of the organisation. LG to share.
· NC said the Report to Residents is being developed to share with residents how the organisation is performing and how SHC compares to other similar organisations. A short satisfaction survey is being sent to all residents, NC asked council members to promote the survey at their schemes. / NC
SW
LG
Residents
Next meeting: 18 June 2013 at Oakwood in Haywards Heath