We report against six key themes:

• Supporting you 
• Our homes 
• Our people 
• Our business 
• Our growth 
• Value for money

Supporting you

As Covid restrictions were removed, we reintroduced in person support and grew our digital offer to help those looking to access education and training. Working with local partners we offer:

• Support with your mental health
• Free counselling and talking therapies without the need for a GP referral
• A falls clinic
• Stop smoking support programmes
• An adult weight management programme.

“You have always been so helpful and through the pandemic you was there for me in so many ways and customer service always goes out of their way and they are always happy and polite and helpful.” 

In 2021, we recruited 50 volunteers who are making a real difference. If you are interested in volunteering with us, get in touch today.

Online services make getting in touch more convenient for you and help us deliver the best possible value for money. You told us it was difficult to print documents at home, so our Lettings team has started using a system that allows you to sign documents digitally.

Last year:

• Over 55% of residents used MyCKH
• 1,153 new MyCKH accounts
• 6,000+ online contacts  
• £5.6million in online payments.

“You responded to my query promptly and efficiently, I could login in Cross Keys Homes website and ask for permission for making some changes in the garden.” 

Complaints and feedback 

You scored us 4.5 out of 5 for customer satisfaction and a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of +60. The NPS scale runs from -100 to +100, scores under 0 need some work and scores over 0 are good. Our scores have dropped slightly as last year you scored us +67, but we are still performing better than the year before when you scored us +57. We want to understand what you think we can do better, so please tell us what you think when you receive our feedback surveys via text and email, or by using the form on our website.

“The lady I spoke to was very understanding and helpful. I was so worried as if been made redundant at work and was worried about my next rent payment. She helped by reassuring me she could help me and made me feel much calmer.” 

In December, we asked for feedback using the government’s new tenant satisfaction measures for the first time. These results give us our benchmark of where we are today. Our aim is to use your feedback to improve our scores. You can see the results on our Residents performance dashboard.

Our resident involvement programme offers a range of ways for you to have your say, from online surveys to sitting on our Residents Board. The Chair and Vice Chair of our Residents Board are also members of our Group Board and ensure a strong resident voice is represented at every level of our business. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved, so please get in touch if you would like to become an involved resident.

The government’s white paper: a charter for social housing residents, sets out seven areas where residents should expect a high level of service from your landlord.  We’re working with our involved residents to make sure we deliver the best quality services and experience we can.

It is our aim to get it right first time, every time, for every resident. We try to resolve enquiries at the point of first contact, and when we do not, your feedback is recorded as a Right First Time (RFT) so we can look at how to improve. In 2021-22, we missed our target for responding to RFT feedback promptly within 2 days. At the beginning of the year some processes were not being followed properly, so we provided training for our teams and by the end of the year we were beating our targets, something we are maintaining this year.

When we get things wrong and cannot resolve the issue at first contact, a clear and accessible, two-stage complaints policy is in place. View our complaints and feedback data on the residents performance dashboard. Based on your experiences, we have reviewed several of our processes and policies. We have made it clearer who is responsible for what after a bereavement. We have also shared feedback with our contractors to make sure they understand the standard of service we expect them to provide.

“I've had some financial difficulty during the pandemic but CKH had been amazing and understanding throughout. Everyone I've dealt with has been helpful and knowledgeable.

Our homes

We understand you have high expectations about the quality of your home and how we respond to repairs. Despite the pandemic, we maintained high levels of satisfaction with our repairs and maintenance services. There are three areas we did not do as well as we wanted to:

• Appointments kept
• First fix
• Delivery of routine repairs.

Although our contractors, Mears, missed our target for being on time for appointments, in most cases, they arrived within 10 minutes of the arranged time. We are working with Mears to improve this. Like many other companies, Mears have been experiencing delays with materials needed for repairs, especially routine repairs. We now keep more commonly needed parts and materials in stock. We also looked how we can prevent some of the most common repairs occurring in the first place.Take a look at our Repairs performance in numbers.

You told us it is frustrating when you stay at home for a repair and the contractor is late, but you are not made aware. We introduced an automated update system that lets you know when to expect a Mears contractor and allows you to get in touch with them. Ever since, the number of appointments missed by residents has reduced and Mears are delivering a better service because of the time saved.

Following your feedback about reporting gas and heating repairs, we created a new role within our Repairs team. This colleague talks to Mears every day to make sure the service standard remains high and residents are made aware of possible delays in advance. 

“Outstanding service. Jason the gas fitter is a credit to Mears. Very professional and friendly throughout. Left the area very clean, would never have known he had been. Ultimate professional.”  

Your health and safety is our priority and we are disappointed that we had a small number of overdue inspections and assessments at 31 March 2022.  We reviewed our approach to fire risk assessments and now start the process two months before the inspection is due (instead of one). Our lift inspections are now managed by one contractor which makes it easier to ensure all works happen on time. Take a look at our Health and Safety performance for the year.

We completed multiple fire safety improvements at Cumberland House, our only high rise block, to ensure the building and the systems within it meet current best practice guidance. We consulted with residents throughout.

In 2021, the Housing Ombudsman investigated how condensation, damp and mould related issues are handled by housing associations. We contributed to the investigation and were pleased that we already have many of the recommendations in place as part of our proactive approach. If you report a problem, we will visit your home to clean the mould and assess the causes. We recognise the root cause of excess condensation can be complicated and sometimes unavoidable, but we offer a range of support including money advice for those struggling with heating their home. If you spot signs of damp or mould in your home, contact us as soon as possible. We are here to support you, deal with the problem and help you stop it coming back again.

We celebrated the 1,000^th letting completed by our in-house Property Lettings service. Since 2020, our new process is helping residents in Peterborough move and reduce the amount of time void homes stand empty. We supported 802 households to move, including 192 existing CKH residents.

Our people 

We reintroduced work placements and entry level roles to support young people looking for work. Under the government’s Kickstart programme, we supported 23 young people through six-month work experience placements with 18 going on to join us permanently. We also supported 2 new apprentices.

“It has been a very difficult year for me with 2 very close bereavements but Cross Keys Homes have been more than understanding and helpful in difficult times, their manner and friendly help and advice has got me through financially in maintaining regular affordable payments.”

We were delighted to celebrate our Chief Executive, Claire Higgins, receiving an MBE for services to housing as part of the Queen’s birthday honours list in 2021.

We aim to be an employer where people of all backgrounds, ages and ability want to work, so we joined the Housing Diversity Network in early 2022 and plan to take full advantage of their resources and expertise in the year ahead.

The health and wellbeing of our employees is a priority. We provide a range of support to help our team looking after their physical and mental health:

• Healthcare cashback plan
• 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme for free counselling
• Colleagues trained as Wellbeing Champions

Our business

By the end of 2021-22, we increased the number of rented homes we provide to more than 12,300. The Regulator for Social Housing confirmed our V1G1 status for another year, meaning they are satisfied that we are running our business at the highest level of viability and governance.

We take our responsibility to protect resident data incredibly seriously and have invested in improving our cyber security.

With clear Carbon Net Zero targets from the government, we are preparing to make sure our homes, and our business, are as environmentally friendly as possible. In 2021-22, we retained the Green Award from Investors in the Environment for the eighth consecutive year. We also revised our corporate Environmental strategy. Compared to other housing associations, we are in a better position than most as almost all our homes already meet the target of having an Energy Performance Certificate C (most of our peers are aiming to meet this by 2030).

“She was so nice as soon I told her about my situation she solved my issue within 30 mins thank you so much now I feel safe now.”

Sadly, there was an increase in Domestic Abuse during the pandemic. Working with Peterborough Women’s Aid, we are funding a domestic abuse support worker who will dedicate much of their time to supporting our residents. Our employees can also turn to us for support. We started working towards Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance accreditation, which we achieved in May 2022. As part of the process, we provided Domestic Abuse awareness training for all employees.

 

Our growth

Providing more affordable homes within our communities is one of our most important aims. We build homes within an hour’s radius of our base in Peterborough, so that we can provide the support and community investment that growing communities need too. More than 10% of our homes are now located outside Peterborough, spanning communities in Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire. Despite the impact of the pandemic, we competed 277 new homes.

In 2021-22, we completed our first land led scheme, Wolf Square. ‘Land led’ means we own the land so can choose to build the homes we think will best meet the needs of the local community. We also started phase 2, that will result in an additional 96 affordable homes. Work has begun at our second land led scheme on the site of the former British Sugar offices too.

“Our new home is everything we ever have wanted and with your guys help we can be a happy family and live happy now”

Our development plans are underpinned by strong finances. We secured more than £90million in funding, including £50million with NatWest in one of the first SONIA (Sterling Overnight Index Average) funded loans secured in the sector. Our commercial joint ventures will also help to fund our development programme in the coming years.

 

Value for money

Most residents pay their rent in full and on time. We worked with residents to make sure their accounts stayed in credit throughout the pandemic. We also worked with residents with debt on their account and the amount of outstanding arrears reduced as residents agreed affordable repayment plans to get their accounts back on track. Residents told us they would like access to a tool to support money management skills, so we created a course available on CKH Learning to help you. Our free online budgeting tool and benefits calculators are also available around the clock.

“Every time I call about my rent the person on the end of the phone is always lovely and helps me as much as I can. There's no pressure about affordability and they always work out how much I can pay even when I'm stressing over the phone”

Your involved residents told us it is useful to show how we spend every pound when we talk about value for money. 

You can check on our latest performance throughout the year using our Residents performance dashboard.