All things being equal and diverse

Ten years old and commended for the quality of its customer service, Worcestershire’s The Community
Housing Group has a lot to celebrate

When The Community Housing Group (TCHG) won the Customer Service Excellence Award, the government standard that replaced the Charter Mark, their celebration continued the theme of customer service – by hosting a tea party for residents at one of its sheltered housing schemes.

“We were thrilled with the award, which followed a rigorous and independent assessment of our customer service and performance,” said Ray Brookes, group chief executive. “We are particularly proud to be recognised as an organisation which excels in giving customers opportunities to influence the services they receive and also for the work we do to support local communities.”

The Kidderminster-based housing association is also celebrating its tenth anniversary next month and to mark the milestone, the group has dedicated 2010 as a year of “understanding, celebrating and embedding equality and diversity”.

“Equality and diversity is at the heart of our organisation and is the starting point for all that we do,” said Yvonne Leishman, the group’s managing director and equalities champion. “Whether developing programmes, projects or introducing new services, we make sure that we assess and understand what the equality and diversity impact may be as a result.

“Although the Wyre Forest district is not very ethnically diverse, we have a higher than average percentage of older and vulnerable residents who have different equality needs and requirements. We will use this anniversary year to look at innovative and alternative ways of delivering services and removing any barriers which could prevent or restrict access.”

Gold medal Paralympics swimmer Claire Cashmore, a resident of Wyre Forest, has agreed to become the group’s equalities ambassador. She will work alongside the board’s equalities champion, Jenny Evans. Leishman added: “Claire is a great inspiration with an incredibly positive attitude and enthusiasm for life. She is preparing for the 2012 Paralympics and we will be following her progress in a special blog on our website.”

The group has recently completed a long-term project to gain a greater understanding of its customers, building up profiles, gathering up-to-date household information and ‘mapping out’ the local neighbourhoods where it works. Armed with this information, it intends to apply its services with even greater effectiveness for its tenants. Over the long term, the organisation says it has made a commitment to continuing to invest in its staff so that it ensures they “have the right tools to do the job.”

The theme of equality and diversity was chosen for the organisation’s staff conference and they have teamed up with a local theatre company so that they can use drama to explore how inequalities can affect customer service.

Over the decade of its existence, CHG has built itself an established resident involvement framework, which gives tenants and leaseholders the opportunity to influence decisions made about their homes and neighbourhoods. This year, the group will be drawing upon this framework and their strong links with business partners, voluntary groups and statutory agencies to host a number of events which are intended to raise awareness of equality issues throughout the Wyre Forest district.

The origins of TCHG are found in Wyre Forest Community Housing, formed in 2000 as the result of stock transfer of homes from Wyre Forest District Council. Today it owns and manages some 6,000 properties. The group itself came into being in 2003 with the formation of The Community Housing Group as parent, providing strategic support services to the subsidiary bodies, Wyre Forest Community Housing, Wyre Forest Sheltered Housing and Wyre Forest Land Company.

Wyre Forest Sheltered Housing provides affordable homes and services for the district’s older and vulnerable residents. These include visiting care support in people’s own homes; disabled adaptations, sheltered housing provision; telecare; and The Cooking Pot dining club.

In 2008, TCHG added Worcestershire Telecare to the group. This was originally run as a consortium of the three district councils in the south of the county until it transferred to TCHG. The organisation today operates as part of a unique partnership, involving four Worcestershire based social landlords.