A day in the life of a tenancy services manager at one of Bolton at Home's housing offices

Having seen a number of enquiries about issues related to tenancy services come through our social media channels I’m looking forward to getting out and seeing how they’re dealt with in a housing office.

Tenancy services are the first point of contact for customer enquiries, to housing offices and deal with allocations, sign ups, terminations and other tenancy related enquires. As part of their process they identify vulnerable customers who might require additional support from the Support and Sustainment team and signpost people to specialist teams in Housing Services such as enforcement and to other external agencies.

Gareth has worked in Housing Services at Bolton at Home for 16 years starting off in Concierge as a Control Operator. He is experienced in being the subject of a ‘Day in the Life’ article as back in 2008 he volunteered to be interviewed for our in house magazine. Back then he was a Housing Officer and he says there have been big changes in the way that our housing services teams work moving from Housing Officers looking after a patch and dealing with a range of enquiries to more specialist teams such as Income Management, ASB, Estate Enforcement, Support and Sustainment and Tenancy Services. Although the teams have only been structured like this for a year the feedback from customers so far is positive. As well as the in house changes Welfare Reform is also having a big impact upon customers and the manner in which Housing Services are delivered.

Gareth begins the day following up on a client leaving a probation hostel. He’s at the top of the list for a flat but staff are concerned that the area might not be suitable for this particular customer. After discussions with the local police constable and probation services about the current situation in the area it is decided not to offer him the property. It is thought that the types of problems in the area might increase the likelihood of the customer breaching the terms of his licence and lead to him being unable to sustain a tenancy. It is agreed by all agencies that the customer will be advised to express interest in properties in other areas. On average Gareth deals with about two or three allocations every week that require further consideration following verification checks; and for him to work with other agencies to find the right solution.

Next on the agenda is going through list of provisional voids in the north area. A provisional void is where a tenancy termination notice has been submitted for a property and Gareth needs to check whether the keys have been handed in or not. All tenancies terminate on a Sunday and keys need to be handed into the housing office by 10am on Monday. This week three properties are due to terminate and the keys have not been handed in. Housing Officers from Gareth’s team will follow this up through contacting the tenant and if necessary visiting the property to check whether they’ve moved out. Sometimes a tenant not handing back the keys can result in the locks needing to be changed and a delay in a void property being handed over to technical services for inspection and any necessary repairs.

It is possible that sometimes tenants haven’t been able to move out for various reasons for example they’ve been let down by a new landlord or have had problems organising their move. In these cases the tenants are advised that they need to make arrangements to move out as soon as possible as their notice of termination has expired and their tenancy has now ended. If in these circumstances a tenant does not make arrangements to vacate the property it may be necessary to consider legal action. However this is an extreme and hasn’t happened in Gareth’s experience and a solution is usually found in most cases.

Next new termination notices are checked to see that they’ve been registered properly and arrangements have been made to advertise and make pre termination visits to the property.

Late morning we head out to a viewing with a couple who need to leave their property due to structural issues. Customers offered a decant like this don’t have to wait on the waiting list like everyone else, instead they are made a direct offer of alternative accommodation. They do still have to meet the criteria for the propery they’re applying for.

These customers are keen to stay in the immediate area which limits the number of properties available to them. They have seen a property we’re currently refurbishing around the corner. As it’s been given a complete overhaul following major works it looks brand new inside and the garden’s been refenced and levelled. The customer has some concerns about the size of the kitchen and whether there is enough room for a dryer as well as a fridge freezer as some of the kitchen has been taken up with the downstairs bathroom, a requirement given the amount of work carried out on the property. Our surveyor promises to look into how these can be fitted in and the customer seems happy with this. In the living room she requests that the fireplace be fitted on a different wall so she can fit in the sofa and the surveyor agrees to accommodate this.

Having recently been on a few viewings and shown people round properties for private sale in the past this seems like a good service. For investors we would rarely have put the effort in to make amendments to fixtures and fittings for anyone other than a big bulk buyer and in flats I’ve viewed recently I wouldn’t have even thought it worth asking the letting agent.

Later a discussion comes up in the office around unhappy customers and people who are abusive to housing services staff. I ask whether this has increased since the bedroom tax was imposed on people, leaving many struggling to paying their bills.  Gareth says he hasn’t noticed this particularly but is in no doubt of the challenge we face to mitigate the impact of welfare reform through debt and money advice and moving options to help people avoid building-up rent arrears.

The rest of the day involves looking at developing new policies and procedures. Some developments are made in response to changing legislation or to providing clarification for staff. Working with our in house legal team changes are made to make sure there are less ways our policies are open to challenge for example on issues such as termination notices.  Following up these policy and procedural changes will involve communicating the changes to customers and providing additional staff training to ensure they are implemented smoothly. I had thought that housing services staff would be constantly out and about but there’s a lot more paperwork than I expected. Gareth estimates that he spends about 60% of his time in the office, about the same as the housing officers in the neighbourhood offices.

It’s been good to spend some time in the neighbourhood office and I’ve come away with more ideas for these articles on staff and other aspects of our work. Looking at enquiries from a customer point of view as they come through social media I can see how the processes we have are confusing and sometimes inaccessible but with the massive scope of the work done here, the complex individual needs of customers and the policies and legal framework the teams work it’s hard to see how it could be any other way. There are long conversations about the needs of both individuals and groups of customers and what really comes across from these is the focus of the staff on getting the best service

A day in the life of our ESF team

With their offices hidden away in an unmarked ground floor office of one of our properties in Breightmet the first challenge of spending the day with our ESF team is finding them. In the pouring rain it took me too long to work out that the sat nav had taken me to the back of the building and then more time to find Warren's number to ask to be let in.

Worlds away from the smart new offices at Valley House they are based in converted flats with tenants living on the first floor. As we go to the team meeting we have to shut the windows in the office for security, cross the tenants stairwell, and go through two locked doors past the door to the tenant's garden.

Bolton at Home's ESF team was set up in December 2011 as part of a government response to entrenched worklessness. Money from the European Social Fund (ESF) was allocate to deal with the wider family problems around worklessness. G4S were awarded the contract for the North West and Bolton at Home were commissioned by G4S to carry out the work in this area.

A target set within the contract is to reach 500 individuals over 3 and a half years but given that ESF is a voluntary programme this is unlikely to be reached. Unlike the work or voluntary programme there are no benefits sanctions for people who choose not to engage with the ESF team. Referrals come from a range of organisations including housing staff, UCAN centres, social workers and the jobcentre. Working within the DWP framework can be complicated for the team as they need to make sure their work sits within other programmes. People already on the work programme cannot be accepted for ESF but when people are on ESF and are put on the work programme the team have to demonstrate they are providing an additional service above and beyond this.

A major difference between the work of the ESF team and the rest of Bolton at Home is that the contract is on payment by results. Sixteen progress measures, ranging from improving parenting skills to acquiring work experience are in place and individuals on the programme need to achieve against these. In addition to these the larger objective of finding work for an individual means a larger payment from G4S. On each case the team will only get paid for three progress measures so even though they might be working on five there will be no additional provision within the contract for this. This extra work aims to get them into work orhelp them to remove themselves from the cycle of worklessness and take control of their own lives.

In assessing against these progress measures very specific requirements are in place. For example progress against English language development would involve attendance at 16 hours of training over 4 weeks. Within the training certain areas would need to be covered. This and the need for detailed reporting means the team need to be able to work very closely with training providers to get information about the course or work placement.

ESF clients are required to be available for work and this means being on Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) or another Working Age Benefit. Clients range from having never worked to people who have been made redundant recently and are struggling to get back into employment.

On receiving a referral Susan Isaacs has to contact the potential client within four hours and attempts at contact need to be logged. A meeting is arranged where Susan carries out an initial assessment where people are assessed for suitability for the service and the necessary paperwork is completed.

In line with the DWP requirements this includes ID checks and declarations around their suitability for the service. Susan tells me it can sometimes be difficult to get clients to confirm that they're not on the work programme and as there is no real way of checking this without the help of their jobcentre advisor the stronger relationship they are building with the jobcentre is proving helpful.

It is at this initial interview that Susan will find out more about their aspirations and what they want to get out of the programme. For many people their goal can seem unachievable given long periods of unemployment, lack of education or training or a general lack on confidence in their ability. "Its all about taking small steps to improve yourself" Susan tells me. For example a mother who has had children before she's left school might not feel she's prepared for work but its all about identifying what skills they do have and can build on.

"Its about bringing what they want into their lives removing the large obstacles and making them into smaller steps." Where a risk assessment has not been carried out on a new client's home Susan will meet them at a local office or UCAN centre. She tells me to make sure I get in a big thank you to the UCAN staff and The Workshop for making the effort to accommodate her meetings.

Some clients are worried that going back to work will leave them worse off than being on benefits but it is hoped that the introduction of the benefits cap will make this a clearer decision for families in this situation.

Benefit reforms had little impact on referrals, biggest impact on referrals is simplifying the referral process to place more of the initial work within the team rather than with the referrer.

After the initial assessment clients are passed onto another member of the team who consist of Warren Rogers, Dionne Willis, Sarah Nicholson and Susan Owen who will take the case for the next 12 months. The team’s work with clients ranges from intensively supporting people and transporting them to every appointment through to checking they’re ok in their new job by occasional text messaging. Using text messages can be helpful for dealing with people who might not have credit or may have a lifestyle where they're not available for phone calls during office hours.

After lunch there are children playing outside the door and music coming from the flat above. With the windows open to help with the humidity all the conversations from around the office and the path across the yard can be heard in the office. Susan is inputting cases onto the new IT system brought in the previous week and scanning the paperwork that goes with each case.

Warren and I head out to see some clients, a young guy from Breightmet who is looking for work in construction and a women from Great Lever who is recovering from a drug addiction.

At the first visit the client is shy when Warren asks about his Bolton at Home placement but seems to be happy with how its going and Warren has had good feedback from the people he's been working with. The main task at the visit is filling in an application for an apprenticeship. The form isn't long but the competency based questions require some experience to fill out properly and Warren guides him through his previous experience to look for good examples of his skills. It’s clear that Warren knows his history well and has built up a relationship with both him and his mother who takes an interest in the visit.

On the second visit the client seems happy to see Warren and is relaxed and open around him. She is participating in a couple of programmes run by other organisations, is starting a Learn Direct course and is keen to go to college to study catering. Warren is encouraging but seems to be working on what Susan told me previously about breaking goals down into simple steps, build confidence and get the basic skills first. This visit really brings home the range of organisations that the ESF team work with and the depth of knowledge they need to have about what services are available.

Although the people we've seen today seem to be really happy with the programme on the way back to the office Warren tells me that there are times when client's refusal to engage can be frustrating with unanswered texts, phone calls and front doors. However when he and the rest of the team talk about the success stories it is clear that there is a lot of job satisfaction in this area and that when it does go right its a very rewarding thing to be doing.

Amy Lythgoe, Digital Marketing Manager