Paul Tennant - Orbit Group Chief Executive

While the public debates on the Inside Housing and Guardian websites have largely focused on policy issues, the key question for me is what Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) members want from the organisation.

My discussions with CIH members across the country have invariably led onto a debate around communication and engagement.

One of the great things about the election process is that it has been something of a can-opener in terms of how CIH relates to its 20,000 members.

Speaking to members from local authorities, housing associations, CIH regional committees (and their Chairs) has given me a real sense of the key themes.

So what have I taken away from it all?

Well firstly, communication and involvement in shaping the evolution of CIH is key, with a sense that more personalised services and a balance between the regions and ‘centre’ would be helpful.

Secondly, members seem to want a distinct identity for the CIH with strong messages and a clear role, to increase the number of members in the Institute and build our collective strength, and to reach out to other professions to establish new relationships and encourage others to speak up for housing.

I also came away with the sense that members want the CIH to develop leadership within the sector. This is about supporting individuals and communities to build capacity and capability to meet the challenges ahead; enabling members to make an even greater difference to people’s lives in an increasingly difficult environment for people.

Despite the fascinating debates and big picture stuff, ultimately the CIH is made up of many individuals who give their all to do a great job. The Institute has a huge resource in its members and must involve them in designing its future and being the best it can be.

I hope to play a small role in that.

Paul Tennant - Orbit Group Chief Executive

For someone who has been in the same profession for 30 plus years, standing for election for the Chartered Institute of Housing Vice Presidency was always going to be a slightly surreal experience. After all, so few of us are ever the other side of the ballot box. So after the live debate hosted by CIH President Robin Lawler yesterday, and attending the EGM, I sat down to gather my thoughts and reflections on the last couple of weeks.

The first thing which strikes me is about the levels of engagement CIH members have with the organisation. The changes in the last 2 years have sought inclusion and engagement and examined what the CIH is for, and what its focus should be, in a way which has probably not happened before. The VP process is part of these changes and while I get a sense that it’s engaged many members in a new way, for many others it hasn’t. For me, this is a key issue for whoever gets elected as the next VP. How do we bring the passion of members into their relationship with their membership organisation? What is and what should be that relationship?

Secondly, it’s been a huge personal challenge. I think I have a pretty good grasp of the issues we face – after all they are part of my daily work, whether talking to front-line housing officers, residents or Board Members. But public debate demands a complete grasp of the facts and your policy brief – so politicians, you now have my understanding and sympathy… or at least a bit more than you did. The experience has also re-enforced my belief that you need to follow your instinct and stay true to your beliefs. The strongest arguments are those you can make with complete conviction and passion.

Thirdly, what’s also really resonated in the last week or so in talking to CIH members, is the complexity and scale of the many challenges we face, whether a small community housing association in London or a major RP in the North East. Government still does not fully recognise the work we do and the contribution we make. We must change the negative narrative around social housing. Not an easy task I know, but framing that future debate with Government will be absolutely critical.

If you do have any questions or comments in the run up to 30 January, please do drop me a line. I’d love to hear your views.

Any questions or comments for Paul can be sent to group.communications@orbit.org.uk

Tony Williams - Group Director of Organisational Development

Cannot believe it’s all over – surely Pat Butcher can’t be gone! I don’t know about you but the length of time between Christmas to Christmas and Summer to Summer seems to get shorter each year. At the current rate I will be celebrating them together! I am not going to reflect on the past year, safe to say that I am sure we are all thrilled to be able to use new words ranging from ‘Merkozy’ (marriage of convenience) to ‘tweeters’ (a loudspeaker in my day) to ‘bank of mum and dad’ (so what changes!) to ‘mouse potato’ (someone who spends most of their time on a computer – oh dear!).

Looking ahead it is going to be an exciting year for Orbit with a focus on delivering our 2013 outcomes of being ‘great’ (I seem to have had ‘delivering outcomes’ tattooed across my forehead for the past 12 months!) and looking ahead to 2020 for both Orbit and the housing sector. This will mean us all being involved and being able to contribute to our future direction. It will also mean each of us being ready and able to change and adapt to that new future. Wow thanks for that I can hear you say! I need a period of no change where I can draw breath. Well I am afraid the reality is that the best organisations are always evolving to meet the challenges thrown up by new markets, innovations and a changing external environment – think of Virgin, Toyota, Marks and Spencer. So get ready for a ‘great’ and busy year!

Vivien Knibbs - Managing Director Orbit East & South

I’m really excited about Orbit’s Big Society Research project that is kicking off this month and concluding around March 2012.  I hope it’s going to lead to us having a really good idea about what is important to our residents, and flag up some new ideas.

You might say we should know all of this stuff already – we spend plenty of time and energy engaging with residents, but the new Big Society and localism agendas are starting to deliver the shift from central to local control. We need to identify how we can support our residents to both make the most of and not miss out on the opportunities available.

The project sits alongside Orbit’s 2020 vision work which includes research by Cambridge University and others into wide economic, social and political change. But where as that’s more ‘top down’ the Big Society project is going to be ‘bottom up’ with the researchers from London School of Economics (LSE) spending time in some of our communities and really getting under the skin of the issues – that’s why its so exciting.

I hope it will give us good pointers to how our local offers may need to change as other organisations’ services fall away under the funding restrictions. We know that our resources, whether that be hard cash or our time and expertise, is going to be stretched further and further and having a reference point for making those difficult decisions about how we use our resources is going to be so valuable going forward.

The possibilities that social enterprise might offer for meeting some of the future gaps in provision is a further strand of the work. Will new models and solutions best meet the aspirations and needs of our communities?

So, watch this space! The project is just starting and there’s going to be lots of opportunity to get involved and give your views.

Nicholas Adams, Strategy & Performance Assistant

After leaving Sheffield Hallam University in May, I returned to my home town of Solihull and began my search for work. In July I sent my CV to Orbit offering my services on a volunteer basis to gain some office based experience, and after an interview and a week of waiting I was put to work.

My first month was spent working with other members of the Strategy and External Affairs team on various research projects, whilst I was given an individual research assignment on the Private Rented Housing Market which I was to present to Group CEO Paul Tenant and Orbit Homes MD Paul High at the end of the month… Talk about a baptism of fire! Thankfully the presentation and following discussion was a success and has now led to 2nd phase investigations which I am working on with other members of the team.

Month two was spent working on a number of projects for both Service Matters and Orbit Academy amongst other departments. Towards the end of month two I received the great news that Orbit were hoping to offer me a contract as its first ever ‘intern’. A few weeks later I received my contract, which I preceded to sign before anyone could change their mind, and am now working full-time in the Strategy and External Affairs team as Strategy and Performance Assistant on a 6-month internship.

Month three, my first in ‘proper’ employment, began with a meeting to discuss future reinforcement of the ‘Service Matters’ brand, and has been interspersed with training and induction sessions each of which have shed gradually more light on my role, the role of my team and the role of Orbit as a whole.

Over my time with Orbit I have been struck not only by the friendliness, knowledge and motivation of all colleagues with whom I came into contact, but also with the company’s apparent desire to be a force for good in what are turbulent times when it is all too easy to look after number 1 and forget about the rest.

I have also already spent some time with other teams like the Sustainable Investment Team at Heart of England and I am looking forward to working with others – one of the great ideas about an internship is the idea of rotating to work for different departments.

It’s also quite interesting to read and hear about the current debate raging in the media about interns and their exploitation. For my part I am thankful for the opportunities afforded to me and am now looking forward to working within Orbit as we move from Good to Great.

Anne Turner – Corporate Resources Director

The current economic climate seems to be adding constant new challenges to the work of finance directors at the moment.  The Global and UK financial position coupled with regulatory changes are affecting us much more than in the past and it is really important to keep on top of these and to consider the potential implications for Orbit.

So what’s currently on my agenda at the moment?  Availability of funding is always an issue but fortunately as a large financially strong group with a good reputation we are still able to attract finance to help us meet our objectives.  The continuing low interest rate environment is very helpful to our financial forecasts but we are keen to lock-in some of these for the future.  Unfortunately the threat of the International Financial Reporting Standards’ (IFRS) accounting changes makes this even harder than before – thank goodness we have sound advisers and an experienced board!

Value For Money (VFM) has always been an issue but with the increasing focus of the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) it’s important that Orbit is able to demonstrate where we are identifying efficiencies and how we are using them.  Evidently the TSA consultation document is due out shortly and focuses very much on costs rather than a basket of costs and quality/quantity measures.  I think this will be an omission as do many of my colleagues in other Registered Providers who discussed this recently. Watch this space….

We have now signed the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) contract which will deliver many much needed homes across our areas of operation.  Whilst exciting and rewarding, it presents challenges to finance directors.  Not only do we need to have the available funding, but we also need to deliver increased surpluses in future to meet the challenging numbers over the next four years.  We need to have a more commercial approach to our work and this will mean some changes including potential sales of properties which are not adding value.  Much of the submission to the HCA was based on sketchy information and assumptions, so we will need to monitor carefully how these pan out over the coming months.

In light of the recently published RPI figures for September, we will also shortly be looking at agreeing our rent rises for April 2012.  Whilst this could provide additional income we recognise the impact on our customers – some residents could be seeing rises in excess of 6.1% at a time of falling personal finances – so we will need to look carefully at this issue and possibly match increases with additional investment in services.

Finally, one of the five key risks to Orbit remains pension liabilities.  In line with many organisations the recent turmoil in the financial markets will have had an adverse effect on the pensions we offer.  My next task is to ensure that we finalise our pensions strategy, which needs to balance the conflicting strands of affordability to Orbit, affordability to employees, minimal risk to Orbit and equality of opportunity for all employees.

That should keep me busy for a few days I think…

Stewart Fergusson – Managing Director, Orbit Heart of England

The world of housing associations is changing.  The new government is going to create a whole new world for housing associations and their customers.

One thing that is likely to change is the way rents are fixed.  It won’t affect existing residents, but it will affect new residents.

Rent levels are very emotive.  There is always concern when rents rise.  The cry is what about those on low and fixed incomes?  They cannot afford an increase.

But if you live in a house you have three costs you cannot escape.  The rent, the community charge and the cost of heat and electricity.  The first two are controlled.  The last one is not –  heat and electricity costs are going through the roof as we run out of our precious supplies of oil, coal and gas. 

If we could increase rents and spend the money on improving the insulation of homes and perhaps providing new forms of heating such as solar heating or ground source heating, we could reduce heating bills by significantly more than the rent increase.

To persuade people this is a good idea, we need to think about total housing costs.  That is rent, plus community charge, plus power costs.  Then we can look at where we can increase some costs to make bigger savings elsewhere in what it costs to run your home.

Anne Turner – Group Finance and Resources Director

Having had a couple of weeks off in September, I’m now back to work, refreshed and raring to go. In my absence my diary has been helpfully packed with various meetings, both internal and external which will keep me busy in the period up to Christmas. It’s the start of the budget and business planning cycle now and this year it’s particularly difficult, given the change in political climate and the many and varied announcements hitting the press about cuts to come and efficiencies to be made.

Orbit is in a sound position to deal with the potential tax changes which will come our way next year. However, we are also keen to increase our investment in homes and services to meet increasing needs and to do this we need to generate real efficiencies.

We are tackling this in a number of ways, a few of which are highlighted below:

-         our procurement team are working closely with maintenance staff  to reduce overall costs through effective tendering and bulk purchasing. This will ensure that we can maintain our asset programmes despite rises in VAT from January

-         we are reviewing the way we administer and deliver a number of our services to make them more efficient and reduce duplication and bureaucracy

-         we are investigating ways of working with other partners to share services and thus reduce overall costs

-         we are looking to take advantage of current low interest rates whilst protecting ourselves from future interest rate rises.

All of the above will be built into next years budgets and plans and will help us meet and improve our day-to-day services to customers. However, if we are to continue to invest in new homes, we also need to attract more grant funding and raise new loans. So today I attended our annual Lender’s Day which this year was held in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Orbit has a number of key funders and this was our opportunity to show them what we are doing and highlight some of our recent successes. Not only does it give them a better insight into our work and vision, but it enables them to meet our finance and development staff. Finally they get the chance to visit some of our recently developed schemes and look at some of our new proposals.  All in all it was a very successful day with everyone leaving being extremely complimentary about us which was great to hear and hopefully this will mean really competitive funding quotes when we go out to the market early in the new year!

Paul Tennant - Orbit Group Chief Executive

There’s an awful lot of talk in the media at the moment about cuts to public spending and changes in Government policy and priorities.

There is no doubt that the role of housing associations will change over the next few years. There will also be fantastic opportunities for us to adapt, develop and grow.

First things first. Although public funding will go down, Orbit has a clear ambition and focus. We are strong financially and are delivering plans that enable us to enhance services to customers, build homes and invest in our people. However, we must continue with this work against the backdrop of improving our efficiency and increasing value for money in all we do.

The Group Executive has been working hard with the Board to ensure that we are ready to respond to the changing world out there and take advantage of the new openings it offers.

But this isn’t just about high-level strategy – we need to know what the priorities in individual communities are and respond to them. As we begin work on our Group Business Plan, understanding the views of customers and staff at a local level will be more important than ever.

This process began with an Executive and Board planning day held to ensure we are prepared for changes as we approach the time when the Government announces its detailed spending plans at the end of October. I would like to share some of the key themes of this event with you. 

You’ve probably heard the phrases ‘Big Society’ and ‘Localism’ bandied about in the media. We will need to work even more closely with local councils and other agencies to deliver truly local services. The Government also wants local people to play a bigger role in where they live. Our federal structure and role in the communities where we work is ideal for delivering on the ground, supported by our people in the back offices.  

And of course we know that there will be reductions in public funding. That said, we are more committed than ever before to meeting the needs of the people in the neighbourhoods where we work.

By driving forward efficiencies and identifying new income streams we can invest more in building new homes and providing excellent services for local people.

There are challenging times ahead but we are well placed and ready to face them with complete confidence.