Sickness a Problem in the Housing Sector
A new survey by HR Benchmarker found that long-term sick leave was higher in the housing sector than the national average during 2005. The statistics show that in the housing sector, 42% of sickness absence taken was during a period of long-term illness of more than 20 consecutive days. For a quarter of the sector, it accounted for more than 52% of absences, compared to 38% across the public and private sector.
The survey also found that housing organisations employ on average twice as many black and minority ethnic staff as the public sector as a whole. At 62%, female representation was also high.
Pension Solution for Merging Associations
Lawyers have devised an approach that will allow housing associations the option of retaining their old pension plans when a merger takes place. Under pension regulations introduced in September 2005, associations were faced with having to buy their way out of their old pension scheme before closing subsidiaries. This affected those associations that were in multi-employer schemes (e.g. the Social Housing Pension Scheme).
The Trowers & Hamlins devised solution requires merging associations to convert to industrial and provident societies and then amalgamating - as opposed to folding the merging associations - into one of the existing organisations. The advice comes with a warning that the structure would not be suitable for every merger.
This is the first in a new Housing Monthly Diary series, where we plan to attract contributions from organisations involved in providing training services to the housing and associated sectors. The intention is to provide the opportunity to talk about initiatives and approaches.
In this opening article, Barry Marlow discusses his Rent Management Time for a Change seminar and the thinking behind it.
Rent Arrears policy, procedure and process has been delivered virtually unchanged for more than 30 years. Within the last five of these years, possession actions for arrears have reached record levels and the number of evictions has risen alarmingly throughout the UK.
Introductory Tenancies have been used as a deterrent for arrears with the eventual barring from security due to arrears and not antisocial behaviour - for which the initiative was designed. Government, regulators and inspectors, and Citizens Advice have all published reports into rent arrears practices - the first set of reports for some years - all of which provide broad hints about the need for change and the concern about the focus on enforcement action.
So why is change still so difficult when it is apparent that the traditional methods are not working?
Rent Management Time for a Change is more than a training seminar, it is a thought-provoking challenge and examination of the ways rent arrears have been handled over the years.
The content focuses not on 'getting the tenant out,' but on 'getting the rent in,' building a rent ethic that combines the best working methods within an organisation with the skills and affects of working with people in debt.
The key messages revolve around customer relationships, the way the rent is prioritised, the behaviour of people in debt, the conflict of performance, how values can be reconciled, and the business of keeping people out of resource-intensive legal actions. The content is:
At the end of a seminar, there are opportunities to relate everything to the reasons why people are there. The programme embraces service review, inspection, disappointing performance, internal issues, and how to address money problems at a time of increasing debt. It is designed to deliberately examine and test the way things are done, looking at such issues as:
There is a school of thought that believes that the more tenants are evicted - the more people will pay rent. That belief has been carried for many years and obviously has no evidence to support it.
Maximising the talents of the workforce in a way that captures the imagination of an organisation, and equally attracts the attention of the customer, is likely to result in a dialogue and a relationship where the service provider actually provides a service - and the service user actually uses it.
This is called rent management. Does it get the rent in? Yes! Does it help to maintain successful tenancies? Yes! Does it aid performance in ways that motivate and encourage both staff and customers? Yes!
Rent Management Time for a Change is a seminar and consultancy service devised and delivered by Barry Marlow. Tel: 01473 381515. Email: barry@barrymarlow.com.
