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Performance and Innovation
Why does Performance Matter?
Ascham Homes was set up with the specific aim of making continuous improvement in the services that are provided to Council housing residents. In practice, this means improvement both in the level and/or quality of services experienced by our customers and in how efficiently and effectively we use the public money that funds those services.
The company aims to reach an overall standard of service that will qualify the borough for additional money from central government. This will allow local council housing to be brought up to the ‘Decent Homes’ standard by 2010. So current and future residents clearly hold a big stake in how well Ascham Homes performs.
Other ‘stakeholders’ include Waltham Forest Council itself. Although much work has been delegated to Ascham Homes, the Council is still the ‘local housing authority’. This means it remains responsible for the effectiveness of its housing policies, for the management of council homes and for achieving ‘Decent Homes’. For example, the council is accountable for the speed with which people in need are housed, and this is directly affected by some processes that Ascham Homes manages. Also, the council still owns the local council housing stock and will want to be sure that this public asset is being looked after.
The Council also has important wider objectives like improving the local economy, making the borough a safer place to live and work, ensuring that all residents can feel valued and included in the community, improving the local environment, and so on. The way council housing is managed can have a big impact on these ambitions, and the Council rightly expects Ascham Homes to support these objectives where it can. So our performance may be of interest to anyone who lives or works in Waltham Forest.
What do we measure?
Ascham Homes plans to deliver continuous improvement by pursuing six strategic objectives: -
- To provide efficient and effective housing services to all our residents
- To deliver Decent Homes by 2010
- To enable residents to be involved and influence the services they receive
- To provide a safe and pleasant environment for our residents
- To ensure we respond to the diverse needs of all our residents
- To improve and develop our business through innovation and learning
To measure our progress in areas that contribute to these objectives, we use a set of key performance indicators (PIs). The set includes: -
- National Best Value and former Best Value Performance Indicators – these enable us to measure and compare our progress against others [BVPIs]
- Measures agreed with the Council in the HRA Business Plan to ensure we contribute to corporate excellence and the Council’s various plans [HRA PIs]
- Local performance indicators to track progress on key priorities identified by our Board and our residents [Local PIs]
- Measures of external accreditation or recognition of our performance [External measures]
Each year, we review and reconsider these key performance indicators, so that we can be sure that each one is measuring something meaningful in terms of benefits to our stakeholders.
The targets for each of the indicators are approved in discussion with stakeholders, including The Head of Housing at LBWF and the Tenants’ Council.
Our approach is to set for each year targets that will build on present performance,
but which will also constantly stretch us so that we progress to being as good as the best of the other housing providers in London.
Our current set of key performance indicators can be found in our published monthly reports. To read or download them, click on the link to Monthly Performance at the left of this page.