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CONTENT

Recession-busting deals from NCHA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Chairman’s Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Added Value at your NCHA local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 NCHA in Newark and Sherwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Every home up to 21st Century standards! . . . . . . . 11 Professional deliver y service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Health and safety first . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Jobs and high standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Traditional design meets new technology . . . . . . . . 14 Working in partnership with . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Derbyshire Dales DC HCWS: new suppor ted housing recipe . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Support for domestic abuse survivors in . . . . . . . . . 18 rural Lincolnshire NCHA suppor ting rural communities in . . . . . . . . . 19 the East Midlands Prudence rewarded in tough times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 South African return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 NCHA breaks ground with ‘The Curve’ . . . . . . . . . . 23 in Kettering Making a difference in Kettering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Customer choice drives housing services . . . . . . . . . 26 Taking on digital exclusion on the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Moorgreen Estate Building strong communities in Nottingham . . . . . 30 Good housekeeping an NCHA hallmark . . . . . . . . . 32 NCHA Board of Directors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Accounts and Balance Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Promoting brand NCHA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

to the When it comes aten t n’ A ca be be crunch, NCH ch to customer for its approa e little things: service. It’s th ten; the way the way we lis ers first; we put custom fer g choice we of the outstandin at which we e – and the valu e proof of the th nd A . it offer t here in our pudding is righ wse at your t. Bro Annual Repor for yourself . e se leisure and

ADDING VALUE IN TO TH E COMMU NI T Y

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Building homes and providing jobs

Practical help for our customers

NCHA responded quickly to the housing market crash by switching 161 shared ownership homes in the pipeline or on site to rented housing with the help of an extra £5.7 million in grants from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA)

• W  orked with credit unions and the Department of Work and Pensions to deal with financial exclusion among our customers, particularly young people, single mothers and other groups vulnerable to high-cost doorstep lending and loan sharks

• E  xceeded programme targets, starting 225 new homes rather than the planned 186

• O  ffered advice and support to ensure customers are receiving their full benefit entitlement

• S  tarted work on an extra 306 new homes for other housing associations • S  ustained or created more than 500 jobs onsite and in the building supply industry in the East Midlands to support our housing programme

• B  orrowed £20 million to fund two years of building new homes from Lloyds TSB at very competitive rates just before the banking collapse • R  educed costs by just over £1 million through efficiency savings without cutting services or making staff redundant • L  ined up nearly £2 million in savings through rationalisation of maintenance service and smart procurement

• I ntroduced an affordable home contents insurance scheme for tenants who did not have cover • L  aunched a rent and deposit bond scheme for young clients in our Housing with Care and Support accommodation to help them move on into the private sector

NCHA h sustain ave created ed or 500 job more than in the b s on-site and uild industr ing supply y East Mi in the dlands

Prudent borrowing and financial management

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A few words from NCHA Chairman, Dr Nigel Nice “This report confirms that our staff, board members and partners are doing all they can to help our customers weather the recession. It demonstrates how swiftly we can produce new solutions to new problems – the conversion of shared ownership housing into rented housing being a case in point. It also shows the confidence of government agencies in our ability to take up extra funding and put it to good use at short notice. The report also digs deeper to show the positive effect we have in communities across the East Midlands, where we employ local people, support the building industry and local suppliers of all descriptions and provide affordable homes. It also shows we are a multi-cultural organisation that mirrors the vibrant diversity of the East Midlands. Sixteen per cent of our customers and 28 per cent of our staff come from black and minority ethnic communities.”

“ This report confirms that our staff, board members and partners are doing all they can to help our customers weather the recession.” 6

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Putting a roof over somebody’s head is only the beginning of our work. We see housing as a gateway to other services and opportunities, and we offer a whole range of Added Value services to help our customers and their families access education and training, find jobs, improve their health, deal with disabilities and learning difficulties and escape from poverty and financial exclusion. At our Newark Castle Station Estate, we sponsored programmes of activities in the summer and Easter holidays to occupy kids, promote community cohesion and head-off anti-social behaviour. The Easter programme included litter-picking, grow-yourown gardening lessons, sports sessions and cookery classes and was organised by Community Support Centre Coordinator Sandra Hall, and Resident Involvement

Officer Heather Cooke. 
 Sandra Said: ‘The growyour-own sessions were a great success and showed the kids how easy it is to grow plants and vegetables, and it encouraged them to eat healthily. The cookery classes have been a real eye-opener. It’s the boys who are keen to learn, and we have no problem with wastage – they eat everything they cook!’ Next step is a community allotment on the estate, where people of all ages will be encouraged to work together to grow high quality, affordable fruit and veg. At a newly opened internet café on the estate, residents and their families, who are otherwise digitally excluded, search the web for jobs and benefit advice and research homework projects. All of our work at this estate is underwritten by a Good Neighbour Agreement, which was introduced this year.

ADDED VALUE AT YOUR NCHA LOCAL “ The grow-your-own sessions were a great success and showed the kids how easy it is to grow plants and vegetables, and it encouraged them to eat healthily.”

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NCHA: Every home up to 21st Century standards!

Warmer homes Lower bills

In September 2008 NCHA passed a milestone that saw the last of its 7,300 homes brought up to the Government’s Decent Homes Standard. We are among the first housing organisations to meet the target of bringing all their homes up to 21st Century standards through a programme that has seen hundreds of bathrooms, kitchens, doors and windows replaced and many homes rewired – plus hundreds of local jobs created.

The quality drive doesn’t stop there. Our homes have a very high average SAP (energy efficiency) rating of 82.3 on a scale of 1 to 100. The higher the number, the lower the fuel bills. At the last count, the national social housing SAP average (English Housing Condition Survey 2006) was 57.4, and the private rented sector average was 46.8. Our in-house technical services team is working on projects to make our homes even warmer and cheaper to run and to help cut the UK’s carbon footprint. Much of this work is funded from an ‘Energy Pot’ of government and energy company grants. Projects include: • F  itting solar collectors to 50 NCHA homes and monitoring their effectiveness in cutting tenants’ fuel bills • Replacing inefficient electric-heating systems with renewable energy systems in areas without a gas supply

• I nstalling energyefficient community lighting on our estates • Supplying smart meters in a pilot scheme on one of our estates to help tenants monitor their energy use • Monitoring the effect of new technologies installed in a demonstration project of two old and two new homes. • The E-Team, a joint energy group set up with the Longhurst Group to deliver energy improvements and benefits in the two associations’ homes and offices. • Installing air source heat pumps in sixteen homes in Wigston, Leicestershire. The system uses heat available in the air to power the under-floor heating.

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Professional Health and delivery service Safety first!

Jobs and high standards

The professionals working in our Technical Services team deliver services for other housing associations through our membership of the Blue Skies Consortium of East Midlands housing associations. They are, for example, providing the architect, the employers’ agent and the clerk of works for Dales Housing Association’s first Sustainable Homes Level 3 scheme – 28 homes in Darley Dale, Derbyshire.

The Direct Maintenance Service is a defining feature of our work. It employs and trains 29 local people and carries out 25% of our housing repairs and maintenance at a cost of £2 million a year. Its work helps us achieve and maintain very high levels of service to our customers and to create many more jobs. In the past year, for example, we used Coalfield Regeneration Trust funding to recruit two in-house multi-trade apprentices from the young people who live in our supported housing schemes. DMS also promotes high levels

During the year the team was appointed Independent Certifier for Derby Homes, an Arms Length Management Organisation. In this new role for a new client, we independently certify that Derby Homes’ building contracts comply with all funding bid criteria. We are, in effect, providing an audit service on these schemes The team was the only small in-house organisation to reach the 2008 final of the Inside Housing Sustainable Social Housing Design Team Award.

NCHA is one of a few social housing organisations that run accredited Gas Safe training schemes. Our inhouse team trains gas fitters for the private sector and other housing associations alongside our own staff. In the past year we have also gone electric by securing a National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contractors accreditation that enables us to set up a team to carry out inspections and electrical works for our inhouse direct maintenance service (DMS). Unlike gas servicing, this inspection service is not a legal requirement, but it is one of our front-line priorities for protecting the health and safety our tenants.

of health and safety for our staff in an industry with an all too poor safety record. We also help our customers look after their homes and gardens, and last year held ten well-attended DIY courses for tenants covering everything from painting and decorating to gardening. Training is also provided for tenant members of the Technical Services Customer Advisory Panel.

Last we held year ten attended wellDIY course s for tenant covering everythings from painting decorating and gardening to .

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Traditional design meets new technology in Derbyshire Dales In the Derbyshire Dales District Council area NCHA in-house architects have produced a scheme where traditional designs meet new technology. Built in locally sourced stone to fit into the local limestone landscape, the four new family houses in Brassington are heated by ground-source heat pumps. Fuelled by renewable energy stored in the ground, the pumps are an affordable alternative to more expensive electrical supplies in an area too high to sustain a mains gas supply. Energy costs savings of between 25 and 50 per cent are possible, and the two-bedroom low-carbon houses meet the Ecohomes Very Good Standard. A Parish Needs Survey identified the lack of affordable homes for local people in Brassington in 2005. Commuters and

second-home owners have driven up the price of housing in the Peak Park village, putting homes beyond the reach of local pockets. Completed in the autumn of 2008, two of the homes are for rent and the others for shared ownership. The scheme is the fruit of a partnership between NCHA, Derbyshire Dales, (which provided land and some funding), Brassington Parish Council, the Housing Corporation, (which part-funded the scheme), and energy company E.ON which made a grant for the heat pumps. The energy performance of the new homes will be carefully monitored. ‘Similar heating schemes may well follow,’ says NCHA Chief Executive, Mike Andrews.

Built in locally sourced stone to fit into the local limestone landscape, the four new family houses in Brassington are heated by ground-source heat pumps and fuelled by renewable energy stored in the ground.

NCHA: Working in partnership with Derbyshire Dales DC NCHA has 164 homes for rent and low-cost home ownership in the Derbyshire Dales District Council area. It also has one supported housing project and two floating

support schemes there. It made a major contribution to the economy of the Derbyshire Dales community in 2008/2009, as the figures below show:

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ADDED VALUE AT YOUR NCHA LOCAL

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HCWS: New supported housing recipe We changed the recipe for our award-winning Housing with Care and Support Service (HWCS) during the year to meet the increasing demand for floating support services in people’s own homes. We are very experienced in providing services at home. We run several rural floating support services, and our

We’ve got the East Midlands covered

Support Management and Response Team (SMaRT) provides floating support backed by modern telecare to 600 of our own supported housing tenants. Demand for care at home services will increase with the wider introduction of individual care budgets and self-directed support, which presents great challenges

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and opportunities for HWCS. With a little help, our more able service users will be able to choose and manage the care they want. However, those with more serious disabilities and mental health problems will need a great deal of help to steer them through the system.

Our HWCS team remains the largest housing association provider of supported housing in the East Midlands. It supports 1,353 bedspaces in more than 250 properties, including 17 registered care homes. It is big enough, strong enough and diverse enough to cope with the continuing squeeze on Supporting People funding that has put budgets under pressure during the year. Staff work hard to keep incomes up, and HWCS ended the year just the right side of break-even.

We remain committed to providing the highest standards for our service users and refuse to sacrifice quality to win contracts. This commitment was recognised during the year by the British Standards Institution, who awarded the ISO 9001 quality management standard to HWCS – an achievement every year since 1995. Our service has to be flexible to meet changing demands. During the year, one of our care homes was converted to a scheme for people with learning difficulties and physical disabilities, and we relocated residents from two outdated schemes, which were then closed.

a W an wa e ch d rd an S th up win ged e th y po ni se dem ear rt S ng H e r rv e ice and to m ervi ous cip c s i fo ee e ing e f o n ( pe r flo t th HW wit r ou op at e i C h r le ing ncr S) Ca ’s r d e e ow sup as uri n po ing ng ho rt m es .

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Support for domestic abuse survivors in rural Lincolnshire A steady stream of people use the HWCS floating support service for survivors of domestic violence in East Lindsay, which opened its doors last May. Two full-time workers offer legal, benefits, housing and safety advice to women and men who have suffered at the hands of their partners. The service, the first to be set up in rural Lincolnshire, is supported by a clutch of local organisations – among them the police, the local probation service, the health service, SureStart, HomeStart and East Lindsay District Council. Our rural domestic abuse service will be extended in the autumn of 2009 when a new HWCS hostel in Louth for victims of domestic abuse opens to provide accommodation for five families. HWCS makes an important contribution to rural areas throughout the East Midlands. In Grantham, for example, it runs a Foyer that houses vulnerable young people and helps them into education, training and jobs. This year saw the launch of a two-year health programme at the Foyer with funding from the Big Lottery’s Well-Being Fund. Gym membership, a Wii tournament, a smoothie

NCHA supporting rural communities in the East Midlands

competition and a graffiti workshop are among the very popular activities enjoyed by residents. The task of dealing with rural housing problems is still under-funded. Many countryside communities watch the sons and daughters of their villages move to cities and towns because of the acute shortage of jobs and affordable homes. By building new and affordable homes, creating employment and providing supported housing services, we are helping to slow down this rural exodus.

A DDED VA LU E AT A YOUR NCH LOCA L

NCHA has 2,522 affordable homes and 13 supported housing schemes in rural communities in the East Midlands. But that’s not the full story. The Association also makes a major contribution to the rural economy of the region, as the figures show:

In the past year, for example, NCHA completed a scheme of 12 rented houses and bungalows in Shardlow, South Derbyshire – the first affordable homes built in the village for more than 20 years. Meanwhile, the in-house team is providing the architects, employer’s agent and clerk of works for an NCHA scheme of 97 new homes for rent and shared ownership in Holdingham near Sleaford. The homes, which we are providing in partnership with North Kesteven District Council, are designed to the Ecohomes Very Good Standard.

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Prudence rewarded in tough times Our reputation for spending public money prudently during the past 36 years is bringing benefits to the East Midlands in these tough times. Take our response to the credit crunch. When the banks stopped mortgage lending, we were one of the very first associations to seek the Government’s help to switch new low cost home ownership homes to rented housing. The result is an extra £5.7million from the Homes and Communities Agency to convert 161 NCHA homes from ownership schemes to housing for rent, bringing new housing hope for 161 poorly housed and homeless households across the region.

NCHA completed 299 homes during the year. Development spending on new housing reached £42million and our allocation of grant from the HCA rose to £9.5million, 10 per cent higher than the budget of £8.8 million. Taking advantage of the recession, we are building up a small land bank, buying sites through options and lock-out arrangements. So far three sites have been acquired.

anks When the b rtgage stopped mo e were lending, w very first one of the ns to seek associatio ment’s the Govern itch new help to sw ome low-cost h m ho es to ownership sing. rented hou

Blue Skies thinking

A helping hand for others

We are a lead member of the Blue Skies Consortium (BSC) of 17 housing associations, which won the tenth largest Housing Corporation allocation for 2008/11. This meant £42 million to develop more than 1,100 homes with our partners in the East Midlands, Humberside and South Yorkshire. On top of this, we managed to start work on an extra 343 homes for rent and sale during the year – most of them in mixed schemes – for ourselves and other associations in the consortium.

We offer our professional experience and expertise to other medium sized and small housing organisations through the development consultancy POD, which we set up four years ago with the Longhurst Group. POD supports the work of the other BSC members, as well as other associations, local authorities, armslength management organisations, private developers and consortia in more than 50 locations. POD offers a complete range of development services and can also call on the help of NCHA’s architects, surveyors, clerks of works, employers’ agents and energy efficiency experts. A limited liability partnership, POD is trading successfully in difficult times.

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South African return During the year NCHA clerk of works Shaun Nee returned to KwaZuluNatal, South Africa, to work again with Habitat for Humanity building housing for families and children affected by AIDS. Shaun’s enthusiasm for the project inspired three other staff members from our Direct Maintenance Service to join him for his return visit to work with the charity. Electrical technical officer John Jackson, gas engineer/ plumber Darren Scaddan and technical officer Eddie Mellors worked with Shaun adding plumbing, wiring and joinery to unfinished homes and started work on two new homes during their week-long stay.

NCHA breaks new ground with ‘The Curve’ in Kettering They also shared their electrical, joinery, plumbing and brick-laying skills with Habitat for Humanity’s local team. The trip was funded by a donation from NCHA’s charitable reserves. NCHA Development Director Steve Walker said: ‘Shaun’s first visit highlighted the project’s desperate need for skilled housebuilders. Our board of management is delighted that three more of our skilled workers have volunteered to travel to South Africa this year. We hope to continue our support for this project in the future.’

In October, NCHA opened its first housing scheme in Kettering. The £5 million housing scheme at Crescent West, near the town centre, is built on the site of a former petrol station. Known locally as The Curve, because of its distinctive shape, the scheme has given new life to a brownfield site and is a key element of Kettering Borough Council’s wider regeneration of the town centre, which will see the creation of restaurants, shopping and cultural quarters. It is a mixed tenure development of 16 rented flats, 12 flats for outright sale and 19 for shared ownership. Facilities include communal gardens, bike stores and a recycling area. The scheme has its own caretaker and is in walking distance of the market place, the hospital, a new health centre and the railway station.

iven The Curve has g wnfield new life to a bro site and is a key ring element of Kette l’s Borough Counci tion wider regenera tre. of the town cen

The scheme was funded with a mixture of Housing Corporation social housing grant and private finance. Another new partnership saw NCHA complete its first housing scheme in High Peak during the year. Thirteen rented family homes and a bungalow designed for wheelchair use were built on three sites provided by High Peak Borough Council in Gamesley, Hadfield, and Dove Holes. Designed and built by NCHA, the new homes will be managed by High Peak Community Housing and let to local people. ‘We hope the developments in Kettering and High Peak will the first of many,’ said NCHA Chief Executive Mike Andrews.

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NCHA: Making a difference in Kettering NCHA has 64 homes for general needs, market rent and shared ownership in Kettering. It made an important contribution

to the local economy in the Northamptonshire town in 2008/09 as the figures below testify:

ADDED VALUE AT YOUR NCHA LOCAL

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Customer choice drives housing services Customer choice informed the work of our housing services team when they filled the first tranche of the 161 homes that were switched from shared ownership into the general needs programme in January 2009. Potential customers were offered a range of housing choices: Rent to Home Buy; Try Before you Buy; intermediate rents; market rents and affordable social housing rents. All the available homes, which are scattered in schemes across the region, were filled by the end of March.

Keeping the shared ownership option open Meanwhile, we forged a partnership with Nottingham Building Society to help modestincome buyers into the housing market. The society has ring-fenced a pot of money for shared ownership. In return it has first charge on properties should buyers run into difficulties. NCHA carries out extensive financial checks on customers coming into the scheme.

‘The scheme is relatively safe for the building society,’ says Housing Director David Richardson, ‘and it helps us keep the shared ownership option open to people who want to buy a stake in their homes. What’s more, we are doing the work in partnership with a local, mutual and ethical building society.’

Helping residents beat the credit crunch ‘You are not alone’ was the message we sent out to our tenants struggling to make ends meet in the teeth of the recession in a leaflet The credit crunch: NCHA can help. We set up an income management team in January that works closely with the Department of Works and Pensions and offers advice to tenants making housing and other benefit claims and applications for tax credits and social fund grants or loans. We also urged our tenants to go to a credit union if they need to borrow. Our advice was avoid using credit cards, and steer clear of doorstep lenders and loan sharks who charge crippling interest rates. We led a group of housing associations in setting up a credit union helpline for tenants.

An affordable NCHA contents insurance scheme was launched during the year under the umbrella of the National Housing Federation’s ‘My Home’ scheme. Prices start from £3.76 a month for direct debit payers (£2.51 for the over-60s).

Making sure we keep our customers We don’t want to lose customers, and our Family Intervention Project works intensively with households who face losing their homes because of their anti-social behaviour. We work in partnership with community safety teams, drug and alcohol specialists and local authorities to provide this service.

Survey after survey identifies anti-social behaviour as one of our residents’ greatest concerns. Physical improvements, such as CCTV, reinforced communal doors and anticlimbing paint on some of our estates, has reduced anti-social behaviour and helped the police deal with drug dealing. When it comes to individual families, we always deal with the problem firmly but fairly. The last thing we want to do is evict people, which is why we regard the Family Intervention Project as such an important part of our work.

‘You are noT alone’ was the message we sent out to our tenants struggling to make ends meet in the teeth of the recession

In some cases we work with families in their homes. In more difficult cases, they are moved into alternative properties where they are given intensive support by the partnership. The proof of this particular pudding is in the number of families who have ceased to become a headache for their neighbours.

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Taking on digital exclusion on the Moorgreen Estate The three computers in the Internet Café on the Moorgreen Estate, Nottingham, are helping to tackle digital exclusion that seriously affects the education chances of the estate’s sons and daughters without home access to the internet. Part funded from our Tenants and Residents Consortium (TRC) annual budget of £35,000, the café is a run by volunteers. The café opens from 4pm to 6pm every Monday to Thursday, and is heavily used by children and young people doing their homework and hanging out together in a safe and friendly environment. The next move is a bid for National Lottery funding to employ a part-time worker at the cafe, buy a laptop computer and upgrade the current equipment.

Added Value at Your

Panto Trip, a Christmas Party, a zoo trip, an Easter party and two very successful bike workshops. The activities promote community cohesion by bringing parents and children together. They are usually free and open to all residents regardless of income.

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Residents meet socially at weekly coffee mornings where they can raise concerns in confidence about issues such as repairs and anti-social behaviour with Tenant and Resident Association members and housing staff. Pressure from the TRA, for example, led to overgrown trees and bushes being cut back. TRA members keep residents in the loop with four newsletters a year. Residents were involved in two estate cleanups during the year.

Added Value at Your

Other activities organised for young people during the year included Halloween workshops, a Christmas

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NCHA: Building strong communities in Nottingham NCHA’s story began in the City of Nottingham almost 40 years ago. Today it has 2,500 homes in the city, most of them for rent. Included in the homes provided are 15 supported housing projects, two supported living projects and seven registered care projects. The launch this year of SHINE, a floating support service for women who

are victims of domestic abuse, brings the total of NCHA floating support services in the city to six. Housing apart, NCHA is a major employer in Nottingham and made a significant contribution to the city’s economy in 2008/09 as the figures here show.

Salaries paid to staff living in the city: £5.3 million

Value of work

ADDED VALUE AT YOUR NCHA LOCAL

given to contractors:

£4.4 mILLION

Total: £12.5 million New homes completed:

Five

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Good housekeeping an NCHA hallmark

The more we are together the happier we will be

Good housekeeping is one of the hallmarks of our work, and it becomes even more important in difficult times. 2008/09 was a successful year, as our performance indicators show. We maintained the last year’s outstanding performance of carrying out repairs on time and keeping repairs appointments that led the Audit Commission to describe our responsive repairs service as ‘a strong area for the Association.’

‘The more people are involved with their landlord, the happier they are,’ says Peter Marsh, Chief Executive of the Tenant Services Authority (TSA). It’s certainly true in the case of NCHA, judging by the regular customer feedback about our services we collect by Freepost, telephone, text message, Internet and in person through our Praise and Grumble scheme.

We managed to outperform our target for reletting our Housing with Care and Support (HWCS) bed spaces, and we were only slightly above the target for filling our general needs homes when they become empty. Despite the deep recession around them, most of our customers managed to pay their rent on time, and we worked very hard to help those who faced financial difficulties.

The feedback confirms our spending on resident involvement and training (£167,000 in 2008/09) is one of our very best value for money investments every year. Here’s what we got in return last year: • 3  79 tenants working for their estates and their neighbours through the Tenants and Residents Consortium, the seven Customer Advisory Panels, the Consultation Panel, 11 Tenants and Residents Associations as well as Tenant Estate Contacts. All of which meant our tenants were well equipped to have a large say in the National Conversation organised by the TSA.

• 6  4 tenants attended our first NCHA-wide tenants conference, which was held at Notts County FC in 2008. ‘Tenants liked it so much that they are organising a conference themselves this year,’ says Peter Cowley, Assistant Director of Housing Services. • R  esidents playing a major role in tackling community issues, among them street cleaning, security and estate clean-ups . • G  reater community cohesion through social events and activities for residents of all ages. • A  high rating among housing associations for residents satisfied with their opportunities for participation in management and decision-making. ‘It’s money well-spent,’ says Peter Cowley, ‘ and it enables us to provide a 3-star resident involvement service embracing residents of all ages from the many diverse communities we house. Sixty per cent of our involved residents are under 65, and there is a 50/50 split between men and women.’

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NCHA Board of Directors

Nigel Nice, Chairman BA, DPhil, IHSM Has been a member of the Board since 1990 and Chair since 2006. He is the Regional Director for NHS Direct in the East Midlands.

Ann McCarthy, Vice-Chairman MA, MCIEH, MCIH Has been a Board member since 1995 and in 2006 became Vice - Chair of the Board and Chair of the Audit Committee. She is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Health at Nottingham Trent University.

Pradeep Khuti BA

Tony Kay DMS

Appointed to the Board in May 2006 and is a member of the Audit Committee and Complaints Sub-Committee. Pradeep has commercial experience gained through his previous directorships and IT consultancy experience in the financial sector. At national level he represents the public through his work in disciplinary/tribunal hearings for The Council of the Inns of Court.

Joined the Board in 1999. Tony is Business Development Manager with a regional building company. Previously a Senior Development Manager with the Castle Vale Housing Action Trust in Birmingham and Business Development Manager with a large national house builder.

Paul Boast, Service user Paul joined the Board in 2009. He lives in a community house which is a satellite of NCHA’s Dale Street mental health supported housing project in Sneinton, Nottingham, where he receives support from NCHA’s Housing with Care and Support department.

Colin Stratton-Baldwin, Tenant Colin joined the Board in 2009 and is a tenant living in Collingham near Newark. He is an active member of both the Technical Services Customer Advisory Panel and the Lettings and Estate Advisory Panel. He is also Secretary of the Tenants & Residents Consortium.

Michael Bent CIH, Dip IVIRM

Lucy Dadge BA, DAM, MBA

Has been a Board member since 2003 and is Chair of LETS Select, a private subsidiary of NCHA and POD. Mike has worked in the housing profession since 1985. His most recent experience was with the Housing Corporation, as Investment Manager for the East Midlands. He now runs a medium size childcare business employing in excess of 100 local people.

Joined the Board in 1998 and is a member of the Audit Committee. She worked in the NHS for 14 years and is now Head of Property and Contract Management for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. She has previously worked for a number of architectural practices in London and Derbyshire.

Graham Carvell, Tenant Graham is a Board Member and tenant of the Association living in Leicester. He is employed in the Adults and Housing Department of Leicester City Council and is Chairman of NCHA’s Tenants and Residents Consortium. Graham joined the Board in July 2007.

Diane Cotton ACMA Has been a Board member since 2000 and is a member of the Audit Committee. She works as part of the Business Assurance function for Capita Group Plc and provides services for the Life and Pensions division.

Carolyn Isaaks FCCA, BSc, MSc Has been a Board member previously and rejoined in Spring 2006 and is a member of the Audit Committee. She is a Principal Lecturer in Accounting at The Nottingham Business School.

Chaudhari Shajait LL.B (Hons) Has been a Board member since 2003. He is the Muslim Community Facilitator in the Community & Culture department at Nottingham City Council and is also a Justice of the Peace.

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Income & Expenditure Accounts

Balance Sheet

For the year ended 31st March 2009

As at 31st March 2009 Group

Group

Association

2009 £’000

2008 2009 Restated £’000 £’000

2008 Restated £’000

Turnover

48,279

50,597

45,276

46,868

Cost of properties developed for sale

(7,187)

(9,258)

(3,977)

(7,426)

Other operating costs

(36,531)

(34,861)

(35,716)

(34,317)

Operating surplus

4,561

6,478

5,583

5,125

Surplus on sale of properties not developed for outright sale

2,706

1,947

2,633

1,856

Association

2009 £’000

2008 Restated £’000

2009 £’000

2008 Restated £’000

Housing properties depreciated cost

380,902

345,595

367,369

328,404

Less social housing grant

(193,705)

(185,422)

(192,494)

(184,454)

187,197

160,173

174,875

143,950

Other fixed assets

3,639

3,606

3,636

3,602

Investments

4,845

3,819

5,978

5,606

195,681

167,598

184,489

153,158

Stock

10,906

27,720

5,392

14,250

Debtors

6,011

4,996

30,567

29,037

Cash at bank and in hand

4,907

4,815

4,023

3,805

21,824

37,531

39,982

47,092

Tangible Fixed Assets

Current assets

Creditors Interest receivable

511

348

1,413

1,742

Amounts falling due within one year

(12,142)

(9,931)

(11,900)

(7,054)

Interest payable and similar charges

(9,473)

(9,250)

(9,402)

(9,324)

Net current assets

9,682

27,600

28,082

40,038

Total assets less current liabilities

205,363

195,198

212,571

193,196

Gift Aid

-

-

22

113

Creditors

Surplus/(deficit) on ordinary activities for the year before taxation

(1,695)

(477)

249

(488)

Amounts falling due after more than one year

179,993

168,979

179,893

160,779

Called up share capital

-

-

-

-

Revaluation reserve

550

153

36

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Designated reserves

7,122

7,730

6,804

7,512

Revenue reserves

17,698

18,336

25,838

24,881

205,363

195,198

212,571

193,196

Capital and reserves

Taxation

-

-

-

-

Surplus/(deficit) on ordinary activities for the year after taxation

(1,695)

(477)

249

(488)

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Promoting brand NCHA

During the year the team carried off a national Communications in Business Award for NCHA’s 2007/2008 annual report, called NCHA United v Homelessness and Poverty FC.

Our Communications Team works overtime to promote Brand NCHA. They work hard to keep our name in the headlines in the national and local media to ensure that funders and partners continue to support our work providing homes for homeless and poorly housed people. Customers and staff are kept in touch through a series of in-house magazines:

• LINK A quarterly magazine for general needs tenants, which is produced in partnership with the Communications Customer Advisory Panel and where the Tenants & Residents Consortium have their own page. • I nsight This quarterly magazine goes out to all our Housing With Care and Support customers and is written by our service users. • Squawk The NCHA staff magazine which goes out in a value-for-money A5 size, handy to read in a lunch break.

During the year the team carried off a national Communications in Business Award for NCHA’s 2007/08 annual report. Called NCHA United v Homelessness and Poverty FC, the report was modelled on a 1970s football programme and makes the 11th award won in the last eight years for NCHA’s annual report.

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Designed by Purp le Circle Written by Bill Ra ndall Edited by Debs Ra msden & NCHA tenant Mich elle Sharpe Printed on 100% post consumer recycled waste