Local offers

The concept of ‘local offers’ was originally introduced in April 2010 by our regulator at the time, the Tenant Services Authority (TSA). All housing associations must provide locally-focused services that will be shaped and monitored by our residents.

This approach suited us perfectly. We have been delivering local offers for sometime, as a result of our long standing commitment to tailoring services and working in partnership with residents, local councils and other landlords. In fact we were one of the few housing association who provided early information about our plans for local offers in the Annual Report to Residents 2010/11, sent to all customers last year.

With so many local offers currently in place and more to follow, we asked residents to tell us which local offers would be considered to be important to all residents and would represent the offers we should 'showcase'.

Through on-going consultation and a series of Have Your Say events, resident-led investment priorities consultation and residents learning day, the feedback has identified 18 local offers to showcase. We will nowpublish and regularly report on their performance to all residents, in our quarterly residents newsletter Paradigm People, local estate newsletters, the annual report to residents and on our website.

Our showcase local offers
 

Repairs and maintenance

  • increase the amount of money we spend on making homes more affordable to keep warm
  • award additional priority for completing repairs for customers who are older, have young children or are disabled
  • offer three repair appointment slots a day, making it more convenient for customers especially those that work or have carer responsibilities
  • introduce new target times for completion of repairs with emergencies being completed within 3 and 24 hours and other reactive repairs within an average of 15 working days
  • provide a Handyman Service for two large estates in the Chilterns and for all sheltered housing schemes
  • include minor adaptation work as standard when completing routine repairs and improvement work in the homes of residents with a disability and adjusting specifications for improvement works to reflect faith, cultural and household size requirements of residents

Neighbourhoods and communities

  • offer opportunities to be an estate champion. Estate champions help us by acting as an extra pair of eyes and ears on estates, reporting any problems in shared areas so they get dealt with as quickly as possible.
  • have specific service standards describing how we will respond where residents report domestic abuse, racial harassment or hate crime
  • further develope our victim and witness support service
  • enhance grounds maintenance services to include additional seasonal planting provided at sheltered housing schemes
  • offer residents the opportunity to nominate their block or estate for one of the 12 neighbourhood reviews (previously known as area audits) undertaken each year, which identify and deliver improvements to the area where they live
  • set up parking control schemes to deal with local parking issues. Currently 23 locations benefit from this local offer

Tenant empowerment and involvement

  • recruit residents as internal auditors and quality inspectors to scrutinise services
  • support the development of local tenant panels in Welwyn Hatfield, Hillingdon and Cherwell
  • increase the choice for residents who want to get involved. Paradigm’s approach to involvement includes developing virtual involvement opportunities to encourage increased involvement from younger residents
  • host more local consultation and involvement, including local Have Your Say events and local surgeries
  • provide a programme of training and learning available to involved residents
  • offer customer care standards that set out what customers can expect when they contact us

The list of showcased local offers will be reviewed by residents on a yearly basis but will always reflect residents' priorities. More information regarding Paradigm’s approach to local offers is downloadable here.

For a full list of our local offers please click here. As more local offers are developed we will add them to the list.

If you would like to speak to someone about developing a local offer or about local offers generally please contact Wendy Smith, our Excellence Ambassador on 01628 811825 or by emailing wendy.smith@paradigmhousing.co.uk