Neighbourhood and community standard

Our local offers-  

Action plan-

Our progress so far… 

Improve how we publicise the outcomes from our estate inspections and ‘walkabouts’ to encourage resident engagement

1. We will make sure that we let customers and our partners know when and where walkabouts will take place by advertising these events two weeks before they take place.
2. We will publish the results of our estate walkabouts and estate inspections every quarter on our website.

To give our tenants and other members of the community the opportunity to monitor the condition of the area they live, alongside our staff, we carry out Estate Inspections and walkabouts.

1. We advertise a timetable of resident walkabouts and inspections on our website: click here. We also write to our residents to let them know when the next inspection or walkabout will be taking part each local area.
2. From 2012, we will report on our website information collected during the walkabouts and inspections and let you know what action we are taking to respond to any issues. This information will be updated 4 times a year.
3. We will be re launching our “Key Resident Scheme” so that residents can advise us of any community concerns or issues on a regular basis.

Evaluate what works best in our prevention work

1. We will develop diversionary activities to target areas that are experiencing anti social behaviour and neighbour nuisance by March 2012.

During 2011, Isos worked with a number of community groups and local agencies, including; Positive Futures, Northumbria Police, Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service and Bad Apples North East to deliver a programme of fun family activities including football coaching and marital arts. Residents were able to pick up information about local services and speak with representatives of various agencies at the events.

1. We have not met this deadline. However, we are reviewing our approach to managing and monitoring our performance across Isos, which is a much larger and long term project. See ‘tenant involvement and engagement standard’ for further details.

Support and develop our Safer Neighbourhoods team and monitor its achievements

1. We will report to our Area Panels and on our website the Safer Neighbourhood Team’s performance against measures we have agreed with the Area Panels by August 2011.
2. We will publish the results of anti social behaviour cases on our website by August 2011.

Develop our ability to deliver more apprenticeships, ‘preparation for work’ skills and work experience opportunities

1. We will develop a work experience policy by August 11 that defines the number of work experience posts we will offer and our approach to advertising and selecting applicants.
2. We will establish our approach to the ‘Welfare to Work’ agenda by November 2011.
3. We will develop our approach to apprenticeships by March 2012.
4. We will develop a workforce strategy that is underpinned by our people strategy by March 2012.
5. We will develop our approach to placements by March 2012. 

1. We will be considering our approach in more detail next year, when developing our ‘People Strategy’. In the meantime, Isos have committed to taking on 4 apprentices this year.

Improve community cohesion by ensuring more vulnerable residents are supported

We will provide a team of staff that are trained to invite and process applications for aids and adaptations to your homes by March 2012.

In 2011, we reviewed all our staff structures across Isos. We continue to process applications for aids and adaptations and respond to new enquiries.

Develop our ability to support older residents

1. We will provide a team of staff to manage homes and develop services to support older people by March 2012
2. We will deliver our Older Persons strategy over the next five years
3. We will develop our use of dispersed alarms within our tenant base by March 2012.
4. We will remodel and develop new schemes for older people 

1. We have adjusted our staff structure to provide additional staff and resources to support our older residents.

2. And 3. We continue to deliver the Older Persons strategy and respond to new priorities. This includes the use of dispersed alarms within our tenant base.

4. We are working with our Local Authority partners to agree which options we should adopt in order to remodel services so that they meet our residents needs.  We are currently redeveloping one of our schemes, Trinity Court, so that we can provide high quality accommodation and support services.

Increase our support to residents to live more sustainably through increased advice and support

1. We will review the staffing level of the Welfare Rights team by October 2011

1. In 2011, we reviewed all our staff structures across Isos.

Develop our working with key statutory agencies – police, health, Local Strategic Partnerships and Local Authorities.

We will engage with community partners such as council and parish representatives, police and local schools through our Community Engagement Work and targeted work to tackle anti social behaviour and nuisance. 

Isos is working with partners to tackle anti social behaviour and nuisance in conjunction with the Children’s Safety Education Foundation. Isos provides ‘Respect your life, your choice’ – a collection of interactive resources for schools across the region. The resources deal with sensitive issues in an engaging and age appropriate manner. Topics include; anti bullying, hate crime, substance misuse, anti-social behaviour, gangs, guns and knives, staying safe and domestic abuse.