Barrhead Housing Association Limited
Minute of Management Committee Meeting
Thursday 30th October 2013
60/70 Main Street, Barrhead
Present
Rena McGuire, Chairperson
Brian Connelly, MBE, Secretary
Claire Boyd, Vice Chair
Laura Hendry
Michael Mukhtar
Gavin McVicar
Councillor Tommy Reilly
In Attendance
Shirley Robison, Managing Director (part meeting)
Jim Munro, Director of Property Services (part meeting)
Dougie McIntyre, Director of Customer Services (part meeting)
Karen Nutt, Minute Secretary (part meeting)
1
Apologies & Sederunt Check
Apologies were received from Eddie Tweedie and Jack Tait. Jack Tait will most
probably be taking leave of absence, and the Managing Director will confirm this at
the next meeting. The sederunt was signed by those present.
2
Declaration of Interest for noting
There were no declarations of interest noted.
Approval of Minute
3
Management Committee 19th September 2013
It was proposed by Brian Connelly and seconded by Claire Boyd that the minute be
approved.
Minutes for Noting
Policy Sub-Committee meeting 12th September 2013
Development and Working group meeting 18th September 2013
Health & Safety Working Group meeting 19th September 2013
4
Matters Arising from Above Minutes
The Managing Director informed the meeting that William Anderson is no longer a
Committee member as he has missed four meetings in a row without submitting
apologies or requesting leave of absence. A letter has been issued to him to confirm
that he no longer has a position within the Management Committee. There had
been no response but the ipad had been returned to the office.
The Director of Customer Services stated that the eviction detailed on the previous
agenda did not take place. An arrangement was agreed and put in place, therefore,
full enforcement was avoided.
The Committee and Senior staff lunch has been arranged by Brian Connelly and is
booked for Wednesday 18th December at 1pm.
The Managing Director noted that a discussion has taken place with Credit Union
regarding the new membership arrangement. The Association will be working along
with East Renfrewshire Council with regards to advertising the Credit Union
membership scheme. There will be leaflets produced to help promote the scheme
and a formal launch/signing of SLA and photo opportunity.
5
The Association’s office test for Radon Gas has come back negative and no action is
required. We are continuing to discuss the potential properties with our individual
tenants.
Matters for Discussion and Approval
The Managing Director confirmed with the Chairperson that agenda items 5.8, 5.10
and 5.11 would be presented first, after which, the Director of Customer Services
and Director of Property Services will leave the meeting. The Managing Director and
Minute Secretary will leave the meeting to allow the pensions discussion to take
place among Committee members.
5.8 Business Plan Q2, Risk update 30.09.13 and Welfare Reform Update
Business Plan Q2
Objective 1 – Six contractors have been selected and will be issued with tender
documents at the end of October 2013. A decision should be made regarding which
contractor is appointed by January 2014.
Objective 2 – The IT replacement has commenced and is currently about one third
of the way through. There is a lot of work involved and a huge amount of training
will be completed by staff. There is a deadline date of 19th November to sign off the
work to date.
Objective 3 - New job outlines are now in place for the majority of staff. The three
grades still to be finalised are; G6, G5 and G4. The new Customer Service Team is
in place but there are a lot of training needs as the roles have significantly changed.
The Customer Service Officers will now be in charge of a geographical patch and will
be liable for all services within this area, such as rents and repairs. So far,
customers have welcomed the changes.
Objective 4 – The new model rules are finalised but are with the FCA for approval,
this is taking longer than anticipated. The rules may have to be adopted before next
years AGM. A discussion will take place on the model rules and this will allow the
overall governance review to start to take place.
Objective 5 – A large amount of work is continuing with reviewing the impact of
Welfare Reform. Staff are working with tenants and carrying out evening visits to
deal with Bedroom Tax issues and rent arrears. The office is also opening until 7pm
on Thursdays to assist with rent arrears. Most customers prefer face to face
interviews.
Objective 6 – The Five Yearly projections have been completed and submitted to the
SHR. These projections will be the starting point for the 30 year projections. It was
planned to develop the projections on the Brixx model, however, the model has not
been updated since the original work on the projections and so will be updated on
to an excel spreadsheet. The aim is to complete an I&E and a balance sheet as well
as a cash flow.
Objective 7 – There has been good progress made with the expansion plans for the
factoring services with 14 new owners signed up to date and a further 42 signing up
by January 2014. The target for the year was 20 – 25 owners. The
private/commercial sector is progressing slower with one new client signing up in
October 2013. The private lettings scheme has been put on hold due to the
commitment needed for the new IT system being installed.
Objective 8 - A funding bid was submitted to the Scottish Governments People in
Communities Fund in May 2012, but the fund has been spent. A new charitable
bond fund is available and we have indicated we will take part in this allocation. The
Association will need to become a member of the charitable bond issuer, Allia,
however the Scottish Government will cover the costs of this. Impact Arts are
currently working on a Big Lottery bid, an update will be given in due course.
Welfare Reform
The Director of Customer Services presented the report on Welfare Reform to the
meeting. It was highlighted that as a consequence of welfare reform, the rent
arrears have increased overall. Approximately £2800 of rent arrears can be
attributed to the spare room subsidy. There has also been a significant increase in
housing benefit suspensions, at the end of September there was £11k of benefit
payments suspended, an increase of approx 100%. The rent arrears are under a
great deal of pressure as a result of the suspensions and some are taking on
average, 28 days to be reinstated.
With regards to the discretionary housing payments, the money is covering eight
months worth of the spare room subsidy. For those that moved in to their property
after 1st August 2013, there may be a possibility of payments being backdated.
The Association moved 10 tenants due to bedroom tax, however, this was done
before 1st August 2013, meaning there will be no backdated payments received.
Due to the information being circulated surrounding payments being available, it is
increasingly difficult to get tenants to move to smaller properties as they believe
they will receive funds to cover the short fall due. BHA staff are visiting tenants in
the evening to focus on rent arrears and informing people about welfare reform.
This is proving to be successful. The office is also trialing a late opening night on a
Thursday, this is being used to make calls and allow tenants to pop in to the office
to make payments. The Director of Customer Services stated that the spare room
subsidy is not the sole cause of rent arrears but is a contributor. Mixed messages
regarding welfare reform, DHB, etc are causing real issues for people not paying
and these are being explained to our customers. Situation to be monitored. Reports
now being produced by SHR quarterly.
5.10 Factoring – ERC
The Director of Property Services presented the factoring report to the meeting.
East Renfrewshire Council factor 29 BHA properties and have recently issued
surveys to the owners of these properties regarding a formal arrangement being
made between them as factors and the customers. No firm proposals have been set
out, therefore, it is difficult for the Associating to consider the full impact of the
proposals. The factoring fees have been listed generically and have no description of
services or additional charges.
The Director of Property Services has drafted a letter in response to this
questionnaire as it is confusing and complicated. The Association is not willing to
legally sign anything until it there is a clear understanding of what is being
proposed. The draft letter has been provided for Committee to approve. The
questionnaire is not a formal vote.
It was agreed by Committee that the letter be approved and issued to East
Renfrewshire Council.
5.11 Eviction Report
The Director of Customer Services highlighted that this is a sensitive case and there
has been a lot of involvement with the family social worker as there are young
children in the household. The tenants are not paying rent at all, there may be a
chance of backdated housing benefit but this is yet to be established, the application
form has been submitted. A huge amount of staff time is being taken up around this
case and if there are no payments made or no further movements, the worst case
scenario will be evicting the tenants. Therefore, Committee is asked to approve the
eviction if required.
It was proposed by Brian Connelly and Seconded by Gavin McVicar that if required,
the eviction should proceed.
At this point in the meeting, the Director of Property Services and Director of
Customer Services left the meeting. The Managing Director and Minute Secretary
left the room to allow a discussion to take place regarding staff pensions, they will
both return after the discussion.
5.2 Pensions Options / Staff Consultation
The Chairperson presented the feedback of the pension’s discussion to the meeting.
The Chairperson stated that Committee wish to go with the staff preference as
reported by Chiene and Tait. A formal staff consultation will go forward on the
options of extending the Care 80th scheme and the PQM plus defined contributions
option. A final decision will not be made until this consultation has taken place and
this will be at the January 2014 meeting.
With regards to the deficit, the decision is to do nothing at the moment and wait
until there is more information available to make an informed decision. Committee
has agreed to hold any decision until after 1st April 2014.
The Managing Director noted all decisions. Consultation forms will be issued and
returned to Chiene and Tait who will report to Committee on 24th January 2014.
5.1 SFHA Model Rules – set date for discussion with TC Young
The Managing Director informed the meeting that a separate meeting will be
organised in late January or early February 2014 on a Thursday evening. This will
allow a discussion to take place and decisions to be made regarding implementing
the changes. A date will be confirmed nearer the time.
5.3 OSCR Return
In the absence of the Director of Corporate Services, the Managing Director
highlighted that the return has been based on the financial statements for 2012/13
and requires approval by Committee before submitting.
It was proposed by Gavin McVicar and seconded by Claire Boyd that the OSCR on
line return be approved.
5.4 Committee Appraisals
The Managing Director presented the summarised responses from Committee
appraisal process to provide feedback and highlight any training issues. The
feedback has been very positive and all members had also expressed their
satisfaction with the performance of the Chairperson.
The main issues were identified and discussed at the meeting and training issues
also identified as reported.
It was agreed by Committee that the appraisals were a worthwhile exercise and the
two page new pro forma summary document was approved for future use by senior
staff with effect from November 2013. A revised quarterly schedule of tasks will be
presented to a future meeting.
5.6 Remit of Development Working Group
The Managing Director highlighted that a remit had been attached for approval. The
Development Working Group will be discussing the Darnley Road site and working
through any issues with the proposed build.
It was proposed by Brian Connelly and seconded by Claire Boyd that the remit be
approved.
5.7 Membership Report
The Managing Director presented the membership report to the meeting. It was
highlighted that two members that had their membership cancelled had contacted
the Association and requested it be reinstated. The members affected are Mr Donald
McInnes and Agnieszka Polozcek as reported.
An application form to join the Committee has been received from Catherine
Sturrock, a new BHA tenant. It is recommended that she becomes an observer at
the meetings for the next few months with a view to her filling a casual vacancy.
A meeting has been arranged with Mr Ian McCowan, who is interested in becoming
a member of the Committee following an article in our Newsletter. Mr McCowan is
also a new tenant, however, is not yet a member of the Association, which is a
requirement. The Chairperson and Managing Director will meet with him next week
and an update will be given in due course.
It is proposed that the two cancelled memberships are reinstated and Catherine
Sturrock becomes an observer at Committee meetings for the next few months.
It was proposed by Brian Connelly and seconded by Laura Hendry that the
proposals be approved.
5.9 Scottish Government – charitable bond
The Managing Director highlighted that the Scottish Government is seeking
alternative funding to support the People in Communities fund for wider regeneration projects. The Association has to become a member of the charitable
bond issuer Allia, this one of cost of £800 will be covered by Scottish Government. A
meeting has taken place with Scottish Government staff to seek assurance that
views of the SHR had been taken; feedback has not been received yet. The
Association’s solicitor has looked over the agreement and did not identify anything
untoward. Committee is required to approve the Associations involvement in the
bond.
It was proposed by Tommy Reilly and seconded by Michael Mukhtar that the
Associations involvement with the bond be approved.
6.1 Notifiable Event
The Managing Director brought it to the Committees attention that a direct debit
had been set up on the BHA rent account. This was picked up straight away and has
consequently been cancelled and the bank was informed. No formal report had been
made to the Regulator as this had been picked up previously and dealt with.
6.3 Correspondence Report
All documents have been attached for information only.
7
8
9
Health & Safety
There is nothing to report.
AOCB
Committee commented positively on the new Board room. Blinds are being ordered
for the Committee room and we are looking to get corporate coasters and mats
ordered.
Date of next meeting – Thursday 28th November 2013 at 6.30 pm
Signed by Chairperson: ____________________________
Date: __________________________________________