How We Manage Your Home
Governance and decision-making
Who we are and how we make decisions
On our website, you can read about us and our values. You can also see our structure. Our Board is ultimately responsible for everything we do. Day-to-day, decisions are made by senior managers. Frontline staff are supported by team leaders and managers.
We follow the Chartered Institute of Housing’s Code of Conduct.
We want to hear what residents think of our services. We send our annual satisfaction survey, and report on the findings to all residents. At any time, you can tell your housing and support officer what you think, ring our head office on 01332 282776, or Contact Us.
If you know there is something going on that is wrong, we have a Whistleblowing Policy and Procedure. You can Contact Us or write to: Chair, Derventio Housing Trust, 33 Boyer Street, Derby DE22 3TB. Mark the envelope Private and Confidential.
Spending
Your money and how it is spent
You can read about our finances in our annual report. This poster explains what your personal service charge is spent on.
If you would like another copy of your rent breakdown, or your most recent rent increase letter, ask your housing and support officer, or Contact Us.
Supported housing may seem to cost a lot, with high rents, but it saves money for the public purse. People living in supported housing could otherwise be in more expensive services like prison, hospital, a mental health unit, children’s home, or care home for people with a learning disability. The National Housing Federation found that the supported housing sector in England saves the public purse and estimated £3.5 billion every year. For single people experiencing homelessness, the estimated cost saving is on average £8,264 per person each year.
Housing stock management
Our homes and repairs
Most of our housing is leased from a property owner. We currently own 2.35% of properties that we use.
Before we take on a new property, we check each one and write a thorough inventory report with photos. All our properties must meet the Decent Homes Standard. We also do a fire risk assessment of each property. We are careful about health and safety, so we check for asbestos.
Our staff do weekly and monthly property health and safety checks to make sure that everything is in good repair.
Performance and accountability
How well we do
Every year we publish an annual report explaining what we do and our impact.
To promote the achievements of residents and the good work we do, and to thank partners, funders and donors, we send out news stories.
We have to report Tenant Satisfaction Measures every year to the Regulator for Social Housing. We ask residents what they think of our service in the annual satisfaction survey. The Regulator sets out the questions that all providers must ask. We have to use the exact wording that everyone uses and ask the questions in the same order. All supported housing providers must report on their Tenant Satisfaction Measures. This is our latest report.
We explain the findings, and actions we have taken to improve, in the Resident Report. A copy of this is taken to each property.
We also have to send a report on complaints we have received to the Housing Ombudsman every year. You can also read our Complaints Policy and our leaflet on how to make a complaint. There is a page on our website for information about complaints.
Housing services
Services and support for residents
The services we offer are: supported housing, Home4Me, Healthy Futures, and Growing Lives.
Residents can apply to Sylvester’s Fund through their housing and support officer for items to help them achieve their goals.
My Guide to Housing and Support explains how our supported housing works. You can download the Midlands, Swindon and Warwick guides here. The Derventio Deal outlines what residents can expect of us and what we expect of residents. Our Workers Charter explains how we help residents who get paid employment.
We are serious about the health and safety of residents. This includes fire safety, electrical safety – including e-scooters and e-bikes and batteries as you can see in this video and leaflet – and damp and mould.
You can read our Safeguarding Policy. We look at safeguarding concerns that we have reported to the local authority, and report on these to our Board.
Support for residents includes a wide range of different things such as mental health, getting active, and sexual health. We also have information to help residents with day to day life, for example on food banks and bin collections.
If there is anything you want help with, ask your housing and support officer. Or you can contact us.
Lists and registers
Who checks up on us and how
As a Community Interest Company we are regulated by the CIC Regulator.
As a provider of supported housing, we are regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing. We also have to follow requirements from the Housing Ombudsman.
The Supported Housing Regulatory (Oversight) Act 2023 – regulates all that we do. Each council where we have housing checks up on us. All properties that we use have to meet the Decent Homes Standard. The council also checks the support that we provide to residents.
We have to check all properties for gas safety (once a year) and electrical safety (once every five years). We must tell the regulator every year how we performed. Last year we checked 100% of properties.
What we do not publish
We do not publish:
- Business activities not related to housing
- Internal business information that does not affect residents
- Internal discussion and documents
- Information that could identify an individual