As we enter this new planning period, Jigsaw manages 37,500 homes. By the end of the period, we expect to have over 40,000 homes. Managing and maintaining our homes is what we and our customers set as our top priority.
We will never tire of saying that the safety of our homes and our customers is our absolute priority and backing that statement with action. We will build on our strong practice of property safety checks and responsive repair service by implementing Awaab’s Law to provide reassurance to residents that they will have a rapid resolution to issues surrounding damp and mould in their homes.
We will continue to modernise our high-rise blocks, improving their thermal efficiency, and ensuring compliance with new safety regulations. Our estimated expenditure across 2024-2031 is £12.4 million.
Three other streams of work will feature throughout the period:
- Responsive and void property repairs to deal with day-to-day issues and occasional larger defects that need correcting. We aim to make this experience for our customers as hassle free as we can. Our estimated expenditure is £286.6m.
- Renovation and replacement of property components. The planned maintenance cycle for up to one-half of our properties comes due in the period of this plan. We will work with our customers to keep disruption to a minimum during the works and leave them with a refreshed home. Our estimated expenditure is £391m.
- Low carbon homes. With the urgency of climate change, we are prepared to implement the technology that becomes available to replace gas heating, while improving the fabric of homes. Under this plan, we will pilot a no-carbon housing development and launch a sustainability innovation fund, to support projects that may provide future solutions. We will seek out other sources of funding, to ensure we collaborate effectively with other groups committed to a low carbon future. Our estimated expenditure is £46m.
To make this investment in our properties effective, we will need to update the information we hold about the condition of every home.
Managing our homes also means collecting the rents that fund services for customers. Our strategy will be to make it easy for customers to pay their rent – for example, with more convenient payment services.
And for customers who find it difficult to pay their rent, we will make contact quickly so that their rent debt does not build up. Our money
advice service provides advice and assistance directly to customers experiencing or at risk of financial difficulty.
Each year, we expect over 2,000 of our homes to be vacated. The demand for available homes far outstrips supply. Working in partnership with local authorities, we will
apply lettings policies that combine meeting the acutest need (e.g. people who become homeless) with creating balanced and sustainable neighbourhoods.
This will include a project to incentivise existing tenants to free-up larger properties if they no longer need a home of that size.
Jigsaw is one of the largest social housing developers in the country, building more new homes than most associations of our size. We intend to maintain that commitment to providing new homes, at a similar scale, at a time of a widely acknowledged housing crisis.
By adding to the stock of affordable homes, Jigsaw makes a substantial social impact: on the people moving into the home, as well as to the public purse through the reduction of costs associated with homelessness and ill health and through the economic benefits of jobs supported in construction and associated industries. A recent estimate from the National Housing Federation places this benefit at over £300,000 for each social rented home.
In the first two years of the plan, we will complete our existing development programme which is on track to deliver 4,000 new homes over five years.
The landscape for affordable housing development is expected to become clearer following the next General Election in 2024-25. Jigsaw is well-placed and poised to take advantage of renewed Government funding and will explore options to become a Homes England strategic partner and benefit from the guarantees involved in that programme.
The shape of Jigsaw’s development programme will be influenced by:
- The availability of Government funding
- Local authority housing strategies, matched to Jigsaw’s priorities, such as focusing on development in locations where we can deliver services that maintain the Group’s operational efficiency
- Opportunities that arise.
New homes will be built to high standards and low carbon usage, with non-gas heating installed. We plan to develop a net carbon neutral scheme in partnership with the
Greater Manchester Authority and will continue to explore modern methods of construction.
Housing is one of the cornerstones of a healthy and fulfilling life, and it is an area of Jigsaw’s core competence. We also have a responsibility to our communities more widely, which we will fulfil through a range of investment activities.
These activities will be designed to support other aspects of our customers’ lives, in particular:
- Employment, skills and training
- Financial well-being
- Health and well-being.
Each year, we will set aside around £500,000 for local groups, organisations and initiatives to bid for, with the majority of the money awarded through a process involving our
customers.
This activity will be complemented by our very active neighbourhood engagement team, who organise and deliver a range of activities to promote well-being – from warm hubs in the winter to summer holiday activities for families.
The cost of living crisis looms large in the lives of many Jigsaw residents. We will provide a range of services that can ease poverty, including help furnishing a home, energy
assistance, money and benefits advice and employment support.
We will continue to monitor the needs of our customers, using our neighbourhood plan approach which draws on multiple sources of data. Every two years, we will review priorities and, based on evidence, adapt our investment themes.
Another aspect of community investment is our work to enable residents to enjoy life in their communities safe from noise and nuisance. Jigsaw’s Neighbourhood Safety teams will continue to respond to complaints of anti-social behaviour, working to bring about solutions and in persistent and serious cases, taking legal action against perpetrators and supporting their victims.
To live successfully in our homes, many customers need some form of support. Our services that will often have the most profound impact on customers’ lives are those provided by our 200+ employees of Jigsaw Support.
We have expertise and proven positive outcomes in a range of services, which will continue to be the focus of the work we do:
- Homelessness prevention and supported accommodation services
- Care Leavers
- Tenancy Sustainment
- Agency Managed
- Domestic abuse services
- Employment support
- Well-being.
Most services are funded by public sector commissioners (e.g. local authorities) on time-limited contracts. Jigsaw is committed to providing supported housing services as
a core part of what we do. Throughout the plan period, we will look for new business opportunities and re-tender for existing services.
The principles we apply in deciding to compete for a contract include having the expertise, the geographical location, confidence in being able to provide a quality service and being able to run a financially sustainable service.
We aim to make a surplus which covers the risk of contracts ending and gives our board choices over further investment in supported housing, including projects supported by the Jigsaw Support Innovation Fund. With an ageing population, we aim to expand on our current portfolio of older persons housing schemes. We will also continue a rolling programme of upgrades to the communal areas of these schemes.
Many customers living in our General Needs accommodation also require some assistance to live successfully in their homes and make use of our services. We are strengthening our processes for recording individual needs and tailoring services. Maintaining and making good use of the information we hold about our customers will become critical to our success.
