Name:

Mike Wiffen       

Organisation:

Barnet Homes is a non-profit making ALMO, created by Barnet Council

Position:

Head of Financial Services

Number of properties & Location:

15,000 council homes

Why did you start working with PfH?

As a new arms-length organisation we were keen to use our independence positively as quickly as possible. PfH initially appealed to us, particularly in the non-technical areas, because it provided us with ready-made EU compliant agreements.

What are the main benefits of working with PfH?

Clearly a major advantage for us is in reducing procurement time, resources and risk - in terms of establishing the agreements in the first instance and then the ongoing contract and supplier management. We’re saving money on market rates because of PfH’s buying power, which enables us to do that much more for our tenants.

Flexibility - we only use the agreements we need. They are easy to use and PfH has established processes in place.  The PfH team provide a fantastic level of support to ensure that arrangements are set up correctly initially and then that the agreements and suppliers continue to meet our expectations.

Which framework agreements are you currently using?

We are currently using four agreements: Agency Labour, Energy Management, Decorating Vouchers, Rent and Bill Payment cards.

Payment cards are being used in a small way at present but from April 2010 will be available for all our rent collection.

Are they meeting your expectations?

Yes. We’ve found suppliers and service providers are very helpful, understand our business and do their utmost to meet our needs.  They have consistently demonstrated they can deliver quality services and products. We’ve made close to £30,000 in savings from the Decorating Vouchers agreement so far.

As we move forward we’re expecting to realise savings of around £200,000 per annum from the other three agreements.

How have you reinvested the savings back into your organisation?

Against the increasing pressure of reduced resources within the Housing Revenue Account, the savings we’ve made through PfH have enabled us to introduce new initiatives and to maintain the same levels of customer service.  We estimate that we have reduced our day-to-day costs of housing management and maintenance by over 10% in the last four years without cutting services.

Are there any other agreements you’re looking at with PfH?

We are definitely considering legal services and audit services when they go live and perhaps having a detailed look at door entry systems too.

Are there any areas you would like to see PfH focus on in the future?

We approached PfH to see whether they could set up an agreement for insulation that would enable us to spend
our Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) grant without contravening EU regulations. This is due to launch in
January 2010.  A recent study suggested that up to a third of social housing tenants have no insurance. Insurance, for both landlords and tenants, is worthy of further exploration – especially if it can develop an affordable proposition for our tenants.

What do you think PfH can do better?

I would really appreciate more up front information, and then regular updates,on the new agreements that are in the pipeline.

What advice would you give to any organisation considering becoming a PfH member?

Join – as long as you’re a subscriber to HouseMark, it costs nothing!  PfH staff are helpful and positive, the conferences and Member forums are great opportunities to network and learn from others about what is on offer.