Member Close Up

Name:
Lisa Rothery

Organisation:
Colne Housing Society Limited

Position:
Resources Manager

Number of properties and location:
2,000 properties in Essex

Why did you join PfH?
As a small organisation it was important to achieve economies of scale for procurement which PfH enables us to do.

What benefits has PfH created for your organisation?
With the launch of the Gershon Review, whereby housing organisations are required to make 2.5% efficiency savings, the PfH deals have provided us with a useful tool to enable Colne to meet this target in a fairly streamlined way.

How has Central Billing helped to streamline your purchasing?
Having only one invoice payment per month for several services has made an impact on both authorisation processes and payment processes.

Was Central Billing difficult to set up?
Central Billing has been relatively straightforward to set up.

What savings do you expect to make annually?
Depending on the various contracts, we would be hopeful of making between 3 - 5% savings annually on the services we have procured through PfH.

Have you managed to reinvest your procurement cost savings?
The cost savings are going towards our annual efficiency targeted savings of 2.5% overall; £100,000 per annum.

How will your residents and their neighbourhoods benefit from this reinvestment?
The service charges to our residents are being reduced as we achieve savings. This means that more of the rent we receive can be directed towards front line services and towards maintaining and improving residents' homes as well as various community initiatives.

What do you expect PfH to achieve for the sector in the longer term?
In the future, I would expect PfH to be able to set up deals with more suppliers in many more service areas and achieve significant savings. This in turn, I am sure, will mean that PfH will attract more Members as it becomes more established, ensuring that suppliers will begin to offer better deals and discounts, so increasing the savings passed on to Members.

What would you say to other housing organisations that are considering becoming a PfH Member?
The more Members that PfH attracts, the bigger and better the deals will be for housing organisations, as it will increase its buying power. The size / turnover of an individual housing provider is immaterial, as whatever your size, your business can take advantage of the exact same deals. Even for smaller housing organisations, such as Colne, the savings are significant and worth pursuing.