Download Irwell Valley`s `Gold Standard`

SARAH HORNE/ADVOCATE
Irwell Valley’s innovative ‘Gold Standard’ scheme pioneered the idea of
rewarding tenants for good behaviour. Many other landlords have since
taken up the idea. Kate Allen catches up with the latest developments
Just
rewards
20 Inside Housing 8 July 2005
It’s now seven years since Irwell Valley Housing Association launched a
radical scheme aiming to encourage tenants to behave well. While most
housing management focuses on penalising ‘problem’ tenants – who
default on their rent or commit anti-social behaviour, for example – Irwell
Valley’s ‘Gold Standard’ aimed to provide incentives for their tenants
to pay up on time and act in a neighbourly manner. It created a two-tier
approach to service – tenants who paid their rent on time received a
financial credit each week, quicker maintenance team responses and
other benefits.
The idea was a resounding success, with 50 per cent of tenants signing
up immediately. That figure has now risen to 92 per cent and the scheme
scooped the a UK Housing Award for the association. Irwell Valley chief
executive Tom Manion estimates that around 30 per cent of social
landlords now run similar schemes. ‘A lot of organisations still focus on
bad behaviour,’ he says. ‘We have ‘good behaviour’ officers who focus
on prevention and rehabilitation, and we spend more money on that
than on sticking ASBOs on people. You do need to use ASBOs but they’re
just one tool – you need to create the conditions in which people want
to behave themselves.’
Since its inception the scheme hasn’t been allowed to stagnate – Irwell
Valley is continually looking for new rewards to add to the package on
offer, Mr Manion says: ‘We keep on re-inventing it, we’re trying to keep
people motivated and aspirational.’
One recent example relates to property refurbishments – Gold Standard
members can now order their new bathroom suites, doors and windows
from DIY chain B&Q, rather than being restricted to a narrow choice
provided by a contractor. Irwell Valley also offers extra rewards for longterm scheme members – tenants who have been in the programme for
two years receive an additional bonus of £10 a year and are entered into
a raffle to win a £12,000 top prize. Irwell Valley now offers collective
incentives too – groups of tenants in blocks or on estates can pool their
rewards to acquire improved facilities. For example, residents of a hostel
for troubled teenagers decided to club together and Irwell Valley matched
the funding, allowing them to buy a mini fridge for each bedroom. As
well as providing a welcome touch of luxury, this solved a long-running
argument about residents stealing each other’s food.
This collective approach has recently been picked up by Newham
Council in London, one of the first councils to take an interest in tenant
incentive schemes – initially, housing associations were quicker off the
mark in copying Irwell Valley’s lead. Newham’s ‘NewGold’ pilot scheme,
which has been running since 2003 and covers 1,500 households, offers
an extended repairs service, a prize draw, credits and discount cards for
high street stores. In April the authority added a community element to the
scheme, enabling a whole block or estate to receive communal benefits if
60 per cent of people are members of the scheme.
Edinburgh is another council which has shown an interest. ‘Just
Rewards’ launched 12 months ago and the council’s senior managers have
been so impressed with the idea that they are now considering expanding
it to other areas of council services, says project manager Diana Potter.
They’re currently looking into ways of creating an incentives scheme for
council tax payment. Smartcards could be used to give residents an easy
way to keep up to date with their accounts and access services such as
libraries and sports and leisure facilities.
Because of this increasing diversity of schemes, several groups have
been set up to promote best practice. Irwell Valley became one of the
founder members of the European Rewards Network two years ago. It
now has 70 members from countries including the Netherlands, France,
Germany, Ireland and Britain. It enables members to share ideas about
new incentives to offer. For example, Irwell Valley is now considering
implementing a voluntary cable TV scheme in which residents choose
to have their cable TV provided through the housing association in
exchange for a discount – but if they fall behind on rent payments,
their TV could be cut off.
Mr Manion denies the suggestion that, with incentives like this,
landlords could gain control of too many aspects of their tenants’ lives.
‘We’re only asking people to pay their rent on time,’ he argues. ‘It’s good
business to look after your customers and the only way you can do that is
not by controlling their lives but by giving them what they want.’
The Housing Quality Network launched its Rewards Exchange last
year to provide information for landlords considering using an incentives
scheme. ‘If it’s not done correctly, it’s simple to ruin it,’ warns lead
associate Alan Hodgkinson. ‘Most organisations focus on the same areas –
rent, voids and anti-social behaviour – because those are the areas where
the scheme can be self-financing. But incentive schemes can be applied to
many other areas of the business, in some ways very simply.’
For example, several organisations enter residents who make
appointments to have their gas boilers serviced into raffles. Gateshead
Housing Company, an ALMO, offers higher refurbishment allowances to
tenants who allow access for major internal works such as electrical re-fits.
Some councils are already expanding incentives beyond their social
housing tenants – Braintree and Fenland both have schemes to encourage
owner-occupiers to install extra insulation in their homes. And North
Lincs council uses discount cards to promote greater engagement with its
tenants and leaseholders in the run-up to its stock options appraisal.
Another recent development is the idea of expanding incentive schemes
to employees. Irwell Valley launched a compulsory scheme in April. All
employees are rated into one of three categories based on their delivery of
work targets. Over 80 per cent of their employees are in the top bracket,
meaning they receive benefits such as gym membership, super-flexi-time
and corporate performance bonuses. ‘We believe ‘one size fits all’ doesn’t
work in employment,’ Mr Manion explains. ‘Some people work hard and
others coast through, yet in most public sector organisations they get
exactly the same pay and conditions.’
This is a way of combating problems with staff retention, he suggests
– something which currently plagues social landlords.
It’s important however that anyone considering expanding the idea
into new areas is well aware of the philosophy behind it, he warns. In the
time since incentive schemes first emerged, some organisations have
drifted away from the original ideas behind the Irwell Valley scheme, Mr
Manion says. ‘You have to understand the psychology of human behaviour
– you’ve got to create differences between people who will behave and
people who won’t. And you’ve got to be able to enforce things if they go
pear-shaped. Some organisations actually make things worse by applying
a general incentives scheme without regard to people’s behaviour, when
the point is to motivate people to behave better. People want to receive
preferential treatment if they live by the rules.’
8 July 2005 Inside Housing 21