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Ensuring excellent customer service - Cloud Object Storage...
Transcript of Ensuring excellent customer service - Cloud Object Storage...
Service Charges – an
introductory workshop
Ensuring excellent customer service
Speaker: Pascale Mézac
Business Planning Services Plan2moro
Approach
Who are your customers?
Services: is there a choice?
What is excellence?
Making a difference
Information
Communication
Common service charge issues
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Your Customers
Tenancies and Leaseholds
FAIRNESS:
Does the system favour one type of resident?
Managing the differences: staff and costs
Neighbours – some do talk to one another!
Be aware of charges to similar properties
Agreements can be changed – bear this in
mind when you next consult on services
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Your Customers
Affordability
Economic profile of your tenants,
leaseholders and your leaseholders’
tenants
Challenge existing practices
We’ve always done it this way...
Innovation
Partnering
DIY services
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Which services
Do you know which services you provide and
you could charge for
Do your residents know that’s what you do
Do they want the services: whether they pay
for them or not will make a difference!
Universal credit will make a difference too...
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Consider the management and
delivery of effective services
• MANAGEMENT:
are you actively managing the services or just
administering what is there already
• DELIVERY:
Do you deliver?
Do your contractors care?
• EFFECTIVE:
Are you giving value for money?
Do your customers want the services you charge
them for?
• Making a difference
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Clarity of information
Apportionment basis
Fairness Level of services
Choices
Consultation
Value for Money
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VFM - Choices
• Fairness
• Reasonable
• Level of services
• Affordability
• Silo or compare – how do you measure up
between
Residents
Schemes
Other providers
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VFM - Communication
• Do customers get what they want?
VFM guidance useful (March 2007 H Corp)
• Costs
• Apportionment basis
• Quality standards
• Benchmark
• Good practice to agree changes
• Need for consensus
• Use existing networks and residents’
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The right information ….
Rent or service charge?
Tenant or leaseholder?
Surplus/deficit?
Arrears?
How robust is your policy/procedures?
Understand the legal position
Be clear and consistent – residents’ pack
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... At the right time
Service charge accounts
Variable service charges
Within 6 months of the year end
Records available for inspection
Consultation
Changes to tenancy agreement
Repairs
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Repairs consultation
• Leaseholder responsible for:
Repairs to their own property
Their share of repairs to communal parts
• Consultation approx 3 months but watch out:
EU legislation impact on consultation timetable
when the EU thresholds are exceeded
Specification
Tender
Notification
• Beware improvements!!
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Communication
do you have a plan? • Once a year isn’t enough – more than a
service charges statement
• Residents’ pack
• Residents’ involvement
• Feedback goes both ways
• Working together organisation, contractors
and residents
• How do you promote your service charges?
• Improving residents’ quality of life together
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Common service charge issues
• What happens in an emergency?
No escape clause in the legislation
LVT dispensation under s20ZA (I) ... reasonable
...may be retrospective – but not guaranteed
• Where might the challenge come from?
Staffing costs
Heating and hot water (individual homes/
communal areas)
Cleaning, including pest control
Grounds maintenance - gardening hedges trees
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Pascale Mézac
Wiltshire - 01225 870 430
Mobile - 07810 393 201
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