LYHA Customer Bulletin - October 2020
Stay Safe

Unfortunately cases of coronavirus are rising once more and many of you live in areas where there are now additional restrictions in place. Please follow the latest guidance https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus and let's all help protect one another.

At LYHA the health of our customers and colleagues will always come first. We will continue to maintain social distancing and if we need to visit you or your home, we'll call you first to discuss safety precautions. All our team members and contractors will wear PPE and will thoroughly clean all areas that they touch.

If you are experiencing difficulties, be it financial worries, loneliness or you need additional help, our team is here to support you however we can. You can reach us on
Tel: 0113 278 3335 or Email: info@lyha.co.uk. We also have a dedicated Coronavirus section on our website providing FAQs and links to support services in our region.
Introducing our new Corporate Plan

We are delighted to launch our new three-year corporate plan which sets out our new vision, mission and values for LYHA. It's called 'Together 2023' because it's all about partnership with you, our customers, to shape what we do and how we do it.

Our new vision:
"To ensure all our customers live in a home they love and in a community in which they can thrive"

Our new mission:
"We will enable our customers to live well by providing warm, safe and secure homes, by investing in relationships and by delivering great services."

Our new values (which define our culture):
Bold; Empathetic; Loyal: Integrity, Ethical; Vibrant & Engaged

We want to build on the improvements of the last two years and address the gaps where we know we still need to do better; listening to your feedback plays a vital part in this.

Our new vision, mission and plan were all created as a direct result of consultation with customers. You told us your priorities were safe, secure, energy-efficient and affordable homes, located in a safe environment and with a good repairs service. We will do our very best to ensure we fulfil these.

You can find out more about our Corporate Plan by clicking on the video link above and you can view both the Full Corporate Plan and a shorter Corporate Plan Summary on our website: https://www.lyha.co.uk/corporate-plan
As ever, we'd love to hear your feedback. You can email us at: info@lyha.co.uk
Improving our repairs service

Continually improving our repairs service is very important to us and, listening to customer feedback, we know that you agree.

We therefore decided to retender our repairs contract, with our Customer Scrutiny Panel playing a key role in the selection process to ensure that customers’ views were taken into account.

We are now pleased to announce that after a rigorous tender process, GTD Painting & Property Maintenance has been chosen as our preferred lead contractor. The award of this new 8 year contract gives us a great opportunity to start afresh and we will immediately begin work on designing service improvements. We believe that GTD share our core values and feel confident that they will help us deliver consistently high levels of service, good value for money and a positive customer experience.
Stock condition surveys

You may shortly receive a letter from Michael Dyson Associates, on behalf of LYHA, about arranging a stock condition survey of your home. We carry out these surveys to collect data that helps us plan our future improvement programme and ensure your homes are as energy efficient and affordable to run as possible.

If you receive a letter please get in touch to arrange a time that is convenient to you.
The surveyors will carry ID, a letter of authority from LYHA and will wear PPE at all times.
Free digital skills training

We have partnered with Interserve Learning & Employment to offer free computer skills training to LYHA customers and your families, friends and neighbours (even if they are not LYHA customers themselves).The free training teaches a range of IT and employment skills and is available to start online now.
At the end of the course you will receive a certificate in Social and Personal Development Level 1. Interserve is also offering free support and training to people facing redundancy in Yorkshire.
We have had great feedback from customers who have completed the course already:
Fadzai – “My experience on this course has been a very positive one. I now have confidence in my IT skills and personal development. I feel so motivated and encouraged to study further and continue to self-develop. This course has given me the boost I needed.”

Helena – “I have learned a lot of things in this course and it has started shaping my life. It has made me realise how important it is for me to be conversant with the use of computers and has helped my daily life, especially in filling online forms and applications and much, much more.”
For further information, or to sign up to the free training, please email: toni.easter@interserve.com or call 07525 902643.
N.B. If any LYHA customer has access to the internet but does not have the appropriate IT equipment, Interserve will provide a free tablet for the learner to keep.
Elmetes Orchard

We have recently been working with Hyde Park Source and Greenfingers to transform some unused grassland on the Elmetes estate into a community garden for residents to use and enjoy. We've planted fruit trees, including plum, apple and cherry trees; kitchen herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, chives and mint; and wildflowers to help the garden thrive. There's also space for customers to plant their own vegetables too.

The original idea came from a group of customers living at the Elmetes and we are delighted to have helped make it happen, with the help of funding from Liberty Gas.
Talk, Listen, Change

The last few months have been tough for us all in many different ways: from having to adjust our work/life balance with caring and parenting responsibilities, to anxiety around health, jobs and money, leaving many people in need of extra support. To help address this LYHA has linked up with a charity called Talk, Listen, Change to provide counselling services for our customers.
If you think you could benefit from this, please talk to your Neighbourhood Officer.
Welcome to our newest team member

We are delighted to welcome Mark Woodhead who has joined us as Business Systems Analyst. He will be working in our IT team to improve our processes so that we can deliver better service to our customers.
And finally..............

If you would like to receive this Customer Bulletin in large print or any other language options, please contact georgina.thompson@lyha.co.uk
Leeds & Yorkshire Housing Association | 0113 2783335 | georgina.thompson@lyha.co.uk | www.lyha.co.uk