Creating opportunities
We believe that housing associations should play a wider role in society than just housing. We are committed to creating opportunities for people through access to personal development and career development, encouraging colleagues and tenants in active citizenship, and investing in communities.
Helping people into employment
A significant part of our work is dedicated to helping people improve their lives.
We aim to create stronger communities by giving tenants and customers the support they need to improve their job prospects and achieve their aspirations.
We launched our Progress Futures service nine years ago, and since then, we have engaged with 1,698 customers and helped 621 of them into employment, education, and training.
This year, we supported 304 customers, and 115 of them went on to get a job, began a training or education course, or actively searched for a job. Our work gave people some essential skills, boosted their confidence and supported them on their journey to employment. We achieved a 16% increase in positive customer outcomes compared to last year.
There are a number of ways for customers to access our Progress Futures service. During the year, we received 160 referrals from either our frontline services or from individuals themselves. A further 144 came from local job centres or external partners.
As well as providing dedicated one-to-one support, we have also offered support to more than 990 people through community-based job clubs.
Our STAR customer satisfaction tool measures the impact of our Progress Futures service on customers' wellbeing. Through the 422 STAR surveys we have received to date, we can see that people are making approximately 83% progress in each outcome area.
Amy doing work experience with Progress Futures
My life in Progress - Meet Sian
Work experience
Through the government's Kickstart Scheme, we created 25 jobs for six months to help 16-24 year-olds get the work experience they need to progress in their career.
The roles were fully paid, and we committed to paying each person a Living Wage. Fourteen of the trainees were tenants, and five of the nine people who secured a permanent job with us were tenants.
During the year, we also took on eight apprentices in roles including customer services, housing, bricklaying and plumbing/heating.
Demi Kingsbury doing work experience with Kickstart
My life in Progress - Meet Adrian
Support for more people
We have also continued to deliver two EU-funded projects that target a range of age groups. Age of Opportunity supports people over 50 into work while More Positive Together (phase 2) helps anyone in Lancashire aged 16-67 get a job. During the year, we supported 125 participants as part of phase 2, with 368 people supported in total. We finished the project as the 'best performing partner'.
Due to the success of the first two phases of More Positive Together, we have secured funding to continue the project until December 2023. We're also taking steps to extend it further to December 2025.
Progress Futures is also leading the Project SEARCH programme, which aims to get young adults with learning difficulties or autism into full-time paid jobs. So far, we have successfully placed 10 interns in roles across the Group. There are proposals for two of these interns to become permanent, while others have been employed elsewhere, helped by the skills they learned during their time with us.
The programme has been a great success and won the Diversity and Inclusion Programme award at the Lancashire Apprenticeship Awards 2022.
We continued to run our training courses and job clubs online and secured funding to buy some digital equipment so that customers could train online and search for jobs.
Project SEARCH launch
Project SEARCH graduation
My life in Progress - Meet Michael
Community investment
Our Community Investment Fund was established in 2009 to support local community-run projects. We provide funding to help projects grow and develop and offer more activities for tenants and residents.
This year, we invested a total of £73,197 in supporting local groups and projects and activities at some of our Reside With Progress supported living projects. This figure included funding for 19 applications of £8,455 for community projects and charities aimed at improving the wellbeing of our tenants, customers and residents through our newly introduced Community Support Grant. Projects have included, amongst others, a sensory garden, equipment for a community coffee lounge, pop-up Caribbean Carnival, digital engagement, arts and crafts, youth activities, support for young carers and activities for older people.
We also saw the return of our Soup Dragon's Den, where community groups ask for funding by 'pitching' their ideas to the local community. Fifteen groups were successful and received a combined sum of £5,325. Winning projects included a young carers support group, mental health support group, Christmas project and community park.
Our support for charities and community projects was recognised this year when we won Corporate Fundraiser of the Year at the North West Employee Experience Group Awards.
"We invested a total of £73,197 in supporting local groups."
Continuous Improvement Team at Saltcotes
Accrington clean up day
St Mary’s Café supported by Community Investment Fund donation