Annual Report

1st April 2017 to 31st March 2018

Our Annual Report looks back on our performance over the last business year and showcases our priorities and achievements, as well as our plans for delivering excellent services into the future.

You can view and download our full Consolidated Financial Statement and Directors' Report here.

Click here to read a Welcome message from LMH Group Chair Paul Burns and Chief Executive Steve Coffey

Welcome

10 years ago, LMH was created with a clear purpose - to provide great quality affordable homes for families and communities across Liverpool. The housing sector has changed dramatically since then, but our purpose is still as relevant as it was on 1st April 2018.

This year's annual report celebrates achievements made in our 10th year across LMH Group. With your support, we have grown in to a diverse group of community-focused businesses - one that reinvests commercial revenues into much-needed affordable homes, as well as in meaningful social projects for people to improve their opportunities.

2017/18 was another positive year at LMH Group. We invested £9 million in a wide range of improvements to our housing stock, built 245 new homes and gift aided £2 million from our contracting arm HMS to LMH Group's charity, ComMutual - making a big difference to lives and futures.

We also secured the highest ratings for viability and governance from the UK social housing regulator (V1 and G1), confirming LMH as a strong organisation with a great future.

We are exceptionally proud of what we have accomplished, as we continue to improve performance, results and services.

Now we want to do even more to support communities facing a severe lack of affordable housing and the impacts of Welfare Reform.

This will remain our core priority in the coming year and beyond.

About us

LMH Group is a socially-driven housing provider, serving customers and communities across Liverpool and the North West. Our members are:

We own and manage 15,467 homes in Liverpool and the wider City Region. We're committed to maintaining all homes to the highest standards.

A building, repairs and maintenance contractor for Liverpool and the North West. Profits are reinvested to deliver the Group's social dividend.

Builders of high-quality homes for affordable rent and future home ownership, fulfilling LMH's vision of new homes for Liverpool City Region.

Formed to make a positive difference to communities and lives, building on work previously delivered by LMH and FireFit Hub.

2017/18 at a glance

15,467

homes
owned
(2016/17: 15,334)

£77.6m

annual
turnover
(2016/17: £74.7m)

£408m

total value
of homes
(2016/17: £376m)

£522m

home repairs and improvements
(since 2008)

Our homes

Great quality homes are at the heart of everything we do.

This year, we invested £10.3m on home improvements, including £9m of major works and cyclical works.

We're proud that 100% of our homes continue to meet the Government's Decent Homes Standard.

Our homes comprise:

	12,964 general needs (social rent)
	1,602 affordable rent
	115 shared ownership
	722 homes for older people
	64 temporary housing

Repairing Homes

We're working to keep every LMH home in the best possible condition and provide the best service for customers.

Our in-house contractor HMS carried our £9m in planned and cyclical maintenance works this year.

Teams responded quickly and efficiently to routine repair calls and were available 24/7 for emergencies.

Here's how we performed in 2017/18:

53,165

routine repairs

10,558

gas and repair emergencies

63,723

total routine and emergency repairs

100%

of homes had a Gas Safety Certificate

Empty Homes

When a property becomes empty (void), we lose rental income.

This means we have less money to invest in improvements to homes and services.

We're committed to delivering high standard repairs and always aim to re-let homes in the shortest time possible, once relevant safety checks have been completed.

2017/18 performance:

5.35%

tenancy turnover

43.1

average days to re-let empty homes(2016/17: 43.5 days)

3,045

hours spent clearing void properties

£315k

total cost of clearing vacant homes

Rent and tenancy support

Our income comes from a variety of sources, but mainly from rent and service charges.

On 31st March 2018, rent arrears totalled £2.1m. We collected 100.12% of rent during the year.

We offer additional support for customers who are impacted by welfare reform or struggling to pay their rent, including:

757

customers on
Universal Credit
(2016/17: 604)

14

digital Hubs helped tenants
to make UC applications and
manage claims

£4m

benefits secured by RAISE Welfare
Rights Advisory Services for tenants
(2016/17: £3.9m)

Customer service

Our Customer Service Centre helped with over 650 calls per day - a total of 167,484 phone enquiries over the year. We launched a new service centre system in October 2017 to offer even more ways for customers to get in touch.

Between 1st October 2017 and year end, we helped with:

Average waiting times were:

2,039

texts

seconds

for phone enquiries

548

webchat
contacts

seconds

for webchat

5,853

emails

minutes

for emails

Complaints

We know we don't always get it right. That's why we respond to every complaint we receive.

Here's how we're doing:

407 total complaints

252 informal

155 formal

4 escalated to appeal

Do it online

We're developing an even better online service for customers, offering 24/7 availability,
secure transactions and no waiting times. The new service will be ready later this year.

Did you know:

1,690

customers have an online account

3,717

tenants chose to pay their rent online

That's £3.4m in total online payments

We're developing a new online platform to make it even easier to 'do it online'. You can:

> Report, book and check repairs

> Check your rent account

> Pay your rent

> Set up a Direct Debit

> Update your personal details

> Access your tenancy information

Neighbourhoods

Investing in neighbourhoods helps to create places where people can be proud to live.

Safety is a top priority and we always tackle incidents of anti-social behaviour (ASB) robustly.

In 2017/18 we helped with:

896

cases of ASB,
8.2% less than last year

5.15

ASB cases per 1,000
LMH homes

All cases were dealt with in:

24 Hours

hate crimes and domestic violence

5 Days

all other
cases

Repairing and maintaining homes

As well as looking after LMH homes, HMS teams provide repair and maintenance services to other landlord clients, including
Steve Biko Housing Association.

HMS installed heating upgrades to over 500 homes in 2017/18.

45,920

total repairs
(including emergencies)

180

daily responsive
repairs completed

1,460

total repair jobs
for Steve Biko HA

100%

routine and emergency repairs completed within target time

7 days - average time taken to complete routine repairs

Each job was carefully planned to minimise disruption to customers.
Teams will send a text or email to confirm appointments before arriving on site.

Focus on gas

HMS teams made sure that all 14,561 LMH homes with a gas supply had a valid Landlord Gas Service Record.

Independent specialist Morgan Lambert checks HMS' gas inspection and testing process every year. HMS is proud to rank highest in the country for the last six years for its gas services.

Adapting homes

Adaptations and property extensions support people to live independently in their homes.

HMS carried out 30 major adaptations in Liverpool, 14 in St. Helens and 136 in Cheshire West and Chester*. Additionally, HMS created 24 level access showers in Liverpool, 9 in St. Helens and 114 in Cheshire West and Chester*.

*delivered through LMH's Home Assistance Hub service

"It's changed our lives, not just for Tommy, but for me too. It means I don't have to go upstairs and leave Tommy, so I'm close by whenever he needs me."

-Rita, HMS Customer

Our projects

Our ambitious development programme aims to tackle the local housing crisis, providing both affordable rent and affordable home ownership options.

We doubled the number of live schemes and started on site with two of our biggest ever developments:

The Approach, Edge Lane

145 homes for Shared Ownership and Rent to Buy, tenures that suit future home owners.

The Maples, Kirkby

100 extra care apartments and a mix of 70 homes for affordable rent and Rent to Buy.

In total, we had

816

homes in progress

22

live new-build schemes
(2016/17: 11)

ComMutual's key impact areas

EMPLOYMENT

New opportunities to find work
through volunteering, placements,
training and bursaries

GO DIGITAL

Tackling digital exclusion
and helping people build
vital online skills

MONEY
MATTERS

Advice and guidance for those
who want to improve their
financial position

HEALTH AND
WELLBEING

Improving health outcomes
with a core focus on younger
and older people

	Rent	49p
	Service charges	3p
	Grants	10p
	Sales of properties	2p
	Refinancing	31p
	Gift aid	1p
	Other	4p

	Developments	33p
	Housing management	21p
	Repairs	11p
	Improvements	13p
	Depreciation	11p
	Interest payable	7p
	Other	4p

Last year, we invested over £35m on our housing stock across Liverpool and Liverpool City Region, including £10.3m to improve and repair existing homes.

We began the financial year with the aim to save £250,000 by buying goods and services more efficiently. Our actual saving was almost twice the target at £467,000.

This includes:

£78,000

saving on ICT solutions

£199,000

on repairs and maintenance

We're aiming to save another £500,000 over the next financial year (2018/19), focusing on Property Services and Developments.

Financial statements

The information in this report is taken from our Consolidated Financial Statement and Directors’ Report, which you can download here.

Here are some highlights from the financial statements:

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

For the year ended 31 March 2018

	Note	2018 £’000	2017 £’000
Turnover	3	77,235	76,024
Operating costs	3	(51,236)	(46,893)

Operating surplus	5	25,999	29,131
Gain on disposal of fixed assets (non-operational)	6	1,689	1,139
Interest receivable and other income	7	215	167
Interest payable and similar charges	8	(6,555)	(5,310)
Fair value adjustment on refiance	24	(11,105)	-
Write off debt issue costs	24	(1,753)	-
Other finance charges	24	(216)	(223)
Surplus on ordinary activities before taxation		8,274	24,904
Tax on surplus on ordinary activities	11	154	(192)
Surplus for the year		8,428	24,712
Actuarial gain /(loss) in respect of pension schemes	25	(2,434)	(1,783)
Total comprehensive income for the year		10,862	22,929

Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

At 31 March 2017

	Note	2018 £’000	2017 £’000
Housing properties	12	408,141	376,151
Other tangible fixed assets	13	2,268	2,063
Investment properties	14	925	925
		411,334	379,139
Current assets
Properties held for sale	16	7,217	2,334
Stock & WIP	17	340	2,781
Debtors	18	7,088	7,433
Cash at bank and in hand		82,328	40,954
		96,973	53,502
Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year	19	(16,639)	(26,595)
Net current assets		80,334	26,907
Total assets less current liabilities		491,668	406,045
Creditors: Amounts falling due after more than one year	20	202,167	125,633
Provisions for liabilities	26	598	618
Net pension liability	25	6,912	8,664
Total net assets		281,991	271,129
Capital and reserves
Non-equity share capital	28	-	-
Revenue reserve		279,699	269,218
Restricted reserve		2,292	1,911
Total reserves		281,991	271,129

The accompanying notes form part of the financial statements.

The financial statements were approved by the Board on 26th July 2018 and signed on its behalf by:

Paul Burns
Chair

Ray Jones
Board Member

Peter Fieldsend
Secretary

Annual Report

1st April 2017 to 31st March 2018

Welcome

About us

The group in numbers

£77.2m

592

2017/18 at a glance

15,467

£77.6m

£408m

£522m

Our homes

You told us

%

%

%

%

Repairing Homes

53,165

10,558

63,723

100%

Empty Homes

5.35%

43.1

3,045

£315k

Rent and tenancy support

757

14

£4m

Customer service

2,039

seconds

548

seconds

5,853

minutes

Complaints

407 total complaints

252 informal

155 formal

4 escalated to appeal

Do it online

1,690

3,717

That's £3.4m in total online payments

> Report, book and check repairs> Check your rent account> Pay your rent

> Set up a Direct Debit> Update your personal details> Access your tenancy information

Neighbourhoods

896

5.15

24 Hours

5 Days

2017/18 at a glance

£32m

£2.2m

£2m

3,000

Repairing and maintaining homes

45,920

180

1,460

100%

Focus on gas

HMS teams installed:

10,000

112

103

600

5,560

376

Adapting homes

"It's changed our lives, not just for Tommy, but for me too. It means I don't have to go upstairs and leave Tommy, so I'm close by whenever he needs me."

HMS New-build projects

2017/18 at a glance

£22.3m

£24.9m

£13.3m

> Report, book and check repairs

> Check your rent account

> Pay your rent

> Set up a Direct Debit

> Update your personal details

> Access your tenancy information

MONEY
MATTERS

HEALTH AND
WELLBEING