Annual Report 2023-24
Welcome from our Chair
Amanda Harris, First Choice Homes Oldham Board Chair
Welcome to our Annual Report for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
Everything we do here at First Choice Homes Oldham goes into improving the communities in which we work. We continue to work in unprecedented times and this has been a year of important regulatory and legal change for housing associations, driven by protecting residents and improving the services they receive from landlords. The Board and I are proud to report our teams have risen to the significant economic and operating challenges, working hard to innovate and improve how we deliver great services, great homes and great neighbourhoods and be a great company.
This report showcases our performance and achievements in and over the past twelve months as we have continued to find ways to increase the quality and efficiency of how we do things. Our focus has been on boosting performance to ultimately deliver better results for our customers and we are proud of what we have achieved. We remain committed to ensuring we are more agile and serve customers more directly going forward and plans are in place to make our systems and processes more integrated and seamless, and I am confident we will achieve this.
In the last year alone, we’ve invested more than £28m improving our existing homes in Oldham and £51m building 124 much needed new homes, supported around 200 customers into employment and helped local partners to secure c.£260k of external funding to encourage thriving communities.
Critically we’ve also retained our G1/V1 rating from the Regulator of Social Housing in our annual stability check, demonstrating we continue to meet the highest standards of governance and financial viability. This year has also brought changes to our Board members and we continue to have a strong Board in place bringing appropriate rigour and scrutiny, and I would like to thank my fellow Board members for all their support during the past year.
Looking ahead, our refreshed corporate plan – our Big Plan 2.0 – reflects the changing environment we operate in and will guide us through the period 2024-2026. It will enable us to move forward, responding to the economic climate and regulatory changes whilst embracing the opportunities to invigorate our customer focus.
Customers are at the heart of what we do, and our Big Plan 2.0 will ensure we keep improving what and how we deliver for our customers and our organisation and achieve our strategic objectives. It is thanks to the commitment of FCHO colleagues, partners and stakeholders that we have delivered some great outcomes for our customers and all involved should be proud.
If you have any comments on our Annual Report, we’d love to hear from you.
You can email communications@fcho.co.uk.
Best wishes,
Amanda Harris, First Choice Homes Oldham Board Chair
Welcome from our Customer Voice Panel
Imran Choudhury Customer Voice Panel member
We care about our customers and pride ourselves on offering a range of opportunities for residents to get involved in our work and help us keep on improving the services we provide.
This year our Customer Voice Panel (CVP) - with 183 members from across the borough - has continued to play an active role in shaping our work.
Imran Choudhury, from the South Chadderton neighbourhood and an FCHO customer of 11 years, has been a CVP member since 2021 and says he values the opportunity to make a difference for his family, neighbours and other FCHO customers.
“I got involved in the CVP to use my experience as a customer to make improvements for everyone who lives in an FCHO home.
“It’s very clear to me that FCHO wants to listen to its customers and take our feedback onboard, and over the past twelve months I have had the chance to get involved in a variety of projects.
“From looking at the standards that customers can expect when they move into an FCHO home, to how complaints are handled and more, I’ve had the opportunity to share my views and listen to those from others. And after that, I can see how our feedback is influencing how FCHO works.
“I love that customers bring a range of perspectives to topics and I’ve also gained a better understanding of the factors that go into decision-making, which is very interesting.
“To anyone thinking about joining the CVP, I’d say go for it. It’s a great opportunity to make your voice heard, represent your community and other FCHO customers and the more diversity we have, the bigger impact we can make.”
Imran Choudhury Customer Voice Panel member