On Thursday 19 November we were pleased to be joined by a number of our residents, at the Windsor Hotel, for our annual residents’ conference.
The event, which we have been holding since 2012, took a different slant this year due to changes within the organisation and the challenges raised by the Governments budget announcements in the summer.
The main presentation for the day was from our Chief Executive, Jackie Bligh, who talked about the changes we are making to the way we work so that we become more modern and streamlined in our approach, enabling teams to work together closely, cleverly and efficiently. This work has resulted in a few changes to our existing structure which was explained to the residents.
Jackie then went onto talk about the different elements of the Governments budget announcement such as the 1% rent reduction, the welfare reform cap and the extension of Right to Buy and the ways in which these things will affect us. This conversation naturally opened up a host of questions from the audience who were keen to hear about how we planned to face those challenges.
The event was rounded off by our four new heads of service who gave presentations on our core business areas and opened up the floor to the residents for their views on our services areas, and where they think we should make changes in light of the budget announcements.