We all know it’s been a challenging time for registered social landlords and we’ve seen some considerable changes to the sector over the past 18 months. Although the underlying role of a housing provider remains unchanged, there has been a marked shift in how services are managed, monitored and subsequently delivered. And as a result we’ve seen a shift in the skills required to work in this environment. We look at what the skills are, how they have changed and why.
Roles at the coal face have seen some significant changes brought on by the need to create cost efficiencies
In the past year alone, large housing developments have been put on hold, services are under increasing pressure due to less funding, the ‘bottom line’ is under intense scrutiny, competition to provide services is rife and new regulations are just some of the recent changes which housing providers have had to respond to. So it’s no surprise that the way housing providers operate has changed and with it a significant shift in the type of skills required across all levels and types of roles across the sector.
Changes to funding streams is nothing new however it’s true to say that the competition for funding has increased, leading to a demand for new approaches to win funding and bids for services. This in turn has created an increased need for strategists, commercial thinkers and bid writers.
It’s not only the commercial and strategic roles that have been subject to change. Roles at the coal face have seen some significant changes brought on by the need to create cost efficiencies. Take the role of the live-in warden. Controversially for some, the role has been replaced by a floating scheme manager who no longer lives on site – a far cry from the ‘surrogate relative’ many of those in care would rely on. The job of a scheme manager has also become more complex with those in post expected to manage care homes, budgets and targets.
Many supported housing providers struggle to attract scheme managers with all the skills required to do the job. A key factor of this is that few employers are able to offer increased salaries despite increased expectations of the role. We are also beginning to see that a number of permanent posts are being replaced by part time workers as another effort to save costs; some are concerned that both of these factors will ultimately have an impact on service delivery in the future.
As unemployment levels continue to rise and the impact of the recession takes its toll, there is an increasing need for: drug and alcohol dependencies, domestic violence, unemployment and homelessness support. For some providers it’s not necessarily the number of cases that is increasing but the severity of them, and overwhelmingly we are seeing an increase in the need for specialists in these areas to help manage these cases.
With the TSA’s focus on improving customer service levels and giving tenants more choice, we’ve seen an increased need for interim consultants to help improve services. In many cases we’ve seen an increase in temporary staff recruited to the front line to help aid delivery and meet the associated targets and audits.
For those looking for work in the housing sector at the moment, it’s crucial to differentiate yourself. A further repercussion of the increased need for efficiency has been restructures and redundancies, and standing out above the crowd is more important than ever. It goes without saying that being able to demonstrate your experience of working in a core service is key, however what will set you apart is showcasing your proven track record, how you’ve been strategic and improved services, particularly through star ratings.
The questions many are asking are was this shift inevitable despite the recession and what further impacts can the sector expect?
2 Comments
Absolutely 100% true. My (ex) sheltered housing tenants have seen their resident Warden go, to be replaced by me at 35 hrs agency non resident. Then they asked me to give skeleton cover to a further scheme (very dependent tenants). At which point I left. Now the proposal is to have part time cover sharing responsibility for both schemes. The proposed WTE salary is less than my previous agency rate. Plus there is no additional pay for emergency call outs.
At the same time, health and safety, fire procedures etc and Supporting People requirements are becoming much more rigorous. The role of Warden (Manager/Supervisor) is multi skilled but undervalued. Great personal job satisfaction but this does not pay the mortgage.
Longstanding tenants in particular are not getting the service they signed up for. Unfortunately, tenancy agreements are often not specific in terms of the detail of the support.
The problems have cost cutting from councils at the heart of the problem. They have tight budgets to manage, with the key factor of the council tax as a measure. Councillors want to keep increases to a minimum (so they get voted in again) so care agencies are forced to cut costs to keep the business…its a viscious circle with ultimately the ‘care receiver’ suffering.
One problem is growing expectations of the variety of care provided and increasing numbers of people needing it for longer, how do you balance the books? If demand grows you can only do one of three things:- try and do more for the same money (cut costs/Personal budgets), or ask for more money (tax increases), or provide less as a result of more demand on the same pot ( keep costs static ). All of them will impact the workforce.