[Image: What we do]

[Image: What we do]

[Image: What we do]

[Image: What we do]

[Image: What we do]

[Image: What we do]

[Image: What we do]

INTRODUCTION

Arcadia Housing Group is a dynamic and forward looking provider of affordable housing for rent and sale and of related support services. We own and manage a diverse portfolio of c11,000 homes in the South-West of England and we deliver services to around 23,000 residents, leaseholders and service users and to c40 local authorities. With a £100 million investment programme underway in new homes and services, an annual turnover of c£45 million and a healthy bottom line we are, by any measure, one of the region's leading players in the affordable housing service market.

Through an ongoing programme of innovative and successful business transformation Fit for the Future we continue to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our business. This underpins our vision to be consistently recognised by customers and stakeholders as delivering excellent value for money (VfM) services.  We’re confident that our business strategy positions us to benefit from opportunities we expect to emerge at a time of economic uncertainty and a challenging housing market.

As Group Director of Resources and a key member of the senior management team your business and financial acumen, team leadership and technical skills will be central to the delivery of our future success.

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ABOUT THE GROUP

Arcadia Housing Limited (AHL) was created in April 2005 as the non asset-holding parent company of the Arcadia Housing Group.  As well as setting the Group’s overall strategy and direction, AHL provides central support services to all companies in the Group.  AHL is a Registered Social Landlord (RSL), regulated by the Housing Corporation and has two subsidiaries: Knightstone Housing Association (KHA) and Knightstone Community Homes.  Both are asset-owning registered social landlords.

KHA is the main operating company in the Group and has been one of the leading associations in the region for over 30 years. KHA owns and/or manages c11,000 properties in the south and west of England and delivers services to over 23,000 customers.  It has four small subsidiaries: Great Western Housing and Great Western Assured Growth (both ex-BES companies), Knightstone Charitable, a fund-raising body and Arc Developments South West, a commercial development company.  Arc Developments is recently formed and 2008/09 will be its first trading year.  The Group Director of Resources also acts as Finance Director for this company. 

During 2008/09, we intend to review the Group structure to make sure it is as efficient as it can be from strategic, tax-planning and governance perspectives.

The Group provides the following services:

• Housing management services
• Supported and sheltered housing, floating support and agency-managed services to a variety of vulnerable client groups
• Leasehold management and services
• Property asset management including major repairs, planned maintenance and responsive maintenance
• Property development including housing for rent, low cost housing for sale, open market housing for sale and related marketing and sales
• Legal, regulatory and business support

The Group provides these services to five customer groups:

• Personal customers  - tenants, residents, leaseholders and users of floating support services
• Corporate customers - local authorities, health authorities, other social landlords and a variety of agencies
• Legal and regulatory customers – including the Housing Corporation, Audit Commission, funders, HMRC and the Financial Services Authority
• Community customers - those living in neighbourhoods where we work and affected by what we do
• Internal customers – including individual members of staff, staff teams, members, Boards and Committees

We are unique in the South-West in providing such a wide range of services and our ability to provide a “one-stop shop” is a business strength and source of competitive advantage.

The Group’s most recently published Financial Statements (2006/07) are available on this website. Forecast 2007/08 results show an improvement in financial performance against key measures and a further strengthening of the Group’s relative position in the market.

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OUR PLANS

In April 2008 the Housing Corporation awarded the Group four green lights for financial viability, properly managed, properly governed and development performance. This reflected their confidence in the Group’s Board, senior management team and underlying business strength following a demanding previous 12 months. More details on the 2008 HCA can be found on our website or on the Housing Corporation’s website.

Our 2005-2008 Business Plan - Change, Challenge and Opportunity - is now substantially complete.  Its focus has been on three areas: delivering excellence in customer services, actively managing relationships with our corporate customers and other stakeholders and making the most of our skills and resources.  You can access the current Business Plan in the About Us and Accessibility section of this website. 

In 2007/08 the Group’s energies were focussed on delivering phase 1 of its business transformation programme Fit for the Future. This is designed to achieve;-

• Step change improvements in customer satisfaction with services
• Cultural change that will put service to residents and other customers at the heart of the business
• Streamlined and leaner service delivery structures and processes
• Reductions in back office costs and resources transferred into customer facing activities
• Improved VfM, substantial reductions in overhead and other costs and improved bottom line financial performance

The six elements of the Fit for the Future business transformation are as follows:

1. Development and implementation of a new service delivery model
2. Restructuring of staffing structures to support new ways of service delivery
3. A programme of VfM service reviews of back office support services
4. A fundamental review of asset management
5. A wide-ranging review of Governance arrangements
6. Using a Whole Systems approach to systematically review systems and processes from a customer perspective

Already in 2007/08, we have delivered many successful outcomes through the programme.  These include:

• Substantial improvements in group profitability based on forecast 2007/08 results v 2006/07 and previous years
• Greater investment in areas where we particularly want to improve services including resident involvement, leaseholder services, sheltered housing and performance management/reporting
• Re-procurement of our response maintenance, gas servicing and planned maintenance contracts on a partnering basis leading to improved customer satisfaction and better VfM
• Development of our new Asset Management Strategy and investment plans for the next five years
• Putting in place detailed “smart” service improvement plans and the resources needed to deliver them and to robustly assess their effectiveness
• Negotiating sufficient committed funding facilities with our private sector funders (and at advantageous borrowing rates) to cover our investment needs for the next four years
• Carrying out an analysis of the neighbourhoods we work in and categorising their service and investment needs
• Using a whole systems approach to improving our response maintenance processes in line with customer demand

Phase two of Fit for the Future is continuing through 2008/09 and will form a substantial part of the Group’s 2009/12 Business Plan.  Development of this plan is underway.

It is too early to say what the new Business Plan will include in detail, but its key themes are likely to be:

1. Creating a stronger business by maximising our financial and operational capacity
2. Creating better communities through extending our neighbourhood profiling work, deepening our understanding of our customers and their needs so that we can tailor our services more appropriately and investing more in community development activity
3. Meeting the demand for new affordable housing in the South-West by building more homes.

In terms of our development programme, the Group has an excellent track record of delivering its Housing Corporation targets and to high quality standards.  The Group is currently a member of Partnership South West, a development consortium led by Devon and Cornwall Housing Association.  Our current £100 million three year investment programme will deliver 803 additional homes, comprising c70% rented, c30% shared ownership homes. The Group is also one of three Housing Corporation Home-Buy agents in the South-West.

As a result of active treasury management and planning, the Group is in a stronger position than many in the current more volatile market.  Loan facilities to cover our commitments for the next four years are in place and exposure to increases in interest rates is substantially mitigated through the use of derivative instruments.  The current loan portfolio stands at £137 million. The Group’s main lenders are RBS, Lloyds TSB, Barclays and HBOS and we have good relationships with our funders.  

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THE ROLE

As Group Director of Resources and a member of the senior management team, you’ll play an important and influential role in developing our new Business Plan and helping us achieve its strategic objectives. 

Much has been achieved during the past 12 months and the infrastructure for the future is in place but we are not complacent.  The affordable housing sector is changing rapidly and combined with wider economic and housing market volatility this creates an environment which is inherently more risky than it was in the past.

It also creates opportunities and we intend to be able to respond to these as and when they arise. Astute commercial and financial leadership in directing and implementing strategy is therefore hugely important. We will continue to focus on improving and investing in our core business so that we evidence to residents, regulators, funders and other stakeholders that we have delivered the outcomes we have promised and improved our performance vis-à-vis our peer group.

Your specific priorities initially would be:

• Leading the delivery of our VfM and efficiency agendas, working in conjunction with your senior team colleagues and operational managers and skilling up managers throughout the Group to deliver increased VfM
• Developing and implementing a corporate procurement strategy, assisted by a new Head of Procurement and achieving measurable savings
• Making sure that the Group’s investment in systems and technology is aligned to and supports the service delivery vision.  Improving our performance management and management information capability, including commissioning a new management information system.  You will be assisted by a new Head of IT who will join in July
• Financial oversight and control of the activities of Arc Homes, the Group's commercial development company, in its first trading year in a more challenging market environment
• Continuing to build the confidence and respect of our funders, regulators and other stakeholders by making sure we deliver what we have promised

We describe the Group’s financial position as 'healthy not wealthy'. This means that as we deliver our increased investment programme, roll out our Asset Management Strategy and invest in service improvement you will need to be robust, creative and proactive in your financial and treasury management. It will also require highly developed management information systems and a commercial approach to resource management throughout the Group.

You will take the lead in delivering the changes in practice and approach that will be needed to meet the expectations of your internal customers. 

In summary, the Group Director of Resources will join at a very exciting time in our development. There will be plenty of challenges and lots of opportunities to use your financial and business management skills at both a strategic and operational level and to deliver results that will make a real difference.

A copy of the job description is attached, along with an employee specification and structure charts showing the senior management team and the Divisional team.

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SUMMARY TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Salary - £90,000 per annum.  Salaries are paid monthly currently on or around the 15th of the month.  Pay levels are reviewed annually and any increases are effective from 1 April.  Pay reviews take account of individual and corporate performance and market factors.

Pension and Life Assurance – The Group belongs to the Social Housing Pension Scheme, which is managed by The Pensions Trust.  It is a defined benefit scheme based on career average related earnings (CARE).  Contribution rates vary depending on age at entry to the scheme.  All full time and part-time staff are eligible to join the pension scheme after six months’ service. If you are already a member of the Social Housing Pension Scheme, you will be eligible to join immediately. Life assurance cover is automatically provided through the pension scheme and in addition, the Group provides life cover for staff who are not members of the scheme.

Car - The post carries a company car or cash opt-out payment, currently £5,090.  Business mileage is reimbursed.

Private Health Care - A private health care scheme (currently BCWA) will be available to you at no cost.  You are welcome to extend membership of the scheme to cover your family at your own cost but with the benefit of the Group's discounted rates.

Holidays - Annual holiday entitlement is 25 working days per annum, plus one extra day for each year worked to a maximum of 30 days. 

Normal Working Hours – The normal working week is 34 ¾ hours - 9.00am - 5.00pm (4.45 pm on Fridays). Owing to the seniority of the post there will be occasions when you will have to attend evening meetings, work unsociable hours or work in excess of your contractual hours. We also operate a flexi-time scheme.

Probationary Period - Six months.

Notice Periods – During your probationary period, you would be entitled to receive one month’s notice, rising thereafter to six months.  You would be required to give three months’.

Qualifications - If appointed, we may require you to produce relevant original qualification certificates, evidence of membership of professional organisations and your driving licence.

Relocation – We will provide financial assistance and practical support with relocation if necessary.

Smoking – The Group has a "no smoking" policy and smoking is not permitted in any of our workplaces.

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SELECTION TIMETABLE

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HOW TO APPLY

If you believe you have the skills, drive and vision to help us deliver our business and social objectives, we’d like to hear from you.  Please send your CV and a covering letter telling us what you can bring to the business either: