Places for People delivers 54,000 more repairs than budgeted for in 2023-24

Places for People said the increased demand also led to a further increase in the use of sub-contractors, while it also increased the size and efficiency of the in-house team. 

“We are now seeing the improvements in the effectiveness of the teams with a reduction in the average number of days to complete a non-emergency repair from 46 days to 35 days and our ability to fix a repair first time improving to 93.1% from 87.5% at the end of the previous year,” the report said. 

Places for People delivered 1,750 homes in 2023-24, up from 1,326 the previous year, of which 1,516 (87%) were affordable. In 2022-23, 70% of homes delivered were affordable. 

Of the affordable homes, 265 were for social rent, 745 were for affordable rent, 137 were for intermediate rent, and 369 were low-cost ownership homes. The remaining 234 were for market sale. 

Places for People reported a turnover of £831.6m, down from £849.6m the previous year, while its reserves increased from £877.8m to £949.9m in 2023-24. 

The group has seen increased income from affordable housing lettings and within its leisure business, but this was more than offset by a reduction in non-social housing development and shared ownership sales.

Operating profit jumped from £163.7m in 2022-23 to £211.1m in 2023-24, up 29%. 

According to the report, although the sales of new homes have been affected by high interest rates, the market began to improve post-Christmas. 

The report said: “Shared ownership and shared equity options are growing in popularity as people seek more cost-effective routes to homeownership. 

“We completed a total of 441 sales in the financial year across several sites, including Carr Lodge in Doncaster and the Engine Yard in Edinburgh.”

Places for People sold 703 shared ownership properties to M&G, generating a turnover of £70.1m and a profit of £20.9m in March 2024.

Profit before tax was broadly in line with the prior year at £84m, up from £83.8m, with higher operating costs being largely offset by the profit generated from the sale of the shared ownership portfolio, the negative goodwill arising on the group’s merger with South Devon Rural and gains recognised on interest payable.

The completion of Places for People’s merger with South Devon Rural in March 2024 resulted in an increase in the group’s net assets of £20.4m, bringing 357 homes into the group. 

The landlord said it was “disappointed” with its tenant satisfaction measure (TSM) scores, receiving an overall satisfaction score of 57% from around 11,000 residents. 

“This compares with a median score of 66% across our peer group (provided by Housemark). While these results are disappointing, they reinforce our focus on improving both our understanding of customer needs and the service they experience.

“We will use the CES and TSM measurements, alongside other customer insights, research and best practice, to enable us to identify opportunities to improve the overall customer experience,” Places for People said in the annual report. 

The report also included details on improvements in Places for People’s customer contact centre. The average wait time to be connected reduced from 440 seconds in 2022-23 to 165 seconds in 2023-24, while the percentage of calls answered has gone from 77% to 90%. 

The report added: “Our customer contact centre is thriving under new leadership and has been renamed the customer hub. 

“New functions, including a planning team, are enabling us to manage resources, performance and training more effectively.”

In a foreword to the report, Greg Reed, chief executive of Places for People, said: “I read last year’s introduction and everything that is in there still holds true now – that we are all aligned behind our Because Community Matters strategy which says that we exist because of our customers; that we are addressing the huge challenge of dealing with the legacy issues of underinvestment that are endemic across the affordable housing sector; that our people are still a huge focus of investment for us; and that we have continued to build homes when others in our sector have found it difficult to do so.

“There are hard choices to be made, but for us, taking care of our customers and building new homes are not choices. They are our non-negotiables.”

Mr Reed described Places for People as a “partner in waiting” for the new government.