© Sapphire Annual Report 2024.
Introduction
Moving into a new home can be a transformative experience, and it has been uplifting to meet the new residents and see the positive impact this change will have on their lives. This aligns perfectly with Sapphire’s mission to provide homes and services that enhance residents’ lives.
Throughout the year, we have also focused on the well-being of our existing residents. We conducted comprehensive tenancy visits to all general needs residents, which proved to be an invaluable opportunity to engage directly with them. These visits allowed us to enhance our services and address concerns, including repair issues that had previously gone unreported.
Our 2025 resident satisfaction survey found (TBC when TSM results come in July ???)
We implemented several actions from our consumer standards action plan, including improving our handling of complaints, where we successfully responded to 97% of Stage 1 complaints in full and on time. After a reassessment, we retained our Customer Services Excellence (CSE) accreditation.
We recognise that there is still more work to be done regarding resident voice and engagement. Therefore, we decided to scrap our current strategy and create a new one through joint workshops involving residents, Board members, and staff. This initiative will serve as a springboard for establishing a scrutiny panel.
Supported housing is central to Sapphire’s mission; however, it is becoming an increasingly challenging area. We understand that our local authority partners appreciate our supported services, but throughout the year, we have had to collaborate closely with them to adjust or reduce the number of residents in supported housing to align with available funding.
As a landlord, safety is a top priority for both our staff and the Board. Throughout the year, we conducted compliance checks in all our buildings and took action on any necessary issues that were identified..
We are pleased to have achieved a net promoter score that places us in the highest quartile, with a staff satisfaction rating of 70%. The effectiveness of our service delivery to residents relies on our dedicated staff team. At Sapphire, we prioritise the well-being and value of our colleagues, recognising their crucial role in achieving our aims. During the year, we have implemented a well-being strategy aimed at enhancing the health and wellness of our team members.
Like many registered providers, Sapphire has been navigating a challenging environment while striving to deliver effective services to residents. Although we have demonstrated our ability to adapt and diversify in response to various challenges, we want to ensure we are well-prepared for the future. To do this, we decided to conduct an organizational review. We engaged Altair consultants to carry out a comprehensive assessment, which included workshops with both residents and staff. They provided several recommendations that we plan to implement over the next 18 months.
We have included a summary of our audited accounts in the annual report, and we are pleased to share that we achieved a surplus. This places us in a stronger position to enhance our financial resilience, as we begin to receive income from our new homes this year.
We would like to express our gratitude to the staff and Board members at Sapphire for their hard work and dedication over the past year. Additionally, we would like to extend our thanks to our partners and stakeholders for their continued support.
Heather Thomas, CEO and Sir Steve Bullock, Chair of the Board
We are a non-profit organisation that reinvests all our earnings into the enhancement of our homes, the support for our customers, and the development of our staff to ensure the highest quality service.
Our commitment to resident involvement ensures that their voices are heard and their needs are prioritised in our services, empowering them to be active participants in their community.
Our housing team provides essential support to vulnerable tenants, offering services such as financial inclusion and safeguarding for victims of domestic abuse and individuals facing mental health challenges.
Additionally, our care and support teams work to improve the lives of service users, promoting independence and empowerment so that they can access the same opportunities as everyone else.
We revised our Complaints Policy and Procedure to align it with the Ombudsman’s Complaints Handling Code of Practice.
We initiated and completed a project to install window restrictors in all properties that were required to have them.
Our fire door programme will finally be completed in 2024/25. During this year we repaired or replaced more than 400 doors across our properties. This initiative was undertaken to align with the increased number of fire door inspections required by fire safety regulations.
There is increased scrutiny and regulation from customers, the regulator, and the ombudsman to enhance the quality of services for residents. This entails prioritising investment in our homes and schemes, whilst we also develop and build over 100 homes in Hounslow.
We are in favour of initiatives that facilitate and promote residents' ability to voice their concerns to us. We are committed to actively listening and seizing every opportunity to rectify any issues, learn from our mistakes, and enhance our services.
Additionally, we undertook a gap-analysis of the new consumer regulations and the enhanced authority of the Regulator of Social Housing, and have a plan to meet the requirements in the new financial year.
We have been working closely with the London Borough of Hounslow on developing new homes in the Borough on former garage court sites. We have agreed terms to purchase a long lease on 19 development sites in Hounslow and have completed 9 leases.
All these sites have planning consent, and we have a programme of 103 new homes to develop. We work closely with the Greater London Authority, who provide funding for the development.
We are, as of June 2024, building 73 new homes with our Contractor partners Helix Construct, Ark Build, Ermine Construction and Chartwell Vision. We are anticipating that the new homes will be completed and start to handover from September 2024, all 64 should complete by March 2025.
The remaining 30 units we hope to start before March 2025, we received confirmation of GLA funding in the new Affordable Homes Programme in October 2023.
We completed the sale of a shared ownership unit in a large development at 187 Kentish Town Road in August 2023.
Providing high quality homes and services to our residents remains a priority and our new schemes are no exception. We are especially pleased to be aiming for zero carbon homes as part of our new programme, which will enable our residents to enjoy comfortable new homes, with affordable energy bills.
Sapphire are also delighted to announce that we have “Investment Partner Status” for the new affordable homes programme. This will enable Sapphire to develop a programme of affordable new homes through the Mayor’s Homes for Londoners Programme.
We want our people to be engaged and empowered because we know that our colleagues are the face of Sapphire. We believe that having fully engaged people is the best way for us to provide excellent services to residents and communities.
Sapphire Day is a day when Sapphire colleagues come together to give back to the local community to help out a project in need.
Each year we find a new location and community service that would benefit from our time, creativity and desire to make a difference. This year we were pleased to support Edward Pauling School in Feltham.
This year, Sapphire’s Debra Constance worked alongside Helix Construction, who are one of Sapphire’s development partners in LB Hounslow, to enhance the school's outdoor space.
The day was spent tidying up the area and in particular providing a revitalised pond, grassy play area and a safe pathway for the children.
Every year we celebrate our colleagues and their successes across the organisation. Colleagues are nominated for the Employee of the Year award by their peers by way of a video presentation setting out the reasons for the nomination and how their colleague has demonstrated outstanding performance during the year.
The videos are played at the Staff Conference and colleagues are asked to make their overall choice for the award.
The 2023 Employee of the Year went to Anne Searle.
Anne Searle was nominated by a number of her peers for the Employee of the Year Award 2023 and she is described as someone who will go above and beyond in her role with always a cheerful manner.
Colleagues reported that they felt Anne is an extremely important member of the team who takes time in her busy schedule to interact with residents and staff and someone who deserves recognition for her hard work.
This year's conference was held in the beautiful surroundings of Kew Gardens and the theme of “Fit for the Future".
How are colleagues are feeling about working for Sapphire is really important to us. We listen to our colleagues and really value their feedback.
We want to be a well-run organisation, working to plans, within budget and confident about managing change.
Our commitment to resident involvement ensures that their voices are heard and their needs are prioritised.
Research tells us the average impact value of supporting a homeless vulnerable person into settled accommodation has a social impact value of £8,019.
We achieved £1,496,768 in social value in this area throughout 2023/24. This is a 467% increase on the £320,760 achieved in 2022/23.
We are a non-profit organisation that reinvests all our earnings into the enhancement of our homes, the support for our customers, and the development of our staff to ensure the highest quality service.
Our commitment to resident involvement ensures that their voices are heard and their needs are prioritised in our services, empowering them to be active participants in their community.
Our housing team provides essential support to vulnerable tenants, offering services such as financial inclusion and safeguarding for victims of domestic abuse and individuals facing mental health challenges.
Additionally, our care and support teams work to improve the lives of service users, promoting independence and empowerment so that they can access the same opportunities as everyone else.
Board members are:
Our homes are located in the London Boroughs of Camden, Islington, Brent and in Hertsmere, and new homes coming soon in the London Borough of Hounslow.
Further details can be found at each location on the map below.
Head Office, 1 Holmes Road, Kentish Town, London, NW5 3AA
Hepburn Court, Gowar Field, Brookside, South Mimms, Hertfordshire, EN6 3QE
St Eugene Court, 82 Salusbury Road, London, NW6 6PA.
135 Aycliffe Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, WD6 4HA.
13 Lloyd Square, Islington, London, WC1X 9AR.
Caulfield Court, Baynes Street, London, NW1 0TZ.
Dunne Mews, 57 Leighton Road, London, NW5 2QH.
54/56 Highgate Road and 9 College Yard, London, NW5 1NU
129 Queens Crescent, London, NW5 4HE
Mutrix Road, London, NW6 4BF
18-22 Quex Road, Kilburn, London, NW6 4PL
12 Kingsgate Road, Kilburn, London, NW6 4TB
1 Espalier Gardens, London NW6 2DQ
London Borough of Hounslow.
New Project.
Ongoing development taking place in Hounslow.
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Ongoing development taking place in Hounslow.
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Ongoing development taking place in Hounslow.
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Ongoing development taking place in Hounslow.
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Ongoing development taking place in Hounslow.
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Ongoing development taking place in Hounslow.
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Ongoing development taking place in Hounslow.
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Ongoing development taking place in Hounslow.
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Ongoing development taking place in Hounslow.
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Ongoing development taking place in Hounslow.
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Ongoing development taking place in Hounslow.
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Ongoing development taking place in Hounslow.
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Almond Grove
New Project
Cherry Crescent
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