Les’ blog – A review of RWP in 2023

“As we bid farewell to 2023, I am proud RWP continues to stand tall as one of the leading providers of specialised supported housing in the UK despite the challenges we, and other social landlords, have had to navigate. 

Our success and resilience is very much driven by the commitment of our colleagues to deliver better quality services to our tenants, their support providers, and families as the heart of our business.

Key achievements in 2023 include:

• Establishing our model of 6 Community Hubs across the country to promote tenant engagement at a local level to hear more of our tenants’ views and aspirations.
• Our Housing Officers welcomed 374 tenants to their new homes.
• We completed 92 aids and adaptations to make the home more suitable for our tenants.
• Our Customer Contact Centre handled approximately 10,379 calls from RWP customers.
• Our Income Collection Team successfully managed tenant accounts in line with targets despite a challenging environment.
• Launched tenders for our communal cleaning and window cleaning services to seek value for money for customers.
• We invested over £1.5m on upgrading and improving our homes, making a big difference to the fire safety and energy efficiency.
• We have completed over 13,500 responsive repairs since April 2023.

Housing demand

Research commissioned by the Learning Disabilities & Autism Housing Network (LDAHN) in 2023 estimated that around 2,000 new units per annum would be required until 2037 to keep up with current demand. This is needed to provide new accommodation for young adults in transition from children services requiring supported housing, those needing to move from the family home as carers get older and the continued decommissioning of registered care services and hospital settings.

RWP is playing its part in meeting the demand:

• By March 2024, we will have successfully delivered 34 asset-based schemes which are a mix of single person and shared models and hope to have onboarded some leased schemes with new partners.
• Our team have managed to secure a significant amount of capital grant funding by partnering with NHS England to deliver schemes for people with complex needs who are being discharged from hospital and long-stay placements. 
• We have a programme for delivery in 24/25 which will see the highest number of new supported living asset-based schemes being delivered in over eight years. 

A thank you to RWP colleagues

I am thankful for the hard work and dedication of all colleagues who contribute to the delivery of services to RWP customers.  As a Group we have seen the benefit of pooling knowledge and experience to grow together as a strong and resilient organisation and I look forward to seeing what else we can achieve in 2024!”