Cutting edge Hyde up for two more awards

Published by Adele Stevens for The Hyde Group in Housing and also in Communities

Hyde is delighted to confirm that the organisation has been shortlisted for not one, but two awards in this year’s prestigious UK Housing Awards.

Hyde’s programme – One Hyde, One Vision- has been shortlisted in the business transformation of the year category, while the widely acclaimed Hyde Youth Bank is up for Community-led initiative of the year. The UK Housing Awards are organised and judged by experts from the Chartered Institute of Housing in partnership with Inside Housing.

The One Hyde One Vision (OHOV) change programme was born out of a desire to improve outcomes for customers and deliver greater business efficiency. As a result Hyde has made significant changes in the way it is structured and the service provided to residents and invested £1.5m in our service change programme and £1.8m in new technology.

OHOV was brought to life in July 2011 with the opening of Hyde’s first group-wide customer service centres, to provide one port of call for customer enquiries.  Five services were also centralised to reduce duplication and ensure consistency.

The results of these changes have been positive for both residents and staff, with almost 90% of residents reporting they are happy with the service provided. The OHOV programme has simplified methods ensuring consistency of service and delivering  a saving of £5.5 million per year in operating costs.

Hyde Chief Executive Officer, Steve White said: “When there is significant change, there is the perception that performance dips; this is not the case for Hyde, and I want to thank the staff for their support and commitment.”

Also up for an award is Hyde Youth Bank, a youth led initiative which allows young people to direct where money should be spent in their local communities. The project received an Inspiring Project award from the British Youth Council last year for its work and during the first year has approved a total of £7,391 to 15 projects.

The project engages young people living in social housing both as grant givers and as applicants. 9 young people living in communities supported by The Hyde Group have been engaged, trained and accredited as grant givers.

The aim of the project is to empower young residents by giving them a say in local community services but also enabling them to take positive action by applying for funding and in some cases even starting their own initiative.

The UK Housing Awards winners will be decided by a panel of industry experts and announced in a special ceremony on 16^th April 2013.