Top awards for Salford's housing support services

This is an archived news story from March 2010

Salford City Council’s Homes Improvement Agency has been recognised for its outstanding achievement in helping residents to live in their homes independently.

The agency has picked up three national awards for the housing support it provides to vulnerable and older people in Salford.

One member of the team, Sandra Mardell who has worked with the city council for five years won an individual outstanding contribution award for her commitment to the sector over the past 23 years.

Manager Sandra works with a range of residents including older and disabled people, and families on a low income or benefits to help them to stay in their homes.

This could be by helping with repairs or adaptations and improvements to their homes.

The agency also received a certificate of merit at the National Home Improvement Council Awards for its Salford Heating Installer Partnership.

The Salford Heating Installer Partnership (SHIP) is an innovative project developed by Salford City Council Home Improvement Agency and the Affordable Warmth team.

It aims to address the issues around fuel poverty, tackle health inequalities, improve living conditions and quality of life by helping vulnerable households’ access government grants to install efficient heating systems and home insulation.

It also improves customer waiting times for people in a situation where their health condition could be exacerbated due to lengthy timescales for heating repairs or installations to be carried out.

Separately, the team was commended under the category 'excellence in engaging in health and care' for showing best practice for its housing services to people who may be recovering from an illness or injury.

Sandra said: "Each one of these awards represents a team effort and I'd like to thank everyone for all their hard work they put in day-in, day-out.

"The work we do helps people who may be in challenging circumstances to stay in their homes and it's nice that we've been recognised nationally for doing a good job."

The agency was presented with its award at a special awards lunch and ceremony held in the Gladstone Library in London.

Councillor Peter Connor, Salford City Council's lead member for housing added: "This is a massive achievement for the Home Improvement Agency and it's good news for residents that the services provided by their city council are setting national examples and that our staff are dedicated to what they do."

Notes for editors

More information and advice on home maintenance and improvements.

The awards were issued by Foundations, the national body for Home Improvement Agencies.

Sandra collected her award in London on Monday 1 March.

SHIP is part of a ‘one-stop’ approach to help the city’s fuel poor access affordable warmth, as inadequate heating and insulation are a key cause of excess winter deaths in the elderly.

The SHIP is on its way to achieving the aims and objectives of this innovative partnership since its launch, which some of the statistics are summarised below:

since 2006 the Home Improvement Agency has through its capital programme assisted 81 households with Emergency Heating Assistance at a value of £237,976
approval of 186 Warm Front Top-Ups at a value of £91,482
£91,482 spent from the capital programme bringing in £502,200 of investment into the city
enabled 186 households to access the Warm Front Grant of £2,700
in addition to the core service of the Home Improvement Agency, the SHIP has enabled an additional 267 households (over 500 residents) to remain living independently

Partners are: