Member Article

Your Homes Newcastle (YHN) Income Team Complete B-IT Qualification

Striving to provide better value for money for publicly funded services the social housing company Your Homes Newcastle (YHN) approached LDR Squared. They delivered a programme to staff in YHN’s Income team to equip them in Business Improvement Techniques. This programme saw the second cohort of learners within the income team complete a Business Improvement Course with LDR Squared.

Learners attended a ceremony where they received their certificates from Income Service Manager Anne Crute and Director of Tenancy Services, Neil Scott. At the presentation Neil said “The learners are trail blazers in the organisation with regards to lean and continuous improvement. This Qualification stands them in good stead both personally and in the service. They will no doubt be called upon in the future as experts to broaden the scope of these improvements to the rest of the organisation.”

In 2010 George Osborne announced a ‘brave new world’ facing public sector organisations requiring them to reduce their budgets by an average of 25%. In facing this challenge YHN are responding with wide ranging reviews of their processes. Customer Service and support is essential to YHN so they had to identify ways in which they could reduce their budgets without affecting the support they provide. Anne Crute, Income Service Manager approached LDR Squared to help support them to bring about these improvements because of their experience working with organisations in the public sector.

After extensive discussions with YHN’s leadership team LDR Squared designed a bespoke training programme to meet their specific needs. By effectively understanding the needs of YHN and the drivers from government policy changes, Training Manager, Tim Ong was able to design a programme that would develop the skills of the Income team to meet the strategic organisational goals. LDR Squared was able to draw upon their knowledge and understanding of Government funding eligibility, to access funding to subsidise the employer contribution required by YHN and deliver a real return on investment to the organisation.

“This programme is an excellent example of our holistic approach to training and our ability to design a programme which meets the needs of industry. We have great experience of providing training to the public sector to enhance their provisions and provide the public with value for money for services.” Brian Smith OBE, Managing Director LDR Squared.

The programme was delivered through a number of practical sessions which gave learners the ability to gain the skills they needed in a fun and effective way. LDR Squared used the framework set out by EAL in their Business Improvement Techniques qualification and adopted a holistic approach to the training. This allowed the learners to learn in way that suited them and was relevant to their industry.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Stuart Smith .