Hello and welcome to our first edition of Here to Help for 2024.

In these challenging times, I’m hopeful that the warmer weather is on its way to give us all the lift we deserve.

We fully understand that the recent rent and service charge increase will have been a cause for concern for many of our customers, and with the cost-of-living crisis continuing, it’s normal to feel frustrated.

As always, I want to make sure everyone knows that support is available to all of our customers who might be worried about the increases, and the most important thing is to talk to us as soon as you can so we can help. I’m also extremely grateful to those customers who work with us to tell us how we can improve the support we offer. This kind of insight is invaluable to us as we seek to help as many people as possible.

There’s much more information inside this issue that can take you through the support we can offer, as well as explaining why we have increased rents and service charges again.

Sustainable futures

Despite the challenges, I was thrilled to be a part of our latest Dragons’ Den competition, which seeks to fund some of the many brilliant business ideas that our customers have. This scheme is a shining example of the ambition, innovation and entrepreneurialism that exists in our communities.

Our finalists came to a virtual event to pitch for funding of up to £1,000 for their business ideas, which ranged from an artist specialising in murals, to small businesses selling handmade products.

One successful bid came from Teresa, whose idea to create a business selling dried flowers preserved in resin won alongside Kasha, who will be using her funding to help mothers and children with disabilities learn how to crochet. The event formed part of a wider project we offer to customers around self-employment training, and it’s these schemes that are helping us help us to create more sustainable futures for customers, and for the communities we work in.

Among the important articles we have for you in this edition, is a rather lovely piece written by one of our customers who, with the help of her neighbours, is helping to preserve wildlife where she lives. You can have a look here.

I hope you enjoy the rest of our newsletter, and remember that if you need us, we’re here to help.