Oxford City Council - ENLIGHT Housing Needs

The Issue

Identified as a ‘Regional Champion’ by the CLG, Oxford’s Housing Needs Team knows what it wants to achieve.

Dave Scholes, Housing Needs Manager, realised that there are three key things the team needs: to communicate well, to be consistent in approach and to work as efficiently as possible.

The Solution

Dave says:‘We had many of our procedures recorded, but, as time has gone on, they have not always been kept in logical places.When we saw Destin’s Electronic Manuals demonstrated,we could see how valuable it would be to bring our procedures together in one place, and to integrate them with all the other information needed by the team on a day-to-day basis,such as legislation, case law, and information on housing options in the area.’

 

Ruth Trown, Director of Destin Solutions explains:

‘We specialise in producing tailored manuals which bring together key information in a format which is easy to navigate and quick to use. Until now Destin have produced separate manuals for Housing Advice and Homelessness, and Choice Based Lettings.Working with Oxford,we saw an opportunity to amalgamate these manuals into one – providing rich resources for the whole of Housing Needs.’

Flexibility

As Oxford went forward with the Choice Based Lettings Scheme, they saw it as an ideal time to consolidate procedures and information.

‘What I really liked about Destin’s approach was the fact that we have the ability to make our own changes to the manual in the future. Destin offered us a choice of hosting the manual on the web (and making changes for us), or training us to carry out our own edits, with Destin’s support being on hand.We chose the latter.’

Oxford’s complete Housing Needs manual was rolled out in March 2008.

 

Dave Scholes, Oxford’s Housing Needs Manager