The solution and result

Alice Hoskins, Team Leader for the Business Admin Team at Inclusion Group, discusses their experience of Appello's Out of Hours service and the key benefits of this.

Tell us a bit about Inclusion Group

We have a number of companies operating under Inclusion Group, with a range of supported housing options for vulnerable adults with physical or mental disabilities. We currently have around 450 sites and close to 5000 units. But we're constantly growing and developing, with the addition of new schemes and expanding our reach to new client groups, for example our newest group enterprise INsted, which has a focus on housing homeless clients. It's something I'm really passionate about.

What support does Appello's Out of Hours service provide?

We are a business that runs 365 days a year, which obviously means we need that cover when the office is closed. Appello allows us to be able to raise jobs when we're not there over evenings, weekends and bank holidays. It gives all of our sites, all our tenant service users, a point of contact for any emergency situations, any concerns about health and safety, anything like that.

What are the main benefits of Appello's Out of Hours service?

It gives us that reassurance that our sites are covered when we can't be in the office because we don't have an internal out of hours team ourselves. We know when we come in on the next working day that we will have our out of hours sheets, which give us detailed information about calls that have come in. We also get copied into any emails that have been sent to contractors. We know we'll have that information.

Making sure our properties and tenants are safe is our biggest priority. We're not expecting repairs to be completed, as you often need to get quotes for the works, but it's that first stage response, giving the reassurance that we're doing everything we can as soon as possible.

That's the key point really: making everything safe. There are many different situations which the out of hours team support us with and ensure that service levels and response to emergencies are maintained.

What sort of calls has the Out of Hours service helped with?

Mainly health and safety emergencies which require immediate response, this can include flooding, fire and loss of heating and hot water. There was one case where we had an entire flood of a property – there was water flowing through the corridors, the site was able to call the out of hours team and get reassurance that the contractor was attending. Although the contractor may not have been able to rectify it on the first visit, it meant a response was provided to make the situation safe and we could pick it up when we were in the office, rather than everybody having to wait until the next working day to get things moving.

We've had incidents of fires at properties where the fire brigade has attended but then we've been able to have people go out and make the electrics and everything safe.

Any break-ins as well need to be dealt with quickly. There was a situation where somebody managed to get into the property through the front door but the out of hours team were able to send out an emergency locksmith to resecure the door, which was important as reassurance for the tenants but also for the support workers who are there overnight.

How do you find Appello to work with?

We have a very good working relationship with Appello. We have monthly meetings with our account managers and we know who we need to speak to.

At the moment, we're working on the way we word things and going through our procedures and protocols with a fine-tooth comb together. Because we're a social housing company dealing with vulnerable people, we have a lot of needs factors. What might be a routine call in many situations could be an emergency for somebody with vulnerabilities, so the way we work is very niche. But our account managers are very quick to review everything and resolve any issues.

Would you recommend Appello's Out of Hours service?

Definitely, yes. It's a really good, beneficial service for us to ensure our sites are covered when we're not there.