We’re celebrating the incredible neighbours of 2024, chosen by our residents for their kindness and community spirit! Each deserving winner has been honoured with a festive Christmas hamper as a token of appreciation.

Leigh Arundale, St Monica’s, Old Colwyn

“Leigh cares and takes pride in his community and is always on hand to help others. He takes care of the communal garden area throughout the year keeping things tidy, and in the summer is always outside giving the garden some TLC and adding some colour.”

Dorothy Caldwell, Llys y Coed, Llanfairfechan

“A wonderful neighbour, helpful to others, and always ready to lift people’s spirits. She has maintained the public white board in the dining room, which shows upcoming events from our What’s On programme and draws special attention to them. It’s a great gee-up to get an audience.”

Beryl Greenhalgh & Anne Clegg, Hafod y Parc, Abergele

“I would like to nominate Mrs Beryl Greenhalgh and Mrs Ann Clegg for tirelessly and continuously helping Hafod y Parc to be a happy community. They organise and help with all events, gardening and making various items of crafts to sell to raise money for our resident’s fund. They are both approachable, always there to help any neighbour and will get stuck in without needing to be asked.”

Luke Ginsberg, St Mary’s Hostel, Bangor

“Luke has been cooking communal meals his fellow residents and excelled in the whole process from start to finish. This is a huge challenge to get the residents together in a positive moment/environment, building rapport with one another, enabling them to get on. His presence is always positive, polite, well – mannered. Always encouraging to empower the other residents too. Luke really has come on leaps and bounds compared to where he was before moving over to the hostel.”

We at North Wales Housing are delighted to announce that we have become the latest social landlord in Wales to achieve the prestigious and nationally recognised Equality and Diversity Mark.

The QED Award, developed by Tai Pawb, provides a comprehensive framework for improving the equality and diversity impact of our organisation. Awarded by an independent panel, it considers strategic areas such as governance, leadership, and culture, as well as customer-facing service provision, including access and diverse tenant involvement.

Over the past 12 months, our staff, board members, tenants, contractors, and partner organisations have engaged in the accreditation process. This included staff surveys, engagement with tenants, on-site visits, a review of policies and procedures, as well as the production and delivery of an action plan. The award includes an annual check-up over three years where Tai Pawb will monitor progress on NWHA’s action plan.

We are incredibly proud to become the first social landlords in North Wales to win this award, joining Melin Homes, Merthyr Valleys Homes, Cynon Taff Community Housing, Merthyr Tydfil Housing Association, Cadwyn, Newydd, RHA Wales, and First Choice Housing as the ninth recipient of the award in Wales.

Helena Kirk, Chief Executive of North Wales Housing Association, said:

“We are thrilled to achieve this award and recognition from Tai Pawb and the Panel. The team at NWH were clear that we wanted to improve our whole approach to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion and set about making this happen by using the QED framework. This has been a real team effort across our organisation. We really hope the improvements we have made will help us to continue to be a great place for colleagues to be themselves, a great place to work and importantly improve the experiences of residents living in our homes and communities.”

Alicja Zalesinska, Chief Executive of Tai Pawb, added:

“We would like to congratulate North Wales Housing Association on achieving the QED Award – the first social housing provider in the region. Our independent panel members were impressed with the strong and clear commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion across the organisation, from tenants and staff through board and the executive team. Testament to this is the fact that NWHA has already achieved 61 from 65 of the recommendations made by our assessors. In every part of the organisation, there was enthusiasm for the program of work, openness to constructive challenge, and a genuine willingness to learn from others.”

 

Here at North Wales Housing, we are absolutely delighted to share that we have been awarded the ‘Highly Commended’ title in the Credit Union of Wales Public Payroll Partner Award!

Underlining the pivotal role played by volunteers, members, schools, and partner employers in driving the success of the Credit Union movement in Wales, The Credit Unions of Wales Awards serve as a testament to the collective dedication to community welfare.

To commemorate International Credit Union Day, this year’s gala dinner took place at The Exchange Hotel in Cardiff Bay on Thursday, October 19, marking six years of celebrating impactful community initiatives. With the invaluable support of the Welsh Government, the event symbolises a shared commitment to fostering a culture of collaboration and community spirit.

For more information regarding the Credit Unions of Wales Awards, please click here

North Wales Housing has been named one of the top 25 best mid-sized companies to work for in the UK and the 6^th best place to work in Wales.

Recognised by employee engagement specialists, best companies, as ‘an outstanding company to work for’, North Wales Housing has placed 20^th in the national league table of the UK’s best mid-sized employers.

NWH, which employs more than 180 people, has been recognised for its dedicated health and wellbeing programme, CALON, and its ‘Rising Stars’ career development programme amongst other employee engagement criteria.

As part of the process, 87 per cent of staff agreed that the organisation is run on strong values and principles, whilst 84 per cent believed that their manager cares about them as an individual.

The organisation has also been recognised for its approach to supporting staff with their mental health and wellbeing. NWH signed the Time to Change Wales pledge to end mental health stigma and discrimination in the workplace, and all managers and frontline workers are undergoing training in positive mental health and wellbeing.

Helena Kirk, Chief Executive at North Wales Housing, said; “We are so proud of the NWH family for making it such a great place to work, and for consistently putting the customers at the heart of what we do.

“The judges commented that we need a ‘striving, dedicated’ team to achieve our aims of transforming lives and I can only agree. We are committed to continuing to nurture and do as much as possible to support everyone that works here. A heartfelt thank you everyone for the part you have played in achieving this award.”

NWH now has a 2 star accreditation from best companies, the second-highest standard of workplace engagement representing organisations striving for the top.

For more information visit https://www.b.co.uk/companies/north-wales-housing