Chief executive Jonathan Cowie held his first meeting with PCH Shareholders last week, to give them an insight into our Strategic Business Plan and our top 5 priorities over the next few years.
Shareholding membership is open to all residents, shared owners and leaseholders and its important we have people with lived experience of PCH services and communities involved in our decision-making processes. We also have other Shareholders from the local community. As a not-for-profit organisation, our Shareholders don’t receive any dividends, but they play a role in approving our accounts and other high level decisions.
Residents are also welcome to engage with us via Virtual Resident Advisors, scrutiny, drop-in sessions, or other resident groups. You can see our full menu of involvement options here.
Jonathan met our Shareholders with some familiar faces joining us including former Chair of the Board Elaine Pellow, and former Board Member Graham Stirling.
After the presentation Jonathan took some questions from the Shareholders around some of the more pressing issues for them at the moment, ranging from how we recruit more shareholders to using paint developed by the Japanese Space Agency to insulate our homes.
Shareholders also spoke to Jonathan about the new complaints code for residents in social housing and how we directly communicate with our residents. After that there was a discussion on anti-social behaviour, the Decent Homes Standard and how PCH manages its homes, including carrying out stock surveys over the next two years to assess which of our homes need work to help improve them.
One shareholder said: “It was nice to meet the new Chief Executive this evening and to know that he is keen on speaking to the shareholders to get our opinion on what the burning issues are for social housing residents at the moment, particularly at this time, with a new Government coming in and the cost-of-living crisis affecting people across the country.”
Jonathan said: “It was great to meet everyone face to face and I’d like to have a regular dialogue with our shareholders and meet them more often – they are due back in the Autumn for our AGM and it is vitally important they are onside with what our business plan objectives are and how we go about delivering them.”
What’s involved in being a PCH Shareholder? As a shareholder you must:
- Act in the best interests of PCH and for the benefit of the community
- Attend our Annual General Meeting (AGM) which is held every September. You’ll be invited to our AGM where you will have the opportunity to meet senior staff and our Board members. The AGM is an important event for PCH as it’s an opportunity to reflect on the work we’ve carried out throughout the year and gives our shareholders the right to vote on any issues raised.
- You’ll be invited to additional meetings, such as special general meetings, when urgent decisions need to be made.
- As a Shareholder of a Community Benefit Society shares are limited to one per person and cost a nominal £1 each.
If you want to know more about shareholding membership with PCH, visit our website.
