Frances West | Board member interview
Frances West has been a board member of Westward since January 2019. She brings a varied career experience to her board role with Westward. Frances started her civilian working life in 2008 after more than 20 years in the Army where she was a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Military Police. She moved into local government with Purbeck District Council initially, as the head of legal and democratic services and then went on to run their public health and housing department.
More recently Frances has worked in the charity sector with roles as the national head of welfare with Help for Heroes; and as the chief executive with Age UK Plymouth and deputy chief executive with EDP Drug and Alcohol Services.
Why did you want to become a board member at Westward?
It was a chance to combine my experience from local government where I’d run housing and public health in the Purbecks, with my experience working with boards as an Executive leader in various charities. I am passionate about housing and wanted to be part of an organisation like Westward Housing Group, focussed on maximising people’s access to good quality, decent and affordable properties in places where they both want and need to live.
How have your previous experiences helped you with your work as a board member at Westward?
Being a member of the Board is almost using my experience in reverse. My working roles have centred on informing boards at senior level and supporting their strategic decision making, direction and purpose. I was very familiar with what a Board requires to deliver. I had also been a charity trustee which has given me the ability to know what a good board requires. Joining the Westward Board enabled me to apply all these experiences, whilst using my knowledge of the housing sector when contributing to board discussions and delivering strategic decision making. I think bringing all those pieces of the jigsaw together have enabled me to hopefully deliver well for Westward.
What is something you wish everyone knew or understood more about social housing?
Decent, good quality, safe and affordable housing is an obvious fundamental right. In practical terms this needs to be just part of the everyday housing landscape, which is something that I think Westward is good at. For me, if a house is well placed, has a reasonable rent, looks good and delivers for those who live in it, then communities have a chance to thrive.
It really is important to me that affordable housing should be seamlessly part of our communities – our homes are integrated into the communities where our people live and to me that's massively important.
How important is it for Westward to have customer engagement and opinions?
Diversity of customer views is critical and it’s really important that we know what our customers think of their homes, the policies we have and the service they get from Westward. I am keen that the steps we’ve taken recently to grow customer engagement continue to deliver and expand the feedback we get. I appreciate that people have busy lives but would hope that we hear from the complete spectrum of people that live in our homes, if only on an occasional basis.
What have you learnt since being a Westward board member?
I’ve continued to develop a strategic handle on how the organisation fits together all elements of delivery. But I think, particularly in the last two years, I learnt how imaginative you can be and how diverse you can be in the way that an organisation is structured and responds and how you can continue working in a situation like Covid. I think we've got things pretty right as an organisation, shown that we are flexible and responsive and can absolutely step up to the mark and deliver. We’ve also provided a model that really works for staff, and we've retained those staff and carried on recruiting.
What has been one of your biggest achievements since your time with Westward?
With a couple of Board colleagues, we looked at Support Services in my first 18 months with Westward and concluded that these underpinned some of the ’soul’ of how the organisation worked. Understanding what we did in direct support of people and being able to recommend to the board and say yes, we believe we should carry on doing this and these are the reasons why - it was a very important outcome for me.
What is your favourite thing about working for Westward?
The People! People make an organisation work - they sit at the heart of what Westward does. I’ve met proactive customers, worked with committed staff and spent many hours at board and committee meetings. Without great colleagues and engaged customers, it wouldn’t work.
Why do you love living in the south west?
The south west has everything – some great cities, fantastic countryside and the sea. It’s a real combination of rurality and urban life, with the wraparound of a fabulous coastline. I would like to see significantly greater investment in the south west’s transport links; particularly rail and buses, but that’s a bit of a personal hobby horse!