Over 150 older people in Newport will soon be receiving Support Services from Taff Housing Association, after they successfully tendered for the contract awarded in December 2007. Since then, it’s been all hands on deck to prepare for an April 1st start.

Chris Woods is the Team Leader for the new contract, and says, ‘We’ve had such a positive response to our advert for staff, that we’ve been able to recruit to all twelve posts. All the successful candidates are really looking forward to joining Taff and working with the clients’.

A new office base has been found in Newport ready for a start in April, and Chris has been busy promoting the service to colleagues in health & social services. The clients can look forward to top class support, but Taff tries to offer that little bit more, with group work, and outings. For example, existing clients will be helping Taff celebrate St David’s Day at a Big Breakfast event on Friday – these are held regularly to enable clients to meet other staff, including the Leadership Team, and tell them how they think the services are running.

Elaine Ballard, Taff’s Chief Executive, says: ‘These events are an important part of our Customer Involvement Strategy, as they provide an informal setting for clients to give us feedback. They’re also a lot of fun – staff will all be ‘dressing down’ with a Welsh theme on Friday, so I expect there’ll be lots daffodils and rugby shirts!’