In Touch HIA Hampshire
63 St Mary Street
St Mary’s
Southampton
SO14 1NU
Contact: Paullette Pone – Administrator
Tel: 023 8083 7800
hantshia@intouchsupport.co.uk or text ‘Support’ and your message to 81025
(Office open Mon to Fri 9am-5pm)
Who do we help?
Home improvement agencies (HIAs) help vulnerable people stay in their own homes. Our advice services are available to people who are private homeowners or tenants of private landlords and live in the areas of Fareham, Havant, Hart and Rushmoor councils.
Our Handyperson Service is available to people living in the following local authority areas – Eastleigh, Fareham, Gospost, Havant, Winchester, East Hants, Basingstoke, Hart and Rushmoor. Please call the agency if you need advice or to make an appointment for a Handyperson on 0845 459 5036.
Our agency partners are Community First New Forest and they provide a handyperson service to customers in Test Valley and the New Forest, telephone: 01425 478 005 or email: hia.admin@cfnf.org.uk
What happens?
Your HIA caseworker will visit you at home to talk about what repairs or adaptations you want done and give advice on work needed. They can also assess your personal needs and risks, your home and your finances (including checking you’re getting the right benefits) and, if necessary, find organisations to help with other problems. All advice is provided free of charge.
We’ll ask you to sign an agreement if you want work to go ahead. If you want us to, we will:
- List any work that needs to be done and get estimates
- Help you find and apply for funding to other charitable organisations where eligible
- Recommend and contact builders, instruct them and sort out payment
- Check the work while it is being done and after it’s finished
We see people within 10 working days of referral. A typical case will take around nine months from referral to completion.
Fees
Our advice service is free. We charge a fee of 10% of the cost of the building works to cover technical or practical help with plans, specifications and supervising the works. This is usually funded by grants or loans.
Other services
- Private works – many people have benefited from us taking on some of the stress around building works they’ve paid for themselves. We can also offer a partial service. Please talk to us about fees for this.
- Handyperson (countywide) – we will help with small jobs that can generally be completed by one handyperson in two hours or less. Our labour charge is £12.00 per hour (plus VAT). A further dicount in available for those on means tested benefits. Gutter cleaning and loft clearance can normally be arranged with 2 handypersons and the labour costs £20.00 per hour (plus VAT). We will also charge the cost price for any materials we use.
Your feedback and involvement
We want to provide an excellent service. You’ll be invited to give feedback when all works are complete and six months afterwards. We run a three-monthly forum, an annual coffee morning and provide a grumble log if necessary.
What next?
If you’d like to talk to someone about how we can help, to be sent a copy of our agreement or to arrange an appointment with an HIA caseworker, call Paullette Pone on 023 8083 7800 or email her at hantshia@intouchsupport.co.uk or visit us at the address above.
To find out about other housing-related services available in Hampshire visit: