You've told us what's working well and where we need to do better, and we're using that feedback to shape our plans for the year ahead. From improving repairs and communication to tackling antisocial behaviour, we've got some projects underway.
Here's a quick snapshot of what we're changing:
What you told us:
You need better updates about your repairs, and for us to get them sorted quickly.
We’ve improved:
We’re now completing repairs 9 days quicker, on average, meaning that you’re waiting an average of 15 days for us to sort your repair from when you reported it.
When you report your repair, four out of five times we’ll let you know when your appointment is going to be on the same day you report it to us.
You can now check in and see what’s happening with your repair on the portal as well as the history of your repairs.
Our repairs team are working closer to home, meaning they’ll be able to get to know you and your home better. And less travel time for them means more appointments available for customers in your area too.
What’s to come:
We’re trialling video calls when you report damp and mould so we can see what the issue is from the start.
We’re introducing operative tracking for some repairs so you know who’s coming to your home and when they’ll be there. You’ll get texts on the day when your operative is en route with a link for you to track their journey.
We’ll be updating the portal throughout the year, with features based on your feedback, so it’s easier and more convenient for you to report and manage your repairs whenever and wherever works for you.
We’re putting plans in place to make sure we’re flexible with how we plan in and manage your repairs appointments, so that we reduce how many appointments we miss. Where we need to move an appointment we’ll be focusing on rescheduling it rather than cancelling.
What you told us:
You’d like to see us out and about in your community more, for us to improve how we tackle antisocial behaviour (ASB) in your area and be more consistent in our approach to cleaning and maintaining communal areas, as well as grounds maintenance.
We’ve improved:
We’ve reintroduced housing officers who are getting to know your local area and will be doing local walkabouts to spot and sort issues in your neighbourhood quickly. And when we’ve spotted a flytipping problem, we’ve arranged a return visit to the neighbourhood to take away unwanted items and keep the streets and gardens clear and safe.
We’re now taking a more regional approach to your neighbourhood with 10 different place plans shaping what happens in your area. You’ll have started to see us out and about more and notice that we’re focusing on local issues identified through your feedback and our data.
What’s to come:
We’re tackling ASB on a local level with our ASB action plans. We’ll be using data and insight to get to the bottom of what causes ASB in your area and to guide our decisions on what actions your community needs. We’ll also be linking ASB with our engagement activities to help reduce ASB and working more closely with partners in your local area to make real differences.
Our place plans will identify what will make the biggest difference in your area so we can focus on that. We’re aiming for our team to be out and about 4 out of 5 days of the week as we streamline what happens behind the scenes so they can be in your neighbouhood more. They’ll be spotting issues like ASB or where shared and communal spaces need improving as well as working more closely with partner agencies to make a positive difference.
What you told us:
You need us to keep you in the loop so you don’t have to chase us. That goes for any case you have with us - your repair, your antisocial behaviour or your tenancy case.
We’ve improved:
The customer portal lets you see your cases and repairs history so you don’t have to chase us.
We’re responding to stage one complaints quicker than last year, though we know we still have work to do to improve your experience.
What’s to come:
We’re making sure we keep in touch with you at least every 14 days on your antisocial and tenancy management cases.
And the operative tracking we're introducing will let you know when you can expect us for your repair, and who it'll be.
Portal updates will be released throughout the year, giving you more features and access to more information, meaning you can get what you need when and where it suits you.
Want more detail?
Keep reading for more details on what you can expect to see over the coming year. You'll see improvements on your phone, in your home and outside your door.
On your phone
You told us that we've got better at keeping you informed (72% of you said you were satisfied or very satisfied, 9% higher than last year) but we know there's still more we can do. So, here are the changes you can expect to see this year.
Our upgraded customer portal will help keep you up to date if you've got a repair booked with us. Something you've told us we need to be better at is keeping in touch about your repair, and we've been working hard to make this happen. We'll always send you some text reminders about your appointment - a week before, three days before, the day before and on the day. But now, for some repairs, you'll start getting a text message when your operative is on their way to you and when they're nearby. It'll let you know their first name and give you a link to track their journey.
There's more to come too, throughout the year you'll notice that we update and improve the portal so that you can see more information about your repair. One change we've already made is that you can see the history of your repairs in the portal.
For damp and mould repairs we'll be trialling some video calls so we can see the problem better and make sure we're prepared when we come out to visit you. If we offer you a video call to help diagnose the issue, don't worry, you don't have to say yes.
Knowing what's going on with your case is of course really important to you, and 72% of you told us that you were fairly or very satisfied that we keep you informed. While that's 9% higher than last year, there's still a way to go. So, we've put a new system in place to make sure that we're keeping in touch with you at least every two weeks if you've got an antisocial behaviour case or a tenancy management case with us. No more chasing us as you'll know where you stand.
In your home
75% of you told us you were fairly or very satisfied with our repairs service. How long it takes us to get to your repair is a big influence on how happy you are with our service so we're really working on making sure we get to you quickly.
To do this we've introduced a new way of working for our repairs teams. The team are now working closer to home meaning less travel time, so you're more likely to get 'a local' for your next repair and more likely to see the same person twice, too. With people working closer to home it frees up more time so we can offer more appointments too. Our operatives have now also got access to an app that means they can see everything they need in one place, making your repair appointment quicker and helping us to get to more appointments each day with the time saved.
This year we're working towards being able to give you an appointment when you get in touch with us to report a repair, and for that appointment to be within two weeks. At the moment, four out of five times you report a repair we'll let you know the same day when you can expect us.
We know missed appointments are still an issue and we've been digging into why. The majority of cancellations are because of our availability so we're putting plans in place to make sure we're more flexible with our planning and how we manage appointments. We're also going to be focusing on rescheduling appointments where we have to rather than cancelling them.
You've also told us that when a contractor comes to sort a repair the quality of work isn't as high as when it's one of our colleagues, so we're working to reduce how often we use contractors. We'll always need to use contractors to help us manage demand and for specialist skills like asbestos removal, fixing lifts and structural surveys.
Outside your door
We''ll be spending more time out and about in your community this year, working with you to understand what matters most in your area and making sure we're taking a regional approach. We're really focused on building more local relationships and making sure our engagement activity reflects what you need in your community.
And talking of being out and about in your community more and based off your feedback...we've reintroduced housing officers! Our housing officers are one part of our newly created 'place plans'. These are personalised local plans based on surveys, conversations with you, what our community team see while out and about and data and insights about your neighbourhood.
There are 10 different place plans so that we can approach the needs of each area differently, head over to our place plans page to find out what we're doing in your area and how you can get involved with our local walkabouts.
We'll carry on holding events like our Garden Awards and our new Customer Awards. You'll also be able to come along to our Customer Summit, an online event where you can hear from us about what's going on behind the scenes and have the chance to ask us questions and tell us what you think.
When it comes to communal areas, you've scored us 12% better than last year, and you've also told us where we can improve - that's on poor or inconsistent ground maintenance, cleanliness issues, delays in repairs and poor contractor performance. Our new place plans will help us spot issues earlier and get them sorted, making sure we're focusing our time where it makes the biggest difference.
Satisfaction with our approach to antisocial behaviour came in at 55% so we know this is an area we need to work on. We're finding the common themes and causes of antisocial behaviour and developing targeted plans to improve how we tackle it. And our Place Plans should help with that too. The personalised approach of place plans identify hotspots and neighbourhoods where we need to respond to multiple issues. They also mean we can focus on what will have the biggest impact in your area so that could be improvements to shared or communal spaces, to ASB or how visible we are in your community.
We've also recently held an in-person session on improving our antisocial behaviour process with our Review Crew. The 'Crew' suggested some changes to information on our website, portal and communication, and how reports of ASB work too - we're looking at what we can put into action so you should see some changes soon.
Your feedback makes a real difference!
You can see from all the changes we've made this year and are planning to make in the coming year that your feedback really does shape the decisions we make. Want to be part of it? There are loads of different ways to get involved on how much time you can give and what topics you're passionate about. Head over to the 'your voice, your home' page to see what might suit you.
Where next?
Use these quick links to the side to explore more of the Tenant Satisfaction Measures or head back to the customer homepage.