We’ve just published our latest Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) scores.
TSMs help drive up standards and improve the quality of social housing by making sure housing providers like us are accountable for the services we deliver.
Our overall satisfaction level is 60% – down 1% from last year. Find out more about the TSMs and our full scores here.
This is something we really want to improve, and we have some plans for the months ahead.
Key areas to look out for
Repairs
Satisfaction with repairs service – 59%
We have had a small (2%) increase in satisfaction with our repairs service this year. However, it is still a long way from where we, and you, want it to be so this remains our number one priority for the year ahead.
- We have increased the size of the team as we know that customers give great feedback about our operatives when they arrive and do the job.
- We have expanded our operating hours, meaning customers can now pick an appointment for repairs between 8:30am and 6pm.
- We’re going to introduce video technology to help us see what issues may be in your home. This will help us fix things first time and reduce the need visit your home to do an initial inspection.
- We’re looking to make further improvements to MyGUHG, our customer portal. This includes a new app on Android and Apple devices.
- We are kicking off an ambitious piece of work which will see a thorough examination of the reasons behind appointment failures and fixing the root causes of those problems. We are also working on a better way of matching our resources against demand to further reduce the time it takes us to do repairs.
Sorting things out when they go wrong
Satisfaction with how we handle complaints – 23%
Only one in four customers are satisfied with the way we resolve complaints. We know that are large number of these are due to the consistency of communication, including getting a call back and keeping customers informed.
- We’ve added extra resources to our Resolutions team to give a single point of contact when customers do need help resolving complaints.
- We recently reviewed the way we handle complaints and have implemented some key changes. These include the way we gather information and that we have to communicate information to our customers in a clearer, better way.
- The review also highlighted a need to providing better training for our people around the importance of acting on our customer complaints. This will be rolled out soon and aims to stop things escalating so far that customers feel their only option is to log a formal complaint. The training will have a specific focus on recognising individual customer’s needs. It will so make sure colleagues are delivering on their promises.
Developing our priority services register
The survey tells us that customers who struggle with high levels of anxiety and are time poor are the least satisfied – 43% satisfaction with our overall service. These customers also tend to be time poor, lack confidence and worry about engaging with us. We also know that customers that are living with complex needs including mental, physical and cognitive capability issues need more from us.
- We will be developing and launching an opportunity for you to join a priority services register that will better tailor our service to your needs.
A new offer for shared owners
Overall satisfaction for shared owners – 33%
Compared to our rented homes where on average 60% of customers are satisfied, shared owners are significantly lower. Just 1 in 3 are satisfied with the overall service.
- We will work specifically with this group to understand what is behind this in more detail and then redesign our offer to reflect this feedback.
Neighbourhood and communal areas
Customers who agree that we make a positive impact on their neighbourhood – 34%
Customers who agree that we keep communal areas clean and well maintained – 32%
This is an area where we received the widest range of feedback from different groups of customers. Some sections of our customers were much more satisfied (up 22%), while others were far less satisfied (down 29%). As starting point we want to understand this difference so keep your eyes on Voice as we want to hear from you.
- We will publish more information about what is happening in communities. If you are not already on Voice there is some great information already available.
- We will target some specific neighbourhoods to work with customers to develop healthy neighbourhoods and produce a series of charters. Work has already started on some of this where we hope to help customers use the communal space for community benefit. This could include growing veg, social activities and things for kids to do. All whilst making sure that areas are safe and well looked after.
There is some good news
Whilst we know that we have some work to do we are pleased to see some of the work last year pay off in this year’s results.
Satisfaction with our approach to dealing with Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) – 38%
Since last year, this has increased overall by 8%, and by even more in some of our individual customer groups. We increased the size of our Successful Tenancies team last year. They have been working really hard both individually and in partnership with the Police and Local Authority to tackle instances of ASB. It’s great to see this work paying off.
Repairs satisfaction up 9% for some customer groups
If you have reported a repair in the latter part of the year you will have seen that we have launched our ‘operative on way’ notification. This is one of a number of changes that we made to increase and improve communication. These have clearly landed well with customers who have really busy lives. Satisfaction with the time taken to complete a repair has increased by 9% for these customers.
We know we still have loads of work still to do to make repairs more reliable, consistent and quicker for all customers but we are pleased to see some of the initiatives paying off.
Older customers overall satisfaction up 6%
Customers in some of our older persons schemes continue to be more satisfied year on year. We have invested in both new and existing homes in the recent years, including brand new schemes like Chamomile Gardens and existing schemes like Quince Court so it is lovely to see that customers across these schemes are enjoying their home.
We have also introduced a partnership forum at both schemes. Our onsite staff, carers and customers come together on a quarterly basis to discuss scheme issues and work collaboratively to address them. We are seeing great results as the meetings mature.
We will continue to work hard alongside customers to improve the services you receive from us.
