Update

Yes, we can do more communication around this and can work with our Communications Team to promote this more. We'll work with them to share this in various ways.

We wouldn’t be able to introduce a separate phone line as different types of support would need different departments. However, educating customers on what the options are for supporting them will help them know who they need to speak to when they call in. We’re also hoping to add more depth to each option on the phone lines so that customers know what to expect when they select an option including what that team can do to help them.

The support options are available to all of our tenants. This will be made clear in future communications.

We’re introducing more regular contact with customers. This will start with contacting customers who we’ve not heard from in the last 12 months. Once this is in place, our plan is to ensure we speak to every customer at least once per year.

We’re looking to introduce an area on the website which will tell customers who their Housing Officer is, what their responsibilities are etc.

We’re also introducing a phone line direct to the team for anti-social behaviour issues which should resolve the difficulty in getting to speak to someone.

Within the next 12 months we’re looking to reintroduce estate walkabouts so that our Team have more of an in-person presence on schemes.

This is something that we’ve previously looked into, however it isn’t something that we currently offer. Local communities, services and facilities change regularly. Keeping this up to date for all areas would be difficult and we wouldn’t want to provide customers with incorrect or out of date information.

We're aware of how important this is to our customers and we’re aware that our repairs service isn’t performing to the standard we’d like. We’re constantly working to improve this.

We’re about to introduce a new repair reporting form on our website. This will allow customers to report non-emergency and non-urgent repairs to our Customer Service Team to be logged.

We have a garden support scheme which helps customers who are struggling with their garden for reasons such as disability or their age. At the moment, we don’t offer a handyman service and unfortunately aren't in the position to introduce this. Our focus for repairs needs to be on ensuring our responsive repairs service is working at the standard we need.

We’re currently in the process of pulling together information such as this for a digital welcome pack. This will be shared with new customers but available to everyone on our website. This type of information will be included within the pack.

We do share examples of ‘you said, we did’ in Our Voice and on our website. Unfortunately, sometimes the perception of this is based off individual customer experience and some customers may feel more positive than others based on their own experiences.

We do take actions and make changes following customer feedback and these are often fed into policies etc. Some of the actions are behind the scenes and customers wouldn’t always see this. We’ve now published a 'customer voice hub' on our engagement platform The Hub, which gives customers more information on how we’ve used their feedback from consultations.

We do have the wellbeing hub on our website which offers a range of support to our customers. We do offer the support that was detailed in this survey and will work to promote this more. We do signpost customers to support from other agencies where we can if it’s not something that we’re able to offer. Customers can always speak to their Housing Officer to discuss their support needs.

There is already a link on our website to be able to pay rent via Allpay online.

Service charge costs depend on the services being provided. Anyone with queries about this or who feels they're being charged incorrectly should contact us. Rent and increases are set by the Government, information on how this is calculated is included in our Rent Setting Policy. Customers can contact us to discuss their rent increases if they feel it's incorrect.

Conditions of tenancy agreements state that we can’t allow a customer’s rent account to be in arrears. Having paid a month up front stops this from happening. This is protecting the customer from falling into arrears.

We do have our hardship fund for where customers have a real need. Information about this can be found on the customer wellbeing hub. Where it's needed, new customers are provided with a paint pack. Unfortunately, we have to be careful of how many grants we offer as this would cause an increase in rent to fund them.