Making improvements

What we have done:

• We recognise how frustrating it is if you are not kept up to date with the progress of a repair, so we have made improvements to our reporting processes to help you track your repair. You can now see the progress of your repair in the customer portal and, once your repair is completed, you can also use the portal to provide feedback on how we did. 
• For customers living in flats, we have started to introduce digital notice boards in communal areas showing updates for repairs to lifts and entry systems.
• Following your feedback from our post-repair satisfaction survey, we have analysed satisfaction by trade and geographical area to understand where we need to make improvements.

What we plan to do:

• We recognise that damp and mould is a serious issue and will ensure customers are kept informed on how you can report damp and mould issues to us and the steps we will take to resolve them, including providing clear information on our website, at our neighbourhood events and through a customer webinar.
• We will distribute hydrometers to customers attending our resident summer events to help you monitor humidity levels in your home and enable us to rectify potential damp and mould issues early.
• Working with our customer panel (Resident Voice and Scrutiny Panel), we will review repair timescales and our responsibilities to you. With new timescales for dealing with damp & mould and emergency repairs under Awaab’s Law coming into effect in October 2025, we are dedicated to ensuring we meet these standards.
• We will look at ways to improve the information available to you about the quality of your home through our customer portal.

What we have done:

• We have shared information about the actions we have taken to improve building safety at our resident summer events and surveyed customers living in high rise buildings to understand how you want to engage with us and be contacted about building safety.

What we plan to do:

• Ensuring our homes are safe to live in is a top priority for us and we will continue to invest in a comprehensive programme of stock condition surveys. These surveys are carried out by a qualified surveyor and are an in-depth assessment of the physical state of your home, both internally and externally. This provides us with detailed data on the condition, age and expected lifespan of the different elements of your home - such as the kitchen, bathroom, windows, doors and roof - to help us make informed decisions about maintenance, repairs, and future investments.

What we have done:

• We have introduced a new standalone customer service policy to clearly outline the standards and quality of service we aim to provide, including how quickly we will respond to calls, messages, emails and complaints. We have also shared our Customer Charter, so you know exactly what to expect from us.
• Where necessary, staff have had refresher training on customer service and using our contact management system, so that no enquiry is missed.
• We have created a new ‘Let’s Talk’ webinar series to provide advice and guidance for customers on topics relating to your home.

What we plan to do:

• We are committed to providing fair and accessible services to everyone. We will conduct a customer census to ensure the information we hold about you is correct and to help us understand more about you and others living in your household, including your contact preferences, the language(s) you speak, your diverse needs and any vulnerabilities you might have.  The information we gather will allow us to tailor our services to serve you better.
• We want to ensure that our customers’ voices drive improvements to our services and will enhance our resident involvement opportunities and feedback channels to give more ways for customers to shape the services we provide.
• Customers told us that we don’t always provide timely responses to their queries and concerns. To improve our responsiveness, we will review the processes for recording your telephone messages and our response times and implement automatic alerts for our staff whenever a new contact is assigned to them. 
• You also told us that sometimes you have to chase us several times for updates on a repair or other service request. We will analyse the patterns and themes for repeat customer calls across our services and identify where we can make improvements.
• We will enhance our contact management systems to make sure our staff have easy access to clear records, ensuring you receive the best possible service.
• We want to create a positive communication culture, where we are transparent with you and where you feel valued and heard, so we will regularly share where your feedback has influenced positive change in our customer newsletter and through our Residents’ Annual Report.

What we have done:

• We have introduced a dedicated complaints and customer resolutions team to drive improvements in our complaints handling process and ensure that your complaints are dealt with effectively and fairly, in accordance with the Housing Ombudsman Service’s Complaint Handling Code.
• We have created a new ‘Making a complaint’ leaflet with the help of our two customer panels (RVSP and Voicebox), so that you have a better understanding of how and when to make complaints and our responsibilities to you.
• We have also introduced a complaints satisfaction survey, so we can monitor how well we are responding to complaints and make improvements where necessary.

What we plan to do:

• It is vital that we continue to learn from complaints. We will look for root causes and patterns in complaints to highlight areas of service failure and identify recurring issues.  We will translate this learning into practical action to prevent similar problems from happening again.

What we have done:

• We recognise that anti-social behaviour (ASB) can cause distress and we take reports of ASB very seriously, as we know it can affect your quality of life. Our housing officers have continued to visit estates to listen to your concerns about your neighbourhood.  Where appropriate, we are actively addressing the issues you raise, including working in partnership with agencies such as the police, environmental health and mental health to help neighbourhoods feel safe for everyone.
• We have continued to provide advice and information about reporting ASB and what you can expect from us in response, including hosting an online webinar.
• We have created an ASB focus group, enabling customers to inform and shape our work around resolving ASB issues.
• We have appointed a dedicated anti-social behaviour officer to help resolve the most serious cases of ASB.

What we plan to do:

• We believe that everyone has the right to be themselves, without being affected by hostility or prejudice. We will investigate the possibility of Hightown becoming a Hate Incident Reporting Centre (HIRC) to give customers an alternative place for reporting hate crimes and incidents.
• We want to hear your ideas for improving your estate. We will encourage applications to our estate improvement fund from customers who have suggestions for improving communal areas and will work with our customer panel (RVSP) to identify and implement positive changes.
• You told us that the services provided by our contractors do not always meet your expectations. We will continue to meet with our grounds maintenance and cleaning contractors on a regular basis to raise any concerns and ensure they are always providing quality services.