Customers at the heart
We place customers at the heart of what we do, involving and developing services to fit the needs and aspirations of our customers.
Working with tenants
Tenant engagement plays a vital role across the Group. We recognise that good engagement can help us improve our services, increase tenant satisfaction and achieve better value for money.
Tenants can get involved with us by taking part in surveys, local groups and forums, the Tenants’ Voice group (formerly the Scrutiny Pool), estate walkabouts, mystery shopping, inspections, residents’ associations and more.
During the year, our Tenants’ Voice group completed a review of our tenant engagement activities. This included matching our activities with the National Housing Federation’s Together with Tenants Charter.
The review found that we were compliant with all six areas of the Charter, with the Tenants’ Voice group making 18 recommendations to improve services .
Tenant volunteers also carried 41 appraisals of our neighbourhoods. While feedback showed that the overall appearance of our communities was satisfactory, we carried out further improvements such as removing fly-tipped items, unblocking drains, tidying gardens, and clearing pathways.
We are always looking for new ways to involve people and find out what they think about our services and their community. We introduced a new Community Chat project at Wade Hall in Leyland this year.
This pilot project saw members of our Senior Leadership Team buddy up with the Area Housing Team to visit tenants and residents at home. They visited 95 households, asking tenants and residents what they liked about their community and what they would change. 83% of those households asked said that they were satisfied from the services that we provide.
Tenants and residents welcomed the project, and the information it provided is now being used to develop an area improvement plan. As the pilot proved so successful, we will be holding further Community Chats in other areas in the year ahead.
Tenants' Voice group
Community Chat
Northbrook Gardens community day
Listening to tenants
This year we received 654 complaints from tenants and resolved 96.9% of them within the timescale required by the Housing Ombudsman.
Just under a fifth of complaints were about the time taken to complete a repair. As a result of this feedback, our Responsive Repairs Team now has a single point of contact to co-ordinate work from start to completion.
In addition, our operatives have undergone multi-skilled training to enable them to be more flexible when carrying out a repair. The aim is to complete more repairs in the first visit and reduce the need to call out other tradespeople.
Following the publication of the Housing Ombudsman Code, we have strengthened our complaints process, improved communication between different departments and given further guidance to colleagues about resolving complaints quickly.
Among the 244 compliments we received, the majority were for the speed and quality of work carried out in tenants’ homes as well as praise for our employees going the extra mile.
My life in progress - Meet Zelda
Homemade samosas
Northbrook Gardens community day
Cultural event
Community activities
During the year, as we started to come out of the pandemic, we ran a mix of both online and face-to-face events and activities. These were attended by 1,187 people and included:
· 87 community events
· 83 consultation events
· 56 scrutiny events
· Five training events
We also hosted 398 community events in our independent living schemes, attended by 2,914 tenants.
Other activities included our Progress In Bloom gardening competition, a scarecrow festival, and our second annual Progress Community Champion Awards, which recognises our valuable tenant volunteers.
Petting corner
Family fun day
Face painting
Safe neighbourhoods
Our Community Safety Team works with tenants and residents to keep neighbourhoods safe and pleasant places to live. This year we saw cases of anti-social behaviour drop. We dealt with 763 cases –173 less than last year. Each case is assessed in depth to determine the best course of action for the complainant, perpetrator and the wider community.
Accessing homes to carry out gas and electrical safety checks is vital for the safety of our tenants and their families. This year, we reviewed our compliance procedures which led to a reduction in applications to the court to gain access.
Following the recruitment of a community safety specialist, the team has extended its training, covering topics such as case auditing, disability consideration, anti-social behaviour tools and legal powers.
The team continues to work alongside key partners such as the police to resolve serious and persistent anti-social problems. We recognise that this behaviour can be caused by mental health issues, drug or alcohol use, a relationship breakdown or a disability, so we work closely with a range of social and health care providers.
We also refer tenants to our own services to get help with managing money, employment and tenancy support. During the year, the team referred more than 70 tenants to our services and other specialist providers.
This year, we helped 136 customers increase their income by a total of £282,705.
Maximising income
We offer guidance and support to tenants struggling to manage their money or pay their rent. We have a dedicated Financial Inclusion Team which helps tenants with budgeting, debt and benefits.
Our 'Preferred Landlord Status' enables us to work closely with our tenants and the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) on benefit applications.
We also offer a critical tenancy support service to people who are at risk of losing their homes because of rent arrears or anti-social behaviour.
We also achieved 2.7% general needs rent arrears against a target of 3.9% and achieved a combined rent collection of 99.4% against a target of 99.5%.
The team continues to work alongside key partners such as the police to resolve serious and persistent anti-social problems.