Listening and learning and acting upon your feedback is important to us. This year we continue to work with you to get you involved in a way that suits you.
Here we showcase the positive influence your involvement has had in positively impacting the lives of social housing tenants.
Our Customer Committee is made up of nine tenants and residents, they are part of our formal Governance Structures that are in place to who hold us to account and have oversight for how we work as an organisation and the decisions that are made. So far, they have been:
All of the above champion tenant opinions, feelings and the things that matter to you. To make sure you are listened to, and that your views are acted upon.
Members of the Customer Committee also have links to Community Voice, to make sure issues that arise in communities are reported back and addressed at senior board level and work with the Scrutiny Partners to make sure that the recommendations from their investigations are turned into action and completed.
The Community Voice is a group made up of tenants and members of the community. We have a group in Fitton Hill, Salford and Stockbridge Village. They hold us to account for how we deliver services in the local areas, giving us valuable feedback that we can use to listen and improve. Members also make important decisions about funding applications to our Community and Local Area Improvement Fund, where money is granted to local projects.
In the last year they have:
1
Championed improvements to our Customer Connect Hub, which has now seen a considerable improvement to how fast your calls are answered
2
Influenced the opening of two receptions in Eccles and Stockbridge Village, so that tenants can drop-in during opening hours and speak to colleagues face-to-face
3
Gave feedback on rent statements and rent setting letters so that the design was improved and the information was more supportive of tenant financial situations. This resulted in less tenants getting in touch with our Customer Connect Hub as they had the information you need, in a way you could understand
4
Worked with teams on the Safe Homes Portal, so that you can access the safety information about your home online on our website
5
Attended focus groups about MyAccount+ which is our tenant app and web portal. This resulted in 12 improvements
6
Overseen Community Fund applications and approved 139 applications to give money to groups totalling £67,362
7
Overseen Local Area Improvement Fund applications and approved 8 applications to give money to groups totalling £11,000
8
Overseen grants to support community groups with their running costs. 13 applications were approved totalling £11,000
9
Championed and influenced bringing back a tenant newsletter. This launched again in June 2023.
10
Supported with creating a Young Person’s Task group in Stockbridge Village to help tackle anti-social behaviour
11
Worked with teams on the tenant repairs responsibilities, so that the information was easy to understand and available on the website
12
Supported the development of content for the surveys that are being used to measure tenant satisfaction
Every quarter our Community Voice members meet to discuss topics affecting their area. To view the latest blog, click here.
Our Local Area Improvement Fund is money we set aside to support the community to make a difference to the area they live in. This year, we have:
Wharton and Cleggs Lane Gardening Group received £800 in October 2023 for greenhouse base and for the greenhouse to be erected after receiving one as a donation.
John, Volunteer Gardener said: “We have struggled to recruit volunteers for a long time but getting a greenhouse has made raising plants from seeds much easier and has helped to make more possible with the volunteers we have and has helped boost morale.”
Next year, the budget for the fund has been increased to £33,015. You can apply online for funding. To find out more click here.
Our Community Fund is money we set aside to support community groups with key funding for projects, activities, and sessions. This year, we have:
The Ellesmere Park Estate Residents Group run a Supper Club at De La Salle Sports Club in Irlam every 6 weeks. They received £500 from the Community Fund in April 2023.
Maria, Secretary for the group, said: “There is a gentleman that lost his wife recently. He phones us sometimes asking when the next one is. Coming to Supper Club has really helped his confidence which has meant he has gone on to do swimming, which he wouldn’t have gone to before.”
Next year, the budget for the fund has been increased to £93,250. You can apply online for funding. To find out more click here.
Supported 13 groups with funding of £7,832 for essential running costs support, such as bills, insurances and marketing. These grants have helped groups reach more people and provide valuable support to their local community.
Staff and tenants hold regular drop in sessions for tenants on a quarterly basis and have supported us to get out important messages about fire safety, helping us to design a poster and leaflet and are supporting us to review our tenant engagement framework. Members of the forum also report issues on behalf of neighbours and have also helped us to engage tenants on essential safety matters such as evacuation plans.
In April 2023, members of the Scrutiny Panel developed a new way of undertaking scrutiny reviews to make sure that we hear from a wide range of people. This improved Scrutiny process, we are able to review what we do and why we do it, influencing what happens to your home and community, and putting you at the heart of our decision making.
To learn more about Scrutiny and what it is, watch the video below:
This year, Scrutiny have…
In 2024/2025, Scrutiny will be carrying out the following exercises to review what we do and why we do it:
- Review of the ForHousing Strategy
- Gas servicing and gas repairs
- Tenant repairs responsibility and how it is communicated
- Pest control management
- Damp and mould management
- Neighbourhood management audit
They will then share their findings, and make recommendations so that we can listen and act upon their feedback to improve the service you receive to improve your experience.
Janette Ball, a tenant and Scrutiny partner said:
“Scrutiny is our way of holding our landlord to account, to review what they are doing and why, to put our views and needs at the heart of decision making.”
Our Together with Tenants Charter was launched in April 2023, and was developed with tenants over six months, where we listened to you and gathered your feedback. A group of 14 tenant volunteers identified key issues that are important to you, that can help improve our services, and this shaped our Together with Tenants Charter. It sets out these issues into five key themes and under each theme, we made commitments to you.
We have now reported on how we are performing against these themes for the last financial year, broken down into every three months. Click below to see how we performed in each quarter:
From this you can see that we’re on track in some areas. It also shows we haven’t got it quite right in others and that we still have lots to do, and our teams are working hard to reach our ambitious targets. We’re at the first full year of this journey. We’re confident that with time and working with you, that we can reach the goals set.
Helen Wild, a Fitton Hill tenant who was involved in producing the Charter said: “From a tenant’s perspective, although we don’t own the property, it’s our home. As tenants, we ask for respect from ForHousing and want them to provide good quality homes and services. That’s their commitment and the Charter is our way of holding them to it.”
You said…
We were taking too long to deal with your enquiries about damp and mould.
We listened and…
Centralised our damp inspection process and moved our damp surveyors into ForHousing rather than colleagues being employed by our contractor.
This change has simplified the inspection process, reduced delays, and improved quality control over damp-related services. The current target for delivery against agreed timescales for damp work is 90%. In 2023 performance against this target averaged 53% but since January 2024 this has been consistently above 95%.
You said…
We were taking too long to complete damp and mould repairs.
We listened and…
We have increased the number of surveyors by four, from September 2023 to date. This is so we can complete works quicker and make sure quality work is delivered.
You said…
You were not satisfied with the standard of your home when you moved in.
We listened and…
We have an ongoing project, relet standard, that aims to improve and enhance the condition of empty homes. This will reduce the repairs after a tenancy starts, giving you a better experience and improving overall customer satisfaction. This new way of doing things is expected to go live from August 2024.
You said…
You were not happy with how we were dealing with issues to do with pests.
We listened and…
We are monitoring complaints and the costs related to pest control and we have started temporary measures in September 2023. These measures include reviewing how and when we will support with the cost of pest control and a review of the process and stance about pest management.
You said…
You had to repeat information that you had already told us about your circumstances.
We listened and…
Launched a ‘Knowing Our Tenants’ program that evaluates and improves the quality of data that we hold about you. This will help us understand your individual needs when accessing services so
we can make the appropriate reasonable adjustments.
You said…
You said in tenant satisfaction surveys that you are not always happy with the standard of repairs carried out and need to contact us to report unresolved repairs. This negatively impacts your overall satisfaction and perception of our services.
The tenant satisfaction surveys also say that in some cases the service we have provided was good, but it could be improved by removing the need for you to contact the Customer Connect Hub following works being done for an update or to rebook follow on repairs.
We listened and…
We have attempted 870 outbound calls to reduce this. We plan to make even more calls as we learn and start to understand more ways in which we can make your experience better.
- We have planned scrutiny reviews for key services and areas, so that you can review what we do and why we do it, and make recommendations to improve them.
- We are launching a Repairs & Maintenance Excellence Tenant Group so that you can share your views on our repairs service, and help us to improve the service you receive.
- We will be recruiting more Community Voice members to join our tenant groups.
- We will be launching a tenant engagement tool kit to make it easier for all staff to engage with tenants in a meaningful way.
- We will be engaging with young people as part of our Youth Voice initiative.
- We will be continuing our Understanding our Communities work to truly understand what is important to you locally and work together to improve neighbourhoods.
- We will be actively engaging with tenants from minority groups, to make sure all voices are heard.
