Becoming truly customer-driven

The impact of the cost-of-living crisis and cuts to local services means the support we provide is more important than ever. Our customers expect more of us, especially during these challenging times. Unfortunately, this impacted our annual customer satisfaction score, which is disappointing.

We want to be sure we’re offering the widest possible support to our customers, whether we’re fixing something in their home, or providing financial help and advice through tough times.

Customers have said we should communicate with them better and update them about services in their local area. They’d like us to be clear about who’s responsible for carrying out various tasks and resolving issues. They also want to see us out and about in their neighbourhoods and to get better value for money for their services.

We’ve introduced new approaches this year, including our new Operations directorate and the trial of a neighbourhood operating model. We also continued to invest in digital services to help customers manage their finances and homes better. The more online self-serve options we can offer, the easier it’ll be for customers who aren’t online to call us. Together, these initiatives will help us improve services and customer satisfaction in the future.

Highlights

78.7% overall satisfaction with customer services (2021/22: 82%)
1,145 homes let to customers with 88% satisfaction (2021/22: 1,355 and 92%)
67% satisfaction with ASB services (2021/22: 68%)
2,570 customers took part in activities to help us improve services.

A joined-up approach to customer services

We set up a new Operations directorate in December 2022, with a focus on delivering better services for customers. The team is taking a joined-up approach to solving customers’ issues, including repairing and maintaining homes and major building safety works; dealing with anti-social behaviour, helping people find a new home and providing individual financial advice and support.
Delivering better services to our neighbourhoods

In January 2023, we launched a pilot of a new approach to delivering services in six areas. We’re looking at how to streamline services and create clearly defined ‘neighbourhoods’, served by multiple teams, from neighbourhood managers, to repairs and maintenance, compliance, and social investment through Hyde Foundation. The results of the pilots will support the roll-out of the approach across all our homes and communities.
Digital programme

MyAccount is our online portal where customers can make payments and track their transactions, as well as update their contact details. We’ve been encouraging more customers to sign-up to MyAccount this year and, at the year end, about 9,000 households had registered. Customers can now raise and track complaints and they’ll soon be able to book a repair and track its progress.

TotalMobile Connect (TMC) is changing the way we manage the repair and maintenance of our homes. Holding all the data we have on a home in one place means we can make better, more efficient decisions and deliver better customer service. All our teams are using TMC, including responsive repairs, empty homes, electrical testing, gas servicing and planned works.
Ensuring communities stay safe

We know anti-social behaviour can have a huge impact on people’s lives and we’re fully committed to working with our customers, communities and our partners to do all we can to help.

We received 2,471 reports of ASB this year, down from 2,638 in 2021/22, and the high of 3,424 in 2020/21,when cases rose by 44% during the coronavirus lockdowns. Customer satisfaction with how we handled ASB stayed the same, at 67% (2021/22: 68%).
Changing our approach to complaints handling

We’ve changed the way we manage complaints this year, making it easier for customers to report an issue, so we can solve things faster. We’ve found that many queries, such as repairs, were being reported as official complaints, so they were taking longer to resolve. Staff have had additional training, so they can handle complaints better, with a focus on keeping customers informed and updated.
Lettings

We completed fewer lets in 2022/23 (1,145), compared with 2021/22 (1,355). This was the result of fewer tenancies coming to an end, which meant there were fewer empty homes available.

Overall customer satisfaction with lettings decreased slightly, from 92% in 2021/22 to 88% this year. We’ve already put plans in place to address the key concerns raised by customers. We’re reviewing our minimum letting standard, to make sure homes are handed over to new occupants in a good, clean condition. We’re also making the lettings process easier to navigate and aim to communicate better with customers throughout.
Improving services together

This year, we used feedback to create customer-led service improvement plans. Customer steering groups were set up for our in-house repairs and maintenance team, Property Maintenance London, our Sustainability Strategy and our Local Services and Neighbourhood pilots. These will support ongoing development and customer involvement.