The safety of our housing staff is vital to the customer-landlord relationship

Working in housing is a privilege. Supporting people to have homes that are affordable and safe is incredibly rewarding. It’s something I’ve taken great pride in over my 35 year career.

I’ve found that, respect and trust has to be at the heart of a positive relationship between a customer and their landlord. Thankfully, that’s the case in the vast majority of our relationships with our customers at Hyde.

But, unfortunately, in recent years we’ve also seen a growing number of incidents where our colleagues are being threatened and, in the worst cases, assaulted. We must be clear that this can never be acceptable.

The overwhelming majority of our customers living in the homes we provide work with us well. Most people just want us to deliver the services they need and for us turn up when things need mending. But a few years ago, we began to notice a worrying trend of more customer-facing colleagues reporting concerning incidents.

Working with the members of the G15 and CASE (Consortium of Associations in the South East), we wanted to see if this pattern was unique to Hyde. Sadly, it isn’t. Our data, as Inside Housing Management has reported, shows an alarming increase in both incidents of verbal and physical abuse towards customer-facing colleagues.

In the six years from 2019 to 2024, the number of incidents we’ve seen has more than trebled. The colleagues affected by this are people doing jobs such as Neighbourhood Officers, who are out and about in communities doing essential safety checks, and Customer Service Officers, who are helping to get our customers resolutions when they call us.

Last year (2024 calendar year), almost 1 in 5 (16%) colleagues in these vital customer-facing roles were verbally or physically abused across G15 and CASE members.

In 2023, we had to close Hyde offices on six occasions due to threats of violence towards colleagues.

This simply cannot be tolerated.

Let’s be clear though, together, G15 and CASE members provide over one million homes, so the 3,085 incidents in 2024 that members recorded are a tiny proportion when compared to the number of customers we serve. I’m absolutely clear that those customers engaging in such abuse are a very small minority of our customer base.

I know that the stigma social housing customers face is very real and has a significant impact on them and the communities we serve. Too often we see stories seeking to demonise people living in this tenure. As proud supporters of the Stop Social Housing Stigma campaign, and the work of the G15 Residents Group - whose excellent report on stigma is a must read for all housing professionals – in talking about this issue, we’re on the side of the overwhelming number of our customers who are equally repulsed by some of the behaviour our colleagues have been subjected to.

But when dedicated colleagues are coming to us with accounts of awful experiences, we need to call it out and to act.

A female colleague with over 30 years’ experience in housing was threatened by a customer that they were going to, “do you [her] in”, and she came to us to say that, “enough is enough.” At the other end of the career spectrum, someone who recently joined the sector to be a Neighbourhood Officer shared a feeling that it appears that some people think it’s, “ok to beat us up because we have a uniform on.”

When talking to our colleagues about their experiences and the measures we’ve introduced to help make them be and feel safer at work, such as lone worker devices and specialist training, the word that sums up all they really want at work is “respect”.

With demand for the services and support we provide increasing, we need to continue to attract and retain great colleagues who are customer-driven, so we can meet the standards our customers rightly expect.

Getting on top of the growing issue of abuse and assaults of colleagues is really important, so that our teams feel equipped and empowered to do their jobs, without the fear of threats or violence hindering them.

There’s, of course, more that we can do as landlords to create an environment where we’re more visible, more approachable and show we’re willing to help our customers. At Hyde, our shift to our Neighbourhoods model in 2024 has helped us be closer to our customers and communities.

But, just like any other customer facing service, we must set clear guidelines and standards to ensure our colleagues’, and our customers’, safety and wellbeing. Our zero-tolerance approach to abuse and violence is a non-negotiable part of this.

Our customers deserve and need a voice and someone they can talk to who genuinely cares about their home and neighbourhood. We remain committed to creating this culture, but in doing so must set clear boundaries about unacceptable behaviour, with clear consequences. We must also equip our colleagues sensibly, so that they remain approachable and confident to engage with our customers. It's key that we act and highlight the need to stop poor behaviour, so that we can continue to help our customers to enjoy and feel secure within our homes and neighbourhoods.

Neal Ackcral

Chief Operating Officer, The Hyde Group

This article first appeared on Inside Housing on 3 September 2025.