Our 2022/23 customer satisfaction results are now available, detailing how we have performed across a range of measures and giving us an early indication of how we are performing against the Regulator of Social Housing’s new Tenant Satisfaction Measures.
Since 2020, we have used a third-party provider, IFF Research, to collect satisfaction information throughout the year, to give us an up-to-date picture of customer satisfaction levels. IFF Research is registered with Market Research Society and is bound by its code of conduct.
IFF Research spoke to 600 customers between April 2022 and March 2023. The feedback provided is used to improve our services to you, as well helping us to identify where to focus our resources.
Following the publication of the Social Housing White Paper in 2020, the Regulator of Social Housing worked with tenants and other stakeholders to produce a new suite of Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs), to better reflect what is important to tenants and standardise the gathering of satisfaction data across the housing sector.
There are 22 TSMs, 10 of which are measured directly by landlords, with the remaining 12 measured through tenant perception surveys. These 12 measures are what we asked IFF Research to survey our customers about.
The new measures were published in September 2022 and came into force in April 2023. We revised our survey questions in November 2022 in line with these new measures. Therefore, where questions have been changed, we have merged the data from the old and new questions, where comparable, to allow us track trends throughout the year.
You can find full details of the Tenant Satisfaction Measures on the GOV.uk website
The results
Based on the survey results, SLH has scored better or similar to other housing associations in 11 out of 12 TSMs, with only one, timeliness of repairs, performing worse. The table above shows our scores for all 12 TSMs and how we compare with the average. Below is a more detailed analysis of each result.
Overall, 77% of tenants said that they were satisfied with SLH, taking everything into account. While we are in line with other housing associations, it is 5% lower than our equivalent score last year.
Of those who were dissatisfied with our service, common reasons given were the length of time it takes to complete repairs, quality of repairs and the regularity with which we update our homes.
78% of respondents said they were satisfied with repairs, performing similar to other housing associations. And while repair satisfaction levels have remained stable year on year, we know that repairs is a common reason for dissatisfaction and is an area that we need to improve upon.
Timeliness of repairs is one of the new Tenant Satisfaction Measures, which aims to drill down further into repairs to better pinpoint areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. And the speed with which we complete repairs is the one area that we have fallen short of the average across the housing sector, with only 64% of respondents happy with the timeliness of repairs.
We need to improve in the area, so we have changed the way we track the timeliness of various types of repair, arranged a series of focus groups with dissatisfied customers and reviewed our communications around repairs, including ‘we’re on our way’ messaging when our operatives are en route.
We are performing better than other housing associations, with 78% of respondents saying they are satisfied with the standard to which their home is maintained.
This is a new Tenant Satisfaction Measure, which had been separated from ‘well-maintained’ this year to help pinpoint safety issues like fire safety and damp and mould. Our score of 86% means that we are out-performing other housing associations.
Our monthly performance figures show that we have an excellent record completing gas safety inspections and we have been working hard to highlight cases of damp and mould and improve our processes in this area.
Listening to tenants and acting on what they say is a key component of our Together with Tenants pledge, and while our score of 68% tells us that we are on par with other housing associations, we know we need to do better. Of the reasons why customers were dissatisfied, failing to listen about poor quality repairs, reports of discourteous or unhelpful staff and poor communication were the most common issues.
We take reports of discourtesy to our tenants very seriously. To help us improve we’re refreshing our customer service training to ensure that the way we communicate with tenants is consistent and with respect, and we’re arranging focus groups with customers who feel they haven’t been effectively listened to or treated with respect.
To better understand the issues around poor quality repairs, we’ve targeted over 300 customers who have recently reported damp, mould and condensation, to find out what went well and what can be improved, while internally we’re improving access to information across our teams so we can more effectively communicate progress on repairs and other issues.
79% of respondents were satisfied with how we keep them informed, performing better than many other housing associations.
While we have increased the number of channels through which we communicate with our customers, with new social media channels and an increasing number of targeted campaigns on key topics, we are keen to improve further to ensure that we reach as many of our customers as possible on subjects that are important to them.
81% of respondents said they thought we treated them fairly and with respect, better than the average across other housing providers.
Complaints handling is one of the most challenging areas of customer satisfaction across the housing sector and, while we scored better than the average across other housing associations, only 49% of customers were satisfied with the way we handled their complaints.
While it is difficult to differentiate between satisfaction with the process and the outcome of the complaint itself, we know that we have work to do to make the process of making a complaint as straightforward as possible.
The maintenance of communal areas has been added as a specific TSM in this year’s survey to reflect the experience of those customers living in apartments, flats and other homes with shared indoor and outdoor spaces.
81% of respondents were satisfied with how these areas are managed, better than the average across other housing associations. We have done a lot of work around understanding the responsibilities of both tenants and landlords when it comes to keeping communal areas clean and tidy and we will continue to work with our tenants who live in communal homes to maintain customer satisfaction.
We also scored well when it came to making a positive contribution to our neighbourhood, scoring 80%.
We hope that projects like Grow Speke, The Market Place and Reach are having a positive impact on the local environment, helping customers with the cost of living and signposting people to local employment and training opportunities, while the development work that we’re doing is helping to build new communities and much-needed homes in the area.
73% of respondents said that they were happy with the way that anti-social behaviour complaints were handled, higher than the sector average.
Like general complaints, it is often difficult to distinguish between satisfaction with the process of complaint handling, and the outcome of the case. However, we’re looking at the reasons why customers are dissatisfied with how their complaints are handled to address any common themes.
What’s next?
Whilst we are scoring above average for the sector in many areas, we want to be the best we can be. To do this, we need to listen to our tenants and, working together, co-develop action plans for improvement on every measure.
Look out for opportunities to get involved and collaborate to improve the quality of our services.