Tenant satisfaction measures 2024/25 – what the results are showing
We’ve published our latest results against the tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs), which includes feedback collected from 1,222 Settle residents between 1st April 2024 and the 31st March 2025.
The tenant satisfaction measures consist of 22 measures. 12 are perception measures which survey residents on their level of satisfaction with the services we provide and 10 are management information measures which use information collected and monitored by Settle to ensure we deliver good services.
We’re proud to report that we’ve improved our scores across all 12 satisfaction-based measures compared to the previous year.
The management information measures include details on how we keep homes safe and well maintained and how promptly we respond to complaints in line with the Housing Ombudsman’s Code. These results reflect our strong commitment to maintaining high standards and fulfilling our responsibilities to residents. Almost eight out of ten residents (77.76%) feel safe in their homes and we achieved our targets of 100% across all five measures linked to gas, fire, electric, water, and lift safety.
While it is great to see this improvement on the results we shared for 23/24, we will use the results collected from this year, along with additional feedback we receive from residents, to continue driving improvements across our work.
Overall satisfaction
The key measure we use to understand resident experience and satisfaction with the services we provide is overall satisfaction. We’re pleased to report that for 2024/25 almost 75% of residents said they were satisfied, an increase of 5% on 2023/24. Our target for this year is to increase overall satisfaction to 80%.
Other highlights where we have seen an improvement on last year’s scores include how we treat residents, with almost eight of ten residents (78.2%) saying we treat them with fairness and respect, an improvement of over 3% on 2023/24.
Trust and Effort
In addition to the tenant satisfaction measures, it is also important to us to understand how much you trust us as your landlord and how easy you feel it is to have your issues resolved.
For trust, we scored 7.1 against a target of 7.5 [the higher the score, the better]. For resident effort, we achieved 2.9, against a target of 3 [the lower the score the better].
We’re pleased to see our effort score improve and perform well against the target, reflecting the work we’ve done over the past year to make it easier for residents to access and engage with our services. We acknowledge the opportunity to improve our trust score, which we will achieve by focusing on the service areas where the tenant satisfaction measures scores were lower and by acting on resident feedback.
Acting on what we have heard
We’re pleased to see overall scores improve, but we acknowledge the importance of continuing to focus on improving in areas where residents are most dissatisfied.
For emergency repairs, which are those where there is an immediate health and safety risk, we completed 99.98% within the target timeframe of 24 hours or less.
Seven out of ten residents (69.89%) were satisfied with the overall repairs service, while slightly fewer residents were satisfied with the time taken to carry out a repair after they reported it (65.53%).
We know that providing repairs more quickly, getting them right the first time and keeping residents informed about the progress of a repair are the most important things we can do to improve overall satisfaction. In response to the feedback we received, we made a number of changes to the repairs service in 2024/25:
- We updated our repairs offer to provide clearer communication to residents about how we respond to emergencies and routine repairs. As well as provided guidance on how we respond to planned work. Through improved scheduling we are starting to see an increase in the number of jobs completed per day.
- We improved the use of our text message facility to update residents when their repair will take place.
- The number of jobs that are carried out by Settle’s in-house team members instead of a subcontractor has increased, with an increased number of inspections providing more assurance to residents. This has been supported by enhancing how we schedule jobs and improve our works order management.
In line with the above, we have a repairs service improvement plan in place which we will be monitoring the impact against the tenant satisfaction measures this year. We also have a programme in place focusing on Five Key Areas for Improvement, which draws together our priorities for service improvement across our work at Settle based on resident feedback through things like tenant satisfaction measures, transactional surveys, complaints, Big Door Knocks and the Voice of the Resident Panel. Improving our repairs service is included within this. Reducing the time that residents have to wait for a repair to be carried out is a priority, and for the final quarter of the reporting period we saw performance improvements, with further progress expected in the next reporting year. You can see more details on the improvements we are making to our repairs service.
While the number of residents who are satisfied that we keep communal areas clean and well-maintained has increased (to 64.72% from 60% in 2023/24), over a quarter of residents surveyed are dissatisfied. We are utilising feedback from the tenant satisfaction measures to help identify themes where we can improve and to achieve our target of 80% for 2025/26. Communal areas are also included in our programme focused on Five Key Areas for Improvement. Improvements we are looking to make include providing greater clarity on areas we are directly responsible for, improving our communication on grounds maintenance, making our reporting process easier and improving how we work with local partners.
Almost half of residents (49%) expressed dissatisfaction with how we handle complaints. One of the challenges with the results of this tenant satisfaction measure is that only 8% of residents who responded to this question had actually raised a formal complaint with Settle.
We can see that the two main drivers for responses to this question were day-to-day repairs and residents not feeling their complaint had been resolved. We are focusing our response through the repairs improvement plan and how we follow up on complaint outcomes, continuing our commitment to learning from every complaint we receive to improve our services.
In line with the sector trend, the number of complaints we responded to has increased compared to the previous year, with 99.7% of these responded to in the timeframes required. Whilst just 3 complaints (0.3%) were responded to outside of the timeframes set, we recognise the target is 100%, which we remain committed to achieving this year.
The themes we have identified from complaints are:
- Improving communication: by talking to residents more by phone or in person, and ensuring we communicate effectively with post complaint actions.
- Targeted training for colleagues: addressing challenges before they escalate, ensuring problems are resolved quickly and effectively.
- Improving overall complaint handling efficiency: by resolving more complaints within the first ten days to avoid the need for extensions.
- Improving case management: through working with our Voice of the Resident Panel to update the resident portal with a complaint tracker.
- Creating a better understanding of complaints: by updating the complaints section of our website and including more service information in our newsletters.
Satisfaction with how we manage and respond to anti-social behaviour (ASB) increased by over 5% to almost 61% (60.81%). A challenge with the results of this tenant satisfaction measure is that only 10% of those surveyed had an actual ASB case with Settle. We have identified the themes of how we can improve against this tenant satisfaction measure, and we are taking steps to address this by:
- Improving communication: by being clear, open and honest in every interaction and improving how residents can report complaints or ASB concerns through the portal.
- Improving case management: by introducing more straightforward processes, improving how concerns are logged, triaged and reviewed.
- Creating a better understanding of anti-social behaviour: by reviewing our ASB policy with residents, looking for opportunities to share understanding of the actions Settle can and can’t take.
- Implementing changes to our service: in response to best practice published by the Housing Ombudsman.
In January 2024 we went live with a new ‘demand-led’ way of working in neighbourhoods, including an increased focus on community safety. This has enabled us to be more present in local communities, speaking to more residents, and has meant we have responded to more high harm cases (serious incidents) of ASB – investigating 159 cases in 2024/25, 61% more than in 2023/24.
When asked what one thing Settle could do to improve services, residents highlighted the need for better communication—whether it’s keeping residents informed about the status of repairs or providing updates on how we’re delivering services. We see this reflected in the tenant satisfaction measure for how we Listen and Act – with dissatisfaction at 28.25%.
We know how important it is to improve our communication with residents, and that will only be achieved by improving in the tenant satisfaction measures listed above.
Communications are an important part of our Five Key Areas for Improvement programme. We have included a focus within this on improving our responses to complaints and query handling, along with digital ease – making it easier for you to get in touch with us and access services digitally. Delivering improvements to these service areas will be a priority during the year ahead. We are keeping residents informed with the latest updates around these through our engagement platform – Settle Connect.
During the past year, we’ve provided more ways for residents to get involved from online feedback through our engagement platform – Settle Connect and panels, such as the Voice of the Resident and Green panels and in-person events.
Throughout the year, we’ve also organised Neighbourhood Action Days and big door knocks in some of our bigger communities. These events are a direct response to residents’ feedback, focusing on improving the appearance and upkeep of communal spaces to make them more welcoming places to live. They also give us a chance to speak with residents face-to-face, listen to how they’re feeling, and understand how we can continue to improve our services.
Service Styles
As we move forwards, we are pleased to launch our new Service Styles. Co-designed with colleagues and residents, these set out clear expectations for every interaction, ensuring a shared understanding of what a great service looks like. We are currently rolling out Service Styles across Settle, with all colleagues attending training on them. Clear, consistent communication is a core commitment in our Service Styles and we’re holding ourselves to account to deliver on that standard for every resident.
Explore the Full Tenant satisfaction measures
Want to see the full breakdown of our performance and how we’re listening to your feedback? Visit our dedicated Tenant Satisfaction Measures page for April 2024 to March 2025 to learn more about what we’re doing well and where we’re working to improve.
