You said we did
You said we did
We really appreciate your time and that of others in giving us feedback about the services we provide.
You might wonder what we do with all this feedback. Below, you’ll find a list of changes we’ve made as a result of it.
Spring Big Door knock 2023
Spring Big Door Knock July 2023 – We spoke to residents in the Jackmans. We received feedback about improvements we can make to the neighbourhood, and also to help shape our new homes and neighbourhoods standards. We asked residents also about the impact of cost of living challenges to help inform the support we provide to all residents.
Winter Big Door knock 2023
Winter Big Door Knock January 2023 – We spoke to residents in Westmill to continue gathering feedback about the impact cost of living challenges are having on residents and the ways settle can help. We have used this feedback to further develop the support we provide, all of which is kept updated in the support from settle section [please add a link] on this website. We also received some escalations from residents about queries including outstanding repairs and these were sent directly to teams involved to action.
Maintenance
December 2022 – We know that a fast and reliable repairs service is one of the things that matters most to residents, but in our review of complaints received during 2021/22 [Our customer annual report 2021/22] we could see that wait times before appointments are too long and that resolving an issue can take multiple visits. We’ve introduced a new smart scheduling system to help us plan in repairs in the quickest and most efficient way · So that more jobs can be completed by a member of the settle team, we’ve expanded our in-house repairs team, including Homes and Maintenance Partners who oversee specific locations.
Condensation, damp and mould
December 2022 – We know that having problems with condensation, damp and mould in your home can be a difficult and distressing experience. In our review of complaints received during 2021/22 [Our customer annual report 2021/22] we noted that we’ve heard residents feel worried and don’t always feel listened to, sometimes feeling like we were leaving them to resolve the problem themselves. Our response included introducing a damp and mould policy that emphasises our zero-tolerance commitment to tackling damp and mould problems; we’ve brought in a dedicated damp and mould team; and we are tracking all damp and mould cases.
Housing management
December 2022 – In our review of complaints received during 2021/22 [Our customer annual report 2021/22], we explained that you’ve told us that we need to be open and honest and manage expectations so that you are clear about what to expect from us. When something goes wrong, take ownership and pro-actively seek a resolution to put things right.
Communicate clearly so that you do not have to chase to find out what’s happening. When you request a call back, we need to be clear about when this will happen. Our response includes introducing colleague principles for query handling; monitoring closely how many times residents contact us about the same thing and making sure that there are clear escalation routes when things go wrong; we’ve developed a customer offer to set out clearly what to expect from us; and we’ve introduced a customer hub and we’re working to improve queries at first contact.
Property condition
December 2022 -What have we heard? We included in our review of complaints received during 2021/22 [Our customer annual report 2021/22] that we know that having problems with condensation, damp and mould in your home can be a difficult and distressing experience. We heard that residents feel worried and don’t always feel listened to, sometimes feeling like we were leaving them to resolve the problem themselves. What are we doing? We invested £8.3 million during 2021/22 in improving our existing homes – up from £4.9 million in the previous year – and around £13 million during 2022/23; we are working to improve how we proactively communicate to residents when planned maintenance is scheduled. We formed the Greener Herts partnership with two other Hertfordshire–based housing associations to accelerate our work to improve the energy efficiency of our homes.
Improving the online account statement
February 2022. We received several requests from customers asking if it was possible to go back further than 90 days in the online account statement on the website.
We’re pleased to say that we’ve now made it possible for you to go back as far as you like in the account statement page. Just scroll to the bottom of the page and click the back arrow.
Autumn Big Door knock 2022
Cost of Living Big Door Knock Autumn 2022 – We spoke to residents in Royston and surrounding villages, along with those living in Pixmore, Letchworth. We used feedback about the increased the cost of living is having on residents to to help shape support we provide. Details of this are included in the support from settle section in this website. Some of the residents we spoke to also used those conversations to escalate issues they were waiting to hear from us on. We passed details directly to teams involved to make sure these were all actioned.
Summer Big Door knock 2022
Summer Big Door Knock July 2022 – We visited residents living in retirement living schemes. We heard feedback about being more consistent around the general maintenance and upkeep of some indoor and outdoor communal spaces. Some members from our executive team who took part in these visits spoke with residents about these issues and ensured improvement works are in place to put things right as a result of what they heard. Other residents mentioned that they were waiting for a follow-up on reported repairs and these were all sent directly to the teams responsible to action.
Spring Big Door knock 2022
Spring Big Door Knock April 2022 – We spoke to residents in Stevenage and surrounding villages. We heard feedback from some residents about waiting longer than expected for repairs to be carried out or for updates on those repairs. We noted that we will continue to do all we can to reduce the time it takes to complete repairs and are recruiting new colleagues into our trades teams to help us provide repairs more quickly. We also got in touch directly with residents who highlighted concerns during the visits with an update on any outstanding repairs or queries.
Winter Big Door knock 2022
Winter Big Door Knock February 2022 – We spoke to residents in Royston and surrounding villages. We heard a theme in particular across the feedback we received that colleagues need to check in with customers when we are providing services, to make sure we have done everything we could at that time. We will work together across settle to make sure we get better at this.
Repairs
September 2021. As highlighted in our complaints report for 2020/21, we received some complaints and feedback about the time it takes to arrange repairs, repeat visits to complete a repair and the quality of work carried out. We have introduced the ability to book repair appointments through our website, and we now send surveys following all appointments which immediately tells us about the customer experience. We have also published our repairs recovery plan which shows how we’re working to provide repairs more quickly.
Condensation, damp and mould
September 2021. We received feedback through complaints that residents were unclear about how we will help resolve damp and mould issues and were not sure what support we provided or what to expect next. We don’t want any settle resident to live with condensation, damp or mould in their home. We have reviewed how we respond to and deal with cases of condensation, damp and mould and we’ve updated our residents. You can see more details here about the update we published in July. If you have any ongoing concerns about condensation, damp and mould in your property, please report these now using our web form or call us.
Service charges
September 2021. We received several complaints about the charges included in the annual rent and service charges sent to customers. We have reviewed the way estimated service charges are set and have made changes when setting the 2020-2021 service charge estimates. These are now set in line with the previous years’ actual costs, making them more accurate and removing the high variances leaseholders have faced in the past.
Problems with neighbours and in the neighbourhood
September 2021. We noticed an increase in complaints about how we respond to reports of anti-social behaviour. Through our investigation of these complaints, we saw cases where extra support was needed for vulnerable residents. We have reviewed our anti-social behaviour policy and we worked with residents to agree on what is defined as anti-social behaviour and what is within our remit to manage in line with legislation. We have also created a dedicated team to support residents who are impacted by anti-social behaviour. We have refreshed the information on our website and putting in place additional training for colleagues who work with vulnerable residents. We expect this to be completed by October 2021. We also worked with the Housing Associations Charitable Trust (HACT) to develop a framework to further develop our ability to support customers.
Cleaning and grounds maintenance
September 2021: We received a number of complaints about the quality of grounds maintenance and the frequency of cleaning in communal blocks. A common theme was around timely query handling. We have increased the resource of our estate’s team to help improve the way we deliver services. We’re also undertaking a consultation with our customers to help us better understand the services they want to receive and will use feedback from this to shape our future service.
Replacing kitchens, bathrooms and windows
April 2021. Through our big check-in during April, you told us that you’d like more communication about when we’ll carry out major maintenance to homes like replacing kitchens, bathrooms and windows. During May we wrote to about 500 residents who were due to have kitchens and bathrooms replaced this year to provide more information on when this work will take place. You can read more including details of our investment in homes over the next 10 years in our results from our latest big check-in article.
Website account access for homeowners
February 2021. Homeowners told us that they’d like the same access to the website as renting customers with the ability to see account data, make payments and report and track repairs. So, we’ve enabled homeowners to register on the website and access their account from any device.
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