We will be valued as an influential and high-quality landlord, a forward-thinking employer and a trusted partner in our core communities.
Safe, clean neighbourhoods
We are committed to making sure our neighbourhoods are clean, safe and pleasant places to live. Historically, some of our estate services have not been as good as they should have been. Last year, following a thorough tendering process, which involved consultation with residents, we appointed a new contractor, Acorn Environmental, to carry out the grounds maintenance at our older persons schemes and several others. Acorn was also awarded the window cleaning contract for all of ccha’s housing stock.
Chequers, who had taken on the cleaning contract at short notice when the previous one failed, retained the cleaning contract for all of our buildings with an improved specification. They also kept the grounds maintenance work for general needs, took these on for our supported housing schemes, and were awarded the bulk waste removal contract for all areas.
All the contracts began in November 2019 and were awarded for five years. The new contracts are working well and although resident satisfaction figures remain similar to last year we hope you start to recognise the start of an improvement in the services you are receiving.
Satisfaction results:
“Can you pass on thanks to Chequers for continuing to operate and keep estates clean and tidy during this time. I know from where I live, being able to look out and see a tidy and cared for outdoor environment helps.”
Matilda Close - Resident
This year 2019/20
Satisfaction with internal communal cleaning?
70%
Last year 2018/19
70%
This year 2019/20
Satisfaction with the communal gardening?
67%
Last year 2018/19
64%
As well as providing housing-related services, we also offer additional support to residents such as our welfare advice, digital training, youth initiatives, employment is an important part of the tender was to have ‘portals’ which enable staff managing the contractors to check on the attendance and quality of the work provided. The portal provides photographs of the work completed with the date and time of attendance. There are regular meetings to ensure quality and performance are maintained. upport and additional estate improvements.
The new contracts we have agreed are also providing opportunities for residents. For example, Chequers has committed to offering residents access to apprenticeships, work experience and job opportunities.
“I found the customer journey training to be very useful. The trainer gave me a number of tools to help improve my communication with residents, both when writing to them and speaking to them.”
Martin Omoko - Surveyor
New approach to resident feedback
We are keen to find out what our residents think about us so that we can make improvements and shape our services accordingly. During the year we introduced a new resident feedback process. It involves carrying out surveys through telephone calls, emails and, when circumstances allow, face to face visits.
Residents will receive this survey once a year but we may also ask review specific services through smaller ad hoc surveys. This valuable feedback will help to inform our future business planning.
Once face to face surveys can be carried out again, we will be able to have real conversations with residents and show that we are listening.
"I am more than happy with the cleanliness of the building and maintenance of the lovely garden."
Connell House - Resident
Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction at the end of the financial year was 73%, against a target of 80%. We acknowledge that external factors might have influenced the lower than expected score, but we are taking steps to improve customer satisfaction across all of our services. During the coming year we will have:
- Developed a set of customer service standards to make sure we provide the high level of service that residents expect.
- Delivered a customer service training programme for all staff to give them the skills and confidence to respond to residents in a positive way.
- Developed a customer care reporting system that gives accurate and transparent information so that we can monitor our performance across all of the customer standards.
- Put plans in place to look at borough-wide issues as well as those on estates.
In particular, the customer service training, which all staff have completed, has helped to put customer care at the centre of our business. This, coupled with our new Cx housing management system (see page x for more on this), will enable staff to take a resolution-focussed approach to dealing with enquiries from residents.
“The customer service training was very interesting. The whole content made you look at the way you come across to others with your body language and the words that you use, and how to improve on it.”
Debbie Robertson - Business Support Officer