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charter

CELEBRATING the first year

To see how we’ve been performing click here or visit www.forhousing.co.uk/together-with-tenants

The Together with Tenants Charter was developed alongside tenants and launched in April 2023 as a way to make clear what matters to you and our commitment to providing the best possible services to you, putting you as the centre of everything we do.

The aim of the charter is to:

- Make clear what is important to you as tenants

- Be open about our commitment to improve our services

- Improve accountability to you We have made this document so you can:

- See how we have performed over the last year

- Share examples of how we’re listening and learning

- Share stories and quotes from tenants so you can see how we have delivered on our commitments set out in the Charter

Kate’s viewpoint

Home is everything to me and my family.

I’ve been a ForHousing tenant for about nine years, and live in an adapted home with my son, who has disabilities.

Knowing we have a safe place to live that meets our needs has made a huge difference in our lives. It gives us stability. It means we can focus on other things in life. It means we can think about the future.

As you can imagine I have a very busy home life caring for my son, so like lots of people I didn’t really know much about my landlord, or what they did in the community where we lived.

Getting involved

Then, three years ago, that all changed when I saw an advert for the Community Voice group in Salford. It was a chance to have more of a say in what happened in the area. I loved the idea of feeling part of the community and decided it was time I had a say.

It opened up a whole new world for me.

I could see my landlord was working really hard to see what people’s views on the area were, and then actually doing something about them. I understood that tenants getting involved was really important. And that this was a great way to give back to the area.

I wanted to get more involved, so when I saw they were advertising for people to join their Customer Committee, I thought ‘Why not?’

It was a chance to have a bigger say in how the landlord was run and how it made decisions.

Together with Tenants Charter

One of the biggest things we’ve worked on since I joined the committee has been getting the Together with Tenants Charter off the ground.

The Charter sets out a load of commitments ForHousing has made to tenants – and it’s our job to hold them to account.

The biggest change over the last year has been communication with tenants!

ForHousing has built a new website and now does a quarterly newsletter.

It makes it easier for people like me to know what’s going on and reminds us where to go if we’ve got a problem.

They also set up a new Customer Connect Hub so it’s easier to get in touch with them, and staff have got more time to speak to people like me about repairs and make follow-up calls.

It’s made a big difference, and I enjoy challenging staff to make sure that things are happening at the pace tenants want and in the way we want.

Loads to do

Of course, there’s still loads to do.

I want ForHousing to get better in how it deals with feedback from tenants and how we’re kept updated about jobs that are happening in our homes.

We’re sharing our ideas on these things, and I know it’s not something that will change overnight.

The good thing is, I know that what tenants think and say is taken seriously.

When we have ideas, people listen and then make changes. It’s not just a new website. We’ve seen actual changes to how nuisance noise is dealt with, damp and mould services, and health and safety.

So, I know where there are problems we can fix them.

Pest and fly tipping in neighbourhoods are the next big things we want to look at. When we talk to people, this is what matters to them.

People’s homes don’t just stop at the front door. We want to live in communities where we can be proud, so problems like these have real consequences on how we feel.

One of the biggest challenges of working on the charter has been keeping a positive outlook but also being realistic that we can’t deal with everything at once.

But it keeps us on track and means we won’t lose sight of what we’re trying to do.

I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together.

Having a place to call home has changed my life. I’ll keep working hard to make sure others have a positive experience.

Kate Langtree

ForHousing tenant and Customer Committee Member

Communication & visibility

You told us...

• We needed to get better at communicating with you

• You wanted to be kept informed on things that matter to you

• You wanted to know more about what we are doing to respond to your feedback and how we are improving services as a result

• You told us that you want ForHousing to be more visible in your community and for you to have the opportunity to talk to us in a way that suits your needs, including face to face

Our commitments – what’s been done

COMMITMENT 1: Treating you fairly and with respect

Meet Gaynor

Gaynor received support after the loss of her brother and father, and moved into her new bungalow. She felt overwhelmed as she had never lived alone before, and she needed support with everyday tasks. Our Tenancy Sustainment Team helped her with benefits, put her in touch with social services and helped her with food vouchers.

Gaynor said: “I feel 100% better now than I did before I got this support. I’m so thankful to Natalie and would do anything for her because I know she’d do anything to help me.”

Click here to read Gaynor’s full story.

COMMITMENT 2:

Continuing to improve our communication and providing a variety of ways for you to get in contact

• We launched our new Customer Connect Hub in September 2023, following your feedback. We invested in a new system and increased the number of advisors answering your enquiries. Customer satisfaction is now 99% (March 2024)

• We opened two reception areas in Eccles and Stockbridge Village so that you can drop-in during opening times and speak to someone face-to-face

• We hosted focus groups to get your feedback to improve the ways we communicate about:

– Rent setting letters and rent statements

– How to capture information such as your age, family makeup, if you have any disabilities. This is so we can understand your needs and tailor our services to them

– Our Safe Homes Portal, that gives you the safety information about your home online

• We updated the information on our website to improve your experience

• We listened and learned from your feedback on MyAccount+ and made improvements to the app and web portal

• We reviewed the tenant responsibilities for repairs information on our website and this led to new ways of communicating this with you

Our commitments – what’s been done

COMMITMENT 3:

Providing information that is clear, accessible and jargon free

We will be reviewing all our system generated letters to make sure that they are written in a way that is clear and easy to read. Our Scrutiny Panel worked with our Communications Team to look at letters from across the organisation and created and agreed a guide that sets out how all letters should be written.

COMMITMENT 5:

Telling you how your feedback is making a difference

We have created ‘You said, we listened’ areas on our website to keep you up-todate so you can see how we are using tenant feedback to make a difference. We have also shared these on our social media channels.

COMMITMENT 4:

We have developed ‘Did you know’ sections on the website that features updates from resident engagement groups and our different service areas.

Providing information about the services we offer and the information about which teams can help you

Feedback on tenant Scrutiny group exercises has also been shared on our website. This is where tenants review what we do and why we do it and make recommendations to improve our services and we act upon them - putting you at the centre of what we do.

Communication & visibility - continued

COMMITMENT 6:

Being honest with you about what we can and can’t do

We have reviewed our Service Standards and launched a new web page that makes it clear the level of service you can expect when you are accessing our services.

Communication & visibility - continued

Our commitments – what’s been done

COMMITMENT 7: Putting things right when they go wrong

We have redesigned our complaints service to make sure you are satisfied with the service we provide you when we don’t get things right. This included a centralised team, with one point of contact when you make a complaint, reviewed and implemented different ways of doing things when we communicate with you about your complaint and launched a complaints and feedback panel that is a tenant group who can hold us to account.

Our commitments – what’s been done

Influence & accountability

COMMITMENT 1:

Providing a wide range of opportunities for you to influence how we develop and improve services and for you to feedback

You told us...

• You want to know what we are doing to improve services and what we are spending money on

• You would like us to listen to you and that you would like to work with us to improve the experience of tenants and improve services

• You said you’d like to work alongside us by having honest conversations and developing services that reflect both the needs of tenants and the organisation

We have a formal engagement framework which supports tenants and customers to get involved in a way which suits them, from our Customer Committee, that forms part of our governance structure, to our Scrutiny Panel and Community Voice as well as involvement in focus groups and interviews.

To view all ways you can get involved, to influence the way we do things, click here or visit www.forhousing.co.uk/getinvolved

You can also see all the ways we have worked with you, to give you opportunities to influence and feedback on services by clicking here or visiting www.forhousing.co.uk/ listening-and-acting-upon-your-views

commitments – what’s been done

COMMITMENT 2:

Providing information about how your involvement and feedback has led to service improvements and changes

We have created ‘You said, we listened’ areas on our website to keep you upto-date and so you can see how we are using tenant feedback to make a difference. We have also shared these on our social media channels.

We also share the key highlights from the ways we have worked with you to make a difference, click here to see what’s been done or visit www.forhousing.co.uk/listening-andacting-upon-your-views

COMMITMENT 3:

Making it clear about how you can complain to us if you need to

Influence & accountability - continued

COMMITMENT 4:

Take ownership of issues and work with you to resolve them

All colleagues have been trained on our HEART principles. This is an approach to delivering excellent customer care. We also have our ‘Live It’ Framework to make it clear to colleagues our values as an organisation and how through everything we do, we put you at the heart of our decision making so that we can positively impact your life and provide you with a safe and well maintained home.

Influence

& accountability - continued

Our commitments – what’s been done

COMMITMENT 5:

Undertake tenant led scrutiny on services and issues that you have identified through feedback and performance

We have completed the following scrutiny exercises to support internal audits:

• Damp and mould

• Complaints

• A review of the effectiveness of the ForHousing Strategy

We have started scrutiny on noise nuisance and have a schedule for 2024 / 2025 that includes a further six scrutiny exercises where you can review what we do and why we do it, and make recommendations and actions to improve the services we offer.

Our commitments – what’s been done

COMMITMENT 6:

Work in partnership with the Customer Committee to hold us to account on delivering the commitments of the charter

COMMITMENT 7:

Producing an annual report that highlights what ForHousing has delivered during the year

The Customer Committee are our tenant and customer group who form part of our formal governance structure. Every quarter they receive a detailed dashboard about the performance on the Together with Tenants Charter key performance indicators and hold us to account to make sure we deliver them. They will also receive an annual report about performance.

Influence & accountability - continued

We have listened and learned from you and we will no longer be producing an annual report. We acted upon your feedback and now we will be reporting on our performance every three months to give you timely updates on how we are performing.

We also report annually on the impact that you have on our services and communities. You can also see all the ways we have worked with you, to give you opportunities to influence and feedback on services by clicking here or visiting www.forhousing.co.uk/ listening-and-acting-upon-your-views

Our commitments – what’s been done

Environment & neighbourhood

COMMITMENT 1:

Working with you to improve local greenspaces and exploring new ways of doing it

You told us...

• How your neighbourhood looks and feels is important to you and that you want to live in a clean and tidy neighbourhood

• You also told us that your local community is important to you and that you want more information about how you can get involved

• Following a resident contacting us about the appearance of three blocks of cottage flats on Aspinall Crescent, our Neighbourhood teams worked with Asset Management to look at how we can improve the appearance of the site and new fencing and cladding will be commissioned later in 2024

• We attended a neighbourhood walkabout on Red Rose Gardens with local councillors and members from Salford City Council. The aim of the walkabout was to review the area due to increased reports of rats. We identified actions we could take to help that included:

– removing shrubbery where rats may nest,

– replacing tenants’ bins that were either contaminated or damaged,

– increasing inspections to make sure fly tipping and litter is removed as quickly as possible

– reporting a damaged drain that was referred to United Utilities to fix

• We have monthly neighbourhood inspections that help to identify environmental issues, property condition issues, communal repairs and any community tensions

COMMITMENT 2:

Working in partnership to effectively manage estates and neighbourhoods

• Following complaints about failed bin collections, contaminated bins and side waste from residents and non-residents in Clifton, we carried out an options appraisal where we can look at what we can do, working with Asset Management, Salford City Council and metroSTOR, to identify and take action at known affected areas

• Neighbourhood Officers in Swinton have attended multi partner walkabouts, meetings and community events in support of Keeping Clifton Clean

• Following a number of complaints about excessive waste and rats at Kenyon Way, we have worked together with partners and Salford City Council have now reassessed the bin allocation. We are currently making changes to add more bins

Our commitments – what’s been done

COMMITMENT 3:

Work with communities to develop and deliver activities that make a difference

• We’re a key partner in Keeping Clifton Clean, a community led action group that explores a more strategic approach to help with the growing problem of littering. Working with partners, including Salford City Council, GM Police and Forestry England, a plan was developed that included community-based interventions, prevention, education and also enforcement and prosecution. Around 15 people attend each meeting and the partnership has over eight positive outcomes for the area

• We supported the development of the new play park in Stockbridge Village, alongside partners and the local community

• We have invested £67,362 into local community projects and, through the Local Improvement Grant, £18,175 in local environmental projects

Wharton and Cleggs Lane Gardening Group received £800 in October 2023 for greenhouse base and for the greenhouse to be erected after receiving one as a donation.

John, volunteer gardener said: “We have struggled to recruit volunteers for a long time but getting a greenhouse has made raising plants from seeds much easier, has helped to make more possible with the volunteers we have and has helped boost morale.”

THEME THREE Environment & neighbourhood - continued

Our commitments – what’s been done

Repairs & asset management

COMMITMENT 1:

Improving how we communicate with you about repairs

You told us...

• You would like us to listen to your feedback and improve our repairs and maintenance service

• You don’t want to chase us for feedback about a repair and that when you report a repair, you want it to be done quickly and to a good standard. You said that if there are any changes that you want to be kept informed

• The timings of replacement bathrooms and kitchens and where you can go if you need any adaptations to your home

• Proactively encouraged you to report damp and mould, this meant an increase in repairs which was completed mid-way through the year

• We updated or damp and mould communication following tenant feedback on our website. The page features key information about how to identify and report damp and mould and offers advice about what you can do when you are waiting for a damp inspection to take place

• We have also updated information on repairs responsibilities for both you and us as your landlord

Our commitments – what’s been done

COMMITMENT 2:

If follow on works are required, being clear about what they are and making arrangements quickly

COMMITMENT 3:

Reviewing our current repairs and maintenance contract and understanding your experience, working with you to improve the way we deliver the service

As part of the improved repairs and maintenance service with our contractor, Liberty, we have included a way to schedule follow on works at the time of the repairs appointment, if it is identified that they are needed.

Key improvements included:

• Introducing new processes so that the operative looking after your repair can book follow up works on the job

• Reviewing our key performance indicators and add penalties for service delivery failures

• Listening to feedback and agreeing to improve standards for new tenants moving into a ForHousing home (This enhanced void standard starts from July 2024)

• Strengthening your customer service expectations which includes more customer focused performance requirements

We have also listened and…

• Improved our delivery of damp and mould repairs, and by year end are meeting our service standard targets of inspections in ten days and completion of works in 40 days

• Introduced a yearly check to look for early stages of damp or mould so that we can put things right before any problems develop, keeping you safe and well

• Improved information available to tenants –providing reassuring building safety information about your home through our Safe Homes Portal, available on our website at www.forhousing.co.uk/safe-homes-portal

Repairs

& asset management

- continued

Our commitments – what’s been done

COMMITMENT 2:

Undertaking an annual review of feedback about ASB and making changes to the service as appropriate

You told us...

• When you are reporting Anti-Social Behaviour you want to understand more fully the process for this and the potential limitation

• You told us that you want to feel safe in your home

COMMITMENT 1:

Offering a clear and simple process to report anti-social behaviour (ASB)

Our ASB policy was reviewed in February 2024 and our Scrutiny Panel will be reviewing our procedures around noise nuisance

We get information quarterly about your views of our community safety service through our tenant satisfaction surveys. This is analysed and the results are looked at by the team to see how we can make improvements.

In the last year the ASB team have also:

• Reviewed their policy

• Worked alongside the Police in Salford to engage with residents and tenants who are at risk of ‘Cuckooing’. This is when a vulnerable person’s home is overtaken and used for criminal activity

• Worked with the Police to undertake a walkabout in Stockbridge Village as a result of increased youth ASB

• Invested in additional training for staff in managing conflict and delivering difficult messages

Our commitments – what’s been done

COMMITMENT 3:

Offering support to tenants who are experiencing ASB and advising how to report issues that are police matters

The Police have attended community voice meetings in Fitton Hill, Salford and Stockbridge Village. At these meetings tenants were able to feedback to officers about their crime and safety concerns and officers spoke about the importance of reporting any incidents and provided information and guidance about how to do so.

We have shared videos on social media to show you how you can report ASB, the importance of doing so and the support we can offer you if you are experiencing ASB.

COMMITMENT 4:

Working closely with tenants in high-rise buildings to support them to raise any issues of concern about safety

- continued

Our Safe Homes team carry out visits to any high-rise properties where the fire service has attended, to talk through fire safety, check on your welfare and ask if you need any additional support.

We carry out weekly and monthly audits on our compliance checks such as alarm testing and communal fire doors.

Our Building Safety Co-ordinators carry out quarterly block inspections ensuring that they are kept to a good standard of cleanliness and all repairs have been reported.

Our commitments – what’s been done

COMMITMENT 5:

Regular inspections of our high-rise and other buildings such as Extra Care and Supported Housing teams to ensure that they are safe and an annual safety programme in high rises, including regular testing of fire safety and communal door entry systems.

There are annual safety visits, which include checks and servicing to:

• Fire doors

• Sprinkler heads

• Communal fire detectors

• Domestic fire detectors

• Testing to electrical appliances supplied by ForHousing

• Balcony doors and windows

• Evacuation systems

• Warden call system

A note from Toria

We are looking forward to continuing to work alongside you and communities to make sure that we are delivering services that meet the diverse needs of our tenants. We will continue to report on how we are performing against the commitments set our in the Charter, and this will be available on our website and social media every three months.

We look forward to another year of delivering our Charter commitments to positively impact your life. If you want to find out more about getting involved please contact us on getinvolved@forhousing.co.uk or visit www.forhousing.co.uk/ getinvolved/#expression-form

Toria Buzza Head of Community and Tenant Involvement

We have another year of listening and acting upon your views, and here’s some of things we have in planning:

- We have planned scrutiny reviews for key services such as gas services and neighbourhood management, so that you can review what we do and why we do it, and make recommendations to improve them

- We are launching a Repairs & Maintenance Excellence Tenant Group so that you can share your views on our repairs service, and help us to improve the service you receive

- We will be recruiting more Community Voice members to join our tenant groups

- We will be launching a tenant engagement tool kit to make it easier for all colleagues to engage with tenants in a meaningful way

- We will be engaging with young people as part of our Youth Voice initiative

- We will be continuing our Understanding our Communities work to truly understand what is important to you locally and work together to improve neighbourhoods

- We will be actively engaging with tenants from minority groups, to make sure all voices are heard

- We will be looking at pest control and fly tipping and working with partners on this in your communities