You said, we did You

said...

Improve information regarding Right To Buy on website.

Very supportive with a past Domestic Abuse case, helped with restraining order, new locks on door, the support was amazing and helped so much.

Our Sales Team have reviewed and updated the information on our website making it easier and clearer to navigate.

Our Neighbourhood Team work alongside partner agencies to ensure we identify and meet the support needs of survivors of Domestic Abuse. The team have completed Specialist Domestic Abuse Training and can refer victims to support services including a free, fast emergency injunction service.

As part of our Domestic Abuse Service Saffron’s Community Foundation has funded Personal Safety equipment for the team to issue to any tenant, to help them feel secure in their home. The equipment includes door jammers, window alarms and door handle alarms.

Would like to have the grass left, to allow our wildflowers to grow.

We have piloted a project for wildflower areas over the last two summer seasons without any significant issues being raised. It is therefore expected that this project could be rolled out to other areas (where appropriate) over the coming years. A current review of the service will assess the feasibility of introducing wildflower areas across the land that Saffron owns.

Poor communication continues to be an issue.

As part of our Repairs Review, we are continuing to review the appointment process, taking on board tenants’ feedback and looking at ways we can improve.

We have also amended our Complaints Policy to ensure it is compliant with the new Code of Conduct issued by the Housing Ombudsman Service (they look at complaints about registered providers of social housing) in April 2022.

Since we centralised the complaints process there has been a significant increase in satisfaction with the way complaints are being handled, up from 50% at the start of 2022 to 68% in October 2022.

Repairs Review

When repair appointments are cancelled by Saffron or follow on works are needed, tenants do not believe they are prioritised and therefore have to wait months for their issues to be fixed. Similarly, Tenants said follow ups for jobs are not quick and completed.

Shorter wait time.

A new follow on process has been implemented, as part of the Repairs Review. This means tenants who require further works should get called within 48 hours of their initial appointment, with a new appointment date.

We know how important our repairs service is for our tenants and it’s essential we provide safe and suitable homes for you to live in. To continue to improve our service, a Repairs Review was set up at the end of 2021 with the aim of increasing tenant satisfaction, office staff and craftworker efficiency and, fixing repairs first time.

Throughout the year our Customer Contact Team have reduced their call waits by 5 minutes 27 seconds with the average call wait to speak to an advisor being 2 minutes 17seconds.

Additionally, with our emails now going through our call system, we can accurately report on wait times. We currently state we will respond to an email enquiry within 10 working days but with the new system in place we have found the average response for any email enquiry received by info@saffronhousing.co.uk is 16 hours.

We have held tenant focus groups to capture your thoughts on the current service and what improvements you would like to see in the future.

Taking that feedback on board, we made some changes, including:

• Reviewing our current software to help our Customer Contact Team diagnose tenant repairs.

• A new ‘further works’ process, where you can expect to receive a date for your follow-on appointment within 24 hours of a craftworker attending your initial appointment.

The Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) policy needs a complete overhaul, it is biased toward the perpetrator and does not support the victim.

The ASB policies and procedures has been reviewed and since we conducted the survey, a more thorough process has been put in place.

The ASB Team are continuously reviewing their qualifications, with four members of the Neighbourhood Team currently completing specialist training in Community Safety. The training will really help to improve the team’s specialist knowledge in key areas of Community Safety and ASB to further support tenants.

Communal Cleaning (flat block corridors etc).

This is something that can be looked into however there will be a cost for this service.

• Reduced wait time for parts which are needed for the follow-on appointments.

• Improved reporting of repairs by staff who are ‘out and about’ in the community.

We have also had our policies and processes reviewed and approved by our Service Quality Committee*, who provided invaluable feedback to the services we deliver.

We will provide you with further updates in future Saffron E-News editions. If you would like to be involved in making a difference to the services we deliver, please email getinvolved@saffronhousing.co.uk.

*Their purpose is to receive feedback from Saffron Community Members (including the Tenant Scrutiny Group and the Tenant Communication and Support Group), and to monitor and oversee continuous improvements to the quality of our services and our tenants’ experience.