crawley.gov.uk/crawleyhomes
Welcome to Crawley Homes Annual Report 2024 to 2025
Welcome to our report for the last financial year.
We started the year collecting data for the new regulatory regime and ended the year preparing for our inspection from the Regulator of Social Housing.
After a thorough inspection we received a C2 rating from the Regulator, the second highest level we could achieve.
We’re doing well overall, but we know there are a few things we can improve on. We’ll be working closely with the regulator to make improvements quickly and in the right way for our tenants. The inspectors saw how committed we are, and we’ll keep working to raise our standards.
However, the year wasn’t just about regulations there was a lot more going on.
In April, Crawley Homes alongside Crawley College were shortlisted for the College Initiative of the Year (Group) a national award. Unfortunately not winners, but great to have recognition for this innovative project.
There are many opportunities for you to get involved and give us your views and opinions throughout the year.
As our tenants you know what works and what doesn’t in your homes and communities. Your feedback can help shape services that actually meet your needs. Our engagement events are held in person and online, a Tenant conference, workshops, neighbourhood inspections and local events, along with surveys, all helped us to develop our services and our policies. I have been to many of these and it’s brilliant to see so many of you taking the time to join in.
We are continuing to use funding from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Towns Fund to improve the energy efficiency of your homes, which not only reduces our carbon emissions but saves energy and money for you. 1,000 council homes insulated by this funding was a milestone to be celebrated in August 2024 last year.
We are committed to providing quality housing to tenants in Crawley. You should expect high standards and good customer services. Everyone who works for Crawley Homes is working hard to be the best they can and to ensure that all of you have somewhere to live that you are proud to call home.
Turn the page and read more about Crawley Homes over the year.
Councillor Ian Irvine
Cabinet member for Housing
Our tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs) and inspection results
The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) makes sure social housing providers treat tenants fairly and provide safe, good-quality homes.
It does this by a set of consumer standards that all social landlords must follow. These include how they handle repairs, complaints, and tenant involvement. The RSH checks these by assessing our tenant satisfaction measures every year and inspects us at least once every four years.
Collecting information
We collect data for the regulator, from an annual tenant satisfaction survey and from our management data.
The Tenant satisfaction measures
In addition to tenant satisfaction with the overall service, there are 12 satisfaction measures and 10 management measures we collect which look at five areas:
TSM results
The results from the survey and the management data form a core set of performance measures which we must publish as well as submit to the RSH.
Later in the year the RSH publishes the results for all social housing landlords on their website giving greater transparency about our performance and how we compare with other similar organisations. Crawley Homes’ results for 2025 with 2024 results for comparison
*The Average TSM results (%) *column relates to the Average (Median) results for all registered social landlords for 2025.
Overall satisfaction
Keeping properties in good repair
Respectful and helpful engagement
respondents
report making a complaint in the last 12 months who are satisfied with their landlord’s approach to complaints handling
CH01 (1) Stage one complaints: number of stage one complaints (per 1,000 homes) made by tenants in the relevant stock type during
CH01 (2) Stage two complaints: number of stage two complaints (per 1,000 homes) made by tenants in the relevant stock type during the reporting year
CH02 (1) Proportion of stage one complaints responded to within the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code
CH02 (2) Proportion of stage two
of respondents with communal areas who report that they are satisfied that their landlord keeps communal areas clean and well maintained
Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied that their landlord makes a positive contribution to the neighbourhood
of respondents who report that they are satisfied with their landlord’s
More information on the Regulators Analysis of the 2023/24 TSM results can be found on their website. Tenant Satisfaction Measures 2023/24 - GOV.UK
Tenant perception measures 2024 to 2025 - summary of approach
Our summary of approach and full report can be found on our website www.crawley.gov.uk/tenantsurvey
We continue to look at how well we are doing and what these results mean for us.
We’re looking at the different responses from different neighbourhoods and intend to further investigate if there are specific reasons why satisfaction varies and if there is anything we need to change to improve our service.
The Regulator of Social Housing inspection of Crawley Homes
The regulator carried out its inspection in April. After we received notice of it in February, we provided the inspection team with a wide range of documents in March, for review before they arrived on site.
During the onsite inspection, they observed a Cabinet meeting, an Overview and Scrutiny Commission meeting, a Crawley Homes Regulatory Compliance Board meeting, a Tenant and Leaseholder Action Panel (TLAP) meeting and a TLAP complaints evaluation meeting.
They also met with housing tenants, officers, and councillors, including the Leader of the Council, the Cabinet member for Housing, and the Cabinet member for Public Protection.
C2 – a positive judgement from the RSH
The Regulator of Social Housing has given us a C2 grade for how we deliver services to tenants. This means we’re meeting some expectations, but there are areas where we need to do better.
This means some improvements are needed and we’re taking this seriously with an action plan to continue to improve our services.
The C2 grade is the second highest we can achieve.
This regulatory judgement is based on all the relevant information they obtained during the inspection, as well as analysis of information we provide through regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.
The RSH report
The full report can be found on their website gov.uk/RSH
In the report, the inspectors noted we provided evidence that we have effective policies and strategies in place. In particular, they highlighted the work we were undertaking to help tackle anti-social behaviour and hate incidents with partners. In addition, they also noted that throughout the inspection there was clear evidence that we dealt with complaints ‘fairly, effectively, and promptly’.
The inspectors highlighted some areas for improvement but recognised that these are largely already areas which we had already identified and were working to address. These included clearer reporting, tailoring services for residents’ needs, and improving performance reporting against service targets.
About us
About 20% of households in Crawley are council tenants or leaseholders *. This makes us the largest landlord in Crawley.
Here are some of the numbers about our homes.
Our homes
As at the 31 March 2025 we had a total of 8118 rented homes, 113 shared owners and 1,679 leaseholders.
Number of rented homes by size and type
Number of shared ownership homes by size
Right to buy
Most secure tenants have the right to buy their homes, although some exceptions apply.
Last year 21 homes were sold under the right to buy, nine of these were flats and the rest houses.
This table shows the number and type of homes sold under the RTB in 2024 to 2025
Following the Autumn budget last year, the government reduced the Right to Buy discount In Crawley, it dropped from £102,400 to £38,000 on 21 November 2024.
With such short notice, we received around 380 new applications before the 21 November, so the number of homes we expect to be sold next year will be significantly higher.
Learn more at: gov.uk/right-to-buy
*Census 2021
New homes
Although there are housing developments being planned, none were completed last year. Some of the delays were created by needing to show water neutrality. This meant new developments could not increase overall water use. This helps protect water supplies and supports the environment in areas under water stress.
Although we had no newly built homes in 2024 to 2025, we did acquire three 2-bedroom flats and one 3-bedroom house.
Lettings
53 homes were let to existing tenants, who were transferring 175 homes to tenants who were new to social housing
Empty homes
110 tenants moved by way of mutual exchange
39 lettings were to homes in sheltered housing
Average relet time in calendar days 53.08 days, this was an improvement on the previous year when they took an average of 57 days.
Our homes
8118 rented homes
4 new homes acquired
113 shared owners
228 homes let
1679 leaseholders 53 days to get a home ready for letting
21 homes were sold under the right to buy
8 evictions
Crawley Homes’ Performance
Rent collection
Current tenant rent arrears
At the end of March tenants owed £970,932.47, as a percentage of the rent we expect to get that is 2.5 per cent.
30
Whilst most of you pay your rent on time, we do realise there are times when your life and finances become stressed, and you may fall behind.
Your rent is a priority payment. If things get out of control, you could lose your home if it is not paid.
We will get in touch with any tenant who falls behind with their rent to offer our help and support and our financial inclusion officer can help you sort out your benefits and budgeting. We also refer tenants to organisations who help with debt.
Evictions
Where we can, we will always work with tenants to try and find a solution before taking eviction action. Over the year we evicted eight tenants. Four were for rent arrears, and the total amount owed between them was over £24,000. One for Anti-Social Behaviour. If a tenant no longer lives in the property, they have breached their tenancy and we can end the tenancy. Last year we ended three tenancies where the tenant no longer lived in the property.
Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB)
602 new cases were opened by the ASB team during the year, where a tenant or leaseholder was involved. For all cases reported 730 new cases were opened, 240 cases reopened and 970 resolved.
Repairs
This key area for tenants shows a drop in the number of repairs from 2023 to 2024. This may have been caused by more planned works taking place or because there were only seven named storms in 2024 to 2025 compared to 13 in 2023 to 2024.
We don’t know exactly the reasons for this, but it is a comparable figure to 2022 to 2023. The following table has more information on repairs and maintenance
Target times for repairs
We want to complete your repairs at a time that suits you, but you also need to be informed how long it could take, and what repairs we consider to be a priority. Our new repairs policy has more detail and can be found online at crawley.gov.uk/repairs. We explain more in the Safety and quality section of this report (page 18).
Our performance against these new targets needs improving and we will be taking steps to do so.
P4 28
* This data was collected between January and March 2025
Call queue times
The volume of calls and the number of staff available affect how long you may have to wait on the Repairs line. We apologise for any long wait times you have experienced when calling us and know that it can be frustrating. How long you wait depends on many things, how many staff we have to answer calls and how many people are calling us. Monday mornings are always busier but longer queue times can happen due to staff sickness and leave. Below you can see the number of calls and average queue time by month.
Planned maintenance
Planned maintenance is work we can programme in to keep your homes safe and in good condition. It also includes work we need to do on a regular basis to comply with safety legislation. By planning ahead it helps us to manage costs effectively, reduce repairs, and maintain your home.
Programmed works
Examples of programmed works are roof replacements, new windows, insulation, new kitchens and bathroom. In 2024 to 2025
Fitted new windows in 231 homes
Our homes had an average EPC rating of C
Insulated 564 homes
Installed 107 new boilers
An EPC rating of “C” means the home is 69 to 80% energy efficient, above the average of 55 to 68%. It reflects either energy-efficient construction or upgrades.
Compliance
This is work we must do on a regular basis to comply with legislation such as annual gas safety checks, electrical safety checks, fire safety checks and any work that needs doing following the check. We are pleased to say that at the 31 March 2025 we had a 100 per cent compliance rate for:
Gas safety checks Fire risk assessments Asbestos surveys Lift safety checks
These checks and assessments are completed on homes and blocks of flats where they are required. We found that our performance for Legionella risk assessments was only 51.4 per cent and we quickly took steps to complete the missing assessments.
Money Rent
Social and affordable
Our tenancy policy sets out our approach to the type of tenancies we will use. It explains our use of social rent and affordable rents.
For most of your homes we charge a social rent and an affordable rent for most new rental properties built since 2012. The type of rent for newly built homes depends on the type of funding used and planning permissions
Social rent is set using the Rent Standard as defined by the Regulator of Social Housing which includes a formula and additional service charges may apply.
Affordable rent is set at 80% of market rent and are inclusive of service charges. It is calculated from a valuation that uses guidance from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.
Our tenancy policy states that our affordable rents cannot be more that Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates. The LHA rates are set be the government and are used to calculate Housing Benefit for tenants renting from private landlords. Rent increase
Rents increased by 7.7% in April 2024. This was the maximum amount we could increase rents for this year.
The Government define the level of increase we can apply, and this is based on the Consumer price index rate of inflation for the previous year plus one percent (this was 6.7% in September 2023).
We are mindful that residents are impacted by a number of cost of living rises but it was essential to increase the rent up to the rent cap of 7.7% to ensure we can continue to deliver services and maintain the housing stock, as we have also been impacted by the rising cost of inflation.
We continue to cap affordable rents at the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) levels . These rates were increased for 2024 to 2025, but were unknown at the time rents were set, so the council agreed to continue to use the levels that applied in 2023 to 2024 until the next financial year to make sure rents did not increase above the revised LHA rate and to give tenants certainty on rental costs.
Average rents
These are our average weekly rents at 31 March 2025. They do not include any service charges you pay in addition to your rent.
Total £73,125,921.23
*This loan is from the Public Works Loan Board and was taken out in 2012 to cover our share of the national housing debt.
The Housing Revenue Account (HRA)
Our money has to be held in a specific bank account called the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and can only be spent on housing related items. We can’t use it to pay for other council services such as rubbish collection, maintaining parks or bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless people.
The overall responsibility for managing the council’s money lies with Councillors who make the final decisions on spending, but they too have rules to follow.
Directors’ remuneration and management costs
We have to share clear information with you about how much our directors(or equivalent) are paid and what we spend on managing homes.
The remuneration payable to the highest paid director relative to the size of the landlord. This is Crawley Borough Council’s Chief Executive and is £20.16 per unit (per house/flat).
The aggregate amount of remuneration paid to directors, relative to the size of the landlord. This is Crawley Borough Council’s Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive and is £35.72 per unit.
Management costs relative to the size of the landlord
This is the total management costs for 2024 to 2025, management costs include: management, routine maintenance, planned maintenance, major repairs expenditure, bad debts, resident engagement and depreciation of housing properties.
The total management costs are £4721.28 per unit.
Safety and quality
Responsive repairs
Knowing what we consider to be an emergency repair and other repair priorities as well as how long you can expect a repair to take is important and can help to show our performance.
After consultation with tenants on our proposals we introduced the following priorities and timescales for 2024 to 2025. Tenants made it clear that everyone’s situation is different and consideration should be given to the needs of the tenant and their household. What might be a small issue for one person could be an emergency for someone else, so we needed to have an element of discretion on riorities. We now tailor our service in the repairs contact centre.
Emergency
repairs (Priority 1 and Priority 2)
Priority 1
Within 4 hours
Emergency repairs, presenting an immediate risk to health and safety, further detrimental damage to property, or a security risk.
These constitute a repair that if not undertaken would pose an immediate risk to a customer or third party’s health and safety and/or to the building’s structural integrity.
Priority 2
Within 24 hours
These include: partial loss of power, electrical fittings (where there is no immediate danger), partial loss of water supply, blocked or leaking, soil stack or toilet pan (where no other toilet in property.
Non-emergency repairs (Priority 3 and Priority 4)
Priority 3
Within 7 calendar days
Non-emergency repairs requiring priority attention. These include, gas repairs and repairs posing a non-emergency risk. Hazards that pose a significant risk to the health or safety of the actual resident of the dwelling. If a surveyor inspection is needed before works can start, we will ensure works commence within seven days after the inspection.
Priority 4
Within 28 calendar days
Routine repairs including minor repairs such as plaster work and maintenance tasks that are not new installations
Priority 5
This is an additional priority for work not covered under responsive repairs but requiring attention in a shorter time period than typical planned works. This may require a section 20 consultation for leaseholders.
This could include, fencing where a boundary to a public road has been made safe , roofing once made safe, multiple multi works, Brickwork and uPVC where parts are required.
Energy efficiency works
Last year saw us celebrate the 1,000th council home retrofitted with wall insulation. With money from the government funded, Towns Fund we were able to improve energy efficiency through a ‘fabric first’ approach by retrofitting 1,500 council-owned flats with cavity wall insulation over the next two years. We expect this to save around 900 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Better wall insulation means less energy is needed to heat the building, yielding a greater level of energy efficiency and lower bills for residents. It is also an effective way of cutting carbon emissions by significantly reducing the wastage of energy caused by poor insulation. Warmer homes also help to reduce condensation that could lead to damp and mould.
New developments and water neutrality
Building new homes stalled in 2024 to 2025, as Natural England delivered a position statement on water neutrality. Their definition of water neutrality is the use of water in the supply area before the development is the same or lower after the development is in place.
We have to do this as increasing overall water use in our area is likely to have an impact on wildlife sites in the Arun valley such as Amberley Wild Brooks. Water supplied by Southern Water in Crawley is sourced from abstraction points that are linked to the Arun Valley.
Water saving
To help achieve water neutrality we worked with Cenergist to improve the water efficiency of council housing by installing water saving (Control Flow) devices.
The device regulates the flow of water and stabilises the water pressure, giving improved water efficiency that also results in water being heated more efficiently.
By installing these we have created water neutrality to take forward a new development in Bewbush.
Stock Condition Surveys
To understand the condition of our properties and to help us plan for future works, we need to get to know your homes.
We’re doing this through our Stock Condition Survey. Our Stock Condition Surveyors will visit every home to assess the condition of the property internally and externally. They will be looking at the condition of things like your walls, windows, doors, kitchen, bathroom, heating system and roof.
We started this last year and there will be no end date as we will continue to keep our records up to date, assessing our properties on a three-yearly cycle. assessing our properties on a three-yearly cycle.
Gas safety week 2024
An opportunity to spread the word that gas safety checks are essential for keeping your home safe, and your family protected.
Gas Safety Week 2024 focused on “Every Check Counts”.
Liberty showed its support for the week by joining us to promote Healthy Homes, providing advice on damp and mould and gas safety.
As well as a display and leaflets in the Town Hall, we joined with Crawley Wellbeing’s mobile unit in Queens Square.
Tenant and Leaseholder Action Panel (TLAP)
Our Annual Report
“We’re TLAP, a group of tenants working with Crawley Homes to make sure their services work for everyone. We look at how well services are performing and give honest feedback from a tenant’s point of view. We meet regularly, ask questions, and share ideas to improve things for all tenants.
We help to make policies and processes clearer and more open. Our complaints group reviews anonymised complaints and shares feedback to help drive positive change. Our involvement with the monthly maintenance and contractor meeting gives us the chance to understand how the repairs team are doing and what issues they may have.
We’re holding more and more hybrid meetings, where we can attend in person or online, great if you need to be at home when the meeting is on.
Crawley Homes does many different things, and as the tenant scrutiny panel, we aim to help make it run more smoothly, putting tenants at the heart of the service. This matters because when services work well, it means more means better outcomes for tenants and better value for money.
Our year, 2024 to 2025
Policies, policies and more policies
Policies were the name of the game throughout the year, at times we felt a bit swamped, but they were all needed, and some we recommended.
We’ve reviewed and commented on eleven of them and one strategy during the year, ASB, CCTV, compensation, fire policies for sheltered housing and hostels, repairs, personal mobility devices, stock condition, garages, short term alternative accommodation, and the resident engagement strategy completes the list.
With so many, we’ve listed below where we feel we have made a difference.
We wanted to know how domestic abuse is handled as it is often reported as ASB. We felt a new and separate policy be developed for this.
We welcomed the compensation policy and the short-term alternative accommodation (Decant) policy as we recommended these following complaint reviews.
Following our comments, the sheltered housing fire policy now makes it clear which properties this applies to, and changes made to be clear about the sterile spaces approach and which items would be identified and removed.
With the personal mobility devices policy we felt more education was needed about lithium-ion batteries and we raised concerns about the amount of scooter storage that was available.
We made clear that fencing should not be included in the repairs policy as a tenant responsibility, we asked that lightbulbs within enclosed units, such as bathroom lights were excluded from tenants’ responsibility and asked that clarification in the policy that leaks from tenants own installation were the tenant’s responsibility.
We raised concerns when the stock condition survey policy was not being followed and written feedback was not provided and a short template is being created.
We’ve given our comments and raised questions about the draft grounds maintenance agreement and look forward to further consultation on this.
Not just policies
The year wasn’t about policies here’s a bit more about our work during the year.
Regulation
Reviewing the results of the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) Survey and the reported management data, in July, gave us a further insight into what you think of Crawley Homes and the data we can compare with others in the future.
Our complaints group contributed to the Complaint Performance and Service Improvement Report, before it was submitted to the Housing Ombudsman.
We looked forward to meeting the team from the Regulator for Crawley Homes’ inspection and prepared to record our next meeting for them.
Regulatory Compliance Board
We’re part of this new group that meets every couple of months to talk through the action plans for Crawley Homes, to make sure they meet the RSH consumer standards and TLAP are key to making some of these actions happen.
Neighbourhood inspections and pop-up events
Members of the group made every effort to attend as many neighbourhood inspections as possible during the year, as we like to find out first hand what you think of Crawley Homes and the area you live in.
For this reason we also tried to make it to as many pop-up events as we could.
Big door knock afternoon event
An important event in our calendar, another chance to promote our work and be recognised as an essential part of Crawley Homes. We spoke to tenants and chatted with the other organisations and staff who were there.
Other events
We took part in the workshop on repairs with other tenants, where the new repairs policy was discussed in depth. We attended Crawley Homes’ first online webinar on Building safety for enclosed blocks, this gave us useful insight into fire safety in general.
The Tenant’s conference was a highlight of the year, where we had a chance to get together with other tenants to discuss performance, policies and the future, our vice chair even joined the panel for question time.
How we help with complaints
As a complaints group, we are progressing and learning as we gain more experience. We don’t always agree with the council and we’re not afraid to say so. We’re pleased to tell you about our findings from last year.
Stage 1 complaints have greatly improved with the introduction of a structured format. This could be simplified further, enabling the majority of complaints to be dealt with more swiftly
A named contact is particularly important for both tenant and council. Emails or letters throughout the complaint are good as they provide a paper trail to see where the complaint is heading and how decisions were made.
Telephone calls need to be backed up with written feedback as sometimes the record of these is not clear enough - on either side. Sometimes a home visit is needed to see the exact problem.
Photo evidence should be taken. The appropriate contractor should also attend with an officer. A better judgment needs to be made of when a home visit is needed at stage one. Tenants need to know what level of service they can expect. Although compensation awards are becoming more consistent, there are still examples where awards are not made, or are unduly high or low. In our experience, lessons to learn are mostly about communication.
Annual leave and sickness can’t be helped, but these do seem to be used as reasons why complaints haven’t been dealt with. Could a more efficient handover be implemented?
Once a complaint reaches stage two it is dealt with extremely well. All problems are itemised. Each is addressed and an explanation as to what the council can or can’t do. This is where the learning can happen. Looking to the future together
We’ve discussed how to develop the group to make it fit for the future and have started to work with a consultant. We felt that an outsider would bring a fresh approach and help us create a way forward for the group.
Our initial session in March produced important themes to keep in mind. These were:
• A well-functioning TLAP would help make things easier, sharing the responsibility of positive change with Crawley Homes.
• Both colleagues and tenants imagined a calm joint-working relationship where tenant views were valued and actioned.
• People wanted to ‘grow opportunities from scratch’, being involved in things such as new builds, planned works and policies.
• TLAP should represent a diverse range of people, especially younger people so that they can pick this work up.
• Celebrating success is key.
We’re continuing our work to build our future with Crawley Homes, one that is joined-up, efficient, and focused on what matters to tenants.
If you want to help shape the future of your housing services? Join TLAP and make your voice heard.”
Tenant
and Leaseholder Action Panel (TLAP)
Join us and become a member.
Have your say about Crawley Homes. Help us to make a change.
Meet like-minded tenants and leaseholders and find out more about Crawley Homes. You’ll have the opportunity to scrutinise our work giving valuable feedback on what we get right and what needs to change.
Our sessions are informal, relaxed and enjoyable. You’ll learn new skills and gain confidence.
If you’d like to apply or find out more, contact Ann (chair of the group), through the Resident Engagement Team.
Email tenantparticipation@crawley.gov.uk or call 01293 438434.
We are a supportive group, and we welcome people from all different backgrounds and abilities, and would particularly like representation from young people, and the LGBTQ+ community. We can also provide a taster session so you can try it out.
Crawley
Getting involved
It’s not all about meetings, there are many ways you can get involved and give us your views.
From completing a survey, visiting a neighbourhood event, joining an online session, attending a one-off workshop, or sending in a suggestion, these are all ways to tell us what you think.
For those with more time, please consider joining TLAP, most of their meetings are held as a mixture of online and in person, so if you can’t get out, but have the technology to join a meeting online, it could be for you.
Together, we can drive change.
Making a difference together
Because you live in our homes, you know what really matters to tenants. Your comments help shape our service from the finer details to the bigger decisions.
Over the past year, we’ve held events, run surveys, and listened to your feedback to make sure our services meet your needs and keep improving.
Highlights for the year
The Big Door Knock
Our big event of the summer, in 2024 was held in Gossops Green Teams across Crawley Homes joined together for a large-scale door knock for the chance to chat with every tenant. With a survey for those who were out at the time, and a further chance to meet us in the afternoon at our event on the green in Gossops Drive. We heard from around a third of all households.
Our door knock questions asked about satisfaction with our service and your neighbourhood and the top five concerns were, parking, weeds, grass cutting, drying areas, rubbish, bins and recycling. Other concerns around communal areas were also raised. Overall this gave us a clear indication of why satisfaction in communal areas was lower than other areas of Crawley.
Weeds, trees, shrubs and paving are dealt with by the council’s neighbourhood services team but have worked with them to create a new service areas map and are working on a new service level agreement.
Next year we’ll take our Big Door Knock to another neighbourhood.
Pop up events
John Brackpool Close
A fine day in September saw us in John Brackpool Close to talk to residents, we chose our times to be around after the school run in the afternoon and publicised it using email and posters.
Repairs were reported and outstanding items questioned, general comments on the area were taken and resident engagement was discussed.
Alongside the area’s housing officer and local surveyor, an ASB caseworker and the local PCSO were there to talk about any anti-social behaviour issues they might have. This two-way exchange of information was was welcomed by all present.
Deerswood Court
At a meeting early in 2024 residents reported concerns about the general appearance and condition of the communal areas along with concerns about their homes.
A follow up survey gathered more information, and a cake and conversation event was held in the grounds in May. This led to trees being cut back, dumped items being cleared, weeds treated, paving repaired, new signage, and new line markings in the car park.
Action on feedback about the drying areas is awaiting action whilst building works in the area take place.
Wren Court
Held in December this mini door knock event, asked all residents about the area they lived in and any issues they may have.
We found one of the bin stores was causing problems and anti-social behaviour. Work was done to make it more secure.
Building safety engagement
Part of the Building Safety Act 2022 was to develop a resident engagement strategy for our two high risk blocks of flats, Milton Mount and Bridgefield House.
This involves meeting with and keeping residents updated to make sure that building safety is not just down to the council but involves all residents as well.
For Bridgefield House, we held a hybrid meeting, in person and online, in June and a Pop-up drop in event at the block in November.
Fire doors and lifts were central to their concerns at the time. Fire doors are inspected every three months and remedial work completed if anything is identified.
At Milton Mount after a notice from West Sussex Fire Service, that access to the block was being obstructed and a survey of residents in Spring led to the introduction of parking enforcement at the block in August 2024. Additional lighting has also been installed and we are trialling digital noticeboards to provide safety information and updates when needed.
Building Safety in enclosed blocks
Nine residents joined us for a lunchtime session using MS teams. This was our first online meeting in May 2024.
We met to talk about safety in blocks of flats with enclosed communal areas. The building safety act talks a lot about high risk (high rise) blocks of flats. This meeting focused on building safety in our other, low rise, blocks.
We covered Fire Risk Assessments, fire doors, sterile areas policy and our reasons for choosing this, and the ‘stay-put’ strategy.
Residents raised concerns about fire doors not working properly and costs. They felt better communication and clearer guidance was needed and were interested in the Fire Service safe and well visits.
Repairs and maintenance workshop
In May, 22 residents joined staff to talk about repairs, maintenance and stock condition surveys.
Repair and maintenance policy
A presentation of the draft policy was followed be a session where comments and ideas for our repairs policy were discussed. Tenants wanted clear language and realistic timeframes, clear communication, weekend and bank holiday cover for emergencies, well trained staff and proper record-keeping.
Tenants then had a chance to rank the repairs they thought should be priorities. Mostly they agreed with the draft policy and highlighted, no electricity, a blocked toilet when only one was in the home, no heating and hot water in the winter and unsafe electrics should be urgent repairs.
Repair response times were also a feature and more about those can be found in the safety and quality section of the report.
Stock Condition Survey
This presentation explained the survey is important, to help us keep your homes and blocks safe, secure, and in good condition. It will also help us plan repairs and upgrades more effectively.
Attendees agreed boilers, damp, electrics, doors, windows, insulation, communal areas should be checked. They felt older homes, those with vulnerable residents, or high repair needs should be a priority, and that reports should include clear timelines, who’s responsible, what’s being done, and follow-up actions. These comments helped to finalise our policy on this.
The event ended with a short quiz and a chance for tenants to speak directly with housing staff.
Crawley Homes Tenant Conference - September 2024
A day full of opportunities to find out more and to have your say, packed full of workshops, a Q&A session, and valuable conversations.
Here’s a quick trip round the workshops
Resident engagement – you said be inclusive and give us accessible ways to get involved, not just online. Give us better communication about events, a borough wide newsletter, and local representation. These are just of the things that will be in our strategy.
We’ll be producing paper newsletters in 2025, we will still use emails to tell you about things but will increase our use of posters and letters for specific events.
Customer care and service standards – the key concerns here were communication, repairs, and professionalism. Tenants asked for clearer follow-ups, better coordination, and respectful service. These will all be recognised in the new customer service standards being drafted.
Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) Survey – a discussion on the results of the survey where concerns were raised about housing conditions, antisocial behaviour, and neighbourhood upkeep. You wanted safe homes, community-building, and accountability.
We’re taking this forward with the Stock condition survey, looking at our agreement with the council’s neighbourhood services and more local engagement events.
Home safety - Topics here included gas, electrical, and fire safety, along with compliance with the regulations. Clear escape routes, interlinked alarms, and safe installations were all discussed and comments will contribute to our compliance policies.
Neighbourhood maintenance - a single-tier cleaning service with clear standards is preferred, and flytipping, poor lighting, and communal space upkeep were key issues.
We’ll review the cost of cleaning services and our review of the service level agreement with Neighbourhood service will consider neighbourhood responsibilities.
Performance and regulation - A fun, interactive session helped tenants understand how Crawley Homes is performing. More performance information is now available online, however the fun element is difficult to replicate.
Surveys
We’ve already mentioned the big customer satisfaction survey (TSM survey) but we also carry out several other surveys to measure satisfaction in specific areas or to gather your views and opinions on a topic.
Maintenance satisfaction surveys
Sent out monthly by email, in 2024 to 2025 we had 1,783 responses. 1126 of these were very satisfied and gave us a 10, and 134 were very dissatisfied and scored us one.
Taking all ratings together we had a score of 8.53 for overall satisfaction and collected some very positive feedback for some of our operatives that we have passed on to them.
We’re looking at how we can carry these out nearer to the date the work is done for next year.
Anti-social behaviour satisfaction survey
These are sent by email when cases are resolved. 87.5% of respondents were satisfied with approach and outcome of their case in 2024 to 2025.
Viewing your new home
A new survey for new tenants, to tell us if there is something we could improve with the lettings process. It’s not been going long so only a few have been completed but everyone who has filled in the form have given us five stars.
Consultation surveys
We have also used our online surveys for consulting on our policies and standards, although we find that face to face consultation on these works best.
The following shows what we have consulted on.
Repairs and maintenance policy (Feb 2025)
Hate crime policy (March 2025)
Repairs and maintenance policy (Feb 2025)
Service standards (March 2025)
Resident engagement strategy (Feb 2025)
CCTV policy (April 2024)
Your neighbourhood, your community Neighbourhood inspections
Last year our regular monthly neighbourhood inspections had us at times wrapped up in scarves and hats and at others, putting on the sunscreen, but it’s worth it.
Getting out into the neighbourhoods gives you a chance to come and meet us where you live and let us know of any issues there may be.
A short poem about the actions from our neighbourhood inspections in 2024 to 2025
Safer, cleaner, and nicer places to be.
Dumped rubbish cleared, Fallen trees removed, Gutters cleaned,
Dying area weeds treated, Communal fencing fixed, Wonky paving (flats) sorted,
Property paths, checked and levelled, Signs updated
Overgrown gardens addressed through conversations and support, Trees and shrubs cut back by Neighbourhood Services, Stored items removed from communal spaces,
Abandoned vehicles reported to Operation Crackdown and removed, and Repairs raised.
Social value
What is it?
In simple terms social value means the good things an organisation does for people and communities, beyond just making money. It’s about how their actions help improve lives and the local environment.
Social value and our contractors
Our repair contractors all have a commitment to social value. Some is as simple as offering apprenticeships to local people and taking part in careers events and taking steps to reduce carbon emissions.
There are also specific activities that count too.
Redecorating Crawley Youth Centre
In 2024 to 2025 Mears redecorated Crawley Youth Centre in Longmere Road. This compliment sums up just how important to them this was!
“I just want to convey our appreciation of the outstanding service and workmanship your team has performed. The area supervisor was in attendance at all stages of the project to make sure that everything went smoothly. I cannot speak highly enough of the painter who is an absolute perfectionist and a credit to your company.
We have been waiting for over two years to get these areas repainted but all the quotations we had were out of our budget. Having Mears as a local contractor is a no brainer in terms of their professionalism, workmanship, and service.
In a matter of days Mears have changed the look of Crawley Youth Centre. Clearly Mears is a company that believes in giving back to the local community with social value been part of their ethos. The young people and parents are amazed at the transformation of both the inside and outside of the building.
Thank you all again on behalf of the committee of Crawley Youth Centre.
Centre Manager Crawley Youth Centre
Preparing the Bewbush Graffiti Cube in Dorsten Square.
Wates didn’t pick up the paintbrush but played an important part in preparing it for the artwork.
The cube, which has been painted three times before, had not seen new artwork since before the pandemic so needed a timely refresh. Graffiti artist Julian Johnson delivered workshops at Bewbush Youth Centre with over 25 children and young people from the club and the Super Siblings group coming up with ideas, themes and drawing to inspire a new artwork.
Wates supported the project by removing the old render from the cube to make it ready for the artwork.
Councillor Sue Mullins, Cabinet member for Community Engagement and Culture said “This work really refreshed the cube and it looks great. What a wonderful community project for everyone to get behind. Well done to Julian and all those involved”.
Green Village, Crawley College
The Green Village at Crawley College is a construction skills hub with a focus on sustainable technologies and skills training, set up to ensure students leave the college with the green skills urgently needed by industry.
This includes life-size bungalow, fitted out with the equipment, fixtures and fittings that are being installed in the council’s own housing stock.
Liberty played a key part in the construction of this bungalow.
Other activities
Litter picking
Adding social value to their apprenticeships, the apprentices at Mears can often be seen with litter pickers and will continue to do this simple act into next year.
Coffee mornings
Coffee mornings are great ways of informing residents about planned works. Both Wates and Mears have used these and in Furnace Green, it developed into a weekly event, creating new friends and fund raising for St Catherines Hospice. They continue to meet and fundraise.
Lifeline update
Our Lifeline service provides an emergency alarm service to residents across the town and the surrounding areas. You may have heard that the telephone network is going digital and could affect Lifeline and other telecare products. We’ve been talking to our customers about this for some time and we have a rolling programme to make sure all our units will work with digital phone lines. We’re well on track with this.
Customers whose lifelines are either a white Tunstall Smart Hub or a white Chiptech SEVEN unit, are all set for the future.
A thank you from a thankful family
I have no doubt that his Lifeline saved John’s life when he fell when watering plants in the garden. Although the necklace with the Lifeline button may have slid around his neck or he passed out we will never know, but after almost three hours he pressed the button and we were called out at around 11pm followed by a paramedic. John was cold, wet (the garden had flooded as the hosepipe had been running for almost three hours) and in shock. After getting him indoors, changed into dry clothes and warm, he was taken to hospital. He was there for a week to recover from the fall and a subsequent respiratory infection.
Thank you
Putting it right
Our complaints performance for 2024 to 2025
Our complaints policy follows the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code and uses a two-stage process. It explains how quickly we need to acknowledge and respond to complaints and meeting both of these timescales is how we show your complaint has been handled on time.
We will acknowledge complaints within five working days and respond to stage one complaints within 10 working days from the acknowledgement and stage two within 20 working days. We can ask for an extension to the response times in certain circumstances
In 2024 to 2025, we completed 349 stage one complaints from or on behalf of tenants and leaseholders. 57 of these complaints were raised to stage two.
The data on complaints for the TSM performance is for complaints made by tenants only.
The data for the we give the Housing Ombudsman for the Complaint Performance and Service Improvement Report 2024 to 2025 includes complaints from both tenants and leaseholders.
Completed in time
Our performance on these are short of the desired standard, although stage one performance has increased from last year. One area we accept we need to address is staff training to make sure the initial complaint is logged correctly and goes to the right person, so the acknowledgement is completed within five days. Poor performance in this area means we are not meeting the target timescale, even if the response is sent within 10 days.
Outcomes
Upheld
If a complaint is upheld, it means we’ve looked into it and agree that something went wrong. We accept that your concerns were fair and we’ll take steps to put things right.
Partially upheld
A partially upheld complaint means we agree with you that some parts of it were right, but not everything. We’ll fix the things we feel were wrong and explain why we didn’t uphold the rest.
Not upheld
If a complaint is not upheld, it means we’ve looked into it and found that things were handled properly. We didn’t find anything to show something went wrong, so we haven’t taken further action.
Outcomes of completed complaints
Housing Ombudsman determination
If you are not happy with the outcome of a stage two complaint and you feel the issues have not been resolved, you can take the complaint to the Housing Ombudsman.
In 2024 to 2025 the Housing Ombudsman recorded two determinations for Crawley Borough Council, within these two determinations there were four findings of maladministration.
Complaint reasons
As with previous years, the vast majority of complaints are repairs or maintenance related; 299 of the 349 completed overall. This represents 85.7 per cent of all completed complaints by tenants and leaseholders. Although the number is high, most of our contact with tenants is about repairs.
We have grouped the main reasons for complaints into themes based on how it was described by the resident.
Unsafe conditions, e.g. mould, asbestos, electrical hazards
Poor communication, e.g. ignored emails/ calls/ not hearing back
Discrimination, e.g. perceived bias or unfair treatment
Accessibility issues, e.g. affecting disabled/ vulnerable
Delays in service, e.g. waiting weeks/months
Rudeness or unprofessionalism from staff/ contractors
Lack of redress for damage or inconvenience
The most common reasons for raising a complaint to stage 2 were lack of action following the outcome of stage 1 and as would be expected, dissatisfaction with the outcome or remedy.
Learning from complaints
We put in place in 2023 to 2024 a comprehensive complaints action plan, where actions based on the learning from complaints can be tracked.
Some of these action are about our processes, and some relate directly to customers.
We’ve introduced clear policies for Compensation, Repairs, Clearance, and Temporary Accommodation (Decants) to provide information and guidelines to tenants on how these are managed.
When calling the repairs line we now ask questions that help us tailor our services for tenants who may be vulnerable or need extra help.
Our contractors now have specific Resident Liaison Officers for major works to provide a point of contact for residents.
We’ve reviewed literature, including our contractors code of conduct, to make it clear what residents can expect.
If a tenant asks for planned works, for example new windows or bathroom, a stock condition survey is carried out of the whole home.
The action plan has been updated to make sure we continue to learn from your complaints.
Complaint Performance and Service Improvement Report
2024 to 2025
This report gives a more comprehensive insight into our complaints performance, includes our complaints action plan and our self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman’s’ Complaint Handling Code and can be found at www.crawley.gov.uk/housingcomplaints
Well done and thanks
It’s not just complaints, we also get many compliments from our residents. Here are just a few that we have received:
You deserve a gold medal, you have been incredibly responsive, well done on helping me through what has been a difficult time trying to resolve some roofing issues for mum. I really appreciate your help. Mrs D
The contractors were very nice and even though I felt overwhelmed and crowded it really helped having you here as my housing officer, making me feel safe and not too invaded. Thank you. Mrs W
Repairs
Housing management
Thanking you again for communicating with me so efficiently and for dealing with the issue so promptly. Mr T Compliance
You have supported and navigated a very stressful situation for us. We feel without your involvement we would be no further forward and are sure it is only because of your kindness and professionalism that we have been able to start to reach a positive conclusion. Your professionalism and kindly manner has been much appreciated. Ms L
Best OPSO ever (Older Persons Support Officer) after helping me to get my heavy and sedated dog from the car to my home. Mrs B
Thank you so much for all your help. I would have given up if you hadn’t told me we needed to appeal. This will make so much difference to us. Mr P
Thank you for your help with a new tenant in sheltered housing who had been homeless, you jumped into action after finding out that they had no bed or bedding or no cooking facilities etc, helping to make their new flat a home.
They are both amazing hardworking men with a cracking sense of humour. They are nice, polite and hardworking and nothing was ever too much. They really cheered me up and had me laughing through their entire time here. Mr X
Thanks to everyone who helped whilst my husband was placed in a care home When he moved into a care home for assessment, I felt I had hit a brick wall and the worry of the finances along with getting him settled was making me ill. He is now settled and happy and I can now sleep at night. You all get a lot of stick at times but for me I cannot thank you enough. I would not have known what to do. Mrs R
The compensation was a nice gesture for which we are grateful and we are particularly pleased that our complaint was handled so expertly, thank you for your all your assistance. Mr and Mrs J
Anti-social Behaviour
Sheltered Housing
Financial inclusion
Tenancy support
Clearance team
Housing management and Financial inclusion
Planned maintenance
And a few for our operatives.
Word cloud of top 50 most used words in the comments from our satisfaction surveys
List of the 50 most used words in the comments from our satisfaction surveys and how often they were used.
Didn’t have to wait too long. Very polite. Work carried out in a professional manner. Explained what the problem was and sorted it out.
I rated the service a 9 because I had a great experience overall. The team is so far very professional, responsive, and made the process smooth and efficient. The quality exceeded my expectations, and I appreciated the attention to detail.
He was fantastic. He was keeping me up to date with everything he was doing. He was respectful of my house and cleaned up after himself.
The workmanship was excellent, and the two men were very informative and polite, a credit to their company.
He was efficient when he arrived and finished his job showed his badge even though I knew him he had a trainee with him who was polite in every way they cleaned the area when finished.
Contractors were well mannered, got on with the service, were able to manage around my wheelchair without making a fuss and tidied up after themselves well.
The service was quick, and the man wore shoe protectors which was lovely and explained about the monitor in the airing cupboard.
Both were understanding about my anxiety and mental health issues. They told me what they were doing.
The gas man was polite, he was thorough, quick and explained everything. He also helped reprogramme the control panel to help better suit our family dynamic.
Our bathroom floor etc was done They worked very hard to get this done for myself and my house bound husband they worked around his carers and gave him the respect and privacy at certain times during the day. Very kind, very hard working, and there working relationship was very good. It’s a shame the people do not get the recognition, which would surely give them a boost.
A few words from the Head of Crawley Homes
In his introduction, Councillor Irvine reflected on the past year, saying:
“Last year wasn’t just about regulation, there was a lot more going on.”
And he’s absolutely right.
Our tenants remain at the heart of everything we do. It was fantastic to see the Regulator of Social Housing recognise our passion and commitment to delivering a high-quality service; ensuring your homes are safe and giving you real opportunities to shape how we work.
We want to meet the challenges of the coming year and continue to deliver you a high-quality service.
Our C2 grade from the Regulator showed that we could do better in some areas, many of these we were aware of and were already working on them.
We want to find out more about our tenants so we can tailor our services to meet residents needs, so we’ll be continuing to ask you about yourselves.
We’ll be reinstating paper copies of tenant newsletters so more of you can find out about our performance and our targets.
Visiting every home in our stock and completing a survey on the condition of it is a priority so we can develop a robust programme of works.
These are just a few of our actions for the coming year and as you can see, we need your help to make sure we can improve our service.
There will be more engagement with you next year, as we want to know what you think. There will be a tenant conference, big door knock, neighbourhood inspections in all neighbourhoods, surveys, workshops and online meetings.
There will be new policies to support better service delivery, and your views on these will be welcomed.
Preparing for new legislation that comes into effect in 2025 to 2026, will include Awaabs law. This gives strict timeframes to investigate and fix hazards such as damp and mould, new legal standards for responding to complaints about health hazards and making sure we are accountable for ensuring tenants live in safe, healthy homes.
We also expect legislation to include a competence and conduct standard, which aims to make sure all staff have the skills, knowledge and behaviours to deliver a good quality service.
Water neutrality restrictions have impacted our development of new homes, but with the actions we have taken we anticipate that in 2025 to 2026 we will take handover of more homes in Forge Wood.
So we look forward to working with you throughout another busy year.
Amanda Kendall
Head of Crawley Homes
Related web links
Inspection results and Performance
www.crawley.gov.uk/chperformance
TSM www.crawley.gov.uk/tenantsurvey
Housing complaints www.crawley.gov.uk/housingcomplaints
Resident engagement www.crawley.gov.uk/residentinvolvement
Crawley Homes’ policies www.crawley.gov.uk/chpolicies
Lifeline www.crawley.gov.uk/Lifeline
MyCrawley
Report a repair
Report a problem
crawley.gov.uk/crawleyhomes