Improving processes – South Tyneside Homes

Between February and November 2022. South Tyneside’s scrutiny panel asked how their landlord could improve its response to customers reporting damp and mould and reported their findings to the organisation’s damp and mould working group.

The scrutiny panel developed and agreed an action plan with the senior management team and will monitor its implementation. The plan has also been included in the organisation’s own performance management system and the senior management team regularly monitors progress. South Tyneside Homes used the scrutiny findings to help develop – in consultation with the panel – its formal Damp, Mould & Condensation Policy.

Areas of improvement include:

• Improving links within the system between current reports about damp or mould and all historic information on property condition and current household information;
• Capturing information about residents’ vulnerabilities and how they are likely to be affected by damp and mould, and deciding how this information is then used;
• Improved communications, both for tenants whose report is being worked on and more generally to raise awareness of damp, mould and condensation.

More diversity – Homes in Sedgemoor

Homes in Sedgemoor moved to a one-day ‘bootcamp’ model of tenant scrutiny because they wanted to involve more and greater diversity of customers.

This approach allows tenants to select topics that interest them from those that have been targeted for scrutiny. There is no sitting panel; instead oversight and customer assurance is led by the Homes in Sedgemoor Tenants Assurance Committee (STAC), a sub-committee of the board. STAC looks at performance, customer experience and customer feedback information to identify areas that should be looked at more closely.

Bespoke scrutiny panels are assembled for one day from applicants and, with the help of an independent facilitator, they answer a set of questions: What’s our process? What do we actually do now – the customer journey? Satisfaction and customer feedback – what can we do better? What does good practice look like?

The answers become an action plan which goes to the directorate lead in that area of the business. Changes are agreed with STAC which monitors progress and can challenge service leads if the agreement isn’t acted on. Feedback is that the one-day bootcamps give tenants a task-and-finish approach that fits better with their busy lives than a lengthy series of meetings.

Changes achieved include:

• A new offer of an am or pm slot for same-day repairs which will be further enhanced so that the customer can book a timeslot. HiS also agreed to text a survey about the repair straight after the visit which customers say is quick and easy and an excellent way of providing instant feedback.
• An ASB scrutiny panel asked that Homes in Sedgemoor appoint a specialist officer, and this role now sits in the housing team to lead on more complex cases.