Tenants’ Voice – Improving Services update – Spring 2024
Our Tenants’ Voice group held its quarterly scrutiny meeting at the end of March, where they discussed their latest service reviews and the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaints Handling Code.
The tenants looked at the remaining three action points for the out-of-hours service review, which included receiving an update that the call abandonment fell to 20 % in February.
The group was generally happy with the service, remarking: “The out-of-hours response is very quick,” but communication still needed to be better.
The next item on the agenda was the planned maintenance review, with nine recommendations made. These mainly related to communication and information on what to expect regarding timescales and what the work involved.
The tenants then looked at the recommendations made for their communication review.
The discussion turned towards the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaints Handling Code and reviewing our policy in handling complaints at each stage. Our Head of Customer Experience Neil Bergin-Faragher talked about creating a positive culture where we see complaints as opportunities to listen to our tenants and learn from feedback. Neil also highlighted how we wanted to show the proactive actions we take following the feedback and how that will benefit tenants in the future.
The theme of listening to tenants was extended further as the final items on the agenda discussed two new opportunities to engage with tenants. These included inviting tenants to have lunch and chat with Board members, and setting up a governance committee with tenant members.
The next Tenants’ Voice scrutiny meeting will take place on Tuesday 18 June at Progress House, Leyland, or online via Teams. For more information on how to join, visit Tenants' Voice - Improving Services events | Progress Housing Group (progressgroup.org.uk)
- If any tenants have a service they would like to review in the future, please let our Customer Voice Team know by emailing community@progressgroup.org.uk.