Havering Housing Team are listening!
How we are using your feedback to improve our services
We make sure that your voice matters – we gather tenant feedback from satisfaction surveys, consultations, complaints and all other types of contact, whether in person, by telephone or by email to identify areas of our service that you have told us matter the most.
We then look at how we can make improvements; such as making a change to the way we provide a particular service or perhaps by developing a policy or procedure to ensure we provide consistently good services. Our job is to then monitor any changes we make to ensure they are benefitting our tenants and residents.
Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs)
What are they?
You may remember last year that we carried out the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) surveys.
The TSMs are part of a huge overhaul of social housing regulations and help us understand the needs and preferences of our tenants and in turn let our residents know how well we are doing at providing quality homes and services.
All social housing landlords in England need to speak to and survey their tenants to report on the TSMs every year. The survey questions are designed to see how well we are performing across five key areas:
- keeping properties in good repair
- maintaining building and tenant safety
- effective complaints handling
- respectful and helpful tenant engagement
- responsible neighbourhood management
Why the TSMs are important
The results of the survey will:
- provide better insight into our performance and the quality of our services
- help us understand the needs of our tenants and tailor our services to meet expectations
- identify where we can improve our services
How will the survey be done?
We are working with Service Insights on behalf of Housemark, to survey a representative sample of tenants.
Approximately 900 tenants will be asked to complete the survey online or by phone during February and March 2025.
You don't have to take part but please do so if you can as it is important that we hear your views.
For tenants taking part, the survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.
It’s important that we hear your views, even if you have just moved into your home, or if you don’t use all the services discussed.
All answers will be treated in the strictest confidence. They will only be used to monitor the quality of the Housing Service provided by Havering Council.
It is important to get honest feedback from our residents, so if you do receive an email or phone call from Service Insights and you have the time, please answer the questions as best you can.
If you don’t receive an email or phone call but would like to give your feedback please let us know by emailing serviceimprovement@havering.gov.uk.
What happens next
All the responses to the survey will be independently analysed and results will be used to calculate annual tenant satisfaction measures. A full report will be published in 2025 and results will be submitted to the Government via our Annual Return.
To view the report for last year, please click the link below.
Service standards
We listened to your feedback and have set targets for the standard of service that you have told us matter most to you. Our Service Standards outline the level of service you can expect to receive from us. Next time you contact us, this is the standard of service you can expect.
Day to day repairs (excluding out of hours)
Priority one (Emergency)
We will visit within four hours and carry out work within 24 hours and make safe. Follow on works may be required.
Priority two (Urgent)
We will carry out any work within 3 days.
Priority three (Routine)
We will carry out any work within 28 days.
- Answer your telephone call at the repairs contact centres number within 10 rings/30 seconds
- We will let you know if we are running late to a morning or afternoon appointment
Responding to your complaints
- We will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days.
- We will respond within 10 days of receiving your complaint.
- If we are unable to fully respond within 10 days we will let you know. We may extend this by a further 10 days if the case is considered complex, but we should not go beyond this timescale.
Returning your telephone calls
We will call you back within 72 hours (excluding weekends and Bank Holidays).
Your impact
We are listening to you and acting on what you say. You have told us about services that you would like to see improved and this is what we have done.
Level of service
You said you do not know what level of service you should expect to receive from
us.
We have now implemented service standards focusing on the area of our service that you have told us are most important to you.
Sheltered housing schemes
You said you wanted more staff presence at Sheltered schemes.
We have undertaken a service review and as a result increased staff presence at
each scheme.
Mould and damp
You said that your mould and damp problems were not being dealt with.
We will now visit every home that makes a report of mould or damp to discuss
possible solutions with those residents.
Calling you back
You said we were not very good at calling you back.
We have now trained all frontline staff that use our system to ensure that we return
your call promptly. This training includes how to record details about your call so,
should you need to make a follow-up call, any officer you speak to should have the
relevant information in front of them.
Listening to views and acting upon them
You said we don’t listen to your views and act upon them.
We will continue producing regular ‘You Said – We Did’ updates so you can read
about what we are doing to improve services to you. We will also update this
webpage.
Call wait times
You said you were having to wait a long time for the phones to be answered to
report a repair.
We have set up a specialist repairs contact centre. It’s still the same number 01708
434000, choose option 1 and you will go straight through to the Mears or K&T teams.
You will then be able to report a repair and book an appointment for an operative
there and then.