In April 2023, it became law for landlords to report TSMs to the Regulator of Social Housing.
There are 22 TSMs in total and they are split into two parts:
- 10 performance measures that are collected through management performance information
- 12 customer perception survey measures that are collected by surveying customers directly
This page sets out the scores that you gave us in 2023/24 and how staff are working together to improve the areas raised in the survey.
Thank you to the 1,261 tenants who gave us feedback.
By anonymously sharing your honest opinions of our services, you are helping us to focus on the key areas that matter most to you – such as keeping our properties in good repair, respectful and helpful engagement, and responsible neighbourhood management. It is only with your help that we can improve our services for all of our customers.
Our approach to TSMs
How do we collect feedback from tenants?
We use an independent organisation called Pexel to ensure all feedback is collected fairly and impartially. We do not target particular groups or leave anyone out when conducting the survey, and we’ve had our TSM methodology independently verified through an internal audit by an independent company, which received ‘substantial assurance’.
How many tenants did we speak to?
A total of 1,261 surveys were completed – 631 in July 2023 and
a further 630 in January 2024.
This is the first year of TSMs – what are we comparing our results to?
While this is the first time we’re collecting official TSM data, we conducted an initial survey – using the 12 customer perception questions – in 2022/23 to see how we were performing against the new measures.
This allows us to compare the scores of the TSM surveys in 2023/24 to how we were doing a year earlier, so we can see where we are improving and to find out what areas we should be focusing on.
How we performed
Overall, did Watford Community Housing score better this year than last year?
Yes, we did! Compared to the 2022/23 surveys we saw improvements in 9 out of the 12 customer perception TSMs.
Most positively, overall satisfaction increased from 65.9% in 2022/23 to 69.4% in 2023/24.
Areas that saw the largest improvement from 2022/23 were:
Complaint Handling +6.8%
Listens to Views +5.6%
Repairs Satisfaction +6.1%
Where are we looking to improve?
We’re working to improve across all the areas measured by TSMs, but we are particularly focusing on those where we saw a decrease in the scores we recorded in 2022/23.
The main areas we’re looking to improve are:
Home is Safe -3.4%
Contributes to Neighbourhoods -3.4%
Treats with Respect -0.9%
Did different types of customers have different concerns?
Yes, they did. In response we’ve:
Introduced new question time events which are more targeted to specific customer groups, so we can understand where we can make things better
Increased the number of resident inspectors working at a local block level, who send us feedback about the services they receive
Introduced a new system which helps us to target communications by text message and email, so we only contact you about the things that matter to you and affect your area
How can I find out how Watford Community Housing compared to other landlords?
Every landlord should be publishing their results on their website.
If you are thinking of moving to another landlord, including through a mutual exchange, you should be able to request information about how they carried out their surveys, their results and their plans to improve.
This will be the first year that all landlords have provided their results, and everyone is collecting their surveys differently.
What are we doing to improve?
- We provide a range of opportunities for our customers to get involved and ensure their voice is heard. Our 18-month engagement plan is underway and includes dates for Tenant Question Time events, scrutiny sprints and the Big Door Knock.
- We hold regular estate inspections and support local community groups with grants as well as practical support from our team.
- We have three community hubs and a network of scheme lounges that are used for a variety of events.
- Our Financial Inclusion Team record a rolling ‘better off’ figure so that we know how much better off customers are as a result of our support. For April 2023 to March 2024, customers were £764,269 better off against the yearly target of £755k.
- We work with stakeholders and partners to obtain additional funding for our neighbourhoods. This year we’ve been successful with bids to the Household Support Fund for Watford and Three Rivers, and the Community Infrastructure Levy Grant from Watford Borough Council.
- We have updated our Anti-Social Behaviour and Panel Guidance and Succession policies to improve the customer experience.
- Following the Housing Ombudsman’s “Time to be Heard” spotlight report on noise complaints, we have created a Good Neighbour Policy and introduced the Noise App, so that people can record and report nuisance noise.
- We have created an ASB toolkit on our website, offering information about what is and isn’t ASB, and how to report it.
- We retendered for our estate services and have reappointed Accuro for communal cleaning, grounds maintenance and assisted gardening.
- We now send out regular surveys that let customers send us photos of any areas that are not up to standard.
- We held skip days in some of our local communities so that customers could dispose of items from their communal areas or gardens.
- We have started the Section 20 process to get quotes to improve the decoration and flooring in communal areas in our blocks in Chiltern Pines.
- TIAA, our internal auditors, undertook a review of complaints and lessons learnt, and we received ‘substantial assurance’ for that audit.
- The audit confirmed that we have in place:
- A Customer Feedback Policy and Procedure in line with the Housing Ombudsman Code
- Regular training sessions for investigating managers
- A system to acknowledge and respond to all complaints within the Housing Ombudsman’s timescales
- A weekly complaints and compliments report to progress complaints to resolution and review lessons learnt from customer feedback
- Customers have told us that we have improved when it comes to resolving their query on the first call – averaging at 72.7% for first-time resolution over the past 6 months. We have also seen excellent scores in our Customer Service Officers being polite and knowledgeable at 94.7%.
- We have completed an audit of our customer system and we are responding to customer enquiries in line with our service standards. We investigate every complaint about staff members through our feedback process and take appropriate action.
- Complaint-investigating managers call customers to understand their concerns. We are working with our customers to ensure our complaint responses meet any needs such as any disabilities or different languages, and also offer a customer advocacy service.
- Customer-facing staff record customer contact using a mobile housing app while on visits.
- We send out voice, our tenant magazine, three times a year, and make sure it covers areas that customers have told us we need to improve on or give them more information about.
- We visit every home each year on our annual Big Door Knock, and give customers an opportunity to ask staff questions at our Tenant Question Time events.
- We now send more targeted texts and emails to specific blocks to let customers know if there has been any disruption to services or if we are going to be visiting to undertake a communal repair.
- We have identified training needs for our contact centre around offering a better first-time resolution. We recognise the need to make sure issues can be resolved first time when customers call us. This includes more training on direct debits, damp and mould enquiries, welfare concerns, diagnosing repairs and using our online services.
- We have a new system which we use to target communications to specific areas, tenancies or demographics.
- We have implemented a call-back facility on our main customer service number. This enables customers to leave their contact details rather than waiting in the queue and receive a call-back when they’re at the front of the queue.
- We have increased the number of stock condition surveys that we undertake to check that your home is well maintained.
- During our Big Door Knock, we asked all customers if they had any issues with damp and mould and have made sure that we have inspected and dealt with any customers’ concerns.
- We have been working with our contractor, Lux, to install new smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and we sent out information to all customers living in flats about the importance of fire safety.
- We’ve invested in new external wall insulation for homes in Rookery and Harebreaks.
- Following customer feedback we have simplified our Applications For Alterations policy, which details what changes customers can make to their homes.
- Our Gateway Membership Team (GMT) selected and led a customer scrutiny session in February 2024 on our repairs contractor services. We’ve also updated our complaint categories to clearly define a contractor’s complaint, so we can raise any performance issues with our contractors.
- We continue to work to address ongoing repairs and have increased our contractor base to keep completion times within target. We’ve seen an improvement in our response times and our first-time fix rate has improved from 81.7% in the first half of 2023/24 to 84.4% in the second half of the year.
- We are continuing to address our backlog of repairs and work towards meeting the timescales in our Responsive Repairs Policy, as well as improving communication with our customers.
- Our workforce has increased and we’re seeing improvements to satisfaction with repairs, which has moved from 71.4% to 74.4% during this reporting period.
- We’ve also seen increased satisfaction with the time taken to complete repairs – from 66.7% to 70.8%. We acknowledge that we are slightly behind our key repair targets and have seen an increase in complaints relating to repairs, which we are using to understand where to target our resources.
- We have changed the way that we collect customer feedback, making it easier and quicker for you. You can also submit any repairs or estates issues through our new system.
- We contact all customers that have requested a call about dissatisfaction with our services and ask them how we can put things right.
- We know that repairs are the most important thing to our customers. We sent everyone a letter with information on repairs and our current wait times for different jobs. It explained what to do if you have a repair outstanding, how we are improving our services, what to do if you have damp and mould in your home, and what support we can offer if you need a little extra help with areas like finances.
- We have been recruiting to our Repairs team across all trades to help us carry out repair jobs more quickly.
- We update our website frequently to reflect our current timescales for different types of repair.
- We’ve been working to address customer complaints and concerns around repairs, and to prioritise accordingly.
- We regularly email and text customers about any repair and service issues.
Performance management scores
The below shows how we performed on the 10 management performance measures in 2023/24:
CH01 (1)
Number of stage one complaints received per 1,000 homes - 26.3
CH02 (1)
Proportion of stage one complaints responded to within the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code timescales - 100%
NM01 (1)
Number of anti-social behaviour cases opened per 1,000 homes - 20.6
RP01
Proportion of homes that do not meet the Decent Home Standard - 0%
RP02 (2)
Proportion of emergency responsive repairs completed within landlord’s target timescale - 98.9%
BS02
Proportion of homes for which all required fire risk assessments have been carried out - 100%
BS04
Proportion of homes for which all legionella risk assessments have been carried out - 100%
CH01 (2)
Number of stage two complaints received per 1,000 homes - 4.8
CH02 (2)
Proportion of stage two complaints responded to within the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code timescales - 100%
NM01 (2)
Number of anti-social behaviour cases that involve hate incidents opened per 1,000 homes - 0.7
RP02 (1)
Proportion of non-emergency responsive repairs completed within landlord’s target timescale - 66.8%
BS01
Proportion of homes for which all required gas safety checks have been carried out - 100%
BS03
Proportion of homes for which all asbestos management surveys or re-inspections have been carried out - 100%
BS05
Proportion of homes for which all required communal passenger lift safety checks have been carried out - 100%