Back in 2020, the Government introduced The charter for social housing residents: social housing white paper. It set out what every social housing resident should be able to expect from their landlord.
From 1 April 2023, all registered providers of social housing must collect and publish a range of comparable information in key areas of service. These are known as the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs). They are part of the Regulator of Social Housing’s (RSH) wider programme of work to develop proactive, consumer regulation of the social housing sector. A key part of the regulation is the measurement and reporting of the new Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs).
New Tenant Satisfaction Measures
The new satisfactions measures will enable tenants to scrutinise their landlord’s performance, give landlords insight about where they can improve, and provide a source of intelligence to RSH about whether landlords are meeting regulatory standards. There are 22 measures in total. Ten of these are figures measured directly by the landlord. The remaining twelve are measured by carrying out perception surveys.
Will this change anything?
We already collect perception measures from tenants in our Customer Survey. We are now preparing for the changes in how we do this, which means some minor changes to the questions we ask, but also a change in how we select the sample of tenants to be surveyed.
Our surveys will mainly be delivered over the phone with a random sample of tenants. We must ensure we collect a proportionate and representative number of responses each year, compared to the wider tenant population. We then submit our results to the Regulator of Social Housing.
How you can check our performance
As well as reporting the the measures and survey responses to the regulator, we'll be making the results available for you to see how we're doing too. The TSMs will be reported to our Board and be published on our website. We'll ensure we summarise them in this newsletter and also plan to include links to the information in any email news we send out.
What is measured?
There are five main themes that the satisfaction measures fall within. These follow on from the key themes of the White Paper. They are essentially the key areas managed by any housing service:
- Keeping properties in good repair
- Maintaining building safety
- Respectful and helpful engagement
- Responsible neighbourhood management
- Effective handling of complaints
Each theme includes a number of specific measures, but unless you already have a keen interest in social housing regulation, you may be wondering what each of them covers.
We've decided to go into each theme a bit more below. It's important for us to be transparent with you on the services we deliver. It also means you'll have a good overview on what to expect from us in these key areas.
Learn more about the requirements for the Tenant Satisfaction Measures standard (Regulator of Social Housing website).
Keeping properties in good repair
Did you know our Customer Service Team handle over 110,000 calls a year and our Repairs Team complete around 36,000 repair jobs across the 12,500 homes we manage? It's important for us that your home is well maintained and that you feel satisfied with the repairs we carry out.
Our Repairs Team deliver a whole range of work that helps keep your home in a good state of repair. This includes a responsive service for things you tell us need fixing and the regular work we keep on top of, like servicing and other routine work.
Even though we're not an emergency service, we deal with "emergency repairs" by attending to them more urgently to ensure things are safe and there's no further risk to you or your household. We also have teams that specialise in work that has to be planned in on a much longer time-scale. This includes surveying and replacing things like doors, windows, kitchens, bathrooms, heating and roofs.
Maintaining building safety
We want you to feel safe in your home, but do you know what role we play to keep the building you live in safe? There are many teams in Derby Homes who are responsible for making sure your home is safe and secure. We carry out a range of safety checks before you move in, and throughout your time in your home.
Fire safety
When it comes to fire, making sure you’re safe is our top priority. We have procedures in place to help prevent fires and reduce the impact if a fire does break out. This includes things like:
- Fire risk assessments in communal areas
- Helping prepare fire emergency plans
- Fire and building regulations for new builds
- Fire training for our staff
- Working with the fire service
- Rectifying any fire safety issues
- Your building's fire safety procedures
- Installing and maintaining fire detection systems
- Maintaining fire doors
- Ensuring external walls and cladding are safe and fire resistant
Gas safety
Our gas engineers will check your boiler is working safely as part of your annual gas safety appointment. Unmaintained boilers can be extremely dangerous for you and your family, so it’s extremely important you allow us access to complete these checks. Making sure your boiler is annually maintained can also help you save money on your energy bills.
Electrical safety
Faulty electrics can be extremely dangerous. If electrics are not installed properly or have faulty wiring, they can cause fire’s and electric shocks. We carry out electrical safety tests on all properties before you move in and every five years. During these checks, we’ll check the condition of your:
- electric meter
- service head
- fuse box/consumer unit
- earthing arrangements
- circuits throughout your home
- electrical accessories such as lights, sockets, cookers and showers
Water safety
We aim to meet the highest standard of water hygiene. We carry out:
- water checks and a water system flush in empty properties before anyone moves in
- monthly checks in sheltered accommodation, communal buildings and common rooms
- risk assessments on properties whenever we carry out major works like kitchen or bathroom renewals
Asbestos safety
Many of the properties we manage were built before to the ban of asbestos in 1999 and may have been built or refurbished using materials containing asbestos. The majority of the homes managed by Derby Homes contain low-risk asbestos materials.
Asbestos itself does not constitute a danger, but any materials containing asbestos may pose a hazard if disturbed or damaged. Before you move in, a surveyor will carry out a visual inspection for asbestos. Any asbestos remaining in the property will be safe and intact.
We'll give you information on any asbestos in your home when you move in, and let you know what you need to do if any work needs carrying out that might disturb the materials.
Lift safety
All passenger lifts, ceiling track hoists, through floor lifts and step lifts in our properties have a LOLER (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulation)
certificate and are inspected every six months. LOLER is a lift inspection required by law and ensures lifting equipment is safe to operate.
Stair lifts do not need a LOLER certificate, but are still serviced every year.
Respectful and helpful engagement
There are a range of ways you can get involved with us. As a customer, you can make a vital contribution to Derby Homes by helping shape how we deliver services. Depending on how much time you have, there's a way to give us your views or even take part in consultations or even scrutinise specific parts of our service.
Even if you don't get involved, we aim to demonstrate we listen to customers and take action on your feedback. Read more about getting involved: How to get involved
Similarly, we aim to keep you informed about things that matter to you. This could be general news about service changes, consultations, how we're performing and how decisions are made.
Throughout all of the ways you can get involved and how we speak to you, we will always treat you fairly and with respect.
Responsible neighbourhood management
We know your home is more than just a roof and four walls. It's also the area you live in and the community you're part of. We invest in, and maintain our estates to help you feel proud to live where you live. Were not able to directly act on everything, but here's a summary of our role in neighbourhood management:
- help tackle anti-social behaviour
- clean, maintain and improve our estates
- clean and maintain communal areas and communal gardens
- work with community groups and provide community spaces
Effective handling of complaints
We try to get things right first time. However, we appreciate this doesn’t always happen. We take all complaints seriously and believe we can learn from our mistakes to improve our service in the future.
Please talk to us if you are dissatisfied with any of our services. You should first contact the staff who provided the service, who will try to resolve it for you. If you remain dissatisfied you can speak to their line manager. If you are still not happy, you should make a complaint. We aim to resolve all complaints first time.
Complaint definition
"An expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual resident or group of residents."
Find out more about how we deal with complaints here: Complaints