Repairs Consultation
Following the news that our responsive repairs service was coming in-house from 1st December, we ran a consultation to find out from tenants and leaseholders what they would like from the service. Questions were asked to assess demand for services offered by other social housing providers, not currently available to Ashford, as well as potential service improvements.
The consultation ran for almost 8 weeks from 12th October with an online and paper survey, as well as in-depth interviews and focus groups with tenants. We have taken your comments and formulated actions from what has been highlighted to us and will keep you updated on our progress throughout the year.
The feedback from this consultation will also be combined with responses from the Tenant Satisfaction Survey 2023 to formulate phased improvements to the service for tenants and leaseholders across 2024.
If you have any questions regarding the consultation or results, please get in touch with Tenant Engagement.
Key takeout's:
- Telephone is the preferred reporting method, with apps used largely by younger tenants and email by those that are older
- Current repair timescales require evaluation
- There is demand for out of hours repairs
- Accountability is required – performance, complaints, satisfaction levels
- Handbook and website require improvements
Key actions:
- Re-write handbook and improve web pages
- Assess, confirm and publicise realistic repair response times
- Provide additional customer service staff to triage reports, particularly on the telephone
- Repairs satisfaction and service levels to be published regularly
- Repairs team to be involved in estate inspections and scrutiny groups
- Promote complaints process and methods
- Explore additional reporting methods & viability of new services such as out of hours repairs and a paid for repairs service for jobs that fall under tenant responsibilities
For those that would like to see a summary of responses they can be found in the short slide presentation below or a PDF can be downloaded here- Repairs Consultation Summary [pdf] 546KB
Tenant Repairs Panel
We will also be looking to create a Tenant Repairs Panel as part of our engagement strategy for those that wish to be involved further and scrutinise the service that we will deliver. If you would like to be part of our panel please drop us an email with your details tenant.contact@ashford.gov.uk
