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Customer Communications Review

Customer Communications Review

Getting in touch with usOur main telephone number is 0300 303 9848. Staff also have direct dial numbers which are available on our website. To report repairs you can call us on 0800 318 259, 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.

Following a customer questioning why we record all incoming and outgoing telephone conversations, our recorded message for incoming phone calls to our main number now explains that all phone calls are recorded for quality assurance and training purposes and to check factual accuracy. Further information has also been added to our website.

Our website address is www.wvht.co.uk and provides all the information you need about becoming a Weaver Vale customer as well as information for existing customers. There are information points to access the site in our offices at Wyvern House and Northwich Information Centre for those who don’t have access to the internet at home or on their mobile.

Our Facebook page www.facebook.com/weavervale goes from strength to strength. The site is full of community news and events, Trust news and services and also has a non emergency repairs reporting section. Our facebook ‘likes’ almost doubled (up 85%) to 630 and our ‘reach’ to facebook viewers averaged 5,000 per month.

The impact of this activity means that we are reaching a more diverse audience than we have previously engaged with as the majority of our Facebook likes are from the younger age bracket of 25-44yrs with a ratio of 30% male likes and 70% female likes.

Our Twitter page @weavervale is also growing with 2,787 followers mostly in the 25-44yrs age bracket and with a ratio of 63% male to 37% female. Not only does Twitter give us a

chance to engage with our customers, we can also connect with other businesses in the area, housing associations around the country, MP’s and other important people who have influence over the shaping of our service.

Social media has also allowed us to communicate more rapidly with our customers on issues of concern such as fire hazards, burst water pipes, tree dangers or weather warnings. Our social media accounts page is monitored Monday to Friday 9-5pm by the Communications team and all enquiries will be acknowledged within one working day.

Writing to us - We received 235 emails from customers and achieved 95% reply within the target date of 5 working days. We also received 98 letters requiring a reply and achieved 92% reply within 5 working days. Our target was 95%.

Our offices are situated in Gadbrook Park, Northwich, Wyvern House, Winsford and Northwich Information Centre. We also have community ‘hubs’ in Greenbank, Northwich and Greenfields Park Winsford.

“Our recorded message for incoming phone calls to our main number now explains that all phone calls are recorded for quality assurance and training purposes and to check factual accuracy”

Remember if you’d like us to

post this strategy review to

you FREEPOST call us on

01606 813 351 or email

alexandra.myhill@wvht.co.uk.

Or pop into one of our offices

and pick up a copy.

Complaints: Getting in touch when you are not so happyWe try to make sure that we do everything right first time, sometimes we get things wrong and you might want to complain. We use complaints both to put right what we have done wrong and to use lessons learnt to improve services.

During 2013/14 132 complaints were received, of which 112 were resolved at Stage 1, 18 were resolved at Stage 2 and 2 at stage 3 (our Complaints Panel). No complaints were referred to the Housing Ombudsman.

The main reasons for complaints during the year were due to communications issues, customer

expectations exceeding the Trust’s Policy and or service standards and the quality / standard of work.

We record lessons learnt from complaints, from 2014/15 our new Designated Complaints Panel will commence to monitor their implementation. We also received 635 compliments about the Trust.

Tenant Inspectors monitor customer satisfaction with our complaints process, 42% of respondents rated it as good/very good and were very/fairly satisfied with how their complaint was handled.

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Customer Communications Review

Getting Involved How you were involvedOur Tenant Consultative Committee (TCC) is the primary tenant body for championing resident involvement, it ensures co-regulation is met and it monitors our performance in meeting our strategy and strategic achievement measures. The group also approves new and amended policies and procedures.

During the past 12 months TCC members have:• Gained two new members, with a further two expressing high interest and currently observing prior to applying.• Reviewed and amended 17 policies, procedures and strategies.• Informed of 18 changes that would help improve delivery and shaping of our services.• Attended 12 Training courses.• Visited the new builds in Winsford, Weaverham and Winnington.• Attended the opening of Greenbank Hub.• Attended and inputted suggestions for the New Tenant Workshops.• Assisted with TPAS Accreditation.• Requested the Performance Improvement & Enhancement (PIE) group to scrutinise Green Inspectors following a number of unsatisfied responses. • Held discussions regarding Customer Involvement Groups frequency and numbers.

The TCC members were also involved in the Customer Workshop trials from which it was agreed that one member of the TCC will attend live workshops to inform new customers of the different ways to get involved. These workshops will be increasing the use of the Tenant Resource room and potentially increase the number of Customer Volunteers within the Trust.

The Review It Customer Involvement Group has reviewed four editions of Your Home magazine, ensuring the magazine is customer focussed. The group also reviewed last years annual report and made suggestion for improvement to this report including increased information about complaints.

eVoice surveys take place every month and allow customers to get involved via the internet meaning you don’t have to come into offices for meetings and can complete surveys at home, work or on the move.

During 2013-14, eight eVoice surveys were sent out to customers on a range of topics including:• Resident Involvement Policy• Review of new Tenant Sign-up• Review of WVHT website • Domestic Abuse Policy

The average the response for a survey was 30 with the lowest response rate being 15 and the highest being 51.

Following a customer request, we now send our current policies along with the survey link; this allows customers to take the time to read all of the information and give the Trust more constructive, considered feedback.

The Tenant Resource Room was set up to provide all involved customers with a designated location at our Northwich Headquarters. It enables all customer meetings to take place in one location and helps to provide a solid routine for involved customers. The room is a space where customers can meet informally, conduct research, and complete training. It is also a base for our Tenant Inspectors.

The STAR Survey (Survey of Tenants and Residents) was completed by conducting telephone surveys rather than posting the surveys out which had yielded limited results. Using the new system we surveyed almost 1000

diverse customers about their satisfaction with services provided by the Trust. (see www.wvht.co.uk/starsurvey)

Training & Development is a key part of the development of the TCC, CIG and Board members. In the past 12 months they have all attended training events either as a group, individually or in pairs. Nine training events took place off site at Trafford Hall and there was one in-house training session.

A number of TCC members also attended a two-day conference and two members of the group are working towards an Institute of Leadership & Management certificate.

Customer Involvement Groups (CIGS) meet regularly in the Tenant Resource Room at Gadbrook. There are currently 8 CIG’s covering;• Repairs & External Improvements • Property Investment• Tenancy Management • Welfare Reform• Voids & New Tenancies • Review It • Community Independence • Equality Action

During 2013-14 we also formed a specific CIG to review the website and content. Details about each group can be found in each Strategy. We always welcome new members, if you would like to get involved get.involved@wvht.co.uk or call 01606 813 422.

“The TCC members were also involved in the Customer Workshop trials from which it was agreed that one member of the TCC will attend live workshops to inform new customers of the different ways to get involved...”

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Customer Communications Review

Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) is an organisation that helps us to operate more effectively and efficiently and also informs customers about how to influence how housing services are delivered. In March 2014 we received TPAS accreditation for resident involvement. To achieve the accreditation we had to carry out self assessments in relation to TPAS’ accreditation structure and providing further documentary evidence. We also developed and action plan to address any TPAS findings from the evidence we provided.

What changes have taken place since we were accredited?• We have implemented a resident involvement action plan.• There has been a redesign and reprint of resident involvement literature.• Impact assessments have been redesigned with the addition of cost benefit analysis.• We have developed a resident involvement policy.• We have improved the recording of volunteer time devoted to resident involvement activities.• Our customer complaint policy has been developed further.

The Performance Improvement & Enhancement (PIE) customer scrutiny group has agreed Key Performance Indicators for Customers into work strategy, developed a communication process for Green Inspectors, advised on changes to the empty homes standards and ensured that customers are involved in choices regarding bathroom tiles for the Property Investment Group.

Tenant Inspectors are involved customers that support our work in ensuring our standards are maintained across all of our services. This year they have given direct feedback from customers to relevant CIG’s, they have helped us to improve our empty property standards ready for new customers to move in, have gathered qualitative information regarding our repairs standards from our customers which has been communicated to management for action.

Our website was re-launched in December 2013 and is now fully mobile responsive, designed to work with your mobile phone or tablet and home computers/ laptops. To help shape the new site we asked a group of customers what new features they would like to see and what they didn’t want on the site anymore. For example, everything to do with a customer’s tenancy is now in one place under one tab called ‘Your Tenancy’.

We have started a project called ‘the customer journey’ aiming to improve the customer ‘sign up’ process or the stages involved in becoming a customer of Weaver Vale. To start gathering information we have sent an eVoice and postal survey and held workshops with customers at Wharton Library. The project is on-going to improve this process.

Our plans for 2014-15We will be reviewing the customer handbook and will be including customers in this process to ensure you have a handbook that works for you.

We will also be reviewing the website with the initial customer group who helped redesign it to ensure the site is working and what further developments we can make to it.

The recommendations from TPAS will be reviewed and we will develop an action plan for ongoing improvements up to September 2015. Some of the actions will include:• More efforts to communicate Neighbourhood Plans beyond active customers in our neighbourhoods.

• More emphasis on feeding back results of surveys to respondents.• Develop a process by which residents can contribute to shaping market research.

The TCC will hold their second Annual Planning session to refocus and develop the Resident Involvement Action Plan with agreed targets and objectives for the forthcoming year. Actions are expected to include increasing recruitment, further developing the role of the Customer Involvement Group Champions, recruiting new members for groups, and strengthening communications relating to resident involvement internally and externally.

The STAR survey will now be conducted every quarter to ensure that we gain more regular views from our customers. As a result, we can communicate our performance more frequently to both customers and the Board.

The Tenant Inspectors will be surveying new customers that have moved into empty properties, improving complaints survey and analysis and devising a supplier prequalification questionnaire.

The PIE Group have got scrutiny enquiries planned for self certifying adaptations, the complaints process, procedures & reporting and assisting the Tenant Inspectors with devising a supplier prequalification questionnaire.

“Tenant Inspectors are involved customers that support our work in ensuring our standards are maintained across all of our services...”