We’ve been working hard to adapt the way we deliver our services ensuring customer and staff safety remain our top priority. And as we expand our services, we’re closely following government advice, so we do so in a responsible way. Please bear with us as it will be some time before our services are completely back to normal but be assured that we’re doing all we can to provide the best service in the current situation. Find out more below.
As the impact of coronavirus remains, we’re continuing to focus our efforts where it matters most to you. This includes keeping you safe in your home and being here to offer support and advice about paying your rent, claiming benefits and money advice as we know this is a worrying time and job situations are changing. Our priority as always is to keep you and your home safe and we’re advising customers and staff to keep following the latest government advice to protect yourself. This includes letting us know if you’re self-isolating or have been diagnosed.
How we're supporting you and our communities
Read our list of Frequently Asked Questions
Our list of trusted local organisations who can help if you’re self-isolating
We know that some of you are worried about how you'll pay your rent because of the impact of coronavirus. If you're unwell or can't work because of coronavirus we want to reassure our customers that no one will lose their home as a result of financial hardship caused by the virus. We know you'll do your best to pay your rent but if you're in financial difficulties we're here to help. We can offer support on money advice and claiming benefits so please don’t hesitate to get in touch in the usual way.
We know that many of you will be impacted by coronavirus, and we’re providing a range of support to help you through this challenging time.
We’re offering our support within local communities during this challenging time to help those who need it the most. This includes financial support to food banks in your area. If you’re struggling to buy food, please contact your local food bank for support. If you're worried about money please let us know so we can support you. We’ve also provided some funding to support local community groups in your neighbourhood. If you are involved with a group and want to access funding, find out how to apply here.
We understand that it can be lonely and difficult having to stay at home, so we’ve put together a list of simple things that you can do to help your wellbeing and stay physically and mentally active. If you're self-isolating and need some help, whether it be with food supplies, shopping or a friendly chat, here's a list of local organisations who can provide support to you.
We’re also providing extra support to our older customers living in our sheltered and extra care homes, including additional cleaning in communal areas and we’re also making regular phone calls to check in and make sure everything’s okay.
If you’ve lost your job and need support in looking for work, our Employment and Training team are here to help. There are lots of companies recruiting and our advisors can support you with applications and help with interview techniques. For free, confidential advice and guidance please call 0800 652 0898 and ask to speak to one of our Employment and Training Advisors.
As we reintroduce our services, please bear with us as it will be some time before our services are completely back to normal. But be assured that we’re doing all we can to provide the best possible service in the current situation.
After restarting our service, we’re making good progress in booking in appointments as we initially focus on customers who have already reported a repair. If you haven’t yet received an appointment, we haven’t forgotten you - we’ll be in touch with an appointment soon.
If we’ve contacted you with an appointment and you need to change it, please use your online account if possible as we’re expecting our phone lines to be busy. We’re using local contractors to complete some repairs and they’ll be in touch to book the repair in. Please make sure that you confirm your appointment and if you need to change an appointment, please contact the contractor directly.
And please continue to report new repairs to us, so we can schedule in appointments once we’re able to. However, non-emergency repairs are unlikely to be scheduled before the autumn, while we focus on completing already reported repairs.
We want to reassure you that we’ve put measures in to ensure your safety, which we’ll tell you about before your appointment. These measures are in line with the current government advice and you can find our ‘Staying coronavirus secure in 2020’ form here, which confirms that we’re complying with the government guidance on managing the risk of coronavirus.
There are some steps that we’ll need you to take too, which include remaining 2 metres away from our staff if they’re working inside your home or building and letting us know if anyone in your household has coronavirus symptoms or is self-isolating.
We've launched a virtual lettings service, which allows customers to view and sign up for properties online in most cases. You don’t need to contact us, we’ll be contacting customers to let them know when homes are available to view using our virtual viewing videos, or when sign ups can be arranged. Please bear with us while we get used to our new processes.
We’re also accepting new applications for a home swap (mutual exchange). However, some landlords and councils have not resumed their normal service, following the impact of coronavirus. So if you’re swapping with someone who has a landlord other than VIVID, you’ll need to check before submitting your application to ensure they’re working normally and accepting new applications. Your application can’t be progressed unless all parties involved are able to progress their applications. We’re dealing with a high volume of enquiries, so please ensure that you’re certain that you want to move, and that you have a clear rent account and no other breaches of tenancy which could affect your application. And due to the high number of applications and new processes following coronavirus, it may take us slightly longer than usual to process your application, but please be assured that we’re working as quickly as we can to get your home swap completed.
We’re getting more incidents of anti-social behaviour incidents reported to us. These are often about people not following the government’s social distance advice. Please follow the government guidance when you see your neighbours, particularly in communal areas. We can’t take any action against people who don’t follow social distancing guidance. But the police do have powers to act where needed. You can let them know here. We’re still dealing with reports of anti-social behaviour and where the breach of social distancing is also an ASB incident (for example, if a neighbour deliberately approaches you and threatens you), we will deal with it.
As government guidance continues to change, we’ll continue to provide updates on our services on our website, regular emails, and on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
You can also find a full list of Frequently asked questions here.