Being transparent about how we’re doing

As an open and honest organisation, we want you to know how well we’re delivering our services and making improvements. We want to share regular performance updates on the things that matter most to you, so we can ensure the services you value are prioritised. We’re also working closely with VIVID Impact, our customer scrutiny panel, as they review our performance and make recommendations to improve our services.

Every 3 months, we'll share an update on our performance. And below you can see how we performed from October to December 2020, compared to our performance against the previous 3 months as well as our targets for these services (where we have them). You can also find out what we've been working on and what we're focusing on next.

What have we been working on?

• We reviewed all services in light of the government’s new coronavirus tiered system and ensured that we kept customers and staff safe by maintaining our safe working practices, having the right protective equipment available and providing the right advice.
• Our Tenancy Support team supported customers, helping to access over £1.5 million in benefits over the last 3 months and support 102 customers through training and new jobs.  
• We’ve continued to offer support to our customers and wider communities during the coronavirus pandemic by providing £250k to charities, community groups and foodbanks, and sending out 200 tablets to support young people and older customers stay connected. Staff also raised £4,760 for City Catering Southampton by donating their Christmas lunch contribution to the charity so they can support vulnerable local people.
• We’ve seen a reduction in anti-social behaviour and fly tipping since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and our staff continue to work hard to support you with these issues and try to resolve them. Please continue to report any anti-social behaviour issues here.
• We set up a Customer Coronavirus Guidance Group, made up of 70 customer volunteers, who are helping to shape our services and approach to coronavirus. Some of the themes this group of customers reviewed via a webinar include communications, repairs and approach to coming out of lockdown. Find out how you can get involved here.
• We’re recruited 8 new customers to VIVID Impact, our scrutiny panel, our new Customer Service Committee and the board of our charitable arm, VIVID+. You can find out more about getting involved here. We’re really looking forward to working together to shape and improve services together.
• We continue to receive positive feedback from customers on our new virtual letting service. We’re now able to send videos of our empty homes so new customers can view properties from the comfort of their own homes and minimise face-to-face contact. Tenancy agreements are also being signed digitally.
• We've resumed our mutual exchange service and we’re continuing to work through the back log of mutual exchange applications. We apologise that the process is taking longer but we are making progress and will be in touch with updates when we have them if you are waiting for news on the status of your exchange.
• We’re working hard to improve the way we handle complaints to improve satisfaction and we’ve been looking at our surveys to see where we can make improvements. A big focus has been on keeping you informed, and we have seen some improvements over the last few months. We’ve also been looking at what we can do things differently to reduce the need to complain in the first place.
• Our recent Housing Ombudsman report for 2019-20 shows that we compare well to other housing associations on determination outcomes.  During the year we received 12 determinations: 7 cases were found to have no maladministration, 2 where we made appropriate redress, 2 were outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and 1 case where partial maladministration was found. In this case we had sent a follow up letter which was outside our complaints policy.
• We have been reviewing our approach to service charges, including the principles we use to set, administer and communicate them. We'll include customers, asking our engaged customer group to help review the charges.

What are we focusing on over the next few months?

• Changes to our services due to the latest lockdown restrictions. With the announcement of a further national lockdown in January 2021, we’ve adapted our repairs service to minimise entry into your home unless absolutely necessary. This means we will continue with emergency repairs, some urgent repairs and limited other repairs from now until further notice. We will also continue with annual safety checks and fire safety works. You can find out more about changes to our services here.
• Continuing to support customers affected by the coronavirus pandemic. We know that many of our customers are being affected financially due to the coronavirus pandemic and many are at risk of losing their jobs. Our Tenancy Support team can provide help and advice with money and benefits and employment and training and can support you through the challenging winter months. If you need any support, please get in touch so we can help you.
• Improving Consumer Standards. The Government is introducing some changes to the Consumer Standards legislation. We‘ll be creating a customer group to work together to review and make recommendations on priorities for customers.    
• Complaints. Whilst 96% of all complaints are dealt with quickly, we know that we can be better at the way complaints are managed at the first point of contact. We’ve listened to your feedback from our surveys and we’ll be focusing on the contact we have with you during a complaint, making sure we keep our promises but also looking at how we can prevent complaints from being raised in the first place. We’ll be making some short-term changes over the next three months which will be monitored to see if the changes are positive.
• Services charges. We will be asking our engaged customer group to help review our approach to service charges, including the principles we use to set, administer and communicate them. 
• Proactive communication. In your feedback, you’ve said that you’d like us to communicate better. During the pandemic we’ve been contacting customers more through email, text, phone as well as regular updates on our website and social media channels. We want to continue this approach to ensure you stay informed of progress and of services available to support you and so we’ll continue to send our usual e-newsletters providing relevant updates. And when there are any changes to our services due to coronavirus, we’ll use all channels to ensure we keep you informed. We’re also working on improvements to our wider communications, and one area in particular is around repairs and when there are follow on jobs to complete the works.
• Ease of access to services. Our telephone wait times have improved over recent months, but we know we can do better. We’re in the process of looking for a new contact centre telephone system which will give us the ability to offer a better service and new channels for you to contact us through. Look out for more updates on this in summer.
• Mutual exchanges. We’re receiving an increased number of mutual exchange requests – much higher than normal. We’re working on these requests as quickly as we can and have moved more staff into the team to try to speed up the process. We have also had to introduce enhanced precautions so that we can continue to undertake compliance checks so exchanges can continue – this will also create delays. We apologise that the process is taking longer but we are making progress and will be in touch with updates when we have them if you are waiting for news on the status of your exchange.
• VIVID+. This month, we’re launching our new charitable foundation, VIVID+, which will provide more opportunities and support for our customers and local communities. With an initial £21 million investment, we’re hoping our charitable arm will be able to support initiatives that will create a long-term impact in our communities. Look out for more information very soon.