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 July to September 2020, compared to our performance against the previous 3 months as well as our targets for these services (where we have them). Please note that many of our services were on hold from March to July due to the government’s coronavirus lockdown measures, and so the contrast in service between Q1 and Q2 may not be a true and direct comparrison. 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’ve continued to provide support to our customers and our wider communities during the coronavirus pandemic by providing £125k to local foodbanks, £125k to local community groups who have been providing much needed support in our communities, and also supporting our most vulnerable customers my making regular welfare phone calls to check on their wellbeing.
• We’ve seen a rise in anti-social behaviour and fly tipping since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and our staff are working 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 helped 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.
• We’ve received 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 but are experiencing higher volumes than normal – see below for a further update.
• We've scheduled all repairs appointments raised before and during lockdown and our services will be back to normal soon.
• 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. 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.

What are we focusing on over the next few months?

• Complaints. Whilst 98% 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.
• Services charges. We are 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 

• Returning our services to normal after coronavirus. Following the UK-wide lock-down, we’ve moved quickly to restore services as fast and safely as we can. All routine repairs have been booked in with customers and we’re already dealing with emergency and urgent repairs within our normal timescales (apart from 1 or 2 specific trades where wait times are slightly longer due to weather restrictions).

• Continue 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.

• 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 next 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. So please bear with us while we work through the back log that occurred during lockdown and the increased number of applications.
• Customer involvement. We’re recruiting new customers to VIVID Impact, our scrutiny panel, and our Customer Service Committee. If you’d like to find out more or get involved, please email: gettinginvolved@vividhomes.co.uk We hope to introduce you to our new members soon!
• VIVID+. In January, we’ll be 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.