Working Better Together For Our Residents
Our customer report focuses on issues that directly impact the 130,000 of you who live in one of our homes and use our services. It covers progress and achievements in the 2024/25 financial year and includes information about how we’re performing against new consumer standards and other internal metrics.
This report is part of a suite of documents that tell the story of our past 12 months, alongside our annual report and financial statements, and our environmental, social and governance (ESG) report.
This has been a challenging year, but one we emerge from full of ambition, enthusiasm and determination to provide better homes and services for the people living in our homes.
This year we received our first consumer standard grade from the regulator - a C3 rating indicating non-compliance. Combined with our first results of our Tenant Satisfaction Measures, this made clear we weren't meeting your expectations. We are committed to turning this around and are seeing early progress through fundamental changes like our dedicated repairs hub, which has improved customer satisfaction and repair tracking, and our complaints team's proactive engagement that has reduced negative Housing Ombudsman findings.
However, real improvement can only happen by working closely with you. We're investing in understanding what you want from us through initiatives like the Voice of our Customer project for deeper feedback insights and the Know our Customer programme to understand how you prefer to interact with us. Your new Resident Forum and engagement model continues to grow stronger, ensuring resident voices reach the highest organisational levels through board representation, strategic input, and hundreds of residents actively influencing our work through programme groups and neighbourhood activities.
We still have a long way to go, but we are both committed and determined to make the necessary changes to provide residents with the quality homes and services they deserve.
Effective handling of complaints
We know how important it is to put things right when you tell us something has gone wrong. This year, we received 6,656 stage one complaints, more than double last year’s figure, partly because our new centralised complaints team has made it easier for residents to raise concerns. Around 24% were resolved quickly through service recovery, often within five days.
Our aim is to make sure more complaints are resolved at the first stage, with fewer delays and better communication. While we met our targets for responding on time in about 65% of stage one complaints and 64% of stage two complaints, we know there is more to do. We are continuing to invest in new systems and extra staff, and are creating a new resident complaints panel to help review our performance and hold us to account. The Housing Ombudsman’s findings show we are moving in the right direction, with severe maladministration cases falling steadily and overall maladministration rates down by 27% this year.
Maintaining good repair
Our Tenant Satisfaction Measures show that 57.7% of residents are satisfied we keep their home in good repair, highlighting how important it is to get this right the first time.
This year we continued to strengthen our day-to-day repairs service, supported by our repairs hub and new contractors. Our planned investment programme saw £110 million spent on major work across more than 2,245 homes, with upgrades including new kitchens, bathrooms, boilers, windows and loft insulation.
However, residents tell us that clear communication and timely updates are just as important as the repair itself, so our repairs hub model aims to ensure jobs are booked and tracked efficiently, with clearer lines of communication to the resident.
Supporting our residents
We know that feeling secure at home is about more than paying your rent on time. Our teams work alongside residents to provide practical advice, financial support and early help when issues arise, so people can stay settled in their homes and communities for the long term. Our Hardship Fund made 518 awards this year to households who needed help with essentials like new fridges, beds, utility bills and emergency food, providing a vital safety net for families facing rising costs. This immediate help means households can focus on their wellbeing rather than falling into debt for everyday items.
One area of focus this year was tackling rising energy costs. Our teams worked closely with energy providers to help households in fuel debt access specialist advice, affordable repayment plans and targeted grants. In total, we helped households clear more than £23,000 in energy arrears — giving people peace of mind that they can heat their homes and cook hot meals through the winter without the threat of disconnection.
