How did we do in 2020-21?

Overall customer satisfaction: 86%

Our target: 87%

Customer satisfaction is our most important measure, but please read our other sections to find out the detail behind this score, plus more about what we're doing to improve the service you get.

In last year's report, we told you about some of the things we had planned to improve our customer service, here's how we got on...

1. Improve our process for setting and communicating service charges: Achieved (Charge related complaints down from 171 in 2020 to 3 in 2021)
2. Employ a dedicated Community Safety and Anti-social Behaviour Specialist: Achieved.
3. Launch our 'Customer Community' - a network of customers who act as our sounding board. Achieved (Customers involved in 10 decisions so far - see here for more)
4. Launch our myB3Living mobile app. Achieved (1,210 app users so far)
5. launch our new website. Pending... (5 customers involved so far in testing new designs)

Our response:

Emergency repairs during 2 lockdowns: 2,277

Covid-safe lettings to help people get out of temporary hostels: 105

Support calls for people over 70: 299

Calls to vulnerable customers in the first two weeks of lockdown, checking they had access to food, prescriptions, and other support: 329

We donated:

£1K to the Foodbank

£10K to the JobSmart programme

£500 to the 'Give a Christmas Smile Project' contributing to:

• 60 families Christmas dinner
• 200 gifts for vulnerable children
• 140 gifts for the elderly and alone

We received:

£2K food and fuel grant from Broxbourne Borough Council - distributing 50 vouchers to customers whose incomes were affected by COVID.

£5,737 for the Energy Redress Scheme to support 109 customers with their energy bills.

We set up:

A partnership with Money Advice Unit to give customers fast-track access to financial support.

A partnership with LEAP - Local Energy Advice Partnership, giving our customers free energy-saving devices and lightbulbs.

A partnership with the Community Navigator Service for non-medical support around isolation and anxiety.

Became a member of the Housing Network Kickstart Programme.

A partnership with the Broxbourne Coronavirus community Partnership & Communities First.

Based on your feedback last year, these are the areas we will be focusing on this year:

• We'll be out and about more.
• We'll be bringing in experts to carry out more detailed fire risk assessments, replacing fire doors, and investigating cladding.
• We're continuing to reduce our carbon footprint, tackle fuel poverty, and build new homes to high environmental standards. We have a lot of work we are doing to stay on track for the net-zero target by 2050.
• We plan to improve our customer service and support for shared owners by recruiting a dedicated Shared Ownership Advisor.
• We're going to review and improve the customer sign-up process to make it a clearer, smoother, and more customer-friendly experience.
• We're ending fixed-term tenancies and moving all our customers to assured. We want you to feel safe in your homes knowing it's permanent.

Our service standards say we'll always...

1. Be understanding, helpful and efficient no matter how you get in touch - on the phone, face-to-face, the lot.
2. Keep information safe and accurate.
3. Make it easy for you to get in touch with us and respond quickly when you do.

Here's how we did:

77% of customers were happy with how we dealt with their last query/request.

0 serious data breaches and 7 minor issues.

Customers think our service has:

• Got better: 18%
• Stayed the same: 68.5%
• Got worse: 14%

We have increased the number of ways you can get in contact with us.

You can contact us via:

1. live chat
2. myB3Living account
3. website
4. phone
5. email
6. social media
7. chatbot.

Our service standards say we'll always apologise when we've got things wrong, be clear about what we will do to put them right, and let you know when.

Here's how we did:

Complaints resolved on time: 79%

Complaints (across 4985 homes): 336

Complaints resolved...

1. Informally: 280
2. Stage 1 (investigation): 52
3. Stage 2 (senior manager): 4

Themes:

The main themes around complaints were due to COVID and repair delays, communications, estate management and arrears.

How are we responding?

We carried out a survey to allow us to analyse the root cause of complaints with our Housing Services team and help us understand where we can improve.

You can see our new complaints procedure here.

Our service standards say we'll always...

Fix things properly, on time and make sure the appointment works for both of us.

Make sure your home is safe and secure the day you move in.

Provide more homes to people waiting on the council register and more homes that people can buy through the shared ownership scheme.

Here's how we did:

82% of customers said they were happy with our repairs service.

87% of customers felt their home was safe and secure.

100% of our homes meet 'Decent Homes' standards.

72 homes built for rent, and 25 new homes for shared ownership.

Safety checks on target: 93%

Including safety checks on:

Gas - 100%

Fire - 100%

Water - 98%

Electrical - 98%

Lift repairs - 100%

Asbestos - 100%

We spent:

£1.5m on planned maintenance and servicing.

£4.2m on improving homes.

£4.7m fixing repairs.

Our service standards say we'll always...

maintain all shared hallways, grounds etc, so you can be proud of your neighbourhood.

Calculate rent, and your estimated and final, and your estimated and final service charge figures, every year.

Here's how we did:

422 anti-social behaviour cases across 4,985 homes.

79% satisfied with you your neighbourhood.

£128K clearing fly-tipping.

What are we doing?

We are working on a fly-tipping campaign to increase awareness of fly-tipping and bin areas.

We have recruited a new Customer Safety and Anti-social Behaviour Specialist to work closely on supporting ASB cases.

We are investing over £100K in CCTV cameras, refreshing the systems across 13 sites to support with anti-social behaviour, crime and fly-tipping cases.

Customers who described our services as good value for money:

Rent: 84%

Service charges: 71%

Or service standards say we'll always...

Make sure everyone has equal access to our services and is treated fairly.

Tell you how we're performing - and see what you think.

Here's how we did:

69% of customers felt we listened.

26 people on the property ladder through shared ownership.

354 people over 55 supported by our Independent Living services.

We know we have more to do around equality, diversity and inclusion so we plan to improve by:

Providing equality, diversity and inclusion training for all colleagues.

Improving accessibility both online and print.

Reporting on our equality, diversity and inclusion customer survey and the changes we are making based on your feedback.

Reviewing our recruitment process and recruiting new members to our Board from underrepresented groups such as the black and minority ethnic community, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ+ community.