This review concluded in April 2024 with two commendations and 10 recommendations.

These include:

• Setting up a triage system with a duty officer to ensure reports are reviewed and categorised appropriately. This ensures the most severe and urgent cases are prioritised more quickly and should lead to customers feeling more supported.
• Allocating named colleagues to a case and ensuring timescales about what customers can expect and when are shared from the outset. These measures help to provide a more personalised and accountable service for customers.
• Providing further information and access to tools such as noise apps and ‘dear neighbour’ cards to empower customers in reporting and dealing with anti-social behaviour.
• Completing a review of allocations polices and introducing local lettings policies to help create sustainable communities where both new and existing tenants can thrive, with clear expectations and responsibilities outlined.

This review concluded in December 2023 with 14 recommendations, all of which were implemented between January and March 2024.

These include:

• Developing the process to diagnose and understand issues of damp, mould and condensation more effectively and consistently at the point they are reported – leading to quicker response times and more efficient prioritisation for colleagues and customers. This has also included adding an online reporting form, making it quicker and easier for some customers to log their concerns.
• Providing further training for colleagues to ensure that customers’ personal circumstances and medical conditions (and those of their household) are taken into account when prioritising and planning works. This ensures that those most vulnerable to the effects of damp and mould are prioritised and the impact on their health and wellbeing is reduced.
• Introducing follow-on checks after a damp or mould job to check on the situation at different stages in the future. This provides reassurance that the problem has been effectively dealt with or provides another opportunity to investigate what is going wrong and how it can resolved. This results in increased satisfaction from customers that they will be supported if the problem reoccurs.
• Empowering customers with further information and guidance about how to manage condensation and moisture in the home, including through engaging materials like videos and graphics which are easier to digest and implement. We have also reviewed the damp and mould policy to ensure it is accessible and free of any ambiguous words or terms to ensure customers can effectively hold us to account.

In 2023, the RSP completed a review of service charge information, with a particular focus on grounds maintenance and cleaning contracts.

Their recommendations included:

• Removing technical terminology from the main service charge letter and incorporating this in a separate explanatory document if this detail is needed by law. This helps to make the content more accessible for customers, whilst also meeting legal obligations.
• Including a name contact within the communication to ensure customers know they have someone they can approach with questions or concerns – boosting transparency and building confidence in our approach.
• Involving customers in the procurement exercise for the new grounds maintenance provider – four members of RSP sat on the panel.
• Involving customers in the checking of standards in communal areas – this is now encouraged via the Neighbourhood Champions and Building Champions surveys.
• Providing further detail about what elements should be covered through the grounds and cleaning contracts to help customers hold us and our contractors to account more effectively.