When you give us feedback, we listen.
Whether this is through a compliment, complaint or through our wide range of involvement and engagement platforms.
Take a look at all the things You Said about our services and how we responded, by clicking on each of the You Said comments below.
You can find out about all the ways you can get involved on our involvement page.
And what you tell us does make a difference. Below you can see all the things you, our tenants, have helped us improve and change recently!
Repairs and Maintenance
After speaking with tenants, in 2023 we brought together our scheduled and emergency repairs services in into our new ‘One Repairs' service.
This means we are now attending repairs quicker and ensuring our appointment times suit you. We also keep you updated by texting you to let you remind your of your appointment.
We have now set up a dedicated team to deal with inspections for any reports of Damp, Mould and Condensation.
After consultations with our tenants, a new Damp, Mould and Condensation Policy was established setting out clear responsibilities for us and for our tenants.
As part of this commitment, we’ve also recently created a dedicated Damp, Mould and Condensation team to provide help and support for customers.
Tenant involvement, engagement and feedback
- You said...at various tenant forums that we needed to engage with you better and to increase the opportunities for you to have your say on how we deliver our services
- You said... at our One Voice Forum that a Tenants' Voice Charter would be helpful.
- You said... our Tenant Scrutiny Panel members told us they wanted to be consulted on the way we handle complaints.
- You said...at various tenant consultation group meetings that our Customer Charter and Service Standards needed reviewing.
Your feedback helped us to create a new Tenant Voice Strategy and Tenant Voice Model.
These set out our commitment for you to have greater influence over the way decisions are made about your homes and the services we provide.
We also set up a new One Voice Forum where tenants are involved in reviewing all policies and strategies. This launched in March 2023.
The Charter was produced in consultation with tenants and sets out how we involve them in delivering and developing our services.
We involved our Tenant Scrutiny Panel in our self assessment against the Housing Ombudsman’s complaint code. We are currently working with the Tenant Scrutiny Panel on how they can be more involved in scrutinising how we handle and learn from complaints.
A new Customer Charter has been put in place.
This charter sets out our customer service promises and standards that tenants told us were important to them.
Policies and Procedures
Your feedback has informed policy changes and development of incentives to increase the number of council houses available to re-let.
Your feedback has helped inform a new Housing Management Policy which makes sure that we carry out a robust, effective, and inclusive housing management service.
Communications
We have developed a new website which was built with our tenants, which is now much easier to use and includes information which you told us matter to you.
We have improved how we communicate with our tenants on the progress of their repair by implementing a text message service to confirm and remind about appointments. This includes a process for our trades staff to call tenants before setting off to their property.
We also reviewed to our website and put procedures in place to keep information relevant and up to date.
We changed how we produce the Annual Review which looks back at what we have achieved for our tenants in the previous year and the challenges we faced. This is now in written and bite sized video format for easier tenant access.
We are in the process of reviewing how we involve tenants in the content of corporate documents and communication, using an editorial panel approach.
Housing and Neighbourhoods
Your feedback has informed a new procedure for furnished tenancies prior to letting
Your feedback helped make sure that training with all Housing Officers has been delivered to ensure a consistent and safe approach to estate inspections across Doncaster.
Your feedback helped towards a re-alignment of our Housing Services, resulting in a dedicated Safeguarding and Anti-social Behaviour team.
Health and Safety
Following this feedback we made significant improvements to the building. This included:
- Implementing a new design so that in the event of a fire every resident can now stay safely in their home, rather than having to be evacuated.
- Making it easier for tenants to test their own fire alarm by putting this in a more accessible place.
- Fitting new flat entrance doors to make it easier for people to get in and out of their home.
- Installing a system that allows us to check that fire detection measures in each home are working, without the need for us to enter homes.
Accessing Our Services
Following contact into our Customer Access Team (CAT) some tenants commented they struggled with their mental health.
We implemented a training programme for our CAT and housing teams and introduced a specialist Mental Health Navigators team who are on hand to support people with a range of different issues, including anxiety and hoarding.