You said, we did
Customer feedback is crucial to helping us develop and, if necessary, change so that we can offer the best possible service. You said, we did is our way of communicating the customer feedback we have had, how we have acted on it and what we have implemented to improve our service for our customers.
We're committed to delivering on Customer Engagement and as such, The Customer Experience Group (CEG) was created in June 2021 to make sure we’re understanding our customers’ needs and keeping them at the heart of all we do. Since then, our CEG members have helped us define our service standards and procure new contracts with utility suppliers.
We also have a well-established and independent Customer Scrutiny Panel (CSP) who are a group of residents that conduct in-depth reviews on how we deliver services to our customers. The Panel is a formal part of our governance at mhs homes, and their customer insights and recommendations help us make vital improvements. Some of our actions are based on recommendations from their reviews in 2021-2022 and they're listed below.
Click below to see a list of actions we've taken:
- During 2021-2022
- During 2020-2021
- General actions to improve services
If you'd like to be part of our ongoing customer engagement, take a look at the full list of ways you can get involved.
2021 - 2022
We did: We linked up with the Medway and Maidstone Task Force to coordinate responses to ongoing and long-standing issues. These taskforces comprise of members from mhs homes, Kent Fire and Rescue, Kent Police and Local Councils. The Medway task force recently hosted a Family Fun Day at Bryant Street, giving residents the opportunity to discuss any issues they may have, which was recognised at the Kent Police Problem Solving Awards.
We did: Our Customer Experience Group regularly takes part in scoring contracts to procure additional services on jobs associated with repairs and empty homes. Some of these contracts are now in place and will help to address the backlog of jobs that built up throughout the course of the pandemic. We also added the ability to raise, book and track repair jobs on the My Account platform, to enable you more control over your home management.
We did: We’ve introduced new software that will help mhs manage ongoing ASB cases and allow all colleagues the most up-to-date information, allowing us deliver a more consistent service to our customers. All regular users have undertaken significant training to support the introduction of this new software.
We’re now working on how to best understand and interpret the data stored in this new software so that we can see what we’re doing well and which areas of ASB could be improved further.
We did: We’ve introduced an ASB case review panel which has already been used by mhs colleagues to provide feedback and help shape team training and individual staff development.
We did: We’ve scheduled for mhs homes colleagues (including managers) to undertake estate inspections at least three times per year to identify any issues and we’ll be reintroducing estate champions later in 2023 to help us identify these issues earlier.
We did: We’ve introduced a new monthly meeting to review complaints where senior managers will attend to oversee how the complaints are being managed, provide support in gathering information and ensure they have been satisfactorily dealt with.
We did: We’ve created a dedicated page on our website to help all of our customers find information and resources that are relevant to them. Our housing team has also received training so they can give some proactive energy advice to anyone who may need it.
We did: We’ve launched our Hardship Fund which has a total budget of £25,000 to help customers pay energy costs, buy essential furniture and help towards increased food costs. We’ve also turned our Support Living schemes into warm hubs for customers who are aged 75 or over.
We did: We’ve introduced a new self-declaration vulnerability form for customers who feel they’d benefit from additional support from mhs homes. This forms provides us with the information we need to ensure all vulnerable customers get the dedicated support they require to sustain their tenancy.
We did: We’ve committed to offering face to face meetings either at our offices, in your home or in neutral meeting place of your choice from 2023. If you would prefer to do this, all you need to do is tell us and we’ll make the necessary arrangements. We’ve also introduced our customer drop-in sessions at local libraries and community centres so that you can meet with us in person there too if you would like to.
We did: We’ve introduced a call back log in our internal customer and housing management system which will enable us to monitor call backs and identify any gaps or patterns in a lack of responding to customer enquiries.
2020 - 2021
We did: We launched the Customer Experience Group to ensure customer feedback is collected regularly. We have also restarted estate inspections and estate walkabouts to ensure that we proactively pick up on any issues or that need addressing before they become a problem for the local community.
We did: We developed My Account platform to allow you greater control over your home management, without needing to call us. In My Account you can raise, track and amend repairs and much more.
We did: We worked with customers to produce service standards that meet your needs and expectations.. These are available on our website and are built around four key commitments to you:
1. Providing excellent customer service and clear communication
2. Looking after your home and estate and keeping you safe
3. Supporting you to maintain your home and tenancy
4. Involving you and keeping you informed
We did: We added a ‘contact us’ link to our website footer at the bottom of all pages on our website. This means that wherever you are on the website, you are only ever one click away from being able to get in contact with us.
We did: We introduced the Customer Experience Group to give customers the opportunity to help shape and influence our services. The CEG has recently been involved in shaping our services standards by helping us find new suppliers for gas servicing and provided input on our new damp and mould process. They have also given feedback on the documents we send out to contractors during the bidding process for contracts such as roofing.
We did: We started our customer drop-in sessions where customers can pop-by and ask us questions regarding their tenancy or wider company each month. We also send quarterly newsletters, have increased social media communications and restarted our Ask Ash campaign, where Chief Executive, Ashley Hook, answers any questions or queries customers may have about mhs homes.
We did: We hired a Customer Engagement Officer, whose role is dedicated to ensuring that our customer’s voices are heard, and their views are considered. Angela has already made great strides in reaching out to our customers, through our Estate Inspections and newly formed Customer Experience Group.
General
We did: We provide an annual report which outlines what we’ve invested our money in that year. We have also held focus groups on the service charge which led to us providing homeowners and leaseholders with a full breakdown on what their service charge covers. See our most recent report here.
We did: We’ve reminded our teams to keep the use of jargon to a minimum, when talking to people both internally and externally. By promoting this behaviour amongst our colleagues, it ensures updates to our customers are clear and consistent, regardless of who you speak with at mhs homes.
We did: We encourage our colleagues to participate in Days for Kent where they spend a day volunteering with a local charity. We aim to carry out 750 Days for Kent by 2024.
Each year our colleagues also vote to support a Charity of the Year, where our corporate fundraising efforts are focused to raising money for that cause. This year, that charity is World Child Cancer and we have raised over £15,000 so far this year. However, we never rule out partnerships with charities such as our recent furniture partnership with Gillingham Street Angels. Teams also often take up fundraising for charities that are close to them but may not necessarily be related to our corporate charity, such as a recent internal quiz and dress-up day for Making Miracles who provide support for families going through bereavement.
As part of our contracts with external suppliers, they also contribute to the local community through donations to charities, helping our Day for Kent Programme, offering apprenticeships or other opportunities that occur.