Tenant satisfaction

Tenant satisfaction measures and scores

The Regulator of Social Housing in England has introduced a new system for assessing the performance of social housing landlords in providing quality homes and services. This includes a set of tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs) that landlords must report on, which will be used by tenants to understand how well landlords are doing.

The TSMs cover all types of rented social housing in England where the landlord is registered with the regulator. Landlords with 1,000 or more homes will be required to run a tenant perception survey every year to collect information for the TSMs. Landlords will be responsible for ensuring the survey results are meaningful and accurate, including getting enough responses, removing barriers to participation, and avoiding bias.

The aim of the TSMs is to make landlords performance more visible to tenants and help them hold their landlords to account. The measures are intended to be clear and comparable between landlords, while also working as a package to show how well a landlord is doing in key areas.

There are currently 22 individual TSMs, which cover five themes:

  • overall satisfaction,
  • keeping properties in good repair,
  • maintaining building safety,
  • respectful and helpful engagement,
  • and effective handling of complaints.

Of the 22 TSMs, 10 will be measured directly by landlords and 12 will be measured by landlords through tenant perception surveys.

Our tenant satisfaction measure (TSM) perception survey pilot, conducted in late 2022, has provided valuable insights into our tenants’ experiences. The survey, conducted by third-party researchers on our behalf, involved phone interviews with 161 tenants of Arcon and 727 of Bolton at Home.

The responses provided scores across 12 perception survey measures, which align with the new regulatory requirements:

Survey scores

TP01:

Overall satisfaction

67.2%

TP02:

Satisfaction with repairs

77.7%

TP03:

Satisfaction with time taken to complete most recent repair

71.6%

TP04:

Satisfaction that the home is well maintained

68.7%

TP05:

Satisfaction that the home is safe

76.2%

TP06:

Satisfaction that the landlord listens to tenant views and acts upon them

62.4%

TP07:

Satisfaction that the landlord keeps tenants informed about things that matter to them

71.8%

TP08:

Agreement that the landlord treats tenants fairly and with respect (agree/disagree)

78.3%

TP09:

Satisfaction with the landlord’s approach to handling complaints

35.6%

TP10:

Satisfaction that the landlord keeps communal areas clean and well maintained

64.3%

TP11:

Satisfaction that the landlord makes a positive contribution to neighbourhoods

61.8%

TP12:

Satisfaction with the landlord’s approach to handling antisocial behaviour

59.8%

Key actions and initiatives

We’re proactively addressing the survey findings and implementing changes to improve customer satisfaction.

Here are some of the actions we’re taking or currently in progress. Some of these actions were identified before we had the survey results, but we think they’ll help to address some of the issues which were raised by tenants through the survey.

Increased capacity to strengthen complaint responses and response times:

We’ve recruited additional staff to our Customer Care and Property Maintenance Teams to enhance our capacity for handling customer complaints promptly and effectively.

We’re implementing a new system that enables us to identify common issues and take appropriate actions more easily. Theming learning from complaints will allow us to address underlying issues more effectively.

Dedicated Damp and Mould Team:

A new, specialised team will address more issues with damp, mould and condensation, more quickly.

Repairs Policy review:

An interim review of our Repairs Policy, with a full review to follow, aims to set more realistic and transparent timescales for responding to non-urgent repairs and enable us to prioritise more urgent matters, such as damp and mould inspections.

Locality teams:

Our newly formed Locality Teams in Bolton will work closely with tenants, encouraging them to share any issues they’re experiencing at home or in their community so that we can do what we can to provide the necessary support and help to ensure more of their concerns are heard and addressed.

Customer Scrutiny Panel

Our panel is collaborating with us to review our antisocial behaviour service, aiming to enhance customer satisfaction in this area.

Resident Voices Channel

For both Bolton at Home and Arcon, we’ve expanded our Resident Voices Channel to include more customers, fostering their active involvement in shaping and improving our services, with plans to recruit more voices over the coming year. You can find more info about our Residents Voices Channel at: www.boltonathome.org.uk/resident-voices-channel