Your voice – get involved
There are lots of opportunities for you to make a bigger difference to services. We’re keen to involve you in what we do, and we offer a choice of ways for you to challenge our performance and help design and shape our services.
More information on how you can get involved is available here: www.boltonathome.org.uk/be-involved.
In addition to the methods listed on our website, we now also complete an annual tenant perception survey as part of our Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs), which were introduced by the regulator.
The purpose is to gather feedback directly from tenants about their experience and satisfaction levels in key areas. The TSMs complement our existing feedback methods and provide a structured way for tenants to influence the quality of our services. Further details are provided in the TSM section of this report.
A summary of our satisfaction surveys for 2023/2024
We regularly collect feedback on our services via surveys over the phone or by text message. The table below shows the satisfaction scores for each of the services we measure.
We use survey results to address any problems that you’ve raised but are still not resolved. We also use the results to figure out if our staff need extra help or training, to highlight any problems with our contractors, and to identify any patterns or trends so that we can learn and improve. Visit our website at www.boltonathome.org.uk/you-said-we-did for details on the changes we've made in response to survey feedback.
Satisfaction score
Disabled Facilities Adaptations
Satisfaction score
New Builds
Satisfaction score
Repairs and Maintenance
Satisfaction score
Tenancy Support and Sustainment
Satisfaction score
Voids
Satisfaction score
Antisocial behaviour
Feedback from our Resident Voices Channel
“We get a chance to participate in surveys that let us express our views on Bolton at Home's services. I think it's a vital communication tool and it helps to raise any concerns or feedback via the surveys we're asked to complete.”
"It’s giving people a voice whether it's to offer ideas, possible solutions, or just to comment on things that matter. I've found it not only helpful, but informative as well."
At the end of March 2024, there were 332 current members of the Resident Voices Channel. This is an increase on the 173 members we had at the same time last year.
Here are some examples of recent Resident Voices consultations and the outcomes:
Transparency Policy – members gave us their views on transparency, which included being transparent in how we use your feedback and making sure the types of information that customers said were the most important are accessible on our website. See our website for examples of ‘You Said, We Did’ at www.boltonathome.org.uk/you-said-we-did and our Transparency Policy at www.boltonathome.org.uk/corporate-document-hub.
Tenancy Policy – We asked members to comment on some areas of our Tenancy Policy as part of a review. As a result of this feedback, we made changes to the policy, including making it clearer that customers have an option to indicate a preferred geographical area and clarifying that financial assistance may be available.
"I'm enjoying being able to have an influence in community decisions. I became a member so I had a platform to speak about what is important to me. For example, encouraging residents to take ownership of their local environment."
Customer scrutiny
Our Customer Scrutiny Panel’s work has resulted in tangible changes and improvements for customers.
Here are some of the areas they’ve covered in the last year:
- Recruiting and training three new panel members.
- Contributing to the consultation that resulted in several changes to our Repairs Policy. These included changes to our response times for non-urgent repairs and clarification of when repairs are our responsibility or our tenants’ responsibility.
- Providing input on our new Transparency Policy, including what matters most to tenants and the tone and layout.
- Redesigning the Terms of Reference for their own panel.
- Providing feedback on the design and layout of our annual Business Plan, leading to improved readability and accessibility for all customers.
- Participating in a full-service review of our Neighbourhood Safety and Enforcement Service. This resulted in a website content review to make it more useful and accessible for customers, and the creation of social media posts to help customers better understand the service. The panel also helped to co-design a new Good Neighbour Guide for customers and input on changes to the Pet Guide to help customers who might need extra support.
- Attending the Housing Plus Academy Skills Workshop focused on 'Overcoming stigma and sharing the value of social housing'.
If you're interested in joining the Group Customer Scrutiny Panel, please email: lisa.bradley@boltonathome.org.uk.
Youth Scrutiny Panel
Our Youth Scrutiny Panel continues to develop, and this unique approach has caught the interest of several national bodies and organisations. Over the last 12 months, the panel has focused on topics such as hate crime, making communications more accessible and addressing the stigma around social housing.
The panel has contributed to the recent service review, giving valuable insight into young customers’ use of social media channels.
If you're interested in joining the Youth Scrutiny Panel, please email: kirsty.peake@boltonathome.org.uk.