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Scrutiny Panel - Sign-up process for new customers
We wanted to know how to improve our services. Here's what you told us - and how we used your comments to make the way we work even better.
The sign-up process - your recommendations
In September 2021, five tenants, one leaseholder and one shared owner met to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the sign-up process.
This Scrutiny Panel made 11 recommendations and these are detailed below with the response from the Head of Customer Experience and Housing Manager.
All the recommendations from this Scrutiny Panel have been put in place. This Scrutiny is 100% complete.
Getting settled in your new home is an important stage in your tenancy. Sometimes it's good to know who you can turn to for help.
You asked us to make it really clear who a customer's point of contact is throughout the sign-up process and for the weeks following.
We agreed. Wherever possible, customers will have one main point of contact during the lettings process. They will also have a phone number and an email address for that person.
The Trust Tenant Charter would benefit from more clarity about roles and responsibilities – separating these into house, flat and sheltered schemes.
An at a glance version of the Charter should be produced to share with potential new tenants at sign up.
We agreed that this could be explored with the Communications Team, but think the split should be between general needs and sheltered properties.
Things change. We need to make sure that our paperwork is always in order.
- Teams across the Trust should review the information in the sign up pack every 3-6 months to avoid any out of date information being shared.
- Create a paper version of the key information for anyone who can't access the information online.
While information will primarily be shared via email, we will produce a printed version of key information to reflect what's online.
Everyone has different needs. Make sure that everyone in the Neighbourhood Team has access to the tools they need to provide information in other formats eg sign language.
We agreed that this would be a positive way forward.
Consider what additional information and useful numbers are included with the sign-up pack. Eg New Leaf and LEAP.
The Trust provided examples of leaflets etc that are shared at sign up. These vary depending on the customer. Sign posting can be done at any point in the tenancy, of course.
The following recommendations were also agreed
- Brand all communications to make them more consistent.
- Create email templates, which outline what to expect at each stage.
- Review credit checks as part of the process.