Consumer regulations – a moment to rise to

To deliver our Customer Voice Framework requires a regular flow of useful intelligence from a large and diverse set of customers. We have ramped up our resident survey activity, receiving around 16,000 completed surveys in 2023, and have three regional customer panels that work together with MTVH service delivery and management teams to discuss what’s working, what isn’t, and what we can change to improve customer experience.

Our National Customer Council (NCC) plays a central role, supporting us to look forward and respond to issues impacting residents nationally.

Complaints and customer voice

It is not only about listening when residents participate in a survey or through a customer group, but also to listen and learn when things go wrong. So, we have combined our complaints and customer voice teams to make sure we are learning from this invaluable source of feedback and responding appropriately. We have also fine-tuned our listening so those who are less vocal, for example in care and support settings, are heard more often and more clearly.

We have begun to see the benefit for residents. Until we listened specifically to the needs of some of our visually impaired residents, for example, we were unaware that fit-out contractors weren’t being thoughtful enough about where they left their kit when working in people’s homes.

As a result, we were able to communicate with the contractors, reinforce their contractual requirements and then follow up to make sure standards were maintained. 

Data and technology

The Safety and Quality Homes Standard has pushed us to have more comprehensive and accurate data about our assets and our interactions with residents on repairs and other issues.

Data is a big challenge for every provider, and we have worked hard over recent years to improve our data quality, knowing there is more we can do. 

Technology can be a game-changer in this area. In the Midlands we have introduced technology solution Alertacall across thousands of homes to provide vulnerable residents with specially designed tablets for regular and effective communication on well-being, repairs and community issues. 

Team structures

We have also made organisational changes to enable us to respond faster to residents and put things right when it’s required. We have decided to bring more of our repairs and maintenance services in-house through our Metworks team. This builds a direct link with residents, helping us to deliver services in a timely way and to adapt more rapidly to resident feedback.

Another innovation is our property experience team. Set up last year, its remit is to improve outcomes for residents with complex repair needs and where these repairs are part of a complaint resolution. The team brings together customer experience and property maintenance expertise and acts as a consistent and proactive liaison between residents and the repairs service. The aim is to ease the strain on residents facing a complex repair by acting as champion for their needs, facilitating smooth delivery of services, and improving collaboration between our teams when needed.

Our long-term and ongoing investment in our dedicated communities team – Empowering Futures – has set a strong foundation to meet the Neighbourhood and Community Standard. Empowering Futures focuses on social value creation through direct community-based activities, and those delivered through supply chain partners, for example apprenticeship schemes. 

Different tenures

A question we have wrestled with over the past few years is how we respond to the standards in different tenures, for example social rent vs shared ownership, and how to successfully look after residents in those different groups. Because each tenure does have diverse needs and challenges, we have structured our teams to include specialists with the relevant expertise, while maintaining the golden thread of being visible and responsive.

Further changes from 2025

Following the four standards starting this April, the Competence and Conduct Standard is being consulted on now by the RSH for introduction in April 2025. This will also require a shift to evidence of qualification-based competency for team members delivering customer service.

The intention here is the right one, to ensure that residents have services from skilled operatives.

However, we believe that there is a balance to be struck and that experience should also be considered alongside qualifications to ensure good people with sometimes decades of skill aren’t pushed out of the sector for the want of a qualification.

Purposeful culture

Delivering against the new consumer standards won’t always be easy, however the opportunity to show that we can respond as a sector and improve customer experience to deliver safe, good-quality homes and services for residents is one we must, and will, take.

To drive through change like this is a test of the strength of any organisation’s culture as you ask teams to adapt and manage change while maintaining high existing standards. Our values have never been more relevant. As we meet the expectations of the consumer regulations over the years ahead it is our sector’s purposeful culture that will drive continued innovation and service. 

Kush Rawal, executive director of customer services, MTVH

What are the financial and practical implications of keeping compliant with incoming legislative and regulatory requirements? Hear from experts and sector peers on this topic at the Social Housing Finance Conference on 8 May, including Jane Castor, chief financial officer at Thirteen Housing Group, Sheron Carter, chief executive of Hexagon Housing Association, and Rosemary Farrar, chief finance officer at Platform.

And hear throughout the day from key figures from the Regulator of Social Housing, including Fiona MacGregor, Jonathan Walters, and Will Perry. Browse the latest agenda here.