Customer Voices Panel

At the March meeting, Michelle Collins Director of Customer Services explained the background to the changes in the service charge policy and approach and discussed examples of service charge statements brought in by panel members to help make improvements.

Michelle explained there was more to be done to make the statements easier to understand and improve the format.She also explained the background to the changes in approach to the Rent and income policy and paying rent on the due date to support customers and help prevent debt or rent arrears.

Leigh Resolutions Manager also attended the meeting to discuss with the panel key questions around compensation or remedies to put things right when customers have made a complaint.

At the February meeting, Michelle Collins, Director of Customer Services, shared progress on key projects from the past year and outlined what’s coming next. Graham Rosenberg, Head of Assets, also attended to explain more about Awaab’s Law, our approach to damp and mould repairs, and why it’s so important to report any issues early.

Panel members were particularly interested in:

• Hearing from Graham again in September to understand how the new approach is working
• Helping shape improvements to service charge statements, including bringing their own statements to the March meeting to identify what could be clearer
• Creating more informal opportunities for customers to access information and advice. They highlighted the monthly Housing Hub as a great space for sharing feedback, asking questions, and getting support.

At this meeting panel members heard from Michelle Collins Director of Customer Services about key areas work undertaken in 2025 across the Assets and Maintenance teams, Service Improvement and Housing Management, and what had been shared and discussed at the Board Away Day as Leeds Federated to help guide more detailed work in year two of our Corporate Plan.

She explained the work had been strongly guided by customer feedback, the results from the customer perception survey Tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs), and changes in the complaints handling process.

Year Two of the Corporate plan will to continue to focus on customer experience, compliance services - keeping you safe in your home and how we collaborate with customers and colleagues to maintain or improve services.

Service Improvement

There were also updates from the Head of Service Improvement Jane Gillard, and Head of Assets Graham Rosenberg.

Jane explained how with the new telephone system is helping to reduce call waiting times, with the option to book a call back as well as share information on what's coming up in the recorded greeting.

Helen Thompkins, Customer experience manager will come to a panel meeting in the Spring to share more about improving customer experience and improvements planned.

Contact Centre performance remained stable with an 83% year to date call answer rate from 31,540 calls. The number of complaint received by Leeds Federated varies from month to month, but the majority of cases were handled within timescales.

Overall satisfaction increased to 81.5%, with improvements in listening to tenants (75.8%), keeping tenants informed (82.4%), and fairness/respect (86.4%).

Assets - repairs, maintenance and keeping homes safe

Graham updated the meeting on the performance in Assets between October and December ( quarter three) this includes, day to day repairs, planned maintenance, long term improvements to homes for energy efficiency and how we keep your homes safe.

Repairs performance remains strong with 97.7% of appointments with customers being kept and 88% customer satisfaction with the repair.

The cases we are working on of homes with damp and mould, remain low but he acknowledged there are some seasonal and weather related pressures.

Planned works are slightly behind target (90% vs 97%) but expected to recover by year end.

The Wave 3 energy efficiency programme, which is funded by grants from is delayed whilst grant negotiations take place. There are 402 homes below the energy performance certificate C, the target threshold, however this better than expected compared to other landlords.

Keeping homes safe, the building safety performance is robust, with 99.83% gas safety compliance, 100% fire risk assessments, and 99.4% electrical inspections, with access challenges affecting a small number of homes.related pressures.

The panel asked that Graham come to the next meeting and share more information on the approach taken to the dealing with damp and mould and responding to the new legislation Awaab's law.

Our Customer Voices Panel met our contractors Equans to discuss how they deliver repairs. A Panel Member shares a recap of the meeting.

"The meeting with management from Equans was highly informative, giving us a better understanding of the logistics and integral workings behind delivering a repair service on behalf of Leeds Federated. After the presentation the Panel set about challenging Equans on key areas;

Efficiency - wanting Equans to improve how many return visits it takes to complete a repair. This not only takes up customers time but increases cost which is passed back to us.

Courtesy - making sure Equans operatives are always courteous and professional on every visit. Equans will work closely with Leeds Federated to educate all its employees on stopping stigma in social housing.

Failure to show - the Panel was keen to stress that Equans improve upon operatives not turning up or cancelling last minute. Equans are working closer with Leeds Federated to integrate systems to improve upon no shows and cancellations.

The Panel recommends to all customers that if a repair operative doesn't show or cancels last minute, they report it immediately to Leeds Federated. Please remember, Leeds Federated cannot track or challenge Equans if they do not know it happened.”

A Customer Voices Panel Member shares a recap of the July meeting.

"We held a productive quarterly meeting with the heads of service in July, which gave the Customer Voices Panel the opportunity to establish guiding principles for both the panel and Leeds Federated moving forward. Following the quarterly performance updates, the Panel challenged around customer service and complaints, but also highlighted the good work and high scores for the customer focus questions compared to other housing associations in the first quarter of the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs).

We welcomed the strong performance in Housing Management and Development, but continue to press for improvement on all aspects of cleaning, repairs and maintenance. As a result, we've arranged a meeting at the end of the year that will include representatives from our contractors.

The meeting concluded with an engaging discussion on Challenging Stigma in Social Housing. As part of the Stop Social Housing Stigma campaign, we were asked: “What three things were you before you were a social housing tenant?” One thing all members of the Panel agreed on is that before being social housing tenants..."

"…We're all 'Your Voice', we speak for all the tenants on matters that concern us all."