Agenda item

The Director of Housing and Projects thanked the Chairman for allowing the extra item to be included on the agenda, a report would be coming to the next meeting of the Committee, but the Director wanted to share the results of the Tenants Satisfaction Survey (TSM) with the Committee especially as they reflected the amount of work being undertaken by the Housing Team.

The Director of Housing and Projects reminded the Committee that there was a mandatory requirement by the Regulator, placed on all Social Landlords to comply with the transparency, influence and accountability standard. The Council had chosen to undertake the TSM survey in two waves with one taking place earlier in the year and the results presented to the Committee in October 2025 and the second wave taking place in November 2025.

A reason for undertaking the TSM Survey in two waves was to monitor the additional work that was being undertaken in the repairs service and the tenant engagement service to see if the improvement were reflected in the tenant satisfaction measures. 

Neighbouring authorities carried out their surveys at different times, quarterly, annually and some half yearly.  What could often be seen was a spike in an improvement in the repair service in the summer months and a reduction in satisfaction with Anti-Social Behaviour and a reversal of these areas during the winter months.  The Director of Housing and Projects wanted to see if this was reflected in the results and whether the improvements to services carried through to tenants satisfaction. 

The results from the TSM Survey were submitted to the Regulator annually who produced a report that analysed the results from Social Landlords which have a thousand or more houses.

Acuity had undertaken the survey on behalf of the Council and had received 550 completed survey responses and 30 incomplete responses.  The survey could be completed online which allowed for incomplete surveys to be submitted.  131 surveys were completed online with 451 completed by telephone.  The Director of Housing and Projects indicated that she would query the figure with Acuity as it added up to 582 not 580.

There were 12 mandatory questions within the survey which allowed the Regulator to have consistent data to enable benchmarking with other landlords.

Members were then presented with a slide which showed a positive movement in 12 out of the 15 areas listed.  A reduction was shown in communal areas, repairs in the last 12 months and the time taken to carry out repairs.  It was noted that the repair data reduction was minimal.

The Director of Housing and Projects reminded Members that the Council had carried out an exercise earlier in the year where tenants had been asked to remove personal items which were stored in communal areas (bikes, pushchairs etc) due to fire risks.  It was felt that the 8% reduction in communal areas was a result of this exercise but it would continue to be monitored.  No high levels of complaints were received in respect of communal areas, but it was acknowledged that if you lived on the second floor you needed somewhere to store your bike and options where currently being looked at to improve storage facilities.