Working together to make a positive difference

We invited our Customer Partnership Panel (CPP), the Homes Plus Board and our colleagues to our annual Away Day, to reflect on the wide-reaching impact our involved customers continue to play in shaping the services we deliver.

Members of the CPP have expanded their knowledge and understanding of our work to make a positive difference to homes, lives and communities, by attending several ‘meet and greet’ sessions with different teams from across our organisation including Property and Central Services and they will soon be meeting with the Neighbourhoods team.

They have volunteered 752 hours of their time to get involved with our annual report, review policies and documents, test our new chatbot before it went live and give feedback on how we should present the results of our Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs). Thanks to their feedback a total of 55 changes were made to our policies and documents over the last year.

One of the main points of discussion at last year’s Away Day was how we are building a stronger relationship between the CPP and the Board. This led to the creation of our new Customer Experience Committee and our new Board co-optee, which has seen some members of our CPP get even more involved in the work that we do.

The Customer Experience Committee is a sub-committee of the Homes Board and meets quarterly to discuss key subjects such as the Consumer Standards and Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs). This feedback is shared with our Homes Plus Board through our new Board co-optee, who has a place on both the CPP and the Board to help make sure that all feedback is shared and discussed with them.

Vice Chair of the CPP and member of the Customer Experience Committee, Geraldine, said: “I think the day has been very successful. It was great to hear about the plans to get involved with more community initiatives which I think is to be welcomed and would be beneficial.

“It came across that Housing Plus Group appreciate the CPP and the work that we do together and a real desire by Housing Plus Group to involve more customers and continue to improve the services they provide.

“What has also come out of today is how beneficial the Customer Experience Committee will be when Wrekin Housing Group becomes part of the new Housing Plus Group. It will be involving more customers with the Board, who will report back to the other members of the CPP so they can get a clearer picture of what is happening at Board level.”

Interim director of improving the customer experience, Becky Hughes, added: “This Away Day was a great opportunity to bring together our CPP and our colleagues to reflect on the impact our involved customers have made in the last 12 months.

“By helping to shape our services, the CPP makes sure they are meaningful and effective for our customers.

“We are extremely proud of what the CPP has achieved in the last year, and we look forward to another year of strengthening the role our involved customers play in improving the services we deliver.”