Let’s take the new consumer regulation regime as an opportunity to challenges ourselves on our customer relationship

This time around, we were mindful about the ‘evidence’ of compliance. We challenged ourselves to think hard about whether we were truly compliant as expected. In the first two iterations, we were still in the ‘old’ mindset of looking to the general and we felt relieved to mark ourselves as nearly fully compliant. We identified some additional policies to put in place but in the main, it appeared that we were OK. The sea of green provided relief. It felt like it was too good to be true. 

Then, our chief executive called a meeting and asked us to look at the self-assessment again and challenged us to really test whether we were as compliant as we thought we were. So, we looked again.

This time, we thought hard about every standard. We identified that there was a lot of work to do. We now have some ambers that recognise some important pieces of work that need to be in place as soon as possible. We have people who are accountable for each standard. 

To get an objective measure of our self-assessment and preparedness for tenant satisfaction measures, we also had an internal audit completed so that we could have further assurance and learning on what else we could be putting in place. The initial feedback is that we are pretty much right in our self-assessment.

Through this process, we recognised that we needed an action plan to make sure that all the ‘paper-based’ evidence was properly implemented to make sure that our residents would feel the positive impact of all the compliance evidence.

This meant that we needed to also focus on colleagues. The senior leadership team could be on message and committed to providing the right services, but it is our frontline people who hold the power to deliver against our commitments.

The right decisions need to be made at the right time with the right customer outcomes. The focus on outcomes in the standards meant that not only did we have the ‘hard evidence’, but we also needed to have a clear way of demonstrating the ‘soft’ outcomes on our customers.

So, we have a new ‘customer first’ strategy and a customer/colleague campaign that aims to bring to life how we deliver the new standards. Our colleagues need to be fully empowered at all levels and be provided with the tools to serve our customers.

“The focus on outcomes in the standards meant that not only did we have the ‘hard evidence’, but we also needed to have a clear way of demonstrating the ‘soft’ outcomes on our customers”

The key challenge of getting ready for the new consumer regulations is all about data. Data about our homes and data about our customers. We need to know about both so that we can serve customers based on their specific needs and know about our homes so that we make sure we are looking after them in the right way for the people who live in them. It means that we must get closer to our customers and build relationships of trust with every call, visit, email and newsletter.

It also means we must be clear about our service standards and what they can expect from us. It’s about managing expectations with open and transparent communication. It is finding a level of honesty that enables our customers to understand the good, bad, and ugly of being a social landlord.

Jahanara Rajkoomar will be speaking at Housing 2024. Hear from her during the session on ‘The new consumer regulation regime: what have we learnt so far?’ at 11am on Thursday 27 June. Find out more and book your delegate pass