Next steps on Tenant Satisfaction Measures
The new system for assessing how well social housing landlords in England are serving their tenants is taking shape
STRATEGY
Image: Istock
Francesca Stanyer
Policy and Research Team Manager, Campbell Tickell
Issue: 63 | December 2022
The Regulator of Social Housing published the results of its consultation on the new Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM), along with the final requirements in September 2022. The Regulator received more than 1,000 replies, with most respondents supporting the proposed TSM approach.
The results of the consultation have led to some changes in both the management information requirements and the tenant perception measures, as well as further clarity on the methodology.
Welcome changes
As a result of the consultation, there have been some welcomed changes, along with further clarity on the methodology and approach housing providers should take. The regulator has not yet provided the final details on how housing providers should submit their results.
The table below summarises the changes made because of the consultation.
Management Information
- Addition of emergency repairs to be included
- Removal of domestic abuse as a category of Anti-social Behaviour, relating to number of ASB cases relative to the size of the landlord
- Further clarification of definitions
Tenant perception
- Separation of the satisfaction statement around homes being well maintained and safe, this is now split into two statements around the home being well maintained and a separate statement on ‘the home is safe’
- Removal of the question around residents’ awareness of how to make a complaint
- Introduction of a filter question for complaint handling to understand if a resident has made a complaint in the last 12 months
- Change to the wording around satisfaction that the landlord keeps communal areas clean and well-maintained by the removal of the word ‘safe.’ They state that this is because it is covered in the revised TP05
Methodology
- Clarity that all registered providers should have sufficiently robust data on tenant characteristics to be able to carry out an assessment of representativeness
- Clarity on effective sample sizes and how providers with a high turnover of tenants should calculate representativeness
- Clarity that the published summary of survey approach should include reference to the characteristics against which representativeness has been assessed, reasons for any failure to meet the sample size requirements, if results have been weighted, the summary must include a reference to all characteristics used to weight the results, if any incentives have been used
“Our number one message is: don’t wait till April!”
Next steps
Our number one message is: don’t wait till April!
We have already been working with several clients to ensure they are ready for the TSMs and upcoming proactive consumer regulation. Many housing providers have been carrying out a perception survey ahead of the final questions and methodology being published. This has allowed them to identify not only the response rates and areas for improvements, but also which methodology approaches generate the best response.
We have seen providers notice a drop in satisfaction when moving to digital approaches of data collection. This is not an uncommon finding, with different explanations for why this may happen. For example, people do not always feel comfortable sharing negative feedback or scores in person, especially if the person they are speaking to works directly for the provider.
Mixed methods
We would strongly encourage a mixed methods approach. Each survey method comes with its own merits and drawbacks, so you need to be mindful of this when designing your research approach.
The two approaches we would recommend are combining an online survey distributed via text and/or email, and a phone call. An online survey will allow you to distribute widely, and respondents may be likely to give unfiltered answers based on having the privacy to complete the survey on their own.
Adding in phone calls allows you to capture the voices of those who are not using digital and also those who may not have a strong inclination to complete a survey – for example, they have had little interaction with you over the last year and therefore no particularly strong feelings towards your services.
The other benefit of conducting the survey via a phone call is that having a skilled interviewer can help to probe responses helping gather greater insights. For instance, if you have an open-ended question in a digital survey which asks someone to explain the reason for their low score, they may only reply with ‘customer service was bad.’
This does not give you any actionable insight to improve upon, as you do not know how your customer service fell short of their expectations. A skilled interviewer would be able to ask probing questions to find out what went wrong and in turn help you understand what steps you may need to take to improve your customer service.
“A skilled interviewer can help to probe responses helping gather greater insights.”
“They have to be conducted in a way that means you hear a representative voice.”
Representative voice
For the tenant perception measures to be effective and to contribute to improving the experience of all social housing residents, they have to be conducted in a way that means you hear a representative voice – this is not necessarily easy.
The regulator has made it clearer how landlords can survey residents, and what is meant by ‘representative population.’ Ensuring the data you have on your resident characteristics are up to date will allow you to understand who is responding to your survey and how representative they are of your tenant population.
This does not mean conducting a mass census, but rather ensuring you have mechanisms in place for residents to self-serve and update their details themselves, or have colleagues check their details when they speak to them to book a repair or deal with an enquiry. You can then ensure you are considering adjustments, such as weightings, to allow for any hard-to-reach-groups or underrepresented groups.
Include all customer groups
Providers should also make sure that their leaseholders, market rent customers and other tenures can also share their views. While you are not required to provide them with an annual tenant satisfaction survey, it certainly would be best practice to, and tailoring the questions to reflect what is important to them will be crucial.
We know that leaseholder complaints are a key driver of Housing Ombudsman determinations, which will in turn feed into consumer regulation – so you really should be actively engaging with this group.
The regulator has also clarified the approach to additional questions. We recommend that you add in some open-ended questions to gather further insight, however, do not feel that you need one for every section as this can end up leading to survey fatigue if you keep asking respondents to tell you “why.”
It may also be worthwhile adding in a question to capture the views of those who have not had a repair completed in the past 12 months, or around value for money for service charges (where appropriate).
“You should be actively engaging with leaseholders.”
“You should ensure regular clear reporting of TSMs to the board or a committee.”
Management information
Beyond collecting the tenant satisfaction measures via a perception survey, you also need to make sure that you can provide the management information requirements. Look at your current OPIs and KPIs - are you already measuring these or are they something you will need to implement? If you need to implement, do you have the data and tools to do so?
Once you have collected both the perception measures and the management information measures, the key is now to use them. You should ensure regular clear reporting of TSMs to the board or a committee, to reflect the reliance that the regulator will place on TSMs in proactive Consumer Standard regulation and future In-Depth Assessments. Analysis should always include geographic and theme hotspots, triangulation with complaints, and peer comparison.
Finally, publish and share your results, in an accessible and easy-to-read format, with colleagues and residents. You should accompany the results with a “you said, we’re doing” publication and direction of travel. This will enhance your transparency and provide a level of accountability.
