Thenue Housing Reviewing our ASB Services. Brian Gannon Head of Housing

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1 Thenue Housing Reviewing our ASB Services Brian Gannon Head of Housing

2 Outline of Presentation How can customer satisfaction with ASB services be improved? Why Thenue undertook a review of our ASB services What were the key challenges, action points and outcomes of that review Housing Bill

3 Background to Thenue Housing 2,800 units based mainly in 6 communities in Glasgow Majority in East End of Glasgow in some of the most deprived communities in Scotland Also manage a variety of Supported housing units. Have a SLA with Community Safety Glasgow to provide ASB services

4 Thenue s ASB Service with CSG Service Level agreement 25k / year CSG deliver a range of Conflict Resolution Services Home Visits ASB investigation ASBOs What control of customer satisfaction do you have when you pass responsibility to another agency?

5 The drivers for our Review Low levels of Customer Satisfaction with our ASB Service Meeting the Scottish Social Housing Charter Outcome 6 / Performance Indicator (19)& our new Tenant Scrutiny Panel

6 ASB Customer Satisfaction 91% of our tenants in our 2013 Customer Satisfaction Survey were satisfied with our overall service. There was one service area however which was a clear exception to this: We asked those that had reported a problem to Thenue with ASB: How satisfied are you with Thenue s Response? 52% were dissatisfied with our response (in 2009 the figure was 30%). What figure should we be aiming for?

7 Is it possible to get over 90% satisfaction with ASB? RSL Very satisfied/ satisfied Neither nor Dissatisfied/ very dissatisfied Thenue % 28% 30% Thenue % 16% 52% RSL1 45% 20% 35% RSL2 48% 5% 48% RSL3 47% 12% 41%

8 Customer Satisfaction & ASB What are the barriers to very satisfied customers? Not always within your control (reliant on Police, the courts etc) Unrealistic customer expectations Key is to focus on what is within your control to optimise satisfaction with your response - irrespective of outcome. Effective communication with complainants is essential.

9 Service Improvement Plan Report to our Management Committee With such low levels of satisfaction we needed to demonstrate to our Board that we understood what the issues were for Thenue and how we were going to address them.

10 ASB Service Improvement Plan

11 1. Improving our Understanding of Service Dissatisfaction

12 Understanding reasons for dissatisfaction 3 initial approaches: 1. Considered what had changed in how we delivered our ASB services 2. Carried out more detailed analyses of satisfaction survey results. 3. Undertook an audit of ASB caseload

13 What had changed in service delivery at Thenue? Impact of restructuring our services When considering a decline in levels of customer satisfaction it is important to consider - has there been any fundamental change in service delivery or staffing structures? In 2012 we completely restructured our housing services by moving all our staff into a new central office under new functional teams previously our generic Area Teams were based in 4 separate locations. This was a very significant change that, for a year at least, meant our Managers were more focussed on implementing this than reviewing and monitoring day to day service delivery.

14 Analysing Customer Dissatisfaction Further Q, What further information could be gleaned from our survey results? A. When we analysed the results no obvious trends were apparent. Dissatisfaction was not necessarily related to property type or remoteness from our new office. Q, Had the type of complaints changed? A. Again no particular trends here. Dissatisfaction was most common with noise nuisance, drug and alcohol issues. All sources of complaint that were most prevalent in our previous survey.

15 Audit of ASB caseload A deeper analyses of case files was the most helpful part of our review in determining what the key issues were. We found a number of issues which we then used as the key action points for the Service Improvement Plan aimed at improving our customer satisfaction levels.

16 Conclusions from our audit It was clear from the audit that the likely sources of customer dissatisfaction were not consistently - keeping tenants informed with progress of their complaint setting out clearly what we can and cannot do at the outset in response to their complaint closing cases (informing the tenant that we have done so, outlining the action we took and asking whether they agree that the case should be closed) finding out after closure, how satisfied the tenant was with both Thenue and Community Safety Glasgow s response.

17 2. Review procedures using ASB Good Practice Information This Framework for tackling ASB in Scotland is about promoting positive outcomes: by preventing ASB before it occurs; by resolving ASB effectively at an early stage when it does occur; by agencies working together more effectively; By communities being more involved in developing sustainable local solutions;

18 Managing ASB Cases Effectively Good Practice Guide Useful for Thenue was the Risk assessment Matrix for dealing with vulnerable clients

19 Empowering Communities to tackle ASB Sets out how providers could work directly with local communities and empower them to tackle anti-social behaviour in their area. New and innovative ways to engage with communities to tackle anti-social behaviour Empowering community activism Supporting residents to take a stand against ASB Training and capacity building with residents

20 Effective ASB Case Management This paper covers 5 ASB areas Opening a case Early intervention Enforcement / use of preventative tools Legal considerations Closing a case

21 3. More effectively respond to complaints by reviewing our ASB procedure New ASB complaints form New ASB Vulnerability matrix

22 Managing Customer Expectations If a tenant thinks we should evict a tenant for not cleaning their stairs and we then ask the tenant, how satisfied were you with our response..? Is it reasonable for the tenant to be dissatisfied? Ask all complainants at stage 1 of complaint what they are expecting from us and what would be a satisfactory outcome for them (to better manage expectations). Implemented new form (ASB Action Customer Agreement Form) which sets out agreed realistic outcomes with complainant - with clear timescales and agreed communication methods (tenant keeps signed copy of the form).

23 4. Keeping Tenants Informed of Progress and Outcomes Use ASB Action Customer Agreement Form to review progress to make sure all commitments and promises are kept. Agree with tenants how often we will keep in touch Draft follow up letters to complainants with details of action taken.

24 Keeping Tenants Informed of Progress and Outcomes. Using our housing system (QL "Task Centre ) to automate process to issue automatic reminders to Area Services staff for acknowledgement/follow up/ closure actions. Write to tenants advising of our intention to "close" cases - Obtain their agreement but do not leave open without evidence of ongoing ASB. Send customer satisfaction survey to complainants once a case is closed.

25 Service from ASB Partners Regular Monthly liaison meeting to review all cases Asked CSG to provide their customer satisfaction returns to Thenue Asking our customers what they think of CSG service don t rely on their returns only.

26 6. Promotion and education of what we can and cannot do As noted above, improving satisfaction levels can be about managing expectations. Publicise response and resolution targets with common examples of complaints. Publicise successful ASB outcomes from action taken by Thenue in our newsletters. Have a regular page in our newsletter for CSG articles to improve knowledge of their activities.

27 7. Audit and review ongoing customer satisfaction We are in the process of implementing our new procedures. True test of whether we have got it right will be through ongoing monitoring of customer satisfaction with our response. Early feedback is much more positive. Don t wait until your 3 yearly customer survey. Send out a customer satisfaction form once each case is closed.

28 8. Using our Resident Scrutiny Panel to assess if we are meeting outcome 6 of the SSHC 6: Estate management, anti-social behaviour, neighbour nuisance and tenancy disputes Social landlords, working in partnership with other agencies, help to ensure that tenants and other customers live in well-maintained neighbourhoods where they feel safe. Charter Indicator 19: Percentage of anti-social behaviour cases reported in the last year which were resolved within locally agreed targets.

29 Resident Empowerment Scrutiny Team & ASB services Addressing antisocial behaviour services was identified by the REST Team as the first priority to review due to low satisfaction results. The first key task for the group was to gather information from Thenue about the Association s legal requirements regarding how it can addresses ASB issues and to learn how this is applied in practice. To review the leaflet that Thenue intends to give to tenants regarding dealing with ABS The group will then review progress with Thenue s ASB Service Improvement Action Plan.

30 Conclusions Customer Satisfaction with ASB services will always be more challenging because we are not in complete control of outcomes. We can however aim to ensure that those aspects which we are in control of, are efficiently and effectively managed by: Agreeing realistic outcomes with complainants Keeping them informed with progress Obtaining agreement to close cases Following up with customer satisfaction form If you can demonstrate that you have done everything possible to address the complaint and effectively supported the tenant throughout the process, better customer satisfaction should results should follow.

31 Key ASB Measures in the Housing Bill allows landlords to put in place a minimum period of time before applicants with a history of antisocial behaviour will be considered for the allocation of housing introduces a new ground for granting (or converting to) a SSST in more cases of antisocial behaviour The Bill amends the 2001 Act to increase the term of SSSTs created or converted because of previous antisocial behaviour from 6 to 12 months The Bill would allow landlords to extend a SSST by a period of 6 months to allow further monitoring of any ongoing antisocial behaviour

32 Key Measures in the Housing Bill a landlord is bringing a short tenancy to an end it will have to provide clear reasons as to why The Bill proposes to simplify the eviction process where another court has already convicted a tenant or member of their household of illegal activity in or around the property,