This theme seeks to assess how effective the housing provider is at listening to and empowering its customers.
We recognise the value of customer voice and offer a range of involvement opportunities, from one-off feedback on local services to joining our Customer Committee alongside Board and Executive Directors. We tailor our consultation methods to suit different customer groups, using incentives and clear communication to show how feedback influences our services.
Over the past year, customer input has led to improvements in services such as ASB and repairs. Our repairs service is undergoing a major review focused on a right-first-time approach, shaped by customer feedback and due to roll out in 2025/26.
Established in February 2024, our Customer Committee – comprising seven customer members and two non-executive Board members – has played a vital role in embedding customer voice at Board level. The Committee reviews performance, requests deep dives into key areas such as repairs and complaints, and monitors progress through dedicated dashboards. Feedback from over 700 customers has informed these reviews.
Customers also form our Insight Scrutiny Group, another key element of customer voice that has been in place for over a decade. Insight members undertake several scrutiny exercises each year, reporting back findings and recommendations to the Board and Customer Committee. These are focused on customers’ experiences of services and highlight areas of improvement. They are then shared with customers via our website and customer magazines throughout the year. The Board and Customer Committee track the progress of
recommendations made by Insight.
Co-designing services with customers is at the heart of our model, and their feedback is used to develop and update policies and influence procedures.
Our Customer Experience and Customer Voice strategies have influenced a new Customer Experience Strategy for launch in summer 2025. We engage customers on a number of policies, including tenancy management, and we are involving customers in a range of tenancy matters, including pests, pets, permissions, CCTV and Ring doorbells.
We include updates to customers on the Our Voice digital engagement platform and via our website, enews and customer magazines, sharing messages around how their feedback is shaping and influencing services.
The complaint handling team has also improved customers’ experiences by listening to their feedback and working with colleagues to resolve matters when things go wrong. We look at learning through case reviews, case studies and lifting up customer stories to teams, the Board and the Customer Committee. We then share these via our Annual Customer Complaint and Service Improvement reports.
‘Great Places provides a wide range of opportunities for tenants to influence and scrutinise its strategies, policies and services. There are clear arrangements in place through which Great Places hears from tenants. There is also evidence that feedback from tenants has directly and positively impacted service delivery. Great Places has provided appropriate assurance that it makes effective use of its performance data to shape services and provides a range of information to tenants to support effective scrutiny.’
Sam Jones
"I am most proud of being part of a Board/team/committee that is genuinely focussed on making real improvements for all its customers. My main priority is highlighting what truly matters to us customers and having a voice to represent how customers want time and money to be spent."
Kimberley Borsay
"I am proud of the experience and knowledge I am gaining at Great Places because it has given me confidence that I can add value to the Customer Committee for the benefit of the customers. My priority is that all customers are in reach of all the support services offered by Great Places and communicated with in an honest, equal and inclusive way."
Ali Mirzee
"I'm proud to work alongside a team at Great Places as a Customer Committee member, committed to listening and improving services with customers at the heart of it all. My priority is ensuring inclusivity, making sure everyone, regardless of background or circumstances, feels their voice matters and is reflected in the decisions that are made at Great Places."
Naomi Davey
"I'm most proud of how our feedback and suggestions have been incorporated into the work that Great Places does. It really feels like we are all making a difference. My priorities are ensuring that agreed plans are implemented and followed up on and making sure that many types of customers are considered as part of senior decision making, especially vulnerable customers."
