We will do this by:

• Being polite and respectful at all times, treating you as an individual and being sensitive to cultural differences;
• Wearing our name badges at all times and identifying ourselves by name when we answer the telephone;
• Making sure you are fully aware of the options available to you;
• Answering your telephone call within 12 seconds and transferring you without delay to someone who can help:  we will phone you back if you ask us to;
• If the person you wish to speak to is working but not available someone appropriate will call you back within 24 hours for none urgent issues
• Providing a clean, tidy and welcoming office opening : Mon-Fri 9.00am-5.00pm;
• Keeping appointments
• Keeping waiting times to a minimum if you arrive without an appointment and arranging a convenient time for an appointment if the person best able to help is not available;
• Helping you if you have difficulty filling in a form;
• Providing an interpreter if you find English difficult to understand;
• Training staff to respond to you effectively and fully, showing consideration and fairness at all times.
• Provide an online service for our customers to communicate with us

We will do this by:

• Giving you information on how long you may have to wait for rehousing with us;
• Providing you with detailed information on the location type and size of housing in our stock.
• Providing information on how to access waiting lists of other social landlords and local authority central registers;
• Letting you know within 14 days whether we are able to help you with housing;
• At the time of offering you a home provide detailed information on rents and service charges, the property itself and the area you will be moving into;
• Giving clear and accurate information on items that are covered under service charges (where applicable);
• We will make the process of signing for a new tenancy as thorough as possible including assistance with any external forms you may need to complete;
• Provide an on-line tenant portal to enable you to access up to date rent and repairs information and to report other issues that are important to you.

We will do this by:

• Regularly review our Health and Safety procedures;
• Consult our tenants about the safety arrangements at our communal schemes;
• Ensure that all our staff and contractors are trained to a high standard regarding health and safety procedures;
• Act quickly and decisively if any issue effecting the safety of our tenants comes to light;
• If your home has gas, we will carry out a complete safety check every year;
• We will check the safety of your electrics every 5 years;
• Fixing problems at the same time as inspecting it where possible;
• Asking for your comments on our service each time we carry out a repair and using these comments to improve our service;
• Taking your views into account when we review the list of contractors we use;
• Requiring our contractors to treat all tenants with courtesy and respect using the Contractor code of conduct as an official guideline;
• Making appointments convenient for you, when practical, for a contractor to call within normal working hours;
• Keeping you informed if there are delays in dealing with a repair;
• Having a service for emergency repairs outside of office hours 365 days a year;
• Setting response times for carrying out repairs which limit inconvenience to the tenant while making best use of funds;
• Monitoring our performance in dealing with your repair request and publishing the results in newsletter four times a year;
• Undertaking programmed / planned works to maintain the quality of homes we provide and deal with design issues identified by tenants;
• Providing where practical adaptations to your home, should you or a member of your family require them because of disability or your day to day requirements have altered since you first moved in to your home.

We will do this by:

• Keeping you informed about what we do or intend to do in Newsletters and via our website – arawakwalton.com;
• Putting right mistakes you tell us about, always striving to reach an agreeable outcome;
• Having a complaints procedure which is quick, easy to understand and use;
• Investigate your complaint, tell you what action we will take and inform you of the outcome;
• Contacting you when the complaint appears to have been resolved to check the situation.

We will do this by:

• Using and regularly updating our website and via social media such as Twitter and Facebook;
• Providing a range of up-to-date leaflets that explain the services we offer;
• Offering to talk through any queries about service areas and provide a comprehensive guide on the website;
• Always explaining the tenancy agreement in detail to new tenants;
• Always using plain language when we write or talk to you;
• Sending you a Newsletter four times a year that includes information you have asked for;
• Offering to provide the information in different formats e.g. audio or translation or offering you the services of an interpreter if you want one.
• Reviewing our leaflets and documentation to make sure they meet your needs.

We will do this by:

• Rewarding you for carrying out surveys of what you think of our services and telling you the results;
• Having a service improvement plan based on the outcome of these surveys;
• Consulting you on how best to develop our services;
• Providing various means for you to make suggestions about our services and act on your comments;
• Offering home visits where it is difficult for you to get to us.

We will do this by:

• Having response times for our services and reporting performance to you twice a year.

We will:

• Answer your e-mails  – within 3 working days
• Answer your telephone call – within 12 seconds
• Return a call for an individual staff member – within 24 hours
• Acknowledge your housing enquiry form – within 7 days
• Acknowledge your complaint within – 5 days
• Tell you what action we will take on your complaint – within 15 working days
• Acknowledge your ASB* complaint – within 5 days
• Agree and action plan for an ASB* complaint – within 5 days
• Carry out emergency repairs – within 24 hours
• Carry out urgent repairs – within 7 days
• Carry out routine repairs – within 21 days

*ASB is Anti Social Behaviour.  We recognise that where serious incidents occur we will act within 24 hours to resolve a problem.

• Giving you details of our performance annually, making comparisons with similar organisations;

This information will include:

• Level of rent arrears;
• Number of empty properties;
• Amount spent on repairs;
• Amount spent on offices and staff;
• Number of properties let each year;
• Number of and type of property within our stock;
• Repair response performance;
• Rent levels and rent increases;
• Who we have housed and their reasons for needing new homes.

We will do this by:

• Always offering the facilities for a private interview;
• Never discussing your private affairs in front of others without your permission;
• Treating personal details in strict confidence;
• Letting you see the personal details we hold about you on request

We will do this by:

• Being sensitive to the cultural needs of our customer group and offering additional services where required
• Actively promoting issues of concern to the community with local and national politicians and policy makers;
• Supporting community based ventures which bring benefits to local people;
• Participating in programmes that enable local people to gain in skills and confidence;
• Sponsoring, promoting, assisting and facilitating community based initiatives;
• Working in partnership with other social landlords to co-ordinate our activities to develop and support the community.