Customer Service Charter

We aim to provide the best service we can to all customers.

Therefore in all our contact with you we will:

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.

If you have any ideas on service standards you would like us to include in this charter we will be very pleased to hear from you.

Please contact your Housing Officer to discuss, write or telephone our Chief Executive at:

Arawak Walton Housing Association
Margaret House
23 Manor Street
Ardwick
Manchester
M12 6HE
Tel. (0161) 272 6094
Fax. (0161) 273 4080
Website: www.arawakwalton.com