Awards and Accreditation

Customer Service Excellence (CSE)

Arawak Walton retains Customer Service Excellence accreditation

We're proud to announce that Arawak Walton Housing Association has retained its Customer Service Excellence accreditation. This is the government-backed national standard for organisations that put customers at the heart of everything they do.

Following the October 2026 assessment, we were found to be fully compliant with the standard. We were also awarded Compliance Plus in 20 areas, which recognises service that goes beyond what the standard requires.

The five new areas include:

  • treating tenants fairly
  • the quality and range of information we provide
  • making our services easy to access, through AW Connect and our repairs WhatsApp service 

As part of the assessment, the assessor spoke with tenants, staff and community partners and visited one of our schemes. We'd like to thank every tenant who took the time to share their views.

We're not standing still. The assessment identified areas where we can do better, including how we handle complaints and keep you updated on repairs. We'll be working on these with Tenant Voice over the coming year.

Regulatory Assessment

Arawak Walton Housing Association has received its regulatory judgement following an inspection by the Regulator of Social Housing.

The Regulator has awarded a C2 grading for consumer standards, alongside G1 for governance and V2 for financial viability. The G1 rating reflects continued confidence in the organisation’s leadership, governance and oversight, while V2 confirms that Arawak Walton remains financially sound.

The C2 grading recognises that, while services are broadly effective and requirements are being met, further improvement is needed in areas such as performance reporting, tracking of actions, and demonstrating how tenant feedback informs services.

Over the past 12 months, Arawak Walton has implemented a wide-ranging programme of improvements across housing services and reporting, strengthening core processes and building on existing practice. The judgement acknowledges this progress, while noting that these changes are still being embedded.

The organisation will continue to build on this work and engage with the Regulator to progress towards a C1 consumer grading.

Adrian Carridice Davids, Chair of Arawak Walton Housing Association, said

“Our regulatory judgement reflects an organisation that is making clear and meaningful progress. We are particularly pleased that our governance has again been recognised at the highest level, which reflects the strength of our Board and leadership.

“While we acknowledge the areas identified for improvement, these are consistent with the changes already underway. The Board is fully committed to supporting the organisation to build on this progress, strengthen assurance, and continue improving outcomes for our residents.”

Time to Change Pledge

Arawak Walton are ‘Passionate about People’ and our People Strategy outlines our approach and commitment to all people involved with our organisation.

The association’s roots are in the African-Caribbean community, however, we have grown and prospered over the years by offering an excellent, culturally sensitive and personal service to a very diverse customer base. We have continued the work of our founder members in contributing to local regeneration activities and tackling social deprivation and we pride ourselves on delivering excellent customer service and on making a positive difference to people’s lives.

Arawak Walton have signed the pledge because we are committed to creating a workplace free of stigma and discrimination surrounding Mental Health Issues. We care about our colleagues and we aim to support and improve the health and wellbeing of all.

The Time to Change pledge complements our existing work and supports our commitment to our people and our aim to encourage and embed a culture that fosters and promotes our values, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing amongst all staff, tenants and stakeholders. Our agreed action plan highlights several positive steps which we will take to ensure our workplace remains free of stigma and discrimination. We will have dedicated Mental Health First Aiders who will be the first point of contact for colleagues experiencing crisis as well as Champions who will ensure the association keeps mental health on the agenda, via policies, sharing stories, signposting and raising awareness by supporting national and global mental health campaigns.