Repairs and Investment Panel - 25 November 2025

Location: North Tyneside Council offices, Quadrant, Cobalt Business Park

Attendees

Tenant members – Pamela, Irene, Evelyn, Kim S, Lisa, Dawn, Ann , John

Lee Nesbitt - Asset Intelligence and Logistics Manager, Tony Ormston - Service Delivery Manager Repairs & Maintenance, David Foster – Head of Property Services, Fiona Robson – Service Improvement and Business Support Manager, Jordan Foley – Communications and Marketing Adviser, Angela Melvin – Housing Engagement Manager

Apologies

Tenant members – Christine, Kim R, Heather

1. Notes of the last meeting and action log

These were agreed.

2. Tenant Satisfaction Measures 2025 survey results

The panel had been sent a briefing note outlining the results of the 2025 survey ahead of the meeting.

FR explained the TSM survey was brought in in 2023 as part of wider national legislation, for all social housing landlords. A new inspection programme was introduced in 2024 and TSMs are considered as part of that. There are 22 measures, 12 of which relate to tenant perception and are included on the survey, the remaining 10 cover mandatory safety checks.

The survey was sent out during September-November
It went to a random selection of 5,000 tenants in the post
992 surveys were returned, 119 of these from NTL tenants
Of the returns, 563 were submitted by post, 262 were completed online and 167 by phone

As an incentive, a prize draw was offered to encourage returns, but this didn’t improve the response rate compared to last year.

Overall, satisfaction has increased in 11 of the 12 areas. Complaint handling decreased, but is still better than in 2023. The top three improved response areas are for:

Communal areas being clean and well maintained
Tenants feeling their home is well maintained
Tenants feeling their landlord is making a positive contribution to the neighbourhood

Generally, tenants aged 65+ are more satisfied; NTL tenants are more satisfied than general needs tenants (83% compared to 72%).

FR also highlighted some comparisons with other local authority providers and registered providers. We are broadly mid-table, with the exception of complaints for which we are in the top end of the national average figures (even though it was our lowest score). Registered providers generally get higher scores, however FR explained this may be because they are only being judged on housing services, whereas for local authorities our tenants may be influenced with their satisfaction with wider council services.

The survey included a box for additional comments, many of these were environmental issues and will be passed on to that team.

DF stressed that while we are pleased with the results, we are aware of further work required to improve, particularly around:

Home is safe
Being kept informed
Listens to views and acts on them
Treat fairly and with respect
Positive contribution to the neighbourhood

FR asked the panel whether they felt the survey methods with a mix of online, post and phone were suitable. This led to some discussion around cost of postal surveys, digital access and disappointment that so many tenants did not return the survey. DF explained that a lot of other providers are doing their surveys 100% by phone, or face-to-face, which are statistically proven to lead to better results by 5-7%. However, there would be a much higher cost due to the additional resources required.

A tenant asked whether the survey could be emailed out to save on postage. FR confirmed it was a great idea but explained that this had been explored and unfortunately the IT system currently being used to carry out the surveys was not capable. This generated a discussion with the group where other ideas were tabled, including attaching the survey with the annual rent statement and in-person options at our community hubs and libraries.

DF thanked the group for their ideas and confirmed they all would be included in the options appraisal workshop planned in preparation for the next survey.

Tenants commented on the excellent service they had received around safety checks and that we need to tell people more about what we do, as many tenants don’t know. This will be picked up as part of our focus on communication.

An action plan will now be developed that will include those measures we need to focus on and actions to improve.

3. Complaints focus: Responsive repairs

The panel had been sent the quarterly complaints report ahead of the meeting and were asked for their comments and feedback.

FR outlined that complaints overall during quarter 3 (Oct-Dec) have continued to increase, with 96 received. This is a significant increase on the same time last year; however the Authority as a whole is seeing an increase in complaints, which reflects the national picture. This may be due to wider promotion about how to complain via the Ombudsman and the support available.

With over 100,000 contacts each year for repairs alone, the number of complaints is comparatively low. A dedicated complaints meeting is held every week with the repairs team, which we use to learn from complaints and identify opportunities to improve.

More complaints are now being upheld in part, we are increasingly seeing multiple elements to a single complaint, so some of those may be upheld and others won’t be. An additional factor is AI being used to write complaints, which can be seen by the length and level of detail. However, the content of these is not always accurate.

The complaints team recently completed a deep dive into responsive repairs complaints, which identified:

Complainants are generally representative of the tenant population
More are from the NE29 postcode
More complaints are received from female tenants
The 35-44 age group is most likely to complain
The Working at Height team is referenced the most (perhaps linked to scaffolding, which can be in place for a while)
Most related to lower priority jobs (this could be linked to expectations and it taking longer than tenants would like)

Main themes of the complaints were:

Delays in service
Poor communication (this can be between different teams internally co-ordinating work, not just between us and the tenant)
Quality issues and ownership (for example, leadership on multi-trade jobs)
A positive theme was that the issues were largely one-offs, or there were external contributing factors

TO said that feedback cards were left at each repairs job, but many tenants on the panel said they had never received these for their repairs visits. TO will follow this up and report back to the panel at the next meeting.

Recommendations:

Improved, more consistent communication (eg an email or text to confirm and issuing reminders. TO explained that our current system has limitations on what information we can put on the text messages, it will include a job reference number but not state what the job is, so if a tenant is waiting for more than one repair it wouldn’t be obvious which one the message is about)
Strengthen cross-trade co-ordination
Improve job data quality (again, TO explained some of the challenges we have around the IT systems we currently have, which focus on the property rather than the tenant)
Strengthen contractor oversight (we are accountable for the contractor’s work and feedback on contractors is picked up in the monitoring meetings we have with them)
Staff training (there will be new, mandatory training for all staff, using drama performances to demonstrate different scenarios and the potential impact of language and behaviour

AM explained that in relation to the drama-based training, we are very keen to reflect real-life experiences of our tenants and invited the panel members to confidentially share any experiences they would like to contribute, by 27 February. Tenants on the panel were very enthusiastic and welcomed this approach to training.

DF added that this is in addition to the customer care training which staff in all services complete.

With regard to IT system limitations, DF explained that the new IT system has been delayed, this is extremely frustrating and there are discussions ongoing with the contractor.

FR then outlined what is being done next:

More use of video diagnostics where tenants use their phone’s camera to show us the job, so we send the right operatives first time
Tenant satisfaction calls and visits after works by a contractor
Communications to tenants on referring to their repairs handbook for what they are responsible for and what they should be reporting through to us
Refreshed customer service training and note taking in detail
In the longer term, audits of complex complaints

Tenants on the panel fed back that some don’t have a current repairs handbook and some got theirs many years ago. Can something be done to let tenants know what is in the handbook? JF replied that the handbook is online and we can do something in the summer council magazine to highlight it.

The panel will be kept up to date on progress.

4. Communication

Disrepair campaign progress

LN recapped the discussion at November’s panel on disrepair. The panel had considered how to promote key messages on disrepair claims, including our website, council magazine, social media, via our tenant panels, our standard letters, and our ‘see it, report it’ tool for colleagues to report any issues in a property when they are visiting it for any reason.

Since November meeting, the following actions have been taken:

Improved tenant information on disrepair is now online
For condensation, damp and mould (CMD), we have produced a video which is now online and have promoted Awaab’s Law via our social media
We have conducted an internal audit on how we manage CMD, the findings of which were positive
The need for tenants to allow us access to their home when required has been promoted on social media (following on from an article in the summer council magazine)
Drafted a Housing Disrepair Policy, which will be shared with this panel once ready
Commissioned an external company to carry out a health check on CMD, compliance and stock condition work

JF shared further details. Three social media posts on disrepair and cold callers have reached over 108,000 people. Over 500 interactions (likes/shares/comments) show a high level of engagement and interest in these subjects and that people were forwarding it on within their networks to raise awareness. On average, each post went to 57% people who weren’t following the council’s social media, which means we are reaching people who don’t normally see the council’s messages.

The external audit made 13 recommendations, one of which was the Disrepair Policy. We have completed four so far, with nine to be fully completed by summer. We are focusing on providing the best service for our tenants, while defending disrepair claims.

At the last panel meeting, LN shared videos from a disrepair claims firm. We are very keen to produce our own videos to get those key messages across and want to feature real tenants in these. LN asked the panel if anyone would volunteer to be in a video, or a photo, which would help us get out important information about disrepair and other key repairs subjects. Several tenants volunteered and JF will take this forward.

It was great to see our tenants keen to get involved with our communications work, which we very much appreciate as it will help us get our messages across more effectively.

Review of online self-help videos

Ahead of the panel, the tenants had been sent a link to the council website which hosts a wide selection of self-help videos on subjects such as bleeding a radiator, unblocking a waste pipe, how to turn the gas off and how to replace a broken tile.

The panel had been asked to consider whether the videos were easy to follow, if they were helpful, and if there were any subjects not covered which tenants may find helpful.

There was good feedback on the current videos, some suggestions were made and JF will follow these up.

5. Matters arising from regular reports

The Quality and Safety quarterly report and regular performance scorecard had been shared in advance with the panel.

The scorecard shows we continue to be achieving 100% for all safety checks and are making good progress with stock condition surveys.

TO highlighted that we continue to keep an eye on our performance targets and are starting to think of 2026-27. Targets should be challenging, but achievable. The panel had agreed the current targets last year, and TO asked if they would do so again for next year – this was agreed and will be done in May.

6. Any Other Business

AM will start the 2025-26 Annual Tenants’ Report shortly and would like to include comments from our tenant panels on things they have discussed, found interesting, or learned about the service. A reminder will be issued nearer the time.

AM is also looking at training for tenant panel members and a more structured induction process for new members. We don’t currently have these, so would like current panel members to help by sending ideas for things they would have found helpful to know, or be aware of. AM will follow up separately with panel members.