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The Regulator of Social Housing has introduced a set of Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) to assess how well social housing landlords in England are doing at providing good quality homes and services to their tenants. Of the 22 measures introduced, 12 provide tenants with the opportunity to have their say, understand how their landlord is performing and provide an insight into where service improvements are required. The other 10 measures are about compliance that as a landlord we measure, including safety and repairs.
As a social housing landlord with over 14,000 homes, we complete the survey every year. It has been agreed that we will contact an agreed number of tenants through a random selection to complete the survey and the responses must be submitted to the Regulator by 30 June each year. The Regulator will produce a report that shows how well landlords are doing, and where they may need to improve. We also produce our own report and publish this, so our tenants can see how well we are performing.
The first phase of our 2024 survey was sent to randomly selected tenants in September and the second phase went out in October to a further random selection of 4,500 tenants. The survey closed in November and results will be published in early 2025. We really value your feedback, and take every comment we get from our tenants seriously. Our number one priority is providing the best service we can for you, and this survey will help us shape our priorities going forward.
As 2024 was the first year that landlords are required to gather and publish their TSMs, we do not have a strong comparison against other North East local authorities and social landlords. Without the ability to see other providers’ results, we have therefore used the information from a 2022-23 Housemark survey to assess our 2023-24 performance. Overall, we are pleased with our performance in 2023-24 and believe that it is a fair reflection of where we are. A summary of our performance results is attached to this page and you can read more on the council website, or call us on 0191 643 2828 and we can send out a paper copy.
Main points from our 2023 survey:
Building Safety and Compliance - We continue to meet, or exceed, all compliance standards and ensure that our tenants live in safe and modern homes.
Overall satisfaction – The results show that69% of our tenants are satisfied. Whilst we strive to increase this, we believe it a good base to build from.
Repairs Service - Whilst slightly below the benchmark, our satisfaction with repairs measures remains positive, with 70% of responders satisfied. We will continue to focus on improving this over the next 12 months.
Areas for improvement identified in our 2023 survey:
We continue to aim to improve all areas of our service and it is clear from the survey results that there are specific areas we need to focus on. These include:
Engagement and listening to tenants’ views - 48.4% of tenants are satisfied that as a landlord we listen to them, compared to the benchmark of 60%. We have already begun major improvements in this area to communicate better with our tenants, listen to them and implement suggested feedback. We have recently introduced an improved tenant engagement and communication offer; our new tenant panels and this website are part of that.
Communal areas and neighbourhoods - Satisfaction around keeping communal areas clean and well maintained is 54.4% and making a positive contribution to neighbourhoods is 51.8%. We continue to plan work to improve these areas to raise satisfaction. Read more about our estate walkabout programme.
Tackling anti-social behaviour – 43.5% of tenants are satisfied with our approach to handling anti-social behaviour. We have launched new initiatives such as Neat Streets, working closely with colleagues in the Environment directorate, to improve these areas.
The Regulator of Social Housing has introduced a set of Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) to assess how well social housing landlords in England are doing at providing good quality homes and services to their tenants. Of the 22 measures introduced, 12 provide tenants with the opportunity to have their say, understand how their landlord is performing and provide an insight into where service improvements are required. The other 10 measures are about compliance that as a landlord we measure, including safety and repairs.
As a social housing landlord with over 14,000 homes, we complete the survey every year. It has been agreed that we will contact an agreed number of tenants through a random selection to complete the survey and the responses must be submitted to the Regulator by 30 June each year. The Regulator will produce a report that shows how well landlords are doing, and where they may need to improve. We also produce our own report and publish this, so our tenants can see how well we are performing.
The first phase of our 2024 survey was sent to randomly selected tenants in September and the second phase went out in October to a further random selection of 4,500 tenants. The survey closed in November and results will be published in early 2025. We really value your feedback, and take every comment we get from our tenants seriously. Our number one priority is providing the best service we can for you, and this survey will help us shape our priorities going forward.
As 2024 was the first year that landlords are required to gather and publish their TSMs, we do not have a strong comparison against other North East local authorities and social landlords. Without the ability to see other providers’ results, we have therefore used the information from a 2022-23 Housemark survey to assess our 2023-24 performance. Overall, we are pleased with our performance in 2023-24 and believe that it is a fair reflection of where we are. A summary of our performance results is attached to this page and you can read more on the council website, or call us on 0191 643 2828 and we can send out a paper copy.
Main points from our 2023 survey:
Building Safety and Compliance - We continue to meet, or exceed, all compliance standards and ensure that our tenants live in safe and modern homes.
Overall satisfaction – The results show that69% of our tenants are satisfied. Whilst we strive to increase this, we believe it a good base to build from.
Repairs Service - Whilst slightly below the benchmark, our satisfaction with repairs measures remains positive, with 70% of responders satisfied. We will continue to focus on improving this over the next 12 months.
Areas for improvement identified in our 2023 survey:
We continue to aim to improve all areas of our service and it is clear from the survey results that there are specific areas we need to focus on. These include:
Engagement and listening to tenants’ views - 48.4% of tenants are satisfied that as a landlord we listen to them, compared to the benchmark of 60%. We have already begun major improvements in this area to communicate better with our tenants, listen to them and implement suggested feedback. We have recently introduced an improved tenant engagement and communication offer; our new tenant panels and this website are part of that.
Communal areas and neighbourhoods - Satisfaction around keeping communal areas clean and well maintained is 54.4% and making a positive contribution to neighbourhoods is 51.8%. We continue to plan work to improve these areas to raise satisfaction. Read more about our estate walkabout programme.
Tackling anti-social behaviour – 43.5% of tenants are satisfied with our approach to handling anti-social behaviour. We have launched new initiatives such as Neat Streets, working closely with colleagues in the Environment directorate, to improve these areas.
