Housing Matters - June 2024
Wednesday, 12 June 2024
Read the latest edition of Housing Matters.
Important reminder for XL Bully owners
Upcoming dates to be aware of
Further to the introduction of rules for owners of XL Bully owners, requiring all owners to hold an Exemption Certificate, there is a new reminder about important dates to ensure that your dog remains exempt.
If your dog was 12 months old before 31 January 2024 you must have this neutered by 30 June 2024.
If your dog turned 12 months old after 31 January 2024 you must have your pet neutered by 31 December 2024.
Evidence of neutering must be provided to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) by these dates - failure to do so will mean that your dog is no longer exempt and could be seized.
Remember breeding XL Bullies is now illegal along with other rules such as rehoming dogs.
Find out more about how to register your dog as neutered.
Complaints, compliments and improvements
Your feedback is important
It’s really important that we take on board the feedback our residents give us and learn from it. Feedback results in improvements to the way we deliver services, and we listen to comments from a range of sources, including:
- ongoing feedback surveys
- determinations (decisions) that the Housing Ombudsman issues
- recommendations from our teams who are well placed to see where we can do things more effectively and deliver better customer service
- suggestions made at focus groups through tenant involvement
From recent feedback, we’re currently reviewing the areas we receive the most complaints about and introducing improvements.
Complaints
Complaints in the last financial year (2023-2024) fell mainly into one of the following three areas:
- lack of communication
- the time we take to do something
- a failed or disputed action
The two service areas we receive the majority of complaints about are:
Repairs
Many repairs are carried out by our contractors, supported by our in-house repairs team. With such a high volume of jobs being managed on a daily basis, it’s not surprising to see this service has the largest number of complaints. The total number of repair requests in 2023/24 was 47,353.
Not including servicing and inspections (such as gas services and electric testing) we carried out work in 34,069 residents’ homes.
How we're making improvements
Some of our repair complaints relate to damp and mould. We continue to work with the Housing Ombudsman and our contractors, exploring new ways to deal with damp and mould complaints. We have already improved upon:
- earlier diagnosis of the causes.
- providing clear explanations to residents of how to minimise damp, mould and condensation.
Housing Services staff also must complete damp and mould training each year. This strengthens our knowledge and understanding of mould and damp to help us support residents.
Neighbourhoods
Most neighbourhood complaints are about anti-social behaviour (ASB). This includes how residents feel the issue is being handled or progressed, or when they are not happy with the outcome of an ASB case.
How we're making improvements
From some of the complaints we’ve received, we’ve identified that we need to manage residents’ expectations better. We also need to provide clearer explanations about why a decision or course of action is taken. Feedback from residents has already led to the following improvements:
- more frequent communication with tenants.
- being firmer about acting against those causing the problem, when we have evidence to do so.
- improved record keeping to make sure we have accurate information recorded about the things we do and why we do them.
How to give feedback
Compliments - how to say thank you
If you have experienced excellent customer service, please let us know so we can recognise the achievements of our colleagues. To send a compliment about a staff member or team, please email: customer.relations@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk
Complaints – how to let us know
Delivering a great service to our customers is extremely important to us but sometimes things go wrong. When this happens, we want to be able to resolve the problem as quickly and easily as possible. To tell us about something that’s gone wrong, please email customer.relations@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk or tell a member of staff.
We've installed bug hotels across some of our estates
Supporting local wildlife and increasing biodiversity
Built by adults who attend Silsoe Horticultural Centre, the structures offer safe places for bees and other insects to live and thrive. Pictured above: the bug hotels being built.
The bug hotels were also decorated by children from Kingfisher Children's Home who teamed up with older residents from Johnson Court, a retirement complex in Houghton Regis.
Bug hotels provide shelter and nesting spots for insects, including solitary bees, helping protect them from bad weather and predators. This helps support their life cycles and therefore the pollination of nearby plants, helping to ensure green spaces remain healthy and vibrant. They attract a variety of insects, which helps maintain balanced ecosystems.
Furthermore, the new bug hotels contribute to our biodiversity duty, which requires local authorities to take steps to support and increase the variety of plants, animals, and other wildlife in their areas.