STAR Survey

The survey of tenants and residents (STAR)

In December 2022 and January 2023, the council asked all tenants to complete the STAR satisfaction survey to share their views and thoughts on the services we provide. 

What is STAR?

The Survey of Tenants and Residents (STAR) is the nationally recognised industry standard survey of tenant and leaseholder satisfaction. There are a variety of questions, ranging from the repair's service, about your home, where you live and how well we listen.

We use the results from the survey to find out what we are doing right and identify where we could improve and implement any changes to our services. It's another way for the Council to listen to our tenants and compare against other providers.

Summary of what you told us

Rates of tenant satisfaction continue to be high across most key areas:

• Overall, 80% of tenants were satisfied with the housing service provided by GYBC
• 79% of tenants were satisfied with the repairs service
• 77% said their home was well maintained
• 80% satisfied their home is safe
• 78% were satisfied GYBC keeps communal areas clean, safe and well maintained (estate services)

GYBC's contribution to the neighbourhood and approach to anti-social behaviour rate highly compared to other housing providers, and the vast majority are satisfied with their neighbourhood:

• 68% were satisfied that GYBC makes a positive contribution to the neighbourhood
• 67% satisfied with GYBC's approach to anti-social behaviour (up from 44% in 2019)
• 83% satisfied with their neighbourhood as a place to live.

While many feel GYBC is easy to deal with, fewer feel that they are kept informed, are listened to and have opportunities to make their views known:

• Satisfaction with the ease of dealing with GYBC scored 81%
• Satisfaction with being treated fairly and with respect 77%
• 66% satisfaction with being kept informed
• 59% satisfaction with views being listened to and acted upon
• 42% satisfaction with GYBC's approach to the handling of complaints

HouseMark reports that overall satisfaction levels are declining nationally, and this is reflected in our own results being a little lower than in 2019. Despite this we have seen improvements in some areas.

What we are doing

The results are helping us plan how to deliver our services and make service improvements. An action plan has been developed and summarised below. We will continue to share updates on what improvements we are making.

Improving communication

• introduce a standard response to emails to confirm receipt and timescale for response
• introduce regular feedback approach and single point of contact to resolve issues and queries

Repairs

• develop and adopt a new repairs policy with clear timescales for completion of repairs
• introduce a new post inspection process to ensure quality and value for money of the repairs service
• carry out a regular review of homes where more than 10 repairs per year are requested to identify and remedy root cause of high repair demand
• introduce first available repair appointment for routine repairs - offered more choice on appointment times
• improve pre inspection process to clearly communicate timescales for completion of any works

Planned Works

• develop and publish a 3-year capital programme and cyclical decoration programme
• notify tenants and leaseholders annually if their home is to receive capital improvement works

Home Safety

• complete and update tenant son the stock condition surveys
• clearly set out with policies our approach to making sure we are compliant and keeping tenants safe

Showing we listen and act

• share the outcomes of satisfaction surveys
• review the Resident Engagement Strategy and options to make sure the tenant voice is heard and contributes to service improvement

Keeping tenants informed

• review how we keep tenants informed about repairs and other service requests
• increase awareness of campaigns the council is running to support tenants and provide opportunities to share their voice and keeping communities safe
• develop a new Housing Customer Charter setting out the council's approach to service delivery and tenant engagement

Treating tenants fairly and with respect

• deliver and develop the Council's customer charter
• ensure our decisions are clear and when linked to policy or legislation this is clearly communicated

Complaint handling

• improve through training how to investigate and respond to complaints
• introduce a satisfaction survey on complaint handling to understand the experience of our approach
• communal areas - clean and well maintained
• consider and consult tenants on the introduction of grass cutting collection
• review communal bin provision

Positive contribution to neighbourhoods

• promote the work the council undertakes on ensuring neighbourhoods are well managed, maintained and residents are aware of local services

Anti-social behaviour (ASB)

• use the feedback from the ASB survey to improve our approach
• develop better information to define ASB and the actions the council will take to address ASB and how we work with others
• improve evidence gathering to support effective action in relation to ASB