Tenants Paradigm s Service Standards Making sure we deliver the best possible service to all of our customers
Welcome to Paradigm s Service Standards At Paradigm, we want to provide all our customers with the best possible service and our goal is to get it right every time. To help us do this, we have been working with customers to identify what s important and where we should focus to make sure we meet everyone s expectations. Together we have produced a set of service standards, which residents will regularly monitor to make sure our performance is up to scratch. So, if we don t keep our promises or stick to our service standards, please let us know. Call Customer Services on 0300 303 1010, email enquiries@paradigmhousing.co.uk or go to our website for a copy of our Concerns, compliments and suggestions leaflet. 2
The standards are divided into four areas: The Paradigm Standards Report Card The Paradigm Standards Report Card is produced annually and gives information on the targets that have been set, and how we perform against each of them. With over 100 standards in total, Paradigm residents were asked whether they wanted to see targets and performance figures for each one. Their response was to focus on 37 key standards. These are featured within the report card. Involving and empowering you Your home More ways to see how we, re doing We will report our latest results every three months on the Paradigm website and each year you will be able to see our annual results within the Annual Report to Residents. Also look out for updates in our resident magazine Paradigm People. Your tenancy Your neighbourhood Paradigm Housing Group Annual Report to Residents 2009/10 In each of the areas, there are specific standards and targets against which we will measure our performance Heading in the right direction Each year, our targets will be reviewed and then republished for everyone to see. OUR SERVICE STANDARDS 3
Involving and empowering you You are at the heart of everything we do; working with us to shape our services and monitor our work. We promise to provide you excellent customer service, give you the resources and skills you need to be involved, then listen and act on your feedback. For more information on customer service or ways to get involved... visit www.paradigmhousing.co.uk or call 0300 303 1010. Good customer service You have told us that customer service is very important to you. That means you need to be able to easily access our services and when you do, receive a friendly prompt response. Our offices will be open, to welcome you in person, from 9:00am to 5:30pm Monday to Friday. Alternatively you could call our Customer Service team on 0300 303 1010 at a time more convenient to you. They are available to take your call from 8:00am to 6:00pm Monday to Friday. An emergency service operates out of these hours. When you telephone us we will make sure we: y answer telephones within 20 seconds y answer telephone calls with a standard greeting providing our names y return your call within one working day when you leave a message. If you write or send us an email we will: y acknowledge all emails within one working day y respond to all enquiries within five working days (unless another timescale is agreed) y respond to stage one complaints within ten working days. When you visit us at our offices we will: y see you on time if you have an appointment y see you within ten minutes if you don t have an appointment, or offer to make an appointment for an alternative time. If we visit you at home, we will: y arrive on time to our meeting or contact you if we have been held up y show you our ID. 4
Involving and listening to you There are lots of different ways you can get involved with Paradigm and your community. It will give you the chance to help shape and improve your neighbourhood and the service we provide, as well as gain new skills and meet neighbours along the way. As you are giving up your time to help us we will offer you extra support where we can. To encourage you to get involved we will: y offer you a range of opportunities to be involved in activities such as scrutinising our performance and service delivery y help you feel more able to get involved by providing a range of training, information, practical support and paying travel and carer expenses y feedback on the difference resident involvement has made y hear your views by appointing tenants as Board members, holding regular face-to-face events and listening to service feedback. For more information on targets and performance look out for the Paradigm Standards Report Card. OUR SERVICE STANDARDS 5
Your home We want to provide residents with a high quality home and excellent repairs and maintenance service. To do this we promise to invest millions of pounds in our properties every year. For more information about repairs, gas servicing, planned maintenance work or adapting your home... visit www.paradigmhousing.co.uk or call 0300 303 1010.. Keeping your home in good repair We know the repairs we respond to on a day-to-day basis are close to your hearts and we need to respond quickly and effectively. To offer a repairs service that works for you we will: y provide different ways to report a repair, including by telephone and our website y make an appointment for a repair or an inspection visit when you first contact us y offer the choice of three appointment slots a day; Monday to Friday y provide an out-of-hours emergency repairs telephone service to deal with repairs which cannot wait until the next working day y pay 25 if we don t keep an appointment (for more details see our Compensation customer advice leaflet). To provide a quality repair we will: y employ repair workers who will be polite, treat you with respect and show their ID card when they visit your home y complete the repair on our very first visit, but where that isn t possible, tell you within two working days when we will be back to complete the job y complete a minimum of 90% of the repair work to an agreed quality standard y check one-in-ten repairs to make sure they meet our quality standards y clean up after the repair is finished leaving the property tidy. To improve the way we communicate with you we will: y provide a guide on the repairs we do, the time each repair will take, and how our appointment system works y call you to keep you informed about progress of a repair where we are waiting for parts y after the repair is done, ask how you found the service and use your feedback to improve y let you know about overall performance of the repairs service through regular reports. 6
Servicing your gas appliances This is one of the most important pieces of work that we do. We carry out an annual check to make sure that the gas appliances that we have fitted in our residents homes are safe and fit for use. To make it easy for you to arrange a safety check we will: y write to you 6 8 weeks in advance of the gas service due-date with an appointment y offer flexible appointment times including early evening and Saturday mornings where access has been difficult to arrange y send a text 48 hours before an appointment as a reminder if you have agreed to receive text messages from us. Your safety at home is of utmost importance so we will: y use qualified GASsafe engineers to ensure every residents home has an annual gas safety certificate and inspect appliances, flues, meters, pipe work and the smoke detector as part of the annual gas safety check y provide a carbon monoxide detector in homes with a back boiler or internal flue y ensure a gas safety check is done before letting you a home y take steps to secure access where access is denied and where necessary use gas restrictor devices or take legal action y use an independent company to check our gas safety work. To extend this service we will: y provide information about gas servicing and safety on our website, in our Information Pack for Tenants and in our gas safety leaflet y provide you with a copy of the gas safety certificate for your home y monitor customer satisfaction with the service and act on its results. For more information on targets and performance look out for the Paradigm Standards Report Card. OUR SERVICE STANDARDS 7
Your home Providing a decent home Keeping our properties in good condition is key to providing decent homes. We plan our programme of maintenance work in advance and prioritise those homes that need redecoration or improvements the most. Any money spent on your home is well spent. We will: y carry out external redecoration to properties on average every seven years y redecorate communal areas on average every seven years y continue to ensure that all properties meet the Government s Decent Homes Standard. When we plan to start work on your home we will: y give you at least four weeks notice in writing y use Customer Liaison Officers to provide information and support before, during and after the work is completed y offer you a choice of colours and designs for kitchen units and work tops y offer you colour choices for floor tiles, walls and external doors y ensure that you are not left without heating, electric or water overnight while improvement works are carried out y use dust sheets to protect furniture and carpets and clear up mess and remove rubbish daily. To keep you informed we will: y publicise the external and communal areas redecoration programme on our website y provide a handbook giving information about the work planned for your home y provide clear information about how to use and care for any new installations and appliances. 8
Aids and adaptations standards If you are elderly, have a long-term illness, disability or just have difficulty getting around your home, you can get help to maintain or improve your independence. If you need help we will: y visit you within 10 working days of receiving your enquiry when a home visit is required to assess your needs y employ a Disabled Facilities Officer to provide you aids and adaptations support if you are experiencing a physical or sensory disability y work with you, occupational therapists, local councils, charitable and voluntary organisations and GPs to assess and provide aids and adaptations y consider requests to fund major adaptations ourselves, where a council has insufficient disabled facilities grant available. As soon as your application is agreed we will: y provide you with the contact details of the staff member at Paradigm who will keep you informed and be able to deal with any enquiries you have, from when the order for your work is placed until completion y provide minor aids and adaptations to your home within 20 working days of the order being placed y offer you a choice of a shower or bath when refitting your bathroom y incorporate minor adaptations when we are completing routine repairs and incorporate major adaptations when we replace kitchens and bathroom y provide repairs and servicing for equipment, such as stair lifts. To give you choices we will: y examine alternative housing options where adapting your current home is not appropriate y provide information about properties that would be suitable for tenants experiencing disability when advertising our choice-based letting schemes. For more information on targets and performance look out for the Paradigm Standards Report Card. OUR SERVICE STANDARDS 9
Your tenancy We aim to be fair and transparent in the way we let our homes, charge rent and offer a tenancy. For more information about letting one of our properties, keeping the conditions of your tenancy and paying your rent, service charges or sundry debts... visit www.paradigmhousing.co.uk or call 0300 303 1010. Letting our properties We want you to feel good about selecting a Paradigm home and we will support you in taking on a new tenancy. To make sure you are confident about bidding for a Paradigm home we will: y advertise and let the majority of our vacant homes through choice-based lettings schemes y let our homes in-line with our published property standards. Where you are offered a home we will: y show you around the property before you decide whether to accept the offer of this new home y confirm any work to be done before and after the tenancy starts and its completion date y provide you with a printed copy of our letting standard y provide information regarding your rights and responsibilities y give information on rent and other charges, payment methods and housing benefit y discuss any particular support needed to settle into and keep your home. When the tenancy starts we will: y meet with you to explain tenancy conditions and sign the tenancy agreement y check agreed repairs have been completed and provide a gas safety certificate and electrical safety check certificate y provide an Information Pack for Tenants including information about your home, local area, support agencies and key Paradigm contacts y ask you, after you move in, how satisfied you are with your home and our service. 10
Managing your tenancy We want you to feel happy and secure in your home and we will support you to maintain the conditions of your tenancy. If you take on a tenancy with Paradigm we will: y grant a starter tenancy if you are a first-time tenant y grant a joint tenancy to couples, including common-law, married and civil partnership relationships y provide a tenancy agreement and an Information Pack for Tenants which will be explained to you when you collect the keys to your home y explain clearly your rights and responsibilities as a tenant including how we deal with breaches of the conditions of tenancy. When you move into your new home we will: y contact you 4 6 weeks after you have moved in, to provide any additional information or advice you need y visit or contact starter tenants at three, six and nine monthly intervals during the first year of the tenancy to review how the tenancy is being conducted and deal with any customer enquiries y work with you to avoid and resolve breaches of tenancy y carry out tenancy checks to identify illegal occupation. To keep you well informed we will: y involve you in any decision-making about changes to your tenancy agreement or the services you receive from us y provide you with the details of how to contact your tenancy and neighbourhood officer and the anti-social behaviour advisor for your area y let you know our decision within 28 days if you apply for permission to carry out improvements or alterations to your home y let you know our decision within 28 days if you ask to take over a tenancy or pass a tenancy to someone else. For more information on targets and performance look out for the Paradigm Standards Report Card. OUR SERVICE STANDARDS 11
Your tenancy Paying your rent and service charges We recognise that collection of rent and service charges is of major importance, so we can meet our commitments to you. When charging you rent we will: y provide information about our approach to calculating rents and service charges and debt recovery through the Information Pack for Tenants, our website and customer advice leaflets y provide clear details of the rent and service charges for individual properties at the time of letting and when changes are made y offer a variety of ways to pay including; direct debit, post office or PayZone outlet, through our website, by debit or credit card over the telephone, and by post y provide a rent statement annually and at any other time when requested. When there are any changes to rent and service charges we will: y give you a minimum of four weeks notice of any proposed change to the charges made y always consult you regarding any proposed change to service charges. If you are having problems and need support we will: y be flexible and helpful if you are in arrears by making early contact with you about the sums owed, providing basic benefit information, signposting to specialist money management organisations and accepting repayment agreements y be clear about the action we will take where arrears are not repaid y view eviction as a last resort where other recovery action has failed. 12
Paying other debts If you owe Paradigm money for a service other than rent or service charges, this is known as a sundry debt. When you need to pay for services used we will: y provide a full breakdown of work to be carried out in writing before sending an invoice y provide a statement of account on request or with any collection correspondence y offer a variety of ways to pay including: direct debit, by telephone using a debit or credit card, and by post y listen to residents views on ways we can improve this service. This can include services such as abandoned vehicles, pest control, planning inspection charges and rechargeable repair work. If you need help and support we will: y offer flexible payment arrangements if you cannot pay the full amount y allow up to 14 days payment terms on our invoices before starting debt recovery y be clear on the steps we will take and the consequences for you if you fail to pay including: details of the collection process, the use of customer tracing, collection agencies, solicitors and the county court. Paying rent when you've left your home If a tenant has left one of our properties and has not paid all their rent or property charges, If you need to settle your rent account we will: y provide an estimated final rent account balance when you give us notice that you want to end your tenancy y offer a variety of ways to pay money due including: direct debit, post office and PayZone outlet using your Paradigm rent payment card, by telephone using a debit or credit card, and by post y listen to customer views on ways we can improve this service. it is important for us to collect any money owed. When you are struggling and need help we will: y offer flexible payment arrangements if you cannot pay the full amount y be clear on the steps we will take and the consequences for you if you fail to pay including details of the collection process, the use of customer tracing, collection agencies, solicitors and the county court. For more information on targets and performance look out for the Paradigm Standards Report Card. OUR SERVICE STANDARDS 13
Your neighbourhood You often share recreational areas, car parks, communal areas inside blocks of flats, gardens and grassed areas with your neighbours. We want these areas to be clean, well maintained and safe. For more information about how we manage our estates and deal with anti-social behaviour... visit www.paradigmhousing.co.uk or call 0300 303 1010. Managing our estates Our estate management aims to improve your quality of life and make our estates places where you want to live. To provide a consistent and fully accountable service we will: y provide you with the contact details of your tenancy and neighbourhood officer y complete a series of neighbourhood reviews so that together we can identify and deliver improvements y seek feedback from those who receive our estate management service on a regular basis y inspect our estates and invite you to attend, according to the timetable published in communal areas and on our website y complete regular fire risk assessments of interior communal areas and provide you with emergency escape plans. In pro-actively dealing with matters that concern you we will: y redecorate communal areas according to the timetable published on our website y cut communal hedges at least once a year y clean communal areas on a regular basis and to a specification agreed with local residents y cut the grass every two or three weeks during the growing season, to ensure the area looks well tended y remove any items blocking fire escapes when discovered by Paradigm staff or our cleaning contractor. To react positively when you notify us of a problem we will: y remove offensive graffiti within 24 hours, and all other graffiti within five working days, unless it needs specialist cleaning y respond to lift breakdowns within four hours y arrange for needles and dangerous objects to be removed within four hours y remove abandoned vehicles causing a safety risk within 48 hours, and others within 14 days, if the owner can not be traced y investigate reports of potentially abandoned properties within five working days. 14
Anti-social behaviour standards We want our customers to enjoy their home without the interference from those responsible for anti social behaviour, nuisance and harassment. These standards set out what you can expect from us when you use our service. These are in addition to our customer care standards. The anti-social behaviour service provides an inclusive, supportive, and non-judgemental approach demonstrating respect and sensitivity. We are proud of the service we deliver and we will: y include clear statements about your rights and responsibilities in our tenancy agreements, leases and customer information leaflets y provide advice in all anti-social behaviour cases y keep you up-to-date with what is happening with your case at a minimum every four weeks unless otherwise agreed with you as part of the management of your case y provide support, either directly or through other agencies to victims, witnesses and those causing ASB y in cases of Domestic Abuse, Racial Harassment and Hate Crime carry out within 24 hours any emergency repairs needed to ensure your home is secure y remove racist, offensive or hate crime graffiti from Paradigm Property within 24 hours y fit additional security recommended by the police to your home within five working days y help you to consider all of the housing options available to you in cases where it has been agreed it is unsafe for you to remain in your home y only close a case after discussing with you. Where no contact can be made we will write to you y request your feedback on how we managed your case once it has been closed. Domestic abuse standards We aim to offer assistance to those who are experiencing domestic violence or threats of violence. For a victim-centered and accessible service we will: y offer to meet with you to agree an action plan within one working day of your contact, in a location of your choice y provide an inclusive, supportive and non-judgmental service demonstrating respect and sensitivity. To respond constructively to your situation we will: y carry out any emergency repairs needed within one working day, to ensure your home is secure y fit additional security to your home recommended by the police within five working days y help you to find temporary or alternative permanent accommodation if it is unsafe for you to remain in your home. Racial harassment and hate crime standards It is a breach of Paradigm tenancy conditions to harass someone on the grounds of race, colour or religion and we will deal with such incidents swiftly and effectively. In providing you a responsive and supportive service we will: y offer to meet with you to agree an action plan within one working day of your contact, in a location of your choice y provide an inclusive, supportive and non-judgmental service demonstrating respect and sensitivity y work with the Diversity Officer (police or council) who is responsible for dealing with racial harassment and hate crimes in your area. To positively react to your situation we will: y remove racist or hate crime graffiti from Paradigm property within one working day y carry out any emergency repairs needed within one working day, to ensure your home is secure y fit additional security to your home where recommended by the police within five working days y help you to find temporary or alternative permanent accommodation if it is unsafe for you to remain in your home. For more information on targets and performance look out for the Paradigm Standards Report Card OUR SERVICE STANDARDS 15
If you would like this document translated or want further information about any of our services please contact Customer Services on 0300 303 1010 or visit our website at www.paradigmhousing.co.uk Polski Polish Jeśli chcieliby Państwo otrzymać ten dokument w innym języku lub uzyskać więcej informacji o którejkolwiek z naszych usług, prosimy skontaktować się z Centrum Obsługi Klienta pod numerem 0300 303 1010 lub odwiedzić naszą stronę internetową: www.paradigmhousing.co.uk Punjabi 0300 303 1010 www.paradigmhousing.co.uk Soomaali Somali Haddii aad jeceshahay in dokomantigan la tarjumo ama aad rabto macluumaad dheeraad ah oo ku saabsan mid ka mid ah adeegyadayada fadlan kasoo wac Adeega Macmiisha 0300 303 1010 ama soo booqo shabakadayada www.paradigmhousing.co.uk Türkçe Turkish Bu belgenin dilinize çevirilmesini istemek ya da hizmetlerimizin herhangi biri hakkında daha fazla bilgi almak için lütfen 0300 303 1010 numaralı telefondan Müşteri Hizmetlerini (Customer Services) arayın ya da www.paradigmhousing.co.uk adresindeki web sitemizi ziyaret edin. Urdu Urdu www.paradigmhousing.co.uk 0300 303 1010 Larger print Braille cd or tape Paradigm Housing Group 1 Glory Park Avenue, Wooburn Green, High Wycombe HP10 0DF Tel: 0300 303 1010 Fax: 0300 303 8041 enquiries@paradigmhousing.co.uk www.paradigmhousing.co.uk Paradigm Housing Group provides services to Paradigm Homes, Paradigm Commercial and Paradigm Maintenance Services and is a not-for-profit housing association registered in England. Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965, number 28844R. Registered Provider, number L4215. Registered office: 1 Glory Park Avenue, Wooburn Green, Buckinghamshire, HP10 0DF.