How your feedback makes a difference
By completing surveys and joining focus groups, you help us identify what’s working well and where we need to do better. Below are the outcomes from engagement activities.
Tenant involvement summary
This is a summary of our tenant involvement activity between January and March 2025.
- 15 housing-led engagements
- 3 focus groups
- 22 residents involved
- 7 community-led engagements
We've been busy preparing two new panels:
- giving you the opportunity to feedback your experiences relating to our repairs service
- engaging with younger people who can help shape the delivery of housing services
The panels will be key in shaping the delivery of housing services.
Outcomes from involvement
- recruited 12 people for the complaints panel
- 15 people have shown an expression of interest for the repairs panel
- introduced a ‘Tenant Involvement Champion’ scheme for staff
- created new easy-read posters on how tenants can get involved with panels, focus groups and events
- we are progressing the Landlord Assurance Board and will recruit soon – look out for our posters/leaflets on how you can join us
Want to know more?
Email tenant.involvement@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk to join the Tenant Involvement Register and have your voice heard.
Resident online focus group - repairs policy review
We recently held a resident online repairs focus group on the 24 October 2024.
The residents involved in this engaging activity highlighted a few valuable points, giving us an opportunity to improve, we listened and took all the feedback on board.
The positive changes we have already made to improve our repairs service are:
You said: “The new policy would offer reassurance if you ensure repairs are completed on time, and if not, tenants will be supported.’’
So we: Resources have increased to support the backlog of repairs and historical jobs are booked in with residents.
You said: “Inviting tenants to discuss repairs KPI’s/insights in focus groups could foster greater engagement.’’
So we: We have set up a tenant repairs panel, giving greater transparency to our overall repairs service delivery.
You said: “The Council should directly contact tenants for feedback following work being carried out.”
So we: We are working with an external provider, Acuity who will be independently carrying out surveys with tenants who have received a repair.
Gathering your feedback provides us with a valuable insight into how our we are doing as a service. By completing surveys and joining focus groups, you help us identify what’s working well and where we need to do better.
We are committed to listening to and working with our tenants and leaseholders, giving you a voice to influence the services and decisions made by the Housing Service. Help make a difference in your community and get involved! Please register your details with us here to find out more.
Resident focus group May 2024: How we handle complaints
This focus group was organised to talk about how we handle complaints and find out how we can improve. Following the meeting, we have already made some positive changes:
You said: “We live in transitional accommodation and didn’t know how to complain.”
So we: created easy-read posters and displayed them in all transitional and Independent Living sites.
You said: “We were prevented from complaining on the phone and the complaint was dismissed.”
So we: developed training guides for front-line staff on recognising and reporting a complaint.
You said: “We were forced to complain in writing or access the web form.”
So we: developed in-house training for staff on accepting complaints over the phone.
You said: “There wasn’t consistent communication during my complaint investigation.”
So we: revised complaint handler refresher training to cover the importance of regular communication.
You said: “We are unaware of who the Ombudsman is and their role.”
So we: provided clearer information about the Ombudsman on our website and when contacting our customers.
If you would like to make a difference to the services we provide, sign up to join one of our upcoming focus groups.