OUR STANDARDS OF SERVICEwhat you can expect from us

Registered Office: 83 Green Street, Glasgow, G40 2TG Tel: 0141 550 3581 E-mail: admin@thenewhousing.co.ukBridgeton Office: 2 Main Street, Glasgow, G40 1HA Tel: 0141 554 5245 E-mail: bridgeton@thenewhousing.co.ukCastlemilk Office: 49 Blaeloch Drive, Glasgow, G45 9QJ Tel: 0141 634 7000 E-mail: castlemilk@thenewhousing.co.ukCranhill Office: 14 Ruchazie Place, Glasgow, G33 3HA Tel: 0141 774 3030 E-mail: cranhill@thenewhousing.co.uk

www.thenewhousing.co.uk

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Registered under the Industrial & Provident Societies Acts (No 1933R(S)) Charity registered in Scotland (No SC 032782)

THIS LEAFLET IS PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER

CCUUSSTTOOMMEERR FFEEEEDDBBAACCKKTo help us continually improve our services we would like to receive your comments on where you feelwe have not met any of the standards contained within this leaflet, or your suggestions for how we canimprove our services. Please complete this strip and return to one of our offices listed overleaf.

DDiidd wwee mmeeeett oouurr sseerrvviiccee ssttaannddaarrddss wwhheenn wwee ddeeaalltt wwiitthh yyoouurr eennqquuiirryy ((pplleeaassee ttiicckk)

Yes No

If Yes, what was good about our service?

If No, which standard/s LLlisted didn’t we meet?

WWhhiicchh ooffffiiccee aanndd mmeemmbbeerr//ss ooff ssttaaffff ddeeaalltt wwiitthh yyoouurr eennqquuiirryy ((pplleeaassee ttiicckk))

??

Green St Bridgeton Castlemilk Cranhill

Member/s of staff:

DDoo yyoouu hhaavvee aannyy ootthheerr ccoommmmeennttss??

Name:

Address:

Email address:

Tel No: Date:

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This document sets out the standards of service you can expect to receive from us.

Who are our service users?Our service users include: tenants, owner occupiers in Thenew factored property, sharing owners, housing applicants and any other individual or groups of individuals who seek or receive a service from Thenew Housing Association.

What are Service Standards?Service Standards are service commitments by an organisation. They confirm how specific services will be delivered and explain to users the quality of service they can expect.

We recognise the way we provide our services can be as important as the service itself.

How will we monitor our performance?We will review these standards on a 3 yearly basis with our service users and report our performance on achieving the standards to our Management Committee on an annual basis. Where necessary we will ask an independent agency to assess our performance.

Where we have not met our standards of service we will apologise, explain why and aim to ensure that it doesn’t happen in future.

If you feel that we have not met a service standard in any way please complete the customer feedback slip attached or use our formal complaints procedure. This will help us to continually improve our service delivery to you.

Formal complaints:If you wish to make a formal complaint (this is usually where you have not had a satisfactory response from the staff responsible for dealing with your request or enquiry)

OUR KEY SERVICE STANDARDS When you make any enquiry to us, we will:· give you an estimate of when we are likely to be able to respond to your enquiry and keep you regularly informed of our progress in pursuing the matter.· ensure that all correspondence and personal

information is treated in confidence and discussed with our colleagues only when necessary and appropriate to do so.

When you write to us or email us, we will:· respond within 5 working days, If for any reason a

reply is likely to take longer (for example to obtain further information) you will receive an initial acknowledgement within 5 working days.

When you complain, we will: · make an information leaflet on the Association’s

complaints policy readily available from all our offices.

· investigate fully all complaints made by service users about our services and use our findings to improve our services to you.

· deal with complaints promptly, courteously, systematically, fairly and in confidence.

General information,We will:· issue at least 3 newsletters to residents each year.· provide a Thenew website giving information about

the organisation and current events and consultation topics.

INTRODUCTION

our separate Customer Complaints Leaflet The easy guide to making a complaint and form will explain in detail how your complaint will be dealt with.

Ultimately your complaint can be referred to the Public Services Ombudsman if we cannot reach agreement.

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· respond effectively and sensitively to your needs.· always make themselves known to the person/

organisation they are dealing with. · wear name badges in the office and at meetings and

carry identity cards outside the office.· provide their email address and direct dial phone

number in correspondence to you.· help you fill out any form that we ask you to

complete.· visit you at home if required.

When you visit one of our offices, we will:· make every effort to make offices accessible to

people with disabilities. Where this is not possible, we will offer assistance and home appointments.

· acknowledge you when you arrive and attend to you as soon as we are able.

· you have made an appointment with a ensure that if staff you will be seen on time.

ensure that if you have not made an appointment of staff you wish to speak to is

be kept waiting for more than

· give you a mutually convenient appointment with a specific member of staff upon request.

When you telephone us we will:· answer all telephone calls promptly. · deal with all enquiries immediately, but where this is

not possible we will call back within one working day or at an agreed time.

· ensure that when offices are closed, an answerphone or message service will be in operation.

· respond to any messages left on our voice mail within one working day (if we have not redirected our calls).

OUR HOUSING MANAGEMENT AND REPAIRSSERVICES

Housing ApplicationsWhen you apply for a house or request a transfer, we will: · assist you with the completion of your application

form.· process your completed application within 15

working days.· ensure that all information provided to us by you

will remain confidential and only information required for the proper assessment of your application.

· allocate available property fairly and on the basis of housing need.

· allow you 3 working days to accept an offer of rehousing.

RepairsWhen you report a repair, we will:· respond to Emergency repairs within 2 hours.· complete Urgent repairs within 3 working days.· respond to Appointment repairs within an agreed

timeslot.· complete Routine repairs within 15 working days.· post inspect a proportion of all jobs.· issue a repairs receipt with a customer satisfaction

form for all jobs completed within your home for you to complete and return.

Your Rent:

· offer a variety of easy methods of rent payment.· provide advice and assistance in completing Housing

Benefit forms.· process payments by rent payment card to the rent

account within 2 working days.· send you a statement of your rent account on an

annual basis and explain the information contained in it.

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Our staff will:· be prompt, polite, friendly, helpful and willing to listen.· treat everyone who uses our service fairly and

equally.

member of

and the memberavailable, you will not10 minutes.

·

We will:

record

circumstances.· confirm in writing any arrangement you have made

to repay your arrears.· work with other agencies to try to prevent arrears

and to ensure that all tenants receive appropriate advice on welfare benefits and debt advice.

Neighbour Disputes & Anti-Social BehaviourComplaints

When you make a complaint about anti-socialbehaviour, we will:· not ask for complaints to be made in writing before

investigating.· help you to complete our neighbour/anti-social

visit you (or contact you by phone) within 24 hours if an incident is very serious or serious (Category 1 and 2 cases) such as drug dealing from the property or excessive persistent noise disturbance.

· visit you (or contact you by phone) within 5 working days if the incident is of a relatively minor nature (Category 3 cases) such as stair cleaning complaints.

· make regular contact with you during ongoing complaints.

· make clear to all tenants that any form of harassment of a neighbour will be viewed as a serious breach of the Tenancy Agreement.

Alterations & ImprovementsIf you are a tenant and want to alter or improve your home, we will:· not unreasonably withhold permission for requests to

alter or improve a property.· compensate you for certain improvements at the end

of the tenancy (as long as we agreed to them being done).

Estate Management We will:· inspect all gardens monthly during the growing

season.· inspect closes and common areas on a monthly basis.

Right to Buy If you are a tenant and want to buy your house, we will:· issue the Scottish Government leaflet on right to buy

and provide an example of your likely annual bills.· process your application within 2 months.

Factoring ServiceIf you are an owner (or sharing owner) and receiveour factoring service, we will:· issue you with an account giving details of charges

twice during the year.· offer you a variety of easy payment options including

regular monthly payments.· supply a copy of Thenew’s Guide to Factoring

Services to all new owners.· post inspect all common repairs.

OUR NEW BUILD SERVICESWe will:·

(if you live in an area where there are new

hold at least 2 consultation events on our proposals at appropriate stages in the planning process.

· give you the opportunity to choose your style of

kitchen units if you are to be rehoused in a new property and your allocation has been confirmed at least 4 months prior to handover of the property,

· carry out satisfaction surveys on all our new build properties within a year of handover and use this to inform future design.

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development proposals)

When you are having difficulty paying your rent, we will:

· make sensible and realistic arrangements for repayment of your arrears based on your

behaviour complaints form.·

OUR PLANNED MAINTENANCE SERVICESWhen carrying out the renewal of major items in yourhome, we will:· ensure that programmes of work are detailed in our newsletters. · advise you at least two weeks before work

commences, that a contractor has been appointed to carry out works in your home.

· at least 7 working days before works commence, visit you with the contractor to discuss the works and any specific requirements.

· post inspect all works.

· issue a tenants satisfaction survey within 3 months of completion of the works.

When carrying out servicing and cyclical works we will:,· ensure tenants are notified of planned visits at least

7 working days before, unless the visit is urgent in nature.

· where applicable inspect works on completion.

OUR PAYMENTS AND ACCOUNTS SERVICES We will:Rents & Factoring Payments· process all rent & factoring payments within

2 working days of receipt of payment into our bank account.

Accounts Payable· adhere to suppliers agreed payment terms.· respond to supplier’s reminder letters within

5 working days of receipt.

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