Our teams have been hard at work supporting and engaging with residents across the country. We have made a difference in many communities, adding value beyond what people might expect from their landlord.
Supporting our customers and the environment
We’re always looking to improve our customer service and reduce our impact on the environment.
In December 2023 we launched a new application for sharing information about our empty properties, making the process fully digital.
We have also launched a new app for recording estate inspections, which helps us to identify and monitor improvements in our estates in a more efficient way.
These new processes have vastly reduced the amount of paper we use, and the need for our colleagues to travel to the office. This means we have more time to dedicate to better serving customers and improving your experience.
The apps are already having a positive impact on our operations and our commitment to sustainability.
Welfare support
Our Welfare Rights Officers make sure our residents receive the benefit payments they are entitled to. Over 2023/2024, our team helped to secure over £1.9 million in welfare benefits for 531 customers. This service is particularly valuable to some of our more vulnerable customers.
Our Housing Officers mostly work from the communities they cover, providing hands-on, tailored support, making sure our residents’ homes suit their needs and addressing issues like antisocial behaviour.
Investing in our people
We continue to invest in our housing staff across Scotland, building on the success of the Investors in People gold award we received in 2023. We’re giving our colleagues more opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills. This includes supporting them through qualifications to help them progress in their roles.
Service standards
Customer outcomes are important to help us to understand the difference we make as an organisation. They tell us the result of our actions or, in simple terms, what has and hasn’t worked.
From April 2024 we introduced a new outcomes framework to help us focus on what’s most important to you. This forms a key part of our strategy to improve the experience of our residents.
Outcomes can sometimes be difficult to define. Customer service can range from a short phone request for advice, to many years of continued support. We’re proposing four primary outcomes for our residents:
We’ll continue to consult with you and our partners to ensure these outcomes reflect what is important to you.
Complaints
Your complaints help make us better
Most of our customers are satisfied with their home and the service we provide, but we don’t always get things right. As a learning organisation, when we get things wrong, we want to make sure we learn and improve.
We handle all complaints in line with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman’s complaint handling code. This includes a ‘front line resolution’ stage (‘Stage 1’), and an ‘investigation’ stage (‘Stage 2’). For more information on our complaints process, please visit our Complaints page.
|
Stage 1 complaints received |
667 |
|
Stage 1 complaints carried forward from previous year |
40 |
|
Stage 1 complaints responded to in full |
698 (98.7%) |
|
Stage 2 complaints received |
104 |
|
Stage 2 complaints carried forward from previous year |
12 |
|
Stage 2 complaints responded to in full |
97 (83.6%) |
|
Average time in working days for a full response at Stage 1 |
9.25 |
|
Average time in working days for a full response at Stage 2 |
28.6 |
Our complaint process is a safety net for customers who feel we’ve fallen short of the service they expect. While we would prefer to put something right before it becomes a complaint, we encourage you to formally tell us if you feel we’ve got something wrong.
For more information on how to make a complaint, please visit our dedicated webpage.
You said, We did
Learning from complaints
- Customers told us that they feel frustrated when we don’t fix issues or complete repairs, and do not keep them updated throughout the process
- Customers also told us they feel we don’t keep them informed enough throughout our complaint process
- Some residents have said they can find it hard to understand what we tell them because the language we use is too technical
What we’ve done
- We are restructuring our repair service to focus on getting every repair right first time. We have also developed new technology to improve our repair process, giving residents much greater visibility. Our residents throughout the UK will benefit from this new technology before the end of 2024.
- We are sending automated text messages to tell customers the date and time of their repair or rescheduled repair. Our focus on completing more customer repairs on our first visit should remove the need for further communication. We will monitor how successful we are at this by measuring a customer’s satisfaction with their repair.
- We now contact every customer at the very start of the complaints process so we can understand your concerns and clearly set out our next steps. This includes providing you with timely updates and a clear explanation of the steps we’re taking to address complaints
- We developed a Tone of Voice guide to help colleagues across Sanctuary communicate warmly, positively and respectfully. Both this and our customer service training for all staff are steps toward making ourselves more inclusive and accessible to you.
Explore the report
Your Home
Our teams have been hard at work supporting residents across Scotland, adding value beyond what people might expect from their landlord.
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Your Community
We want to help build customer resilience and connection in communities, partnering with local organisations and empowering our staff to provide support.
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Your Voice
We work closely with our customers to ensure that their voice is central to our decision making.
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2023/24 Performance figures
Each year we provide information to the Scottish Housing Regulator on how we’re performing. This section summarises some of the key indicators we use to measure our performance.
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