Service standards

The standards were put together following consultation with residents on the levels of service they expect from us.

There are six standards that apply across all emh homes teams and numerous others that apply to specific teams.

Each standard will be closely monitored and performance will be reviewed every six months to see if we are achieving these standards or not. Our involved residents will also monitor and review the standards.

Service standards applicable to all teams

• We will make it easy for you to contact us in a range of ways, providing regular communication on the options available to you
• We will acknowledge your enquiry within five working days (in writing or verbally) either providing you with the resolution or clear timescales and explanation of when this will be
• Our staff will be well trained, knowledgeable and customer focused; they will always provide you with a consistent level of service
• We will apologise if we make a mistake and learn from it
• We will treat you fairly, sensitively and with respect
• We will use plain/customer approved language

Service standards applicable to Customer Service Centre and Income

• We will ensure our recorded telephone messages are clear and easy to understand

Service standards applicable to customer feedback

• We will make it easy for you to feed back to us and let us know when things go wrong
• We will try and resolve any customer dissatisfaction by agreeing a course of action and timescales with you; if you are still dissatisfied, we will treat this as a formal complaint
• We will investigate and respond to formal complaints within 10 working days; if an extension is required to our investigation we will let you know the reason why and a new response date
• We will regularly share lessons learned with you, including changes made and outcomes

Service standards applicable to Housing & Neighbourhoods

• We will inspect your estate on an annual basis to monitor communal services.
• We will provide you with a named point of contact for ASB cases following an initial assessment of the complaint
• We will respond to complaints of hate crime within 24 hours during the working week
• We will provide a breakdown each year on your service chargeable items, including any third party management fees
• We will update communal notice boards every six months
• We will remove fly tipping containing dangerous items within 24 hours and all other fly tipping within five working days

Service standards applicable to Income Recovery

• We will notify you of your annual rent and service charge review in line with the legally required notice period
• We will signpost you to our in house money advice service as appropriate

Service standards applicable to Property Services

• We will provide a range of appointment times
• We will provide a 24/7 emergency repairs service where there is a risk of serious injury or damage to property
• We will ensure your home meets the Government’s Decent Homes standard
• We will publicise our annual programmes for replacing major components such as kitchens, roofs, windows, and doors
• We will ensure that we comply with all our statutory compliance obligations with regards to surveys and servicing in your home
• We will respond to maintenance requests to inspect your estate and take appropriate action to keep it clean and free of graffiti
• We will remove offensive graffiti within 24 hours and all other graffiti within five working days
• All homes will be let in accordance with the emh homes lettable standard

Service standards applicable to Resident Involvement

• We will provide a range of opportunities for residents to influence us and hold us to account