Repairs Service Update January 2022
We know that Covid continues to be both a worrying and frustrating time for everyone. We want to thank customers for your ongoing understanding during this challenging time. Below is an update about our services.
- We are experiencing much higher colleague absence rates due to Covid & the 7* day isolation period (5 day isolation period effective from 17/1/22).
- Due to the pandemic we are seeing daily challenges that affect our workforce and customers. When our trades staff isolate, they cannot work. This can mean cancelling over 40 jobs they may have booked in for that week. This is influencing completion times for repairs which are taking longer to complete than normal, this is especially affecting larger works, where our colleagues need to be in properties for a number of days.
- When a colleague tells us they are isolating & cannot work, our customer hub staff will call immediately to rearrange the appointment. They will look at the appointment diary for the next available date but we are booking appointments further in advance than we would like to.
- We continue to book emergency repairs via 0300 303 9848, this service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Our customer hub team and out of hours call service are both experiencing high call demand and you may need to wait on hold for a short time, there is a call back service available should this occur.
- We encourage you to book standard repairs via our My Account app. The app is available all week including weekends and uses the same booking system as our phone lines, so appointments over the phone will not be any sooner than those booked via the app. Click here to register for free.
- Our colleagues are following Government guidelines which means daily testing is taking place on close contacts. Where these tests return negative, this means we may contact customers to bring a repair appointment forward at short notice.
- We are experiencing some delays with materials, but we are working hard to source alternative high quality materials, this may affect some appointment timescales.
- Our customer hub colleagues are working between their homes and our Head Office. We'd ask you to bear with our colleagues as they may have children at home isolating but we are answering your calls and here to help.
- We are actively recruiting new colleagues to help us.
December 2021, Government announced that England is moving into new enhanced Covid safety measures, known widely as 'Plan B'. We continue to assess all of our services and service provision, along with our Health & Safety practices. You can read an update here;
- At present we do not foresee any changes to the way our services are carried out.
- In line with the 'work from home directive', all colleagues, where able to, will continue to work from home.
- Our HQ reception will remain open for visitors and customers.
- All of our services remain available, more information can be found here.
We will continue to keep customers updated about any effects or changes to services.
We have a responsibility to keep our colleagues and customers safe. As the new Covid variant has brought about new H&S restrictions in England we have reviewed our Health & Safety risk assessments and processes and we can confirm all of our existing enhanced H&S processes and practices will continue to be in place for all of our colleagues.
We would ask that customers continue to;
- Wear a mask if our colleagues are working in your homes, if you are able to.
- Keep a social distance when our colleagues are in your homes
- Ventilate your home when our colleagues are in your homes
Our colleagues, who have appointments in customer homes, will continue to;
- Wear appropriate PPE for the work being undertaken including the wearing of masks
- Wipe down any surfaces before we start work, don’t be offended this is a H&S measure only
- Wipe down surfaces after we finish the work & bag up and take those wipes with us
We want to say thank you for your ongoing cooperation, we know that Covid and the associated impacts are frustrating but our number one priority is colleague and customer safety.
Contacting Us
- You can report new routine repairs via our app, click here to download or by calling us on 0300 303 9848. Emergency repairs (including any necessary compliance checks / H&S related work or inspections) call 0300 303 9848.
- Our Head Office Our Head Office at Gadbrook Park is open including our reception service. We are running slightly reduced hours of 9am-4pm for Reception. All of our services remain available remotely.
- Our support teams continue to work a mixture of home and office working. Please visit the service pages on this site for more informartion.
