Customer Involvement

Our Customer Assurance Team plays a vital role in independently scrutinising our services and holding us to account. Made up entirely of customer volunteers, the team provides challenge, insight, and constructive feedback, helping us to improve, think differently, and ensure the customer voices is always heard.

The work of the Customer Assurance Team feeds directly into our Governance Audit & Assurance Committee (GAAC) and forms a core part of our governance and assurance framework. The team helps review our performance and holds us accountable against the Regulator of Social Housing’s Consumer Standards, ensuring transparency and continuous improvement.

The Customer Assurance Team is made up of four groups of involved customers, all of whom volunteer their time and lived experience to support and shape our services. You can read all about them below including how to get involved.

Customer Involvement

The Customer Assurance Team is made up of four groups of involved customers, all of whom volunteer their time and lived experience to support and shape our services.

The Home Group - reviews and improves services that affect the quality, safety, and condition of your home. It focuses on the effectiveness and value for money of repairs, ensuring homes meet government standards, overseeing home improvement programmes (like kitchens and roofing), maintaining safety and compliance, preparing empty homes for new tenants, and supporting energy efficiency and climate goals. Members may also help select contractors by taking part in interviews and decision-making.

The Neighbourhood Group - reviews how shared neighbourhood spaces are managed, focusing on safety, cleanliness, and maintenance. It looks at how anti-social behaviour is addressed to create a safe and secure environment, and how open spaces, trees, and play areas are maintained and inspected to protect residents. The group also evaluates the quality of grounds maintenance services and ensures communal areas in flats are clean, safe, and well looked after.

The Tenancy Group - reviews how homes are let, managed, and supported to help tenants maintain their tenancy. It looks at how properties are allocated, the mutual exchange process, and the information provided to customers. The group also evaluates support services such as wellbeing, financial advice, energy guidance, and employment support. In addition, it considers the types of tenancy agreements offered, how occupancy levels are managed, and the process for preparing and letting empty homes, including new tenant sign-ups.

The Empowerment Group - reviews customer services, communication, complaints, and involvement to ensure customers are informed, heard, and treated fairly. It looks at how the Trust communicates its services and how customers can access them, as well as how feedback is collected through complaints, surveys, and involvement opportunities. The group evaluates how well this feedback is used to improve services, monitors performance against tenant satisfaction measures, and ensures customer insights shape decision-making. It also focuses on learning from complaints and better understanding customer needs to improve access and overall service delivery.

Working Together

Twice a year, we bring together our Customer Assurance Team volunteers, Board members, and colleagues in joint meetings. These sessions provide a valuable opportunity to reflect on the excellent work undertaken by our customer volunteers, review shared projects, and assess how effectively we are meeting the Regulator of Social Housing’s Consumer Standards.

Crucially, these meetings allow our Board to hear directly from customers about their experiences, insights, and the real impact they are making. This direct engagement highlights the importance of lived experience in shaping better services and demonstrates our commitment to meaningful customer involvement and co‑regulation.

We are incredibly grateful for the commitment and dedication of our customer volunteers. Over the past year alone, they contributed more than 1,100 hours of their time. Their insight and experience play a vital role in helping us deliver services that are more responsive, inclusive, and effective for everyone.