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Section 4 Techniques and Tools

Continuous Monitoring of Tenant Satisfaction (CMTSS) – Ayrshire North CHO

Ayrshire North Community Housing Organisation (ANCHO) is based in Irvine and owns 717 houses. It was established in 2000, after taking ownership of housing stock from Scottish Homes through a Large Scale Voluntary Transfer.

ANCHO established a system of continuous monitoring of tenant satisfaction (CMTSS) to gather regular, up to date information on levels of customer satisfaction with service delivery to help them determine service standards. This was designed to build on previous tenant satisfaction surveys undertaken before and since stock transfer.

The CMTSS is based on quarterly surveys of a sample of tenants in order to generate ‘real-time’ feedback from customers. Initially the sample included both tenants who have recently used particular services and a more general sample from across the association; as the purpose of the survey evolved, it focused solely on recent service users. About 70 cases are sampled each quarter; the most recent results of the 12th of 12 surveys take into account, cumulatively, the experience of over 800 cases of service use.

The work is undertaken by an independent contractor. They select the samples, design the questionnaires and undertake the fieldwork, analysis and reporting. Tenants are contacted first by telephone, then by post, then finally in person at their home.

The CMTSS provides information on the social, economic and demographic characteristics of tenants; their views on whether the rent is value for money; views on the quality of information provided by ANCHO; preferred methods of consultation and involvement; views about current services and how they could be improved; and attitudes towards tenants own homes, neighbourhoods and general environment and how these could be improved.

Every quarter ANCHO managers receive an emailed report which details both the results for the last period, plus the cumulative results to date. The information acts as a useful prompt to consider service user feedback. It is discussed by the Senior Management Team who identifies what actions are needed to address the issues identified. The information also informs policy and service reviews, the establishment of key performance indicator targets, benchmarking and is reported to the Management Board.

The main strengths of this process are the regular and ongoing focus on tenant satisfaction issues and the provision of regular information. The fact that it is independently conducted is valued by the Management Board, as it provides an externally validated assessment of tenants’ views. The process is flexible and can be adapted as needs change; for example more area-based analysis is now conducted than when the process started. Changes in overall levels of satisfaction are measured against the baseline provided by the full Tenant Satisfaction Survey carried out in March 2002. ANCHO now plan a further full tenant satisfaction survey to update this baseline and plan to continue to use continuous surveys in a more focused way alongside focus groups and estate based meetings to improve its knowledge of service users’ views.

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