Customer Partnership
Board meeting notes
Find out what the Customer Partnership Board
have been up to
Our customer partnership board (CPB) is a group of Silva customers who work with our board and executive board to make important strategic decisions.
Our customer partnership board has two main roles:
- To work closely with our leadership on the key issues that affect our strategic direction.
- To direct our approach towards customer engagement and to inform decisions that affect our customers, their homes and communities.
You can find out what the customer partnership board has been involved in by reading the meeting notes below.
March 2020 Customer Partnership Board meeting notes
March 2020 meeting notes
No access policy
Lots of repairs appointments and safety inspections are being missed by our customers, resulting in the inefficient use of time and resources by our trades teams and our customers (as they need to rebook appointments). In extreme cases, the safety of our homes may be affected.
We want to reduce the number of missed appointments, so that Silva’s resources are used as efficiently as possible and all homes are safe.
The customer partnership board’s decision:
Silva will hold a focus group with 10 to 12 customers to find out why appointments are being missed and how the process could be improved. People from a range of backgrounds, who booked appointments during the last quarter, will be invited to share their views. Then Silva will use these findings to improve its appointment and inspection processes and update its no-access policy.
Recharges policy
Our customers are not always sure what a rechargeable repair is, leading to confusion as to whether they need to pay money for a repair.
We want to ensure value for money and fairness for all customers, we want to be clear about recharging and ensure it is applied in all appropriate cases.
The customer partnership board’s decision:
Silva will conduct a general survey on rental and leasehold customers who have booked a rechargeable repair in the past 12 months.
The survey will look at attitudes, expectations, awareness of responsibilities and whether they would consider using the service for any additional works.
The survey will be sent out mid-April and the proposals based on the survey will return at the next appropriate customer partnership board meeting.
Communal areas clearance policy
The customer partnership board approved a customer and colleague survey to be conducted about Silva’s upcoming communal areas clearance policy. There is currently no communal areas clearance policy in place and the procedures need to be decided.
We want to create an effective communal areas clearance policy with procedures, timescales and costs that are beneficial to and safe for all customers.
The customer partnership board’s decision:
An online survey will be conducted on all customers living in flats, as well as the Silva colleagues who will implement the policy.
The survey will raise awareness of current issues and will make it clear that there is a zero-tolerance policy when ensuring health and safety.
Customer insight
Regular transactional surveys are currently carried out after customer calls to the customer hub or once repair is completed. This means we are not collecting as much data as we could to help us improve our services.
We want to extend these transactional surveys to other areas of the business and identify areas for improvement. We planned a more extensive insight programme, featuring roughly one survey every month, looking at all areas of the business.
The customer partnership board’s decision:
The customer partnership board approved Silva’s proposal to increase the number of customer surveys it conducts to better identify areas for improvement. The customer partnership board did not have any comments on the proposed questions and was happy with the approach.
Complaints and compensation policy
Currently, complaints and compensation are split into two separate policies. This means that dealing with complaints and compensation has been over complicated.
We have condensed both policies into one, enabling the new dedicated central team to provide a more consistent level of service, with new processes that work well. Complaints are dealt with individually, rather than providing a template response and the response time has improved, with quarterly reporting in place to review any trends. Compensation has been reviewed and some payments have been standardised and are dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
The customer partnership board’s decision:
The customer partnership board approved this approach and endorsed the changes to Silva’s complaints and compensation policy.