Voice the journey so far and hand holding phone

Voice – The journey so far

News – 8 March 2024

Since Voice launched in September 2022, we’ve seen membership and engagement in the activities grow. Here’s an update on what Voice has achieved so far:

556 active members

23 surveys and 3,237 responses

7 forums

20 fun polls

£1,970 paid out in incentives

 

Your voice has influence!

After each survey closes, the Voice team analyse all the feedback. The results are then reported back to the relevant teams within Grand Union. Recommendations for changes and adaptations are made based on your feedback.

Your monthly Voice newsletter will have more information about the results of latest surveys, but here are some examples of changes we’ve made at Grand Union as a result of your feedback.

 

Damp and mould

Back in December 2022, Voice members helped us to understand the extent that damp and mould issues were affecting our customers. This feedback enabled us to make direct contact with 76 members who shared that they had an issue in their home. This meant we could work towards a resolution.

We then shared our Damp, condensation, and mould management policy on Voice in July 2023 and 115 members helped us to review the policy. You told us that the policy needed to be easier to understand and responsibilities needed to be clearer.

We then used your feedback to rewrite the policy and shared the new version on Voice in October 2023. We received a positive response and you told us the new format made it easier to understand. We will use this new format when we design other customer facing policies in the future.

 

Informing our Corporate plan

Last year, Voice members took part in our ‘What is a home?’ survey. This gave us an in-depth insight into what home means to you. The feedback was that home is a feeling, not just a place. We’re using the feedback from this survey to re-write our Corporate Plan, which we will share with you later this year.

 

Annual rent review letters

Feedback from Voice was used to redesign our Annual rent review letters to make them easier to understand. The new design takes out a lot of the jargon and contains only essential information. To make the letter shorter, an easily accessible glossary of terms is now available on our website. The new design was also shared on Voice. Members have told us that the new letter is much clearer and the information easier to understand.

You can find out more about how feedback from surveys has changed the work we do at Grand Union here: https://www.guhg.co.uk/your-home/your-feedback/voice-feedback/

 

Helping each other

The forums on Voice are a great way to start a conversation with other members. We’ve seen you sharing some great tips with each other. Below are some great examples of how you keep your energy bills down, and what has worked well to save you money. Don’t forget to check out the forums to see what you can get involved in.

- I have brought dehumidifiers and put the in the corner of every window. - I use my air fryer and slow cooker more to save the cost of running my electric oven/hob (trust me big difference!) -Here is a small tip which may help a bit. Go round your house and check how many LED lights you have on and also check how many electrical items you have on standby. -Use a stuffed draught protector at the bottom of the door to prevent draughts.

What’s in store for 2024

Starting on Monday 11 March, we’ll be surveying our customers as part of the new Tenant Satisfaction Measures. All housing associations will use the results to understand and report on customer satisfaction. As a Voice member, you will have the opportunity to complete the survey on Voice, so keep an eye out for your invitation.

We have also launched a new forum this month where we would like to understand if there are any particular topics you would like to see more of on Voice. These could be new forums, polls or even survey topics. To join the new discussion forum please click here.