commitment to our customers

• Customer Access Strategy
• Customer Agreement

Customer Access Strategy

When we were inspected by the Audit Commission’s Housing Inspectorate in May 2007 we achieved a two star rating. The Audit Commission said we ‘provide a good housing service to tenants and leaseholders in Haringey, and have promising prospects for further improvement’.

One key area was Access and Customer Care. In the official report, the inspectors said we:

• have a strong approach to customer services and provide polite and prompt services which meet the needs of highly diverse communities.
• provide high quality service information which is available in a range of community languages and have an excellent website.
• provide a very strong service in some areas including access and customer care.

We were pleased with these comments, but we want to do better. Our Customer Access Strategy will help us do so.

Our Customer Access Strategy sets out what we plan to do make sure that customers can contact us or access our services as and when they need to.

We looked at why, when, and how customers contact us, and how much it costs. We asked customers what works well and what could be improved. We also considered what similar organisations are doing as well as policy and recommendations from central government.

This strategy tells you what we found out; where we need to improve; and how we propose to do so. We will be able to make some improvements quickly but other changes will take time. We plan to have everything in place within four to five years.

Download the Customer Access Strategy

Customer Agreement

At Homes for Haringey, we have a Customer Agreement with the following aims.

1. To deliver a friendly and professional service.

We aim to:

• be polite and professional, and always introduce ourselves by name
• respect individuals and their individual needs
• be consistent and clear in the information we give you and the decisions we make
• deal with your enquiry promptly whether you contact us by telephone, letter or e-mail
• keep appointments or let you know if we have been delayed.

2. To provide a service that meets your needs.

We aim to:

• deal with your enquiry straight away if possible but if we cannot help you, we will try to find someone who can
• with your permission, use information we hold about you to give you the best service that we can
• talk to and write to you in a way that is clear and easy to understand
• be easily accessible, provide a service when you need it, and make sure that services are accessible to all our customers by:

-  providing a 24-hour emergency service 365 days a year

-  providing a translation and interpreting service if you need it

-  arranging an appointment with you in your home within 10 days if you are unable to come to us

3. To listen, respond and inform.

We aim to:

• involve you in our business, listen to what you say, and tell you how we have improved as a result
• learn from our mistakes and demonstrate this to you
• always try to deliver the best value for money that we can
• make sure that our partners and contractors have the same aims as us
• deliver services in line with our published performance standards, which you can find in our Tenants’ or Leaseholders’ Charter or at your local Customer Services Centre
• share with you how well we are performing and, where we need to improve, we will tell you how we plan to put it right
• keep trying to improve our services by asking you what improvements we need to make.

In return, we ask you to:

• treat our staff with courtesy and respect
• stick to the terms of your tenancy/lease agreement
• give us your feedback – it is important to us and helps us improve our service in the way you want

Get involved – for more information, call our resident involvement team on 0800 195 3404.

We currently have specific targets for:

• replying to correspondence
• investigating and responding to complaints
• answering phone calls.

We also have service standards which set out what we will do and how quickly.

For this year’s targets and our performance against them, please visit our performance page or look in HomesZone, our newsletter for residents.

How you can access our services

• Freephone: 0800 195 3404 or call 020 8489 5611
• Website: www.homesforharingey.org
• In person: You should visit one of our Customer Services Centres. If they cannot deal with your enquiry, they will ask one of our housing managers to help you. If you need to see your housing manager, we will make an appointment for you.

Broadwater Farm residents can use the Neighbourhood Office or one of the Customer Services Centres.