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Section 4 Techniques and Tools

Routine surveys for monitoring purposes – Queens Cross Housing Association
Queens Cross Housing Association aims to assess resident satisfaction on all completed projects in order to obtain feedback on the quality of services and design of properties to improve future performance. Surveys are conducted after comprehensive tenement improvements and major repairs programmes and snapshot surveys are undertaken on environmental maintenance and stair cleaning services. These are used to monitor the performance of contractors.

After comprehensive tenement improvements, a two page self-completion survey is distributed to tenants on their return to the properties by Development Team staff. This is designed in-house and asks about satisfaction with the specific works carried out within the properties and to common areas, satisfaction with the contractor and association staff and suggestions about the quality of the service for the future. Comments are fed into the design of the next phase of the improvement works. These surveys generally have a fairly high response rate of around 74 per cent although the response rate to some questions is lower and staff have re-designed the questionnaire to encourage better response rates.

After major repairs a similar short satisfaction survey is distributed on the completion of works with the intention of using the findings to improve the service, design specifications and contractors input. The main issue with these surveys is the low response rates; having tried different approaches the association has found that distribution and collection by hand promotes a better response than leaving a SAE.

‘Snapshot’ surveys of the environmental maintenance and stair cleaning services are also conducted, usually on a monthly basis. These surveys usually target small areas of residents, rotated around different areas to get very focused, localised information. The survey forms are only one page long and are distributed with an SAE to be posted back to the association. On average, the response rate is about 40 per cent. Findings are discussed with contractors in order to improve the general standards of the service, rather than remedying specific instances of poor service.

Queens Cross finds this range of satisfaction surveys are a useful way of providing a ‘health check’ for the services they provide to a range of residents. They provide regular evidence of performance and are used as a form of monitoring of the association and its contractors. Short in-house surveys of this type are relatively cheap and can be conducted by non-specialist staff. The main drawback is low response rates and the task of analysing all the information that is returned so that it can inform consideration of improvements to services.

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