Customer conference recognised for shaping services
We are celebrating the success of our most recent annual customer conference.
We brought customers together to reflect on the wide reaching impact of their involvement and the role they play in shaping the services we deliver.
Marion Duffy, our Chief Operations Officer said: “This event was a great opportunity to bring together customers from both our Customer Voice and Scrutiny Panels, to reflect on the impact that they have had in the last 12 months. Importantly, these panels play a pivotal role in representing all of our customers’ voices at a high level which involves scrutinising and providing input into decision making and influencing our strategic direction.”
Since the 2023 conference, both panels have made strong progress, benefitting from bespoke training and development to ensure that panel members remain well equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to fulfil their roles.
Marion concluded: “We are extremely proud of what both panels have achieved in the last year and look forward to another year of strengthening the role they play in representing the customer voice and influencing the way we deliver services.”
Since the launch of the Customer Voice Panel, members have volunteered more than 74 hours of their time attending meetings, recruited six new members, undertaken more than 110 hours of training, volunteered more than 63 hours attending events and reviewed 13 policies, making eight key service improvement recommendations.
Similarly, members of the Scrutiny Panel have attended 18 panel meetings, completed a Complaints Handling Review in June 2024, recruited four new members, volunteered for more than 22 hours, spent 110 hours in training and completed a Grounds Maintenance Review in February 2024.
Panel members play a pivotal role in ensuring that customers’ voices are clearly heard; that they influence our work and have the opportunity to challenge performance in order to drive service improvements.
Part of the event involved a workshop with panel members to review and feedback on our draft Platform Pledges, which is set to replace the existing Customer Commitments. These draft pledges have been developed in partnership with customers through surveys and workshops.
Last year’s event saw the launch of our new strategic customer engagement framework, an initiative that ensures customers’ feedback and views are listened to and acted upon, particularly at Board level.
John Weguelin, Chair of our Board, who opened the conference, said: “Platform places a huge emphasis on customer involvement, and it continues to be a number one priority for me and my fellow Board members so that when we agree priorities and make decisions, we understand how it will affect our customers.
“Whilst we know that there is much work still to be done, this partnership is proving even more relevant with the ever changing housing sector landscape, along with the Regulator for Social Housing introducing the new Tenant Satisfaction Measures, important measures that have been put in place to hold all housing providers to account for their actions and to give all our customers greater visibility and transparency about our performance. We are committed to delivering the highest standards in all these areas.”
Photo caption : Attendees at Platform Housing Group’s recent customer conference