An update from Customer Experience Committee by Andy Rawlins

Committee member Andy Rawlins shares the latest from the Customer Experience Committee, including improvements to home adaptations, resident involvement and an important message about fire safety.

Home adaptations are getting quicker

I’d like to start with some really positive news.

The average time it takes to complete changes to make a home easier to live in for residents with disabilities has fallen, from 17 months in April 2026 to five months.

That’s a big improvement and something the committee was really pleased to see. We know how important these changes can be to your day-to-day life, so we will check progress at every meeting to make sure this improvement continues.

Using AI to help with complaints

We also talked about the growing number of complaints being written with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

AI can be a useful tool to help you put your concerns into words. But it can sometimes make complaints much longer or add points that aren’t part of your main concern. This can make it harder for our teams to quickly understand what has happened and what you need from us to put right.

If you use AI to help write a complaint, it’s worth giving it a quick check before sending it. Keeping your complaint focused on what happened, how it affected you and what you would like us to do will help us understand your concerns.

Your voice is helping shape our organisation

The committee thanked the tenant Scrutiny Group for its latest report, which looked at how residents are involved in decisions.

The group found that residents are influencing decisions right across the organisation. They also challenged us to do more to show you the difference resident involvement makes – and how you can get involved too.

The committee supports this and wants to see more residents given the chance to have their say.

Please charge batteries safely

We also discussed an important fire safety issue. There have been 24 fires in our homes over the past two years – an average of one every month – and more than half were electrical fires.

If you use an e-bike, e-scooter or anything else powered by a lithium-ion battery, please take extra care when charging it.

The National Fire Chiefs Council’s Charge Safe campaign has simple advice to help you charge, store and use batteries safely.

Looking ahead

Depending on the merger decision, this may be the final meeting of our Customer Experience Committee in its current form.

Whatever happens, residents will continue to have a voice. A new Customer Experience Committee for the new organisation will continue this work, building on what we’ve learned and making sure resident views continue to be heard.

Thank you to everyone who shares their experiences, ideas and concerns with us. They help us understand what’s working, what needs to improve and what matters most to you.

Andy Rawlins
Customer Experience Committee member