STAR Workshop

Date: 1 December 2011
Location: Coventry
STAR (Survey of Tenants and Residents) which replaced the now defunct STATUS satisfaction questionnaire has been running for a few months now. HouseMark are therefore pleased to announce they will be running a service improvement workshop on STAR to share good practice and ideas around STAR and satisfaction. Sessions include;
*an introduction to STAR and data protection issues around surveys
*how to benchmark your STAR results
*sample checking and using survey data to track service delivery
*resident satisfaction monitoring programme and how it is used to continuously improve services
*how to use survey results to gain customer insight.
Find full details on the HouseMark website.

A STAR is Born

HouseMark has announced the launch of a new, free, voluntary methodology to help devise surveys and measure satisfaction in the housing sector. A co-regulatory tool, STAR (Survey of Tenants and Residents) replaces the now defunct STATUS satisfaction questionnaire, which was previously a regulatory requirement. STAR reduces the number of core satisfaction questions from 36 (in STATUS) to 7, with a range of optional questions for landlords to choose from to suit their local circumstances.
*STAR will enable on-going, national comparisons of tenant satisfaction in key areas that matter most to tenants and landlords.
*STAR is fully flexible and can be undertaken by post, telephone, electronically or face-to-face.
*HouseMark will collect core STAR results in its annual benchmarking exercise, along with cost and performance information, enabling robust comparisons and value for money judgements to be made.
Find out more on the HouseMark website.

Your Chance to Shine With STAR

Since DCLG, and more recently the TSA, have signalled the ending of the regulatory requirement to carry out the STATUS satisfaction survey on a prescribed basis, HouseMark has been inundated with requests from many of its 880 members to devise a standardised tenant satisfaction questionnaire and methodology that could replace STATUS on a voluntary, self-regulatory basis. The general view is that there is a need to eliminate the perceived weaknesses of STATUS, whilst enabling social housing providers to compare satisfaction results - both benchmarking against each other and trends over time. HouseMark has responded by proposing a framework for STAR. Details and a link to the HouseMark consultation documents can be found on the Consultation Page of The Bulletin, here. You have until 21 April 2011 to make your views on the proposal known to HouseMark.

A New STAR is Born

With no long term plans to continue with STATUS as a regulatory requirement in England, HouseMark has filled the void by proposing the introduction of STAR: the Survey of Tenants And Residents for the social housing sector. STAR will utilise various versions of STATUS for different tenure groups as well as giving social housing providers the flexibility to add more of their own questions. We believe that high quality, nationally comparable satisfaction measures are a critical element of benchmarking key services across the sector and, with support from the CIH, the NHF, TAROE, TPAS and others, we will set the guidance for collecting sector-wide satisfaction data. This will ensure that good practice is maintained and that social landlords take the views of their customers into account in defining service standards and improving service delivery. We’re now looking to consult you on how we can make STAR a success and hope to deliver a framework and guidance by July 2011 taking your feedback into account. Download a copy of HouseMark’s STAR briefing from their website.

Council Housing: Surveys – Parliamentary Written Answer

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for CLG when he expects to announce his plans for the future of the NI160 Status Survey Grant
Grant Shapps: I wrote to local authority chief executives on 10 August 2010 setting out that, as part of the Government's commitment to reducing centrally imposed burdens, stock holding local authorities would no longer be required to complete the Status survey or report against National Indicator 160 on local authority tenants' satisfaction with landlord services. Along with the Place Survey, these were expensive and burdensome cosmetic exercises. Instead, the new Government will be strengthening social tenants rights of redress.

Future of STATUS

Over the summer, CLG confirmed to local authorities and ALMOs that they are no longer required to carry out the STATUS survey. For housing associations the TSA continues to collect tenant satisfaction data through its regulatory and statistical return.  A different regime for local authorities and ALMOs and for housing associations is not sustainable. The TSA plans to issue an informal discussion paper later this year to debate the way forward on tenant satisfaction measurement, taking into account the emerging localism agenda. The paper will highlight the principle of tenants holding their provider to account while reducing burdens for providers.  The TSA will soon commence discussions with tenants, providers, stakeholders and representative bodies to explore future options, areas of consensus and disagreement. HouseMark has been invited to take part in these discussions and has set up a group to discuss emerging ideas in more detail over the phone and by email. Find more details of how you can join this group on the HouseMark website.

Results from Local Authority STATUS Surveys

Results from STATUS surveys for 2008 were released on 29 June 2010. Key points from the release are:
* 75 per cent of council tenants were 'satisfied' or 'very satisfied' with the overall service provided by their authority.
* 73 per cent reported having made a (non-rent payment-related) contact with their landlord during the 12 months preceding the survey. Of these, 71 per cent contacted landlords regarding repairs.
* 68 per cent of respondents reported having found it easy to get in touch with the right person to deal with their query. Approximately 80 per cent of council tenants found staff helpful.
* 73 per cent were 'satisfied' or 'very satisfied' with repairs and maintenance services.
* 56 per cent of respondents were satisfied with their landlord in terms of tenants' views being taken into account.
* 74 per cent rated their landlord as 'good' or 'very good' as regards 'keeping you informed about things that might affect you as a tenant'.
Download a copy of the full report from the CLG website by clicking on the logo below.