By Barry Russell, Chair of the Customer Assurance Group
I’m Barry, and I’m proud to be writing to you as the Chair of the Customer Assurance Group (CAG) here at Honeycomb Group. It’s been a busy and exciting month full of meaningful involvement from customers across our communities. I wanted to share some of the great work going on behind the scenes, all powered by your voice.
Helping choose the right people for the job
This month, we had the privilege of being involved in the interview panels for both the Customer Assurance Group and the Audit and Risk Committee. Customers, including myself, took part in the interviews, asking questions and helping to decide who would best represent your views. It’s great to say that, with your input, we’ve now successfully filled both roles with people who truly understand the importance of listening to and acting on customer feedback. We’ll be sharing more about this soon.
Getting more people involved
One of our main goals is to broaden involvement so that it reflects the diversity of everyone who lives in a Honeycomb home. We’ve been working with teams across Glow, Concrete, and Revival to find new ways to invite people in, whether that’s through volunteering, feedback panels, or inspections. We want to make sure involvement is open to everyone and that a variety of voices are helping shape how services are delivered.
Clearer and simpler policies
Over the past 12 months, we’ve reviewed and influenced 13 different policies, with two more scheduled for the coming weeks. But we didn’t stop at reviewing them. We also pushed for clearer communication. Thanks to your feedback, easy-to-read versions of policies are now available on the Honeycomb customer hub, making it easier than ever for customers to understand the things that affect their homes and services.
Repairs, a new chapter begins
Our repairs committee has been working hard on the new repairs contract. We were involved from the very beginning, helping to shape the tender questions, meeting potential providers, and putting forward what matters most to customers. We’re pleased to welcome LC Construction as our new contractor. They’re a trusted local team, and we’ve already had several conversations with them to make sure they fully understand our expectations. Going forward, we’ll continue to review how they’re doing, looking at customer feedback, service standards, and job completion times to make sure the service stays on track. We’re optimistic, but we’ll also be holding them to account every step of the way.
Making sure homes feel like home
Our team of Void Inspectors, six involved customers with experience in housing, property, or repairs, has been carrying out inspections on empty homes before anyone moves in. They’ve been looking at more than just safety checks. In fact, we added a new question to the checklist: “Would you be proud to live in this home?” It’s a powerful, human question that helps make sure we’re living up to our promise of providing quality, affordable homes people are proud to live in.
Your new Customer Assurance Group leadership
I’m really pleased to have been chosen as Chair of the Customer Assurance Group, and I’m joined by two brilliant Vice Chairs, Wendy and Ken. Together, we’ll be leading discussions across all our involvement and scrutiny groups, helping to ensure customer voices are heard and acted on.
Want to get involved?
If you’ve ever thought, “I’d love to have my say,” now’s the time. There are lots of ways to get involved, big or small. You can join a focus group, help inspect homes, shape future policies and services, or simply share your views in quick feedback sessions. You don’t need any special experience, just a willingness to speak up and help make a difference. You’ll be fully supported along the way.
Visit the Honeycomb customer hub or contact the involvement team to find out more.
Thanks for reading and thank you for being part of a growing movement of customers who are shaping the future of our homes and services.
Barry
Chair of the Customer Assurance Group
