An update on the progress we’re making to improve our maintenance services

“Improving our maintenance services remains as one of our highest priorities as an organisation, and I’d like to share what improvements have been made so far.

“Changes in our customer contact centre is already showing progress, and this includes prioritising urgent repair calls, and you can find out more about these changes here.

“Over the next few months we will be looking to do a health check of our planning system, prioritising and reviewing resource within the maintenance department, carrying out a skills and training review and continuing to improve the service you receive when we use outside agencies to support our work. We’ll also be recruiting a new Head of Maintenance to support myself in leading the service going forward.

“We’re also looking to improve systems so that we are ensuring an increase in faults being correctly identified when we first visit and we’ll be ensuring that tenants understand their responsibilities more clearly, as well as applying recharges more consistently.

“A review of our Lettable Standard will also take place, and we’ll be consulting with tenants on all these proposed changes before they take place.

“We want to make things right by reviewing our processes and reducing costs to improve the service received, and one that our customers deserve.

“As we head into winter, we expect demand to grow even more, particularly for reports of damp and mould.

“We’re reviewing our damp and mould process, improving how it’s reported and improving communication about how to prevent it. We’d urge our customers to take a look at our dedicated webpage: www.ongo.co.uk/damp.

“We continue to improve our maintenance service for the benefit of our customers and deliver our aims of being a great landlord, being customer focused and being aware of our growth and sustainability as an organisation.

“Thank you for your continued support, patience and understanding whilst we do this.”