Customer voice
Hearing from customers and understanding what matters to you helps us improve our services, and create better customer experiences. We'd love you to get involved!
What's customer voice?
It's important that customers are at the heart of everything we do, so we make sure your voice is heard and valued right across our organisation.
We’re working on building a culture where your feedback's actively sought, understood, and used to improve things. As a result of this, we want to hear that you're feeling listened to, respected, and that we value and act on your feedback.
Read our Customer Voice Strategy to find out more.
Your say, your way
Introducing the Customer Voice Framework - a full menu of ways to get involved and shape One Manchester, with flexible choices for however much time you have to commit, and whatever your preference. It’s your say in your way.
Join us!
If you're interested in any of these opportunities, get in touch, and the Customer voice team will get back to you within 5 working days.
We're now recruiting for two new formal groups
Service Improvement Group – Will focus on improving services based on our performance and your feedback.
Complaints and Performance Group – Will look at complaints, performance, and satisfaction, with managers attending meetings to respond directly to your views.
Both groups meet will meet every 3 months. These positions aren’t salaried but we’ll provide a £20 voucher for each meeting you attend. We’ll also support with transport, translation, or anything else you might need to take part.
Formal decision-making and scrutiny
The committee makes sure our services are well run, and that we’re delivering on our promises and achieving the best outcomes for customers.
They give a few hours a month and get a salary.
CSP runs as an independent group and choose its own topics of scrutiny, shaped by what they know is important to customers.
They give a few hours a month and get a salary.
The group focusses on service improvements that we know we need to make as a result of performance or customer feedback.
They meet quarterly and volunteer.
The group looks at complaints, performance, and tenant satisfaction. Our managers also go to meetings at the group’s request to talk about their services.
They meet quarterly and volunteer.
Feedback and shaping services
Customer Panels
As a result of customer feedback, we launched six customer voice panels last year. They discuss specific topics that you’ve told us are important to you, including new or revised policies.
Members give as much or as little time as they like and contribute in a way that suits them, whether that's in-person, over Teams, or emails. You get a £20 voucher for each meeting you attend. Read more in this article.
Service charges
For customers who pay a service charge to One Manchester - usually customers who live in an apartment rather than a house with no communal areas.
Procurement
For customers who would like to work with us on reviewing and awarding contracts to suppliers. For example, window cleaning and gardening services.
Communications
For customers who are interested in communication and willing to give us feedback on things like our website, newsletters, letters, and posters.
Quality homes
For customers to discuss our repairs service, investments in homes, development, and sustainability.
Customer service
For customers to give input on how we provide services and how we can improve those services. This includes reviewing how accessible they are and our service standards.
High Rise
For customers who live in a high rise property who want to engage with us on subjects that are specific to high rises and safety in high rise blocks.
Engaging in your neighbourhood
Sentiment and satisfaction
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Tenancy Experience (TEX) visits
Neighbourhood Officers (NO) meet all customers in your home on an annual basis. This is a chance to talk to us about anything! Your Neighbourhood Officer will make sure your feedback reaches the right place.
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TSM Surveys
We get in touch with around 200 customers every month to ask questions from the Tenant Satisfaction Measures. A company called IFF does this on our behalf – you can read more about our Tenant Satisfaction Surveys.
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Complaints
Complaints are valuable for helping us to understand individual and systemic failures. To make a complaint, click here.
Fast feedback
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Email surveys
If you’ve told us you’re happy to give feedback, you’ll be included emails we send out to our email survey group and invited to take part in our consultations.
These can take as little as 2 minutes or up to 15.
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Texts surveys and polls
Texts are quick and easy way to give us feedback about a service you’ve used while it’s fresh in your mind.
These only take a minute or two.
We want to make sure getting involved is easy and works for you! If you have any ideas you'd like to share, are thinking about starting your own customer group, or need some support to join in on anything, just let us know.
What customer voice shapes
We make sure that customer voices can influence every area of the business, but here are some of the specific areas that are regularly shaped:
- Our policies and processes: We change and improve these based on customer feedback.
- Our decision-making: Decisions affecting customers are only made following customer consultation, which might be done by a Group, Panel, or survey.
- Complaints learnings: We make continuous business improvements as a result of complaints. You can read more about this in our Complaints self-assessment.
- Service adjustments: We make changes to how we deliver services based on customer feedback.
- How we tailor services: We use feedback to understand how we might need to tailor our services to individuals but also neighbourhoods.
As a result of our launching our new framework, customer voice will also influence:
- Our contracts: Customer engagement will be part of our procurement process so you can have a say on how we procure services and contracts that are efficient and effective.
- Our communication: We will make changes to things like our website and newsletters to make sure they’re customer-friendly, based on feedback.
IFF is calling you to get your feedback
A research company called IFF Research calls and emails One Manchester customers on our behalf to collect your feedback on our services. Please don’t be concerned if you’re contacted – we completely understand if you feel uncomfortable answering any questions, and we’d like to emphasise that taking part is optional.
What you can expect
- Calls from IFF Research will come from 0752 063 7460.
- You may get calls between 9am-8pm Mondays-Fridays and 11am-5pm Saturdays.
- The call handler will introduce themselves and explain they’re calling on behalf of your housing provider, One Manchester.
- You may also receive emails from myresearch@voluntas.co.uk.
IFF Research carry out their survey in accordance with the Market Research Society Code of Conduct. Any answers you provide will be confidential, stored securely, and won’t be shared with anyone other than One Manchester.
By taking part in this survey, you help us review and improve our services, so thank you for giving your time.
Customer Scrutiny Panel
Our Customer Scrutiny Panel (CSP) is made up of a group of customers who are here to make sure the customer voice is heard and acted on, at every level of One Manchester. The CSP plays a central role in our governance structure. They meet regularly and carry out service reviews, putting together reports, giving constructive feedback and recommendations based on evidence. Having this in-depth look at our services makes sure that, where we need to improve, customer-focused solutions are always found, and positive changes made. This is more important than ever this year, as we start to be assessed against the new Consumer Standards and Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs).
What are the CSP working on this year?
The new panel is kicking things off with a repairs service review, which we know from customers is a top priority. This involves looking at your feedback from the Big Listen, mapping customer journeys within the service, and using all of this to rebuild an improved repairs service with a better customer experience.
Stay tuned - we've got plenty of updates on what the CSP has been busy doing, coming soon.
