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Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs)

Background 

In April 2023, the government introduced Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) for social housing landlords including councils to assess tenants’ satisfaction with their homes and housing services.

The Regulator of Social Housing (independent organisation that monitors social landlords) will use the TSMs to measure whether social housing landlords are delivering good quality homes and housing services. They will also help us to identify areas for improvement.

The TSM information is generally published every summer and is designed to help social landlords compare their performance with others enabling them to learn from good practice.

There are 22 TSMs in total and they are split into two parts:

  • 10 performance measures that are collected through management performance information.

  • 12 customer perception survey measures that are collected by surveying customers directly.

Our Approach

How do we collect feedback from tenants? Toggle accordion

The Council use an independent company called MEL Research to carry out the tenants` survey on our behalf to ensure feedback is collected fairly and impartially.  We send our surveys to every tenant, so we don’t leave anyone out.

MEL sent our surveys out by post and online, the letters included a freephone number in case tenants wanted to give their feedback over the phone.

How many tenants did we speak to? Toggle accordion

The survey for 2024-25 was sent to 4,673 tenants which was all our tenanted homes at the time. A total of 833 surveys were completed, meaning 18% of our tenants responded to the survey and we are very grateful to these tenants for giving us their feedback.

The response rate of 18% was good and makes our results accurate to ±3% at the 95% confidence level. This means that if we surveyed every single tenant, the results in would be at most, 3% above or below the figures reported from this sample (e.g. a 50% satisfaction rate could actually lie between 47% and 53%).

The margin of error on this dataset is well is below the ±4% threshold prescribed by the Housing Regulator based on our stock size. However, where base sizes are smaller the margin of error will be wider and so results from questions only asked to a subset of respondents (i.e. those who have used a particular service) should be viewed with greater caution. 

The final data has been weighted by age of resident combined with property type using data available for tenants in the Council’s records. (This differs from 2023, where the data was weighted by tenure type (rather than age of resident) and property type).

How do we compare? Toggle accordion

This is the second year of Tenant Satisfaction Surveys so we can compare our results to last years, these can be seen in the tables on this webpage.  We will use the data collected to give us insight into where we need to make improvements to our services.

All housing providers are required to publish the results of their TSMs, so we can compare how we are doing against others.  You may wish to view the results of other landlords if you are thinking of doing a mutual exchange or accepting a new tenancy with another social housing provider.

The Regulator for social housing will also be publishing data so we can compare how we are doing against other housing providers.

What did the results tell us? 

The TSM measures and the results for 2023/24 and 2024/25 are below. This information has been used as a baseline to move forward and formed the basis of two improvement plans (for complaint handling and responsive repairs), along with a departmental plan to fully meet the Consumer Standards.

All these initiatives are designed to ensure we work with residents to improve services.

 

From the most recent survey, we know:

  • Those who are satisfied that the council provides them with a home that is safe are significantly more likely to be satisfied overall than those who are dissatisfied with the safety of their home (82% vs. 12%).

  • Among those who disagree that their home is well maintained, only 13% are satisfied overall. In comparison, 88% of those satisfied with the maintenance of their home are satisfied with St Albans overall. 

  • Those who are satisfied with their local area as a place to live are more satisfied overall with the service provided by St Albans City & District Council Housing Services when compared to those who are not satisfied with their local area (66% vs. 19%).

The lower scoring areas of the TSMs have been scrutinised by the Tenant & Leaseholder Forum and has shaped their focus going forward. In addition, Councillors scrutinise services quarterly at the Housing and Inclusion Committee meetings. 

Historically, more than half of tenants indicated that they would be available during the week to attend meetings and consultations. This is very welcomed and opportunities for residents to engage with St Albans can be seen on the Resident Engagement page of this website. 

Further Insight

There were some interesting insights from the unweighted data which we will explore further with residents as we complete future rounds of surveys. These included:

  • Overall satisfaction of the housing services generally increases with length of tenancy and age of tenant. 

  • Men also report higher satisfaction then women (64% - 57% respectively).

  • Perhaps unsurprisingly, satisfaction is greater with people in bungalows (65%), then houses (60%), flats (58%) and maisonettes (43%).

  • Satisfaction with the overall housing service was higher for tenants in receipt of some housing benefit (68%), compared to those receiving no housing benefit (56%). 

  • The highest scores related to the home being safe and tenants being treated fairly and with respect

Many themes continued from the previous year’s results, and are current areas of focus: 

  • A new resident engagement platform will be launched in the summer of 2025, which will be utilised to improve the satisfaction scores around how we keep residents informed.

  • Improvement plans are in place in relation to our complaints handling and responsive repairs and are monitored by residents and Councillors.

  • All plans have been brought together into one departmental action plan for 2025/26. The effectiveness of this will be assessed in part via performance improvements and the TSMs.

Tenant Satisfaction Measures - 2024-25 Toggle accordion

Measure

Reporting method/expression

Total

4814 Dwellings

Complaints relative to the size of the landlord- St.1

Per 1,000 dwellings

41.8

Complaints relative to the size of the landlord- St.2

Per 1,000 dwellings

10.6

Complaints responded to within Complaint Handling Code timescales   St.1

per 1,000 dwellings

79.60

Complaints responded to within Complaint Handling Code timescales   St.2

per 1,000 dwellings

72.50

ASB cases relative to the size of the landlord

Per 1,000 dwellings

18.7

Hate crimes reported relative to the size of the landlord

Per 1,000 dwellings

0.2

Homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard

Percentage

2.6%

Repairs completed within target timescales

  

a) Non emergency Repairs (28 days)

Percentage

79.3%

b) Emergency repairs 24 hours

Percentage

97.4%

Gas safety checks

Percentage

99.7%

Fire safety checks

Percentage

100%

Asbestos safety checks

Percentage

100%

Water safety checks

Percentage

100%

Lift safety checks

Percentage

100%

Tenant Satisfaction Measures - 2023-24 Toggle accordion

Measure

Reporting method/expression

Total

4899 Dwellings

Complaints relative to the size of the landlord- St.1

Per 1,000 dwellings

13.88

Complaints relative to the size of the landlord- St.2

Per 1,000 dwellings

4.69

Complaints responded to within Complaint Handling Code timescales   St.1

per 1,000 dwellings

77.94

Complaints responded to within Complaint Handling Code timescales   St.2

per 1,000 dwellings

60.87

ASB cases relative to the size of the landlord

Per 1,000 dwellings

15.1

Hate crimes reported relative to the size of the landlord

Per 1,000 dwellings

1.63

Homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard

Percentage

2.39%

Repairs completed within target timescales

  

a) Non emergency Repairs (28 days)

Percentage

84.73%

b) Emergency repairs 24 hours

Percentage

98.17%

Gas safety checks

Percentage

99.55%

Fire safety checks

Percentage

100%

Asbestos safety checks

Percentage

100%

Water safety checks

Percentage

98.95%

Lift safety checks

Percentage

100%

SADC Tenant Perception Survey 2024-25 Toggle accordion

 

Measure

St Albans 2024-25

TP01 Overall satisfaction with the landlord

54%

TP02 Satisfaction with repairs

55%

TP03 Satisfaction with time taken to complete most recent repair

49%

TP04 Satisfaction that the home is well maintained

50%

TP05 Satisfaction that the home is safe

58%

TP06 Satisfaction that the landlord listens to tenant views and acts upon them

43%

TP07 Satisfaction that the landlord keeps tenants informed about things that matter to them

48%

TP08 Agreement that the landlord treats tenants fairly and with respect

58%

TP09 Satisfaction with the landlord’s approach to handling complaints

21%

TP10 Satisfaction that the landlord keeps communal areas clean and well maintained

44%

TP11 Satisfaction that the landlord makes a positive contribution to neighbourhoods

43%

TP12 Satisfaction with the landlord’s approach to handling anti-social behaviour

43%

SADC Tenant Perception Survey 2023-24 Toggle accordion

Fieldwork 14/12/2023 - 14/2/2024

Measure

St Albans 2023-24

TP01 Overall satisfaction with the landlord

62%

TP02 Satisfaction with repairs

59%

TP03 Satisfaction with time taken to complete most recent repair

53%

TP04 Satisfaction that the home is well maintained

57%

TP05 Satisfaction that the home is safe

65%

TP06 Satisfaction that the landlord listens to tenant views and acts upon them

43%

TP07 Satisfaction that the landlord keeps tenants informed about things that matter to them

51%

TP08 Agreement that the landlord treats tenants fairly and with respect

64%

TP09 Satisfaction with the landlord’s approach to handling complaints

25%

TP10 Satisfaction that the landlord keeps communal areas clean and well maintained

41%

TP11 Satisfaction that the landlord makes a positive contribution to neighbourhoods

49%

TP12 Satisfaction with the landlord’s approach to handling anti-social behaviour

43%