Get Involved
North Devon Homes believes its customers play a core role in the continuous improvement and success of the company. We’ve always listened to what our customers have to say; not only about what we do well but also about the things we don’t do so well. We want to encourage all customers to become more involved in the housing service; and at whatever level you feel comfortable.
We have a number of ways in which you can become involved and make a real difference to service delivery. If you would like to part of any of the following groups please contact customer involvement on 01271 312525 / 313384.
We regularly consult with our customers via survey. We have different survey groups – postal, telephone, online and email.
Resident Groups and Associations
We have a number of active resident groups and associations. These are groups of people who live within the same geographic community and come together for a joint purpose. An association meets regularly and you an invite specific staff from the company or other organisations/agencies such as the police, to attend meetings to help solve particular problems or develop new initiatives. Some groups also organise social events. The
Customer Forum will help with advice/support and sometimes finance, for any group that seeks our help. For more information on our current groups
click here.
Service Review and Improvement Groups
Service review and improvement groups focus on a specific service area and aims to improve the delivery of that service in line with what customers want.
The groups generally meet every six to eight weeks and their work is reported to the Customer Forum who make further recommendations for improvement and ratify proposed changes. This is then reported to the Board of Management. We have set up and developed a few different groups over the past couple of years:
* Planned Maintenance Service Review Group
* Response Repairs Service Review Group
* Rents Repairs Service Review Group
* Neighbourhood Services Improvement Group
* Service Standards Improvement Group
55+ (formally Sheltered Housing Forum)
In September 2008 the sheltered housing forum relaunched as 55+ to include all customers over the age of 55. 55+ meets quarterly to discuss matters that are important to this customer base, giving them a collective voice to make improvement to the services that are important to them. For more information on this group, please contact Wendy Lloyd on 01271 313358.
Customers carry out estate inspections and quality checks on the cleaning and grounds maintenance work that we do.
Our trained customers test, observe and evaluate the quality of the current services we provide from a customer perspective. Mystery shopping enables us to monitor adherance to our Corporate Service Standards, address any staff training needs and make improvements to our services.
Customers meet with Board and staff members to work together to review our policies, make judgements on changes and suggest improvements.
Customers receive substantial training to assist with contract evaluation and contract assessment for new partnering contracts. Customers have evaluated the contractors, company information and contract proposals before assisting with the final selection of the new contractor.
Company Member
All customers are entitled to apply to become a member of the company. Becoming a member of NDH will not cost you any money nor will it mean that you have to attend regular meetings to make decisions. Members are allowed to vote at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company and receive copies of the annual report and the accounts.
As well as customers, members of NDH will consist of North Devon District Council and independent people representing the local community. The voting rights at General Meetings will be one third for each group: customers, North Devon District Council and independent members.
Customer Forum Members
All customers are welcome to attend all Customer Forum Meetings. For more information on the work of the Forum, please
click here.
Customer Board Members
Three members of the Customer Forum are also Board Members and one of those, Pete Ratcliff, is the Chair of the Board. The Board of Management is responsible for the governance of the company and sets overall strategy.
