Residents have given us the big ‘thumbs up’
Over the past two years we have been externally audited by independent assessors, Quality Housing Services (QHS), which has involved resident surveys and ‘mystery shopping’ tests to grade our services. We have been praised for our customer service excellence and been awarded ‘certification level’ in two service areas, and ‘enhanced certification’ in the remaining eight areas for customer service excellence.
The QHS assessment means so much to us, not just because it’s national recognition, but because it’s a true reflection of what our residents think of us.
It goes without saying that this is an unprecedented achievement by Muir and one that has involved a significant amount of hard work. My sincere thanks go out to all staff directly involved in the process and all staff who deliver a fantastic service to our customers every day.
This certainly is one for every member of staff to be proud of, and a clear indication that we are great at what we do – providing excellent services that are truly local to the residents in our communities.
The award sets our standards at a high level – but we are not complacent, and have committed to continuously look at ways of improving our customer services even further in the future.
This will ensure that Muir Group remains at the heart of delivering a high quality local service to all of our neighbourhoods.
I would also like to mention in this news update that the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) have recently been in touch with me with various updates about their National Conversation and the second phase of their assessments.
The TSA’s Chief Executive has praised associations such as ourselves for the Local Conversations we held in conjunction with their National Conversation tenants conference. From the wealth of feedback the TSA received from the National and Local Conversations they have prepared a discussion paper that outlines their early thinking around the standards framework. The second phase to the TSA’s assessment was launched on Tuesday 9 June. They have published the results of what tenants and landlords told them during the first phase and the discussion paper on the future standards framework for all social housing providers.
This second phase of the National Conversation will remain open until 1st September and anyone can download a copy of this paper from the National Conversation website (www.nationalconversation.co.uk) from 9 June.
We all have a chance to comment on this paper, so please take a look at it, and either pass your comments directly onto the TSA, or get in touch with us so we can pass them on for you. Likewise, if you have any comments you would like to bring up directly with me, then please feel free as always to get in touch with me.
We will always endeavour to put all the latest news from the TSA on our own website, but if you would like us to send you information as opposed to printing it or reading it from our site or the TSA’s, just get in touch and we’d be happy to post to you.
Best wishes
John
MUIR GROUP ACCREDITED BY BEST COMPANIES LTD
It brings me great delight to announce that Muir Group Housing Association has been awarded star status by Best Companies Limited.
Best Companies is an organisation which aims to help make the world a better work place. It has been established to acknowledge excellence in the workplace and recognise great work practices and employee care.
It was a pleasure to receive this recent award and fantastic to know that when our staff are surveyed, independently by an impartial best practice company like Best Companies, we get such great responses which mean we can win awards like this and be promoted as one of the UK’s best employers. To know that staff are happy and proud to be part of Muir is a real feat for us as an employer and an organisation where our people are so important.
Each company that is put forward for the award is assessed on various factors by its own employees. Based on this staff feedback, organisations receive a Best Companies index score which determines their star rating compared to a fixed standard. There are three ratings ranging from ‘one’ star to ‘three’ stars.
We have been given a one star rating. This accreditation means that the association can now display the prestigious Best Companies Accreditation logo.
Best Companies will now promote Muir via its website as one of the UK’s best workplaces.
We asked Monica Robinson, Leasehold and Central Services Manager at Muir about why she thought we deserved the award. She said: “I have worked for Muir for nearly 20 years and have found them to be a great employer to work for. All staff I have worked with have been here many years and the staff turnover is very low.
“Muir offer flexible working which helps keep a good balance between your work and your home life. The association also offer excellent training services and will finance any relevant course or qualifications.”
In February, myself and Elaine Roscoe, the head of HR attended a celebration event at the Cumberland Hotel in London, where Jonathan Austin, founder and chief executive of Best Companies Ltd presented us with the award.
If you have any questions about our recent award, please feel free to get in touch with us. Alternatively, if you are interested in learning more about working with us, please visit the careers section of this website.
Best wishes
John
The Tenant Services Authority (TSA) National Conversation - Your chance to have your say about standards in social housing.
The Tenant Services Authority is the new regulator for homes owned by housing associations and co-ops. From Spring 2010, it is likely to be responsible for local council and Arm’s-Length Management Organisation (ALMO) landlords as well.
The first thing the TSA intends to do is draw up a brand new set of standards for landlords. These standards are very important, as the TSA will be monitoring how well landlords do in achieving them – and taking action against any who don’t.
The TSA is going to listen to tenants across England to gain an understanding of what you want to see in the new standards. It is calling this the National Conversation. It will last until 11 March 2009.
This is your opportunity to help set the standards for all social landlords and make sure that services for tenants continue to improve. So please do get involved.
We are holding our own ‘local conversations’ in the following areas;
BURNLEY, Temple Street Resource Centre, BB11 3BD - 26th February 12:00noon to 4:00pm
CHESTER, Blacon Community Trust Centre, CH1 5NF - 23rd February 11am to 2pm
BLACKPOOL, City Learning Centre, Bathurst Avenue, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY3 7RW - 20th February 2pm to 5pm
WARRINGTON, Montrose Close - 25th February 1.30pm to 3pm , and Cinnamon Brow Farm Club - 25th February 3pm to 6pm
GODMANCHESTER, McCartney House, Mowlands, Cambridgeshire - 27th February 12noon to 4pm
Should you need further information on these ‘local conversations’, please contact Beverly Price (North/North West enquires) 01925 790624 / 07717 300036 or Jan Kaneen (Cambridgeshire enquires) 07717 300061
You can get more information on the website: www.nationalconversation.co.uk
Best wishes
John
We have seen busy times at Muir this year as we continually strive to improve all services to our customers. One key area is access to information for our customers and with new design work being carried out this month on our website I hope we have taken a step to improving this even further. Through our website you can now search, via an easy to use map, to see what properties we have around the country. We have also just launched new enquiry forms to help us answer your enquiry better at first point of contact. All our most recent publications will appear more prominent now via the site and with the new ‘All Pay’ on-line easy way to pay your rent – more residents will hopefully use the site and can subsequently benefit from downloading magazines and reports sometimes even before they are printed.
Another new section of the site is our careers section. To deliver the best service to our customers, we want to attract and retain the best staff – therefore to promote what it’s like to work for Muir we have a wealth of new information available along side all our latest vacancies. So if you’re looking for a new career path or fancy a new challenge please take a look at our careers information. Even if there isn’t a current vacancy with us that suits you, you can always register your interest with us for the future.
Best wishes
John