July

At the July meeting, Members welcomed Clarion’s new Chief Customer Officer, Kate Still, who will be joining the Committee in September, taking over from Michelle Reynolds. Kate has many years of experience in social housing and members were pleased to welcome her.

The Committee received the latest update on Clarion's operational performance. This included continued efforts to improve complaints-handing and reassurance that customer satisfaction levels remain high. Other topics included:

E-bike safety

There was good discussion around the safe storage of e-bikes in our homes. Members looked at the safety information already shared with residents and talked about how future messages can reach everyone more effectively. Read more information about safe storage of e-bikes and mobility scooters.

Communications Service Improvement Group (CSIG)

The Committee received an update from the Communications Service Improvement Group. This group is reviewing how Clarion communicates with residents, and will suggest improvements to make information clearer and easier to access.

Building safety and resident engagement

A big part of the meeting focused on building safety. Members discussed Clarion’s approach to keeping residents safe, which is based on lessons from the Grenfell tragedy and new safety laws. They were especially interested in how safety checks are carried out in high-rise buildings and what happens, including who is responsible when fire alarms are triggered in communal areas.

Resident of the future

Members also took part in a session on the ‘resident of the future’ workshop. This looked at the Clarion Index and how changes in the economy, society and housing sector may affect residents’ needs in the years to come. To make sure the Committee has enough time to discuss key issues and feedback, members agreed that future meetings will run for an extra 30 minutes. They also agreed to add a short training session at each meeting, to strengthen members knowledge of Clarion and support their development through our Governance structures.

To make sure the Customer Committee can continue feeding into important decisions, members agreed to adjust future meeting dates to better align with Housing Association Board meetings. This means there will be two meetings in both July and August, giving the Committee more chances to shape the services Clarion delivers.

August

In August, members continued their work on improving resident experience and discussed a wide range of topics.

Customer satisfaction levels remain high, but members discussed the challenges of handling complaints effectively. Other topics included:

Accessibility and disability research

Members looked at research into the experiences of residents with disabilities compared to those without. Discussions covered how well homes meet accessibility needs and the challenges of carrying out adaptations when operatives don’t always have the right equipment during visits.

Housing language

Members explored whether some traditional terms used in housing, like “decant,” are still appropriate and agreed this should be reviewed with residents.

Resident reports

The Committee reviewed the final drafts of the 2024/25 Resident Involvement Impact Assessment and the Resident’s Annual Reports. These highlight Clarion’s achievements, challenges, and plans for continuous improvement.

Service charges

There was an in-depth discussion about how service charges are managed. Members were keen to see bills broken down more clearly and for residents to be given advance notice of upcoming changes.

E-bikes and e-scooters

Building on the July discussion, members looked again at e-bike and e-scooter safety. They discussed Clarion’s role in tackling unsafe storage and the potential for awareness campaigns with input from the Committee.

Digital services

Members saw a live demonstration of the new Omnichannel Chatbot and Telephony service, which showed how customer contacts are managed and how future updates could further improve the service.

The next Customer Committee meeting will take place on 29th October.

Meet our members

You can find all our meeting updates on our website in the Customer Committee search.