Author: Jade McLelland

How are we doing? Can you help us improve our services?  We have asked independent researchers from Research Resource to contact a significant percentage of our tenants and owners to find out what you think of their homes, neighbourhoods, and the services that Shire provides. The survey is completely anonymous and lasts around 20 minutes.  Your feedback will help us to continue meeting our customer’s needs.  We would like to thank everyone who gets involved during the research between 15th August and 7th October.

The survey follows the guidelines of the Market Research Society Code of Conduct and complies with the terms of the Data Protection Act. Be assured that all information collected will be treated as confidential and will only be used for the purposes of genuine market research. Your name and address will not appear with your responses, and no information about you will be passed to Shire Housing Association unless you give express permission during the survey.

To ensure the confidentiality of your responses we have asked Research Resource to undertake the study on our behalf. If you are worried that the person calling at your door is not genuine, there are a number of things you can do to check before letting them into your home.

1. Ask the interviewer to show you their photographic identity card. It will show the interviewer’s full name, ID number and photograph. If you are still not sure, ask to borrow the card and telephone Shire Housing.
2.  Call Shire Housing Association on 01290 421130 during office hours. Staff will check the names of the interviewers working on the project and will verify that the reference number corresponds to the one on the ID card. 

If you are in any doubt, please do not let the interviewer into your home until you have checked that they are genuine.  If necessary, take their details and ask them to call back later that day to give you time to verify them.  A genuine interviewer will be happy to do so.

The findings of the survey will be published and distributed to tenants.  Shire Housing Association will use the results to help improve the service we offer our tenants and make reports to the Scottish Housing Regulator. If you are selected for consultation, please accept our thanks in advance for your help in this important project.  If you do not wish to take part, please advise the Association and your name will be removed from our Database.

Shire Housing Association are pleased to introduce our new repairs and maintenance contractor Everwarm Group.

This contract will commence from Friday 8th July 2022 at 12.00 noon

The new out of hours telephone number for this service is 0330 0531804

You can also report repairs by calling Shire Housing Association during office opening hours on 01290 421130.

Everwarm Group will continue to provide the services you currently receive

Please join us in welcoming them as part of the Shire team.

Shire Housing Association is celebrating its 25^th year with a series of events for its tenants, stakeholders, and communities.

Formed in 1997 following a stock transfer from Scottish Homes, the Association operates across East Ayrshire, serving 16 different communities.

Actively living its vision of Great Homes, Great People, Vibrant Communities, the Association will celebrate all things 25 and honour long-standing tenants, members of staff and Board Members. There will also be events for children and young people.

Living its values, Shire will recognise caring acts of kindness throughout the year and include all its communities in the celebrations.

The Association commissioned a new logo for its year of celebrations. The logo was created by a local designer, demonstrating Shire’s commitment to community wealth building.

Watch out for news of the events on Shire’s social media.

 

Shire Housing Association take great pride in providing excellent customer service and we have recently had this recognised by the Centre for Assessment who carried out an independent assessment against the Customer Service Excellence standards .  We were delighted with the outcomes from our annual review that confirms that Shire continues to meet the Customer Service Excellence standards, and that we have exceeded the standard with two Compliance Plus awards for our work making positive changes to our services to improve our customer journeys and for our work interacting and supporting our wider communities.  The standard is assessed by meeting some of our outstanding staff team and by taking the views of several our tenants, customers and partners and we would like to thank everyone who was involved and supported us through this assessment.

@centreforassessment #customerserviceexcellence #greatpeople

 

As part of our rolling review programme, we have been updating several of our policies and procedures.

Our tenants have a right to be consulted on key policies and proposals that may have an impact on them.

We would love for you to review our draft policies and give us your feedback using the links below. We will take into account any views that tenants have before making a final decision.

The consultation period will run from Thursday 31 March 2022 until Thursday 14 April 2022.

• Draft Complaints Policy 

Survey – Draft Complaints Policy

• Draft Customer Service Policy and Standards

Survey – Draft Customer Service Policy and Standards 

• Draft Tenancy Management Policy 

Survey – Draft Tenancy Management Policy 

We recognise how flexible and accommodating everyone has been since Covid 19 first forced our office to close in March 2020, and we appreciate your help and understanding during this time.

As restrictions come to an end, and in line with Scottish Government guidance, we are delighted to announce that we will be increasing our office opening hours.

From Monday 21 March, the office will be open to our tenants, customers and the wider public as follows:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday	9.30am – 12pm and 2pm – 4.45pm
Wednesday	9.30am – 12pm
Friday	9.30am – 12pm and 2pm – 4pm

Please note that our staff will be unable to answer the office door out with the above times unless you have a pre-arranged appointment.

To continue to keep everyone safe, we ask that when you do come into the building, you wear a face mask and sanitise your hands.  Please do not come into the office if you’re experiencing symptoms. There will be limited facilities to use a private meeting room, so if you need to discuss something sensitive, please call us in advance.

You can continue to contact us during normal working hours:

Mon-Thur 8.45am – 4.45pm and Friday 8.45am – 4pm.

You can get in touch by:

• Phoning us on 01290 421130
• Emailing us –  info@shirehousing.com
• Requesting a home visit from one of our staff.

You can contact the East Ayrshire Care and Repair Service via:

• Phoning us on 01290 428001
• Emailing us –  careandrepair@shirehousing.com

We would like to continue with as few cash payments at the office as possible. You can help us by continuing to pay your rent via direct debit, bank transfer, at a PayPoint or Post Office or by using the Allpay App or Website – details below. If you need more information, please get in touch.

Allpay

You can pay your rent online using the Allpay website:    www.allpayments.net/Allpayments/Signin

You can download the Allpay app to your mobile phone to pay your rent via these QR codes.

Has your property had a 5 yearly electrical safety inspection and/or adequate number of interlinked fire alarms installed?

It is vital we gain entry to your home to obtain an Electrical Inspection Condition Report and ensure your fire alarms are compliant with new standards by 1st February 2022.

Despite many attempts to complete this work, there are still a number of properties where our tenants have not provided access, so Shire Housing Association is now beginning the latter stages of our formal process to obtain access to the properties which are not compliant with this essential work. For those tenants who have not provided access, we now have no alternative but to begin forceful entry to ensure that this legislative requirement is fulfilled.

Please urgently contact our office on 01290 421130 if you have received correspondence in relation to progressing your electrical installation condition report and fire alarm checks and not committed to a new appointment.

Carrying out these essential upgrades/inspections will protect you from risk of fire and electrical faults!

The safety of your home and surrounding properties, you and the members of your household is paramount!

#GreatHomes

As part of our rolling review programme, we have been updating several of our policies and procedures.

Our tenants have a right to be consulted on key policies and proposals that may have an impact on them.

We would love for you to review our draft policies and give us your feedback using the links below. We will take into account any views that tenants have before making a final decision.

The consultation period will run from Wednesday 8 December 2021 until Wednesday 22 December 2021.

• Draft Anti-Social Behaviour Policy

Survey – Draft Anti-Social Behaviour Policy

• Draft Customer Engagement Strategy

Survey – Draft Customer Engagement Strategy

• Draft Asbestos Policy 

Survey – Draft Asbestos Policy 

• Draft Rent Setting Policy 

Survey – Draft Rent Setting Policy 

• Draft Unacceptable Behaviour Policy 

Survey – Draft Unacceptable Behaviour Policy 

• Draft Void Management Policy 

Survey – Draft Void Management Policy 

• Draft Estate Management Policy 

Survey – Draft Estate Management Policy 

 

 

RENT CONSULTATION

Our rent consultation for 2022/23 is now live.  This is an opportunity for tenants to influence both their rent for the year ahead and the services we offer.

Packs have been posted to all tenants to read at home but you can also read the pack here.

You can give us your views by phoning the office on 01290 421130, emailing info@shirehousing.com or by completing the survey at https://tinyurl.com/y3vjtjwj

All tenants who include their contact details will be entered into a draw to win a £50 shopping voucher.

Rent Consultation Booklet 2022

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