Personalised Service Tackles‘Difficult to Access’ homes

A new initiative by Halton Housing Trust and Sure Group has ensured that previously difficult to access homes have now had urgent gas safety checks and servicing completed.

When asked about the initiative Mark Lloyd, Asset Manager at the Trust said; “Ensuring the safety of our customers is our top priority. There were a number of cases where access to certain homes has been difficult. We were keen to avoid court action so worked closely with Sure Group, to devise a simple, yet highly effective solution to the problem.

The team identified the homes that were difficult to access as ‘priority’.  Building upon the previous visits by Trust staff, Caroline Rhodes, Sure Group’s Gas Qualified Customer Liaison Officer repeatedly visited each of the homes at a variety of times in the day. Upon answering, she explained the critical need to undertake the gas servicing and checks.  In every case, the customer gave her access there and then to undertake the work.  This was backed up by a team of engineers being on hand to call at the home immediately. This initiative proved so successful because of the personal liaison with individual customers.

Previously a Housing Officer has knocked on doors and if answered they would then have to contact a nearby engineer to arrive, giving the customer time to change their minds. With an engineer knocking - if it is answered they can go in immediately.  The engineer is dedicated for this duty for the day so will knock several times at no-access.

Darren Cunningham, CEO, Sure Group said “The success of this campaign is down to the close working relationship that we have with the Trust’s team. We share the Trust’s commitment to ensure that customer’s gas appliances are safe and we will pull out all the stops to make this happen.”

Nick Atkin, Chief Executive, Halton Housing Trust said “I am delighted with the successful approach to this annually recurring problem. This highlights the importance of a positive working relationship with the people who are the face of our organisation, when undertaking the servicing and safety checks.  It represents a really positive outcome all round and will be an approach we look to build upon in the future.”