You spoke, we listened

We’re working to improve this.
During lockdowns, we ran a reduced caretaking and estate management service, while maintaining essential services with a smaller team.

These teams are still facing challenges with staff absences due to the pandemic, and we’ve also seen increase in fly tipping and bulky waste, which affects the time spent on everyday tasks. 

We do have a major backlog of repairs following over a year of social distancing measures when we could complete essential repairs only. 

It’s our priority, along with building safety and we are looking at improvements every day and are reviewing our quality control. Many of these are complex, multi-trade repairs such as damp and mould. We’re working with our contractors to overcome challenges with the supply of parts and labour caused by the pandemic.  

We have a mixed-delivery model to manage risks around repairs and are recruiting more people. We have brought in more contractors to support us and are also using a marketplace of local contractors to work on smaller jobs. 

We are working our way through these repairs as quickly as possible and are using extra contractors where we can.  

As well our ongoing building safety work, we’re prioritising emergency repairs and those for people who are vulnerable. 

We measure the number of repairs that are over 30 days old and are using the data to tell us where we need to focus our efforts and invest more resources.

Tackling damp and mould is a priority and we have visited 400 homes so far to better understand the causes and develop an action plan. We have increased our surveying resources and have brought in specialist contractors to help us reach a permanent solution for these cases.  

We know that our communication around repairs could be better. We are following up with those who are dissatisfied with their repairs to find out what’s gone wrong and make improvements where needed.

We’re also working to improve our digital offer so that it’s easier to keep track of your repair online.

Before we choose a new contactor, we carry out in-depth checks on their performance. A Peabody panel, including residents, assesses contractor quality and pricing, and how they run their processes.  

All new contractors then go through a 12-week mobilisation programme, to make sure they can meet the standards  we expect for our customer journey and how we communicate with customers.   

We hold formal meetings with contractors each month and our teams are monitoring performance on a daily and weekly basis. We also check customer feedback to pick up any issues.  

We do also recognise that there has been a pause in our investment programme in properties. We spent some time surveying our homes to understand what exactly needs to be done, and we now have developed a full programme of work to maintain and improve our existing homes. The start of this was delayed due to lockdown and the pandemic, but we are now moving forward with it and have significantly increased our investment in this.

Catalyst will be joining the Peabody Group as a subsidiary from 1 April 2022. 

There will be no major changes from day one, but we will begin to work on bringing together our systems, processes and teams. 

Our focus remains on investing in our homes, services and communities. Over the next 18 months, we will be adopting a locality model that is more responsive to local needs, with better access to digital services.  

Our aim is to design a service delivery model which puts residents and communities at the heart of everything we do. 

We’ll be bringing together our operational services into locality teams and create local plans for community projects and activities. 

We want to work with you to co-design these plans and shape the projects and activities that you would like to see in your area. 

We’re really sorry about this delay. We understand how frustrating it is, however, we’ve listened to feedback about the accuracy of our service charges, and we want to make sure that we get this right and needed the extra time to review them.  

We are working on sending out the last few statements which should arrive by mid-February.  

We recognise that where there are lots of issues affecting a particular block or estate, we may need to bring different teams and services together to gather information, answer your questions and create an action plan.  

As we work towards bringing Peabody and Catalyst together as a larger organisation, a key priority is having more visible local teams that are responsive to local needs and priorities. 

As part of our new locality model, you can expect to see more regular walkabouts and meetings in local areas and a dedicated contact that’s closer to the issues that are affecting residents where they are. 

As well as supported housing, we provide a range of care and support services, and work in partnership with health services and other organisations to support vulnerable residents.  

We also prioritise our repairs and services according to those that are affecting vulnerable residents. 

Please do let us know if you or a neighbour needs support, we have dedicated teams that can help. 

We want every customer to feel that we are transparent in how we treat them and the way we do things. When we deliver our services, if we get something wrong, we encourage you to tell us so we can put it right and do better next time. 

We work closely with the Housing Ombudsman in responding to complaints and are audited on how we are performing.  

We’ve also made some improvements to our website to make it clearer on how to raise a complaint and the latest performance information around complaints. 

We always do our best but recognise that we don't get things right every time. If you're unhappy with a service we’ve delivered, please let us know by logging a complaint here 

We will continue to focus on improving the quality of responses across all our services, in line with the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code. 

Although we own or manage 4,500 residential buildings, not all need EWS1 forms, such as those without leaseholders living in them, and those which fall outside of RICS’ current guidance. 

We have prioritised our current three-year investigation programme based on safety factors, including height and type of cladding used and expect to have completed those that fall within the government’s current building safety guidance by the end of 2023. 

We are writing to all residents in the programme to let them know when we expect to have completed their building’s investigation and, where applicable, issued an EWS1 form. 

We know that some lenders are not following the guidance and are still insisting on an ESW1 form.  

We welcome the latest guidance from the government in providing more clarity to lenders.  

We will continue to actively pursue all possible avenues to try and protect leaseholders financially from additional building safety costs, for example pursuing developers, applying for funding and lobbying government to expand access to the Building Safety Fund.  

However, if, after exhausting all options, we can’t secure funding or a commitment from the contractor to cover costs, we may have no option but to pass on some or all of the costs. If that’s the case, we will consult with you through the S20 consultation process. 

As you may have seen in the media, the housing secretary Michael Gove has announced a plan to protect leaseholders from costs to pay for cladding remediation works.

These proposals are at the early stages, and we will need time to find out more and consider the practical implications for our customers. We understand the importance of this announcement to you and will keep you up to date with our progress.