Your views - resident satisfaction survey 2021

About the survey

Between February and March 2021 many of you took part in an important survey. The survey focused on how happy you are with the way Arun District Council (ADC) delivers key services and maintains your homes. The survey was anonymous and carried out by an independent market research company – Acuity Research & Practice.

  • The survey was carried out by post with a questionnaire sent to all of ADC’s residents. There were 50 questions included and 1,473 tenants and 155 leaseholders responded out of 3,745 sent out, a response rate of 44%.

Thank you to all of you who took part!

This report contains key results from the survey in respect of both general needs and sheltered tenants and leaseholders.

Satisfaction with key services (tenants)

  • 78% of ADC tenants are happy with the overall services they receive.
  • 76% are satisfied with the quality of the home and 80% with its safety and security.
  • 79% are satisfied with their neighbourhood as a place to live and 64% with the grounds maintenance, but only 49% feel ADC listens to their views and acts upon them.
Satisfaction with key services 2021
Key service % of respondents satisfied
The value for money of your rent 90%
Safe & secure home 80%
Neighbourhood as a place to live 79%
Services provided by ADC 78%
Overall quality of home 76%
Easy to deal with 74%
The value for money of your service charge 72%
Repairs & maintenance service 70%
Grounds maintenance 64%
Customer experience 64%
Listens to views and acts on them 49%

Homes and neighbourhood

  • 79% are satisfied with their neighbourhood, although some experience problems on the estates with their neighbours, drug related issues, car parking and litter.
  • 55% of tenants are satisfied with the communal cleaning, 64% with the grounds maintenance and 59% feel the value for money of the estate services is good.

Communal cleaning

Satisfied: 55%
Neither: 24%
Dissatisfied: 21%

Grounds maintenance

Satisfied: 64%
Neither: 17%
Dissatisfied: 18%

Value for money of estate services

Satisfied: 59%
Neither: 24%
Dissatisfied: 17%

Repairs and maintenance

  • 70% of tenants are satisfied with the repairs & maintenance service overall.
  • Between 67% and 88% of tenants are satisfied with different aspects of the repairs service the last time they reported a repair, the most for the attitude of the workers (88%) and least for how they were kept informed of progress (67%).
Repairs and maintenance satisfaction
Repairs and maintenance service % of respondents satisfied
Attitude of workers 88%
Keeping dirt and mess to a minimum 85%
Overall quality of work 80%
Repair of this occasion 79%
Speed of completion 79%
Right first time 73%
Time taken to start work

71%

Kept informed of progress 67%
  • 59% of tenants had a repair completed in the previous twelve months, of those 65% said it was easy to get their repair resolved, however, 22% found it difficult.
  • When asked what the main issues with the repairs service are, tenants said dealing with outstanding work, the quality of the contractor, the timescales to get work completed and the quality of work.

Customer contact and communication

  • 74% of tenants find ADC easy to deal with, although 14% find them difficult.
  • 66% of tenants made contact during the last 12 months, of those 79% felt the staff were helpful, 76% felt they were competent but just 56% were satisfied that their query was dealt with at the first contact point.
  • 64% of tenants were left satisfied with their overall customer experience.
  • 72% of tenants are satisfied with how they are kept informed about things that might affect them, but fewer are satisfied with the opportunities to make views known (57%), that ADC listens to their views and acts upon them (49%) and having a say in how services are managed (46%).

Opportunities to make views known

Satisfied: 57%
Neither: 31%
Dissatisfied: 12%

Listening to views and acting upon them

Satisfied: 49%
Neither: 33%
Dissatisfied: 18%

Having a say in how services are managed

Satisfied: 46%
Neither: 37%
Dissatisfied: 16%

Keeping tenants informed

Satisfied: 72%
Neither: 15%
Dissatisfied: 13%

Perceptions

  • Tenants were asked if they agreed or disagreed with six statements about how ADC performs its duties as a landlord.
  • A high proportion of tenants agreed that staff are friendly and approachable (80%), with 72% agreeing that the Council provides an efficient and effective service.
  • 74% of tenants also feel that ADC provides the service expected of a landlord, and 73% feel they treat tenants fairly. Slightly fewer feel ADC has a good reputation (64%), is open and transparent (61%), whilst 64% say the trust ADC and 55% feel valued.

Effective and efficient service

Satisfied: 72%
Neither: 15%
Dissatisfied: 13%

The service expected

Satisfied: 74%
Neither: 12%
Dissatisfied: 14%

Arun treats residents fairly

Satisfied: 73%
Neither: 16%
Dissatisfied: 11%

Has a good reputation in the area

Satisfied: 64%
Neither: 24%
Dissatisfied: 12%

Friendly and approachable staff

Satisfied: 80%
Neither: 13%
Dissatisfied: 7%

Open and transparent

Satisfied: 61%
Neither: 28%
Dissatisfied: 11%

Trust Arun

Satisfied: 64%
Neither: 24%
Dissatisfied: 12%

Feel valued

Satisfied: 55%
Neither: 28%
Dissatisfied: 17%

Improving services

  • Tenants were asked what one thing they felt ADC could do to improve its services. A total of 1,031 comments were received. 3% of the responses were complimentary about ADC.
  • There was a wide variety of suggestions for improvement, as summarised in the chart below. 17% of comments concerned customer contact, 14% about repairs, 13% communications, 7% neighbourhood issues and a further 7% about communal areas.
  • Tenants want better customer service, phones to be answered and calls returned and outstanding repairs dealt with.

Customer contact: 17%
Day-to-day repairs: 14%
Communications: 13%
Other: 11%
Neighbourhood problems: 7%
Communal areas: 7%
Grounds maintenance: 6%
Tenant services: 5%
Property condition: 5%
Safety and security: 3%
Home improvements: 3%
Positive comments: 3%
Council, other agencies: 2%
Moving: 0%
Local area services: 0%

Recommending ADC

  • Tenants were also asked how likely they would be to recommend ADC to family or friends. This is a 0-10 point rating categorising Promoters (score 9-10), Passives (score 7-8) and Detractors (score 0-6).
  • 37% of tenants are very loyal and happy to promote ADC, 28% are passive and 35% are detractors, feeling rather more negative about the Council.
  • The Net Promoter score for ADC (the percentage of Promoters less the percentage of Detractors) is 2. This is a lower than average score when compared with other landlords.

0 - Not at all likely: 7%
1: 1%
2: 2%
3: 3%
4: 3%
5: 13%
6: 6%
7: 10%
8: 17%
9: 12%
10 - Extremely likely: 25%

Leaseholders

  • 155 leaseholders responded to the survey and 54% are satisfied with the overall service received from Arun District Council.
  • 70% of leaseholders are satisfied with the quality of their home, 51% feel it is safe and secure and 63% are satisfied with the neighbourhood where they live.
  • Satisfaction with the value for money of the service charge (52%) is a little higher than with the rent (46%).
  • 61% of leaseholders find the staff helpful, although only 33% were satisfied with the customer experience the last time they made contact. 33% feel valued and 43% trust Arun District Council.
Leaseholders
Leaseholder service % of respondents satisfied
Quality of the home 70%
Neighbourhood 63%
Overall satisfaction 54%
Arun DC easy to deal with 53%
VFM - service charge 52%
Safe and secure home 51%
VFM - rent 46%
Repairs and maintenance 32%
Listen and acts 26%

You say - we do

Carrying out this survey is just part of the work Arun District Council does to involve you in developing services. As well as publishing the results of the survey, ADC plans to put the findings to good use by working with tenants to further improve the services they provide.

Publish findings for residents > Use findings to plan and improve services, e.g. improve repairs and maintenance and listening to views > Involve residents in shaping service improvements

If you would like to find out more information about the survey or how to get involved please contact the Resident Engagement Officer on 01903 737656 or residentengagement@arun.gov.uk