LYHA Customer Bulletin - March 2022
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It's great to see signs of spring starting to appear around the gardens and estates, such as these daffodils springing up at Towers Square. Hopefully, we will start to see some warmer weather and lighter nights over the coming weeks.
Naturally, our thoughts and prayers right now go out to the people living in the Ukraine and those with family and loved ones affected. If you wish to find out more about action being taken locally, Leeds City Council has launched a Leeds Together for Ukraine Appeal and Barnsley Council provides further information about help available via their website: Situation in Ukraine (barnsley.gov.uk)
If you would like to receive future LYHA Customer Bulletins in large print or any other language options, please contact georgina.thompson@lyha.co.uk
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Rent review letters
You should have recently received a letter from us outlining your new rent for the coming year, beginning 1st April 2022. If for any reason you have not received this, please get in touch with us as soon as possible.
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If you receive Universal Credit: On 1st April Universal Credit will automatically add a 'To-do' to your journal to update your housing costs. Please do this promptly on 1st April as your UC will not be increased until you do it and they do not backdate.
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If you receive Housing Benefit: you will need to telephone or email your local council benefits team.
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If you pay us by Direct Debit: you do not need to do anything. The amount will be automatically changed. Please check your statement. However, if you pay by any other method (such as online banking, your mylyha account or Post Office GIRO) you will need to change the amount yourself. Please make sure this is done in time for 1st April, when your new rent is due. Or why not set up a direct debit? It’s very easy to do, just visit: www.lyha.co.uk/pay-direct-debit
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Support with rising costs
Council tax rebate - Customers in Leeds may be eligible for a council tax rebate of £150 this year to help with rising energy costs. To find out more, please click here. This rebate is a one-off payment and does not have to be paid back.
We are able to support customers with pre-payment meters who are experiencing fuel poverty, or are in financial hardship, by providing PayPoint and Post Office vouchers through the HACT Energy Hardship Fund. If you feel you may be eligible for support, please speak to a member of our neighbourhoods team. Please note, these vouchers are only available to customers with pre-payment meters.
We also have a LYHA Support Fund in place for customers that feel they are struggling financially. Recent help we've given has included supermarket shopping vouchers, purchasing white goods and smart phones/tablets to help people access the internet. If you feel you may benefit from this, please get in touch with our Customer Service Team on: 0113 2783335 or send an email to: info@lyha.co.uk
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You said, we did
Your feedback is essential to us in highlighting where we need to improve. Over the last couple of years we have increased the range and frequency of our customer surveys to ensure we are listening to and acting on what you tell us.
You've told us the four things that matter to you most are that LYHA is:
- Easy to deal with
- Listens to your views
- Provides opportunities to make your views known
- That you are happy with the quality of your home
The articles below highlight some of the ways we have responded to these priorities over recent months.
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Improving our repairs service
You told us one of the most important areas where we need to improve is our repairs service. Over the last six months we have begun making a series of improvements which will continue throughout the year, including refreshing our Repairs Handbook and the recent introduction of text acknowledgments when you call LYHA to log a repair.
Our contractor GTD is also focusing on increasing the number of jobs they complete ‘right first time’ and customer care. Brexit and the pandemic has had an impact on the availability of materials which thankfully has eased somewhat recently, enabling GTD to re-stock their supplies. Where it is not possible to complete the job at the first visit, GTD’s operative will be clear about what happens next.
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Customer service excellence award
We are delighted to have recently retained our Customer Service Excellence Award and were judged to have met or exceeded the criteria in all areas.
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Reconnecting with customers
Over the last three months we set out to get in touch with all our customers to check on wellbeing, ensure your contact details are correct and find out if you need any additional support from us.
Thank you for taking the time to speak to our colleagues, we really appreciate it - although we still have some customers who we have been unable to reach yet. If you wish to raise anything further, please email us: info@lyha.co.uk or call: 0113 278 3335.
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Increasing diversity
Your feedback has highlighted that you don't feel our team reflects the ethnic diversity of the communities we serve. We are determined to address this and have recently worked with Path Yorkshire to encourage more applications from people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.
We have also taken a similar approach to board recruitment, and a third of our board members now come from ethnic minority backgrounds.
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Electric car charging
A few customers have asked us about electric vehicle (EV) charging and installing a chargepoint next to their home. We fully support initiatives that help reduce carbon emissions and have produced this customer guide to help you. At this stage it applies only to customers with a designated parking space next to their home. We are considering the installation of EV chargepoints in our communal blocks. If you are in a block and looking to buy an electric vehicle, please get in touch.
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Opportunities to make your views known
Building safety information
We are currently seeking customer opinions about our building safety information, such as fire safety, electrical safety, and gas safety, which you can view on our website. We’ve recently spoken to a number customers, including a series of discussion groups on 8th March. However, we are always keen to get more feedback so if you would like to give us any further comments, please share them here.
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Disrepair Claims
We' have had recent reports from customers of cold callers knocking on doors about disrepair claims. These people have nothing to do with LYHA and are trying to make money out of you and your home. If you wish to log a repair with the LYHA team, please call: 0113 2783335 or visit: www.lyha.co.uk/repairs You can also log a repair via our customer portal.
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Our maintenance technician
As part of our drive to improve our repairs service, we employed Craig Ball as a Maintenance Technician to carry our minor repairs across our sites and improve communal areas. Seven months on he's doing a great job, getting things done that make a real difference to customers.
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Together with Tenants update
LYHA is a member of the National Housing Federation and in 2021 we signed up to their 'Together with Tenants' charter and new code of governance. This is a sector-wide initiative focused on strengthening the relationship between residents and housing association landlords and very much aligned with our commitment to ensuring that customers are at the heart of everything we do.
A year on we have compiled this update on our progress in each of the charter's key areas.
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New starter
We'd like to wish a very warm welcome to our new Housing Apprentice, Tasha Rhodes-Farley, who has recently joined the LYHA team. She will be working primarily with our Neighbourhoods Team learning on the job skills and experience, whilst also studying for a Level 2 apprenticeship qualification.
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And finally..............
If you have any feedback or suggestions about content you would like to see in future bulletins. please contact georgina.thompson@lyha.co.uk
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