Neighbourhood coaches are taking to the streets of South Gloucestershire supporting customers to achieve everything they want to in our newest locality area.

Our South Gloucestershire locality went live at the start of the month, rolling out our innovative neighbourhood coaching approach to more than 8,000 households. Through our coaching model, neighbourhood coaches are out working across communities, supporting them to thrive, every day.

It’s a big change for customers in South Gloucestershire. Previously there were 12 neighbourhood housing officers covering the area, with each one looking after around 700 homes. Now we have a team of 45 neighbourhood coaches with each one looking after less than 200 homes.

Localities leader Wendy Stephens said: “Customers in South Gloucestershire will have a much more personal relationship with their neighbourhood coach than they’ve ever had before. Neighbourhood coaches are already meeting with customers in their homes, rather than asking them to meet us in our offices.

“Our neighbourhood coaches will be the first point of contact for customers so that they can build real relationships with the households in their area and coach them to achieve their goals. Neighbourhood coaches will spend time really getting to know people, finding out what’s important to them rather than focusing on simply fixing problems.”

The new South Gloucestershire locality has been set up to support customers in South Gloucestershire, Bristol, North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset and Wiltshire, following the launch of our partnership with Merlin in 2018. We are now looking at rolling out the approach to our former Severn Vale Housing customers in the Tewkesbury area.