*Emailed to all customers with an updated email address on 28/04/2022*

Dear customer,

I hope April has been a positive month for you and since the clocks moved forward, it has definitely felt like summer is just around the corner and I am personally enjoying the longer days and lighter nights.

You will remember last time I briefly touched upon the importance of listening – and I mean properly listening – to you, the people living in our homes. It is only by doing this, and taking your valuable feedback onboard, that we can improve our services and banish any stigma that customers in social housing don’t have a voice.

Sadly, as a housing sector we haven’t always got things right, whether we think back to the appalling Grenfell tragedy, or more recently to the issues highlighted around condensation, damp, and mould. In the spirit of the government’s recently published charter for social housing residents, which I encourage you to read, I want to assure you that my team and I are absolutely passionate about delivering on this and ensuring you feel listened to.

With that in mind, today’s email will focus on exactly that. I’m pleased to bring you another powerful customer perspective on whether we are doing that, introduce you to another colleague in my senior team, and announce a very exciting new online offering which has come directly from the feedback you have given us.

Customer volunteer Claire Boulton, along with five other customers, were recently involved in a workshop in Tewkesbury with my senior leadership team. The day was all about looking at how we can deliver truly great customer experience through listening and acting on the views of our customers. We explored examples where we get things rights, and importantly we were also honest about when, where, and why we get things wrong – and the impact that can have on you.

Mum-of-two Claire has delivered a brilliantly honest account of the day, and how she intends to hold us accountable moving forward. If you do one thing as a result of this update, I definitely recommend you take a few minutes to read her blog.

You can only trust us to listen and act on your views if you have greater visibility about who we are, and what we are doing. Organisations often get customer service wrong when they become faceless, and that is why you might have noticed me introducing you to more of my team over the months.

Now that we are into a new financial year, we’ve been looking at where our priorities lie in the coming 12 months and I’m delighted that Kevin Bennett, who joined our team very recently, has taken some time to introduce himself and explain where he sees our focus in the year ahead.

Do give his video a watch below:

If you are anything like me, I’m sure you are always trying to find ways to save time! A couple of minutes here and there can make an enormous difference. If I had some extra time, I would make a phone call instead of a text to that dear friend I haven’t spoken to in a while, listen to that podcast which is waiting on my playlist, or read the next chapter of the book that I haven’t been able to get to.

I am pleased to announce that one of the ways we are helping you to save time is by launching our new customer portal in June. Your secure, online customer portal is the easiest and most convenient way to manage your Bromford home wherever you are using a smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

You’ll be able to pay rent, request repairs, manage your account, access useful information, and much more at the click of a button, giving you the time to focus on the things that really matter.

Please visit our dedicated portal hub to find out more about getting your new account online.

Finally, our homes are built and maintained to the highest standards and thankfully the chances of you experiencing an accidental property fire remain pretty slim. However, we have seen a small increase in the number of house fires over the past 12 months. Our fire safety team has done some very useful analysis to draw out the key themes to watch out for – some of which I found handy myself!

Neil Griffiths, who worked at Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service for more than three decades, now heads up our work around fire safety. He has written Five simple tricks to boost your fire safety so please do check it out.

As I mentioned at the top of my note, I will continue promoting the voice of customers and demonstrating how we are shaping services around the things that you tell us. Once again, thank you to Claire, Kevin, and Neil for their excellent contributions and I’ll be back next month for more updates from the world of Bromford.




Rohini Mehra
Chief customer officer