Update on our repairs service

We understand that our repairs service isn’t meeting your needs or our usual standards and that repairs are taking longer to complete than normal. We want to thank you for your patience as we work to improve the situation.

What’s happening?

Like many other housing providers across the country, we’re struggling to repair our customer’s homes in our usual target times. There are several reasons why:

• More repairs are being reported
  We’ve had 25% more repair requests than the same period in a ‘normal’ year.
  
  
• Recruitment and staffing
  There’s a national shortage of key roles, and we have struggled to recruit staff. We’re working to resolve this, however at the moment it’s taking us longer to answer calls – so we recommend you contact us by email or by completing our online form.
  
  
• Materials
  The global shortage of building material such as doors, timber, cement and glass mean we’ve had to rearrange work until these items are available and it’s difficult to give a clear target date.
  
  It also means that these materials are now costing more, and we’re reviewing our budgets and planned programmes to address this.
  
  
• Priorities
  The government has changed regulations on building safety, and so we’re having to spend more time and money to meet these changes.
  
  

What can we all do to help?

We’re working with our teams and contractors to improve our ICT systems to better communicate with each other and update you when things change.

When you contact us, we’ll check we have your mobile number and email address so we can contact you with updates on your repair.

We understand it might not always be possible, but we recommend contacting us after 2pm – unless it’s an emergency.

It’s important that you answer calls that begin with 0300. If you can’t answer the call, check if a voicemail has been left – our contractors will try and contact you a few times but will cancel the job if they can’t reach you.

For 2022 we’re looking at new ways for you to report repairs. We will also be asking customers to suggest ideas and improvements through a customer panel. If you would like to get involved or find out more, email involve@honeycombgroup.org.uk

How do I report a repair?

If you have a repair and need to get in touch with us, please email hello@staffshousing.org.uk or complete our online form.