Barnsley achieves highest grading for Housing Regulator’s Consumer Standards

We’re pleased to share that Barnsley has become the first local authority to receive the highest C1 grading after being inspected by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).

The Regulator sets Consumer Standards to make sure tenants experience high quality homes and services. As the registered social housing provider, Barnsley Council has arrangements in place to make sure we’re providing homes that are safe and well maintained, listening to tenants, and delivering the right services.

To gather information, RSH inspectors spoke to involved tenants and observed our Customer Services Committee and Berneslai Homes Board meeting. They also attended meetings with the council and senior leadership team and looked at performance across a wide range of areas.

The Regulator highlighted several areas of good practice in Barnsley including the range of opportunities for tenants to give feedback. From reviewing documents from the comfort of your own home as part of our Check it Challengers programme to being Board members, your feedback helps to improve services. We’ve promised to create even more opportunities, so that more and different voices are heard as we work together to shape services.

In its judgement, which you can read in full here, the Regulator was also satisfied that we’re:

• Keeping tenants safe and using what we know about the quality and safety of properties to make decisions on future investment to maintain and improve homes.
• Working effectively with partner organisations.
• Tailoring services to meet diverse needs and deliver fair outcomes for tenants.

It’s great to know that the RSH is confident that we’re meeting the consumer standards, and we know we have areas where we can do better. We have plans in place to keep on working hard to hear your feedback, make improvements, and provide the best service possible to customers.

Amanda Garrard, Chief Executive, said: “We welcomed the changes brought to housing regulation in recent years and we’re really encouraged by the outcome of the inspection here in Barnsley during a challenging time for the whole sector.

“It provides an opportunity to reflect on and feel proud about what’s working well whilst also understanding our weaknesses and identifying those areas where we can do better to deliver the best service we can to customers.

“We’re determined to address the ongoing challenges of maintaining an older housing stock, including improvements to the repairs and maintenance service, as we understand the impact this has on customers. We’re committed to moving forward together with tenants, making sure that more and different voices are heard, helping to meet their evolving needs and shaping better services for everyone.”

We understand that things like waiting for rehousing, repairs, and decisions on complaints are important to you. We'll work to improve how we provide these services and communicate with you, making sure we’ve explained the reasons behind any decisions.

Please keep sharing your feedback with us. This could be by completing a survey after you’ve had a service from us. It might be giving a compliment or complaint, or if you’re getting involved in our opportunities for tenants. Your feedback is valuable and helps us to understand what works well and what we need to do better. You can read more about ways to get involved here.