Your questions answered

Introduction

Thank you for all your questions before and during the Conference. We answered as many as we could during the Q&A session, but we didn’t have time to get to everything.

We’ve gathered the unanswered questions and comments here, sorted them into themes, and worked with our senior leaders to provide answers.

If there’s anything else you’d like to know, feel free to email us at get.involved@peabody.org.uk —we’d love to hear from you.

If you'd prefer a printable copy of these answers then you can download one here.

Collaborating with others
Your question	Our answer
Work with - University College London on citizen-led research and strategy. RSA on prosperous places	We're always happy to hear your ideas on how we can work with you to influence the services we provide. If you have something specific in mind that you think would improve services in your area, please let us by giving us a call, or by sending us an email to get.involved@peabody.org.uk
Designing spaces in a collaboration venture. We don’t have more in South East London

How we can support you
Your question	Our answer
Rent increase 9% above inflation and loss of winter fuel allowance - would Peabody organise a drop-in event (or similar) to help with applying for pension credit, or to advise those not eligible?	We can’t host drop-in events everywhere, but we offer advice on money, welfare, and benefits. Use the form on our website to get in touch for support.
More funding for trips for people on low incomes.	We’ve shared this suggestion with our local Community Investment teams to explore options in your area.

How Peabody engages with you
Your question	Our answer
Please come to the Lesnes Estate any time! We will make tea and offer a creative workshop in exchange for your company - Artistic Property Guardians.	We're always happy to come out and visit residents in their homes and communities. If you get in touch with the Resident Engagement Team, then we'll see if we can sort out a visit.
Connecting chairs across regions	One of the ways you can do this is through the regional forums we're setting up in all our regions this year. They’ll help us understand the unique needs of residents in our different regions, and a key part of that is involving our local TRAs! If you'd like to be involved in shaping your regional forum - drop the resident engagement team a line at get.involved@peabody.org.uk
Today is focused on associations already set up. As I was invited as a single resident I would like some of the information to be about how to generate new resident engagement. Is there a starter pack for setting up a new residents association? We have heard the following words today: TRA, panel, forum, team, committee and board - please keep it simple for residents. I would have liked to hear more about the positive community engagement that builds positive relationships in our areas and generates fun in a negative time.	We've recently published a guide to setting up a TRA, which we talked about briefly at the conference. You can find a copy either on our website or on the homepage of The Garden. We'd encourage you to give it a read and reach out to the Resident Engagement team if you've any questions. You can get in touch with your Local Engagement Lead by emailing the team at get.involved@peabody.org.uk.
What engagement offer do you have for street properties where they are not able to set up a resident association?	There are lots of activities the Resident Engagement team run that are designed to give residents some influence over the way we work – we run focus groups and we’re setting up a range of service-specific panels. The best way to get involved in all these things is to join our community of engaged residents, Peabody Voice. If that sounds like it's for you, then you can sign up here If you think a TRA might work where you live, we'd recommend that you have a good read of our TRA guide and get in touch with the Resident Engagement team if you've got any questions or need advice. You can drop us a line at get.involved@peabody.org.uk.
How does current resident engagement include street properties that are not close to estates?
How does current resident engagement include street properties that are not close to estates?
Does Peabody have a Data Quality and Governance Board to help with resident engagement?	Not specifically, no. But our work in the team is monitored by our Resident Experience Committee, which is a subcommittee of our Board. We also have our Resident Led Panel, who you heard from at the Conference.

How Peabody works
Your question	Our answer
How is Peabody planning, monitoring and managing the performance and quality of services provided by in-house staff? To basically ensure that key essential local staff are performing in accordance with their role and responsibilities (estate manager, concierge, cleaning etc).	We regularly inspect all our blocks and estates. These inspections are mostly carried out by our Neighbourhood Managers and sometimes by our Area Managers in Estate Services. We check for any safety concerns, any communal area repairs that are needed, and also the standard of cleaning. We capture any follow up actions as we go on an electronic form so we can track them. If we have any concerns about how a colleague is performing in their role, we will discuss this with their line manager so it can be addressed.
What are the roles of the Caretakers?	Our caretakers are predominantly focussed on cleaning the blocks and estates they’re assigned to. They’re also valued colleagues on the ground who can raise concerns and can step in to help if an incident occurs. Our caretakers are line managed by experienced Managers based in our Neighbourhoods and are there to help with addressing resident concerns that relate to cleaning or grounds maintenance.
How often should we be seeing our Neighbourhood Manager?	We have 140 neighbourhoods altogether, with around 35 located in each region. Each neighbourhood has an assigned Neighbourhood Manager who tries to make themselves known to the residents in their Neighbourhood. This can be about 700 residents, so they won’t know everyone. But they get out and about in their neighbourhoods weekly and work directly to resolve enquiries from residents that come to them via our contact centre.
How are you vetting the sub-contractors who carry out repairs works for Peabody?	When onboarding new subcontractors our contractors carry out a thorough process that includes financial information, insurance, interview and references. Once approved they are issued some work, which is post inspected for quality assurance. Peabody are included in the process and can request for subcontractors to be removed if we believe they are not performing or have breached the contract.
Could you elaborate on how you will pass cultural change forward in the coming year?	We've recently started an internal campaign with colleagues. We're asking colleagues to focus on doing things in a safe, simple and smart way to get the best outcomes for residents and other customers. We think this is a way in which we can start to shape the culture of the organisation and become more focussed on helping our residents flourish, in line with our purpose.
What training/workshops will you put in place - especially for client-facing staff.	We've recently established the Peabody Academy, which provides colleague training in the form of apprenticeships, e-learning and a whole range of accessible learning opportunities for colleagues, to make sure they have the skills they need to do their jobs. You can find out a bit more about the Peabody Academy here.
Communication - the call centre and the online My Peabody is useless. There is no way to get hold of anyone or get answers.	It's not always straightforward to direct residents to a single point of contact, because sometimes issues need input from colleagues in a range of departments to resolve them. Our Contact Centre can help with this, and we'd encourage you to go to them as your first point of contact for a new issue. They will be able to make sure the issue is dealt with by the most appropriate colleagues. You can contact them by calling 0300 1233456, or by raising a case in My Peabody, or you can use a range of online forms that you can find here. If you're having problems using My Peabody then the Contact Centre have a dedicated team who can help you with that - please give them a ring on 0300 1233456. If you’d like a paper copy of this document then please let the Resident Engagement team know and we’ll send one out to you
Can we have an updated list of contacts to make sure that issues are raised to the right team.
For big buildings that have two postcodes only half receives letters of update/changes because the IT system cannot handle two postcodes. Can you find an effective way around the problem?	We can see how frustrating that must be. We'd love to know a bit more detail so we can figure out what isn't working. Please do contact the Resident Engagement team at get.involved@peabody.org.uk with a few more details and we'll work out what we need to do to fix it.
Complaints process always goes over the SLAs - we are still working on complaints from 2021. The excuse is always that Peabody is short of staff - this has been going on for 3 years now and is no longer a valid excuse.	We know that our complaints process needs some resident input to make sure that it's accessible and works the way it's supposed to. So we’re setting up a Complaints Panel, where residents will be involved in shaping the way we respond to complaints, and how we learn from them. If that sounds like your sort of thing then you can apply to be part of the project here
Strategy - focus on complaints, complaints, complaints - this underpins everything.
Do residents and staff feel that Peabody's complaints process is clear, timebound, transparent, accountable and fit for purpose?
A local focus will only work if staff are proactive and there is a high level of accountability to residents.	We agree, and that's why we're committed to setting up regional forums in all our regions this year. They’ll help us understand the unique needs of residents in our different regions, and a key part of that is involving our local TRAs! If you'd like to be involved in shaping your regional forum - drop the Resident Engagement team a line at get.involved@peabody.org.uk
Digital Inclusion - Not everyone has a smart phone that can scan QR Codes. Call older people instead.	Most residents tell us that they prefer to engage with us digitally - about 85% of residents prefer an email. But we understand that's still a lot of people who prefer a call. If you want to get more involved in influencing the way we work, we recommend you join Peabody Voice. If you don't want to do this digitally then give us a ring on 0300 1233456 and ask to speak to any member of the Resident Engagement team - we'll sign you up there and then and make sure it's clear that you prefer a call or an in-person meeting.
Thamesmead has a large population so please continue to communicate with resident effectively in person and on paper.
Where can the residents find details of the Board Meetings?	You can find out a bit more about what's been going on in recent board meetings here.

Getting feedback
Your question	Our answer
Why when a repairs complaint is sent to you it is passed on to your supporting team?	Any incoming communication is sent to the right person to resolve the issue as quickly and effectively as possible. Sometimes this means the person the query is addressed to may forward it on the most appropriate person for a response.
Repairs that are outstanding for over 10 months is not acceptable.	We agree, if there are repairs that are outstanding for that long please do contact us so we can investigate. We are assessing repairs open by age and addressing directly with each individual Contractor.
Online updates and communication does not work for all Residents.	Most residents prefer email, but we offer phone and in-person options too. Call us on 0300 1233456 to let us know which you prefer.
How can Leaseholders escalate their complaint?	If you're dissatisfied with a service you receive from us, or we've not dealt with something in a timely way, you can make a complaint. How we deal with it will depend a bit on the outcome you'd like to see. If you're happy for us to fix the issue then we'll use a process we call service recovery to try and do that. But if you want to make a formal complaint then you can do that instead. There are some details on our approach to complaints on our website
How can Leaseholders escalate their repairs?

Who Peabody works with
Your question	Our answer
How can you hold third party managing agents to account? It feels like Peabody is powerless and residents suffer.	We’re working with external managing agents to ensure that we obtain clear and concise information, alongside timely responses to queries from Peabody residents. Discussions on how we can work more closely are happening at the highest levels, with senior managers from both parties discussing improvements and ways to improve collaborative working. We’ve increased the number of colleagues in both our home ownership and service charge teams to give colleagues more time to build constructive working relationships with external managing agents. We’re also working to improve our internal processes to hold third part managing agents to account. Overall, we’re taking a more pragmatic approach to how we work with managing agents.
Is there a list of properties that Peabody now serve?	We don't publish a definitive list of all the homes we serve. There's some information in our Annual Report about our regional structure and how many homes there are in each of our regions - you can find the report here.

Questions specifically about service charges
Your question	Our answer
Service charges - we always receive estimates without the previous year's actuals. This needs to be improved.	We’re in the process of reviewing the format of our service charge statements and accompanying information. We aim to work closely with resident groups to ensure service charge information is clear and informative. The government have passed new legislation which has provision to standardise the formatting of service charge statements and associated information, and we think this will support the provision of clearer information for residents.
Why is there no transparency regarding the Peabody accounts due to the huge increase in service charges in recent years.	Our aim is to provide information to residents that clearly details outlines the services we are providing, their cost, and a schedule of any works being undertaken. Some information - cleaning and grounds maintenance schedules, for example - can often be found on block notice boards. We’re improving the formatting of our service charge statements to ensure they provide the appropriate level of transparency to break down the cost for each resident. We are also reviewing accompanying documentation to ensure this provides information on the trends which have caused any service charge increases.
Participation - residents need to have a say to what service charges are for. Participation in decision making.	Joining your local Regional Forum, or one of our new resident sub groups, is a great way to influence the way we work on a whole range of issues. We’re setting up a Homeownership Panel, for example, and this is an issue that’s often discussed in meetings with homeowners. If you’d like to know more then contact the Resident Engagement team by emailing get.involved@peabody.org.uk.

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