Welcome to the Customer Annual Review for the last financial year – covering April 2024 to March 2025.

We do this every year to give you a quick glimpse into what’s been going on with Stonewater and the people in our homes and communities.

Every year comes with challenges and changes, and you’ll see in the pages of this document the ways we've responded to the things that have come up.

Here are some of my highlights:

After a successful pilot in Somerset where we improved customer satisfaction by changing the way we deliver our services, we’re looking at how we can do this in more areas.

You’ve told us you’re busy, and waiting on the phone or having to chase us up for results is not something you want to have to do.

As a result of your feedback - including direct input from our Scrutiny Panel - we’ve worked to reduce waiting times. We’ve got more people in our Customer Service Centre and we’ve implemented some new ways of working around the things that matter to you, like repairs, to help you get the result you need, quicker.

We had 10 successful Community Days, with more planned for this summer, where we were able to get out with our customers and contracting partners to make improvements, share suggestions and have a chat about what’s going on, locally.

Following feedback from people who have used our anti-social behaviour (ASB) service, customers who have made complaints, our Customer Complaints Learning Panel and our Scrutiny Panel, we've focused on making sure the team has the right expertise and resources to support you and made the service simpler for you to use and be kept informed on what’s going on.

We’ve successfully rolled out our Customer Census and will be using what we learned about our customers to improve our services.

You told us that improving your Grounds Maintenance Service was a priority for you, so we’ve worked with new and existing contracting partners to do this. We’ve also created easier ways for you to report problems when you see them, and look up when we’re due to visit your scheme and what work we’re going to be completing.

Above everything else, keeping you safe is our main priority and we’ve worked with customers to create a Customer Building Safety Strategy that lets you know how we can work together to do this.

I speak to a lot of customers, and if there’s one thing that I hear the most, it’s that Stonewater needs to focus on improving communication. And I know that’s not just telling you the things you need to know, but listening to you when you have an issue, keeping you updated on what’s going on with the things you reported and getting things to the right people so they can respond in the right way.