1. Introduction
1.1. Failures highlighted by the Grenfell Tower tragedy exposed poor employee competence, weak complaint handling, and lack of resident respect in social housing.
1.2. Government reviews concluded that professional standards and culture in the sector must improve, with senior leaders key to drive change.
1.3. The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 gives the Regulator power to set standards on employee competence and conduct.
1.4. Senior housing executives and managers, and relevant managers of comprehensive service providers, must hold or work towards recognised housing qualifications.
1.5. We place residents at the heart of everything we do. Our services are designed to support individuals and communities to live healthy, safe, and independent lives. We recognise that poor housing and vulnerability can significantly impact wellbeing, and we will work proactively to support residents to sustain their tenancies wherever possible.
1.6. We will use customer insight, feedback, and data to continuously shape and improve our services, ensuring they meet the diverse and changing needs of our residents.
1.7. Within this policy, when we refer to the term “You”, we are referring to our residents and when we use the term “We”, we are referring to Fairhive, our employees and those acting on our behalf.
2. Policy Statement
2.1. We are committed to providing housing services that are safe, reliable, accessible and community focused and delivered with care and respect.
2.2. Everyone who works for us, or on our behalf is expected to have the right skills and knowledge to do their job well. Just as importantly, we expect our employees, consultants, contractors and agency workers to behave professionally, act fairly and treat people with care and respect.
2.3. We believe you should be listened to and taken seriously. Your views, concerns, and experiences matter, and we expect our employees, consultants and agency workers to respond in a helpful, timely and respectful way. Communicationshould always be clear, honest and considerate.
2.4. Our managers and leaders are responsible for setting high standards and making sure these expectations are met. They work to create a positive culture, where employees are supported to keep improving and where you are treated with dignity, understanding, and respect at all times.
2.5. By doing this, we aim to increase trust, improve the quality of our services, and make sure you feel respected and supported in your home.
3. Our Commitment to You
3.1. We are committed to:
- Treating you as an equal and a partner in resolving issues.
- Valuing your time, lived experience and individual circumstances.
- Communicating clearly, consistently and honestly.
- Respecting diversity, inclusion and belonging.
- Using your data responsibly and transparently.
3.2. We recognise that you may have different skills, knowledge, confidence levels and access to communication channels, and we will adapt our approach to suit your needs.
4. Accessible and Inclusive Services
4.1. We are committed to ensuring our services are accessible, flexible and inclusive.
4.2. You will:
- Be able to access services in a way that suits your needs (including digital and non-digital channels).
- Receive clear, jargon-free, up to date information.
- Be supported to maintain independence and sustain your tenancy.
- Have opportunities to influence and shape services.
4.3. We will:
- Support digital inclusion while maintaining alternative access routes.
- Adapt communication and delivery methods for vulnerable residents.
- Ensure equality of access for all groups.
5. Professional Behaviour Standards
5.1. Respect and Equality:
All employees, consultants, contractors and agency workers must:
- Treat you with courtesy, patience and empathy at all times.
- Avoid dismissive, belittling or prejudiced behaviour.
- Never make assumptions based on a resident’s background, appearance or communication style.
- Listen carefully to what you say and take concerns seriously.
- Demonstrate a ‘can-do’ approach and proactive problem solving.
- Resolve enquiries at the first point of contact wherever possible.
- Be trained in customer care, equality, diversity, safeguarding and data protection.
- Recognise and respond appropriately to vulnerability.
- Provide advice or signpost to appropriate support services.
We take a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination in all its forms. We are committed to promoting equality and being open to diversity and inclusion. We will challenge discrimination, working to create an environment where everyone is treated with respect and fairness.
5.2. Communication and accountability:
Professional communication means:
- Explaining clearly what action is required, what will happen next and why.
- Avoiding passing you between teams without ownership or follow-up.
- Ensuring the right information is collected during the first contact to prevent repeat visits or wasted appointments.
- Updating you promptly when appointments change or work cannot proceed.
You should never be left uncertain about what is happening or who is responsible.
5.3. Respecting your time and home:
Employees, consultants, contractors and agency workers must:
- Arrive within agreed appointment windows and respect your schedules.
- Keep you informed if delays occur.
- Gain permission before using your utilities (e.g. electricity, heating).
- Never enter or interfere with your home without consent.
- Leave your home safe, secure and tidy.
Unprofessional actions such as entering through windows, unplugging equipment without consent, or failing to log incidents are unacceptable and must be reported to us.
6. Handling Resident Data
6.1. Principles:
Your data must be:
- Collected only where necessary;
- Accurate, complete and recorded correctly;
- Used only for legitimate service delivery purposes;
- Stored and shared securely, in line with data protection legislation, and;
- Accessible to you through agreed channels where appropriate.
Transparency is essential. You have the right to understand how your information is used.
6.2. Recording and information quality:
All employees, consultants, contractors and agency workers must:
- Accurately record contacts, visits, repairs, inspections, incidents and resident concerns.
- Log household data, including information about any vulnerabilities.
- Report unplanned events, safety issues or intrusive actions to us immediately.
- Ensure inspection and safety check records reflect what has actually been completed.
- Never mark checks as completed unless they have been fully carried out.
Poor data quality undermines trust and could compromise safety.
7. Contractors and Professional Standards
7.1. Contactors, consultants and agency workers working on our properties must:
- Meet the same standards of professionalism as our employees.
- Inspect work thoroughly before sign-off.
- Follow our standards for safety checks and quality assurance.
7.2. We will:
- Inspect contractor work, where necessary.
- Act on feedback from you.
- Challenge unprofessional conduct robustly.
8. Listening to You and Learning from Feedback
8.1. We value your feedback as a vital resource for driving service improvement.
We will:
- Actively gather feedback through multiple channels, recognising that some of you may not answer unfamiliar phone calls.
- Encourage feedback at the end of jobs and aftercare interactions.
- Act on issues raised rather than ignoring or minimising concerns.
- Regularly report performance and outcomes to you.
- Ensure you can hold us accountable.
- Ensure that employees, consultants, contractors and agency workers must use feedback as an opportunity to learn and continuously improve our services.
- Report customer feedback to senior leadership and use it to improve service delivery.
9. Ownership and Problem Resolution
9.1. Professionalism means taking responsibility.
Employees, consultants, contractors and agency workers must:
- Own issues until they are resolved or clearly handed over.
- Address the specific problem raised, not deflect or minimise it.
- Escalate concerns appropriately when you are dissatisfied.
- Respect you when you challenge decisions.
When you raise an issue, you are not being difficult but are helping us to improve.
10. Partnership Working and Community Focus
10.1. We will work collaboratively with partner organisations to:
- Support you with wider needs such as health, employment, and financial inclusion.
- Deliver joined-up services at the right time.
- Safeguard children, young people and vulnerable adults.
10.2. We recognise that housing alone does not resolve all challenges, and we will take a holistic approach to supporting residents and communities.
11. Performance and Accountability
11.1. Our service standards will be monitored through:
- Customer Service Commitments.
- Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs).
- Resident feedback and engagement.
11.2. We will regularly monitor how effective this policy is by reviewing customer feedback, service performance measures, complaints, and customer satisfaction data.
11.3. This information helps us understand how well we are meeting customers' needs and identify opportunities to improve their experience.
11.4. We will share our findings with managers and teams to support continuous improvement, recognise good practice, and address any areas where service standards are not being met.
11.5. The policy will be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure it continues to support the delivery of excellent customer service.
11.6. We will publish performance information so that our progress is transparent and can be reviewed. We will use the results to identify learning opportunities and drive business improvements.
11.7. We will also seek external validation of our customer service standards where appropriate.
12. Breaches of this Policy
12.1. If you believe we have not acted in line with principles set out in this policy, we encourage you to tell us.
12.2. You can:
- Speak to the member of staff you have been dealing with.
- Contact our Customer Services Team.
- Make a complaint through our Complaints Procedure.
12.3. We will take your concerns seriously, investigate them fairly, and let you know the outcome.
We will record and monitor concerns and complaints to help us learn and improve our services.
All breaches should be reported and recorded.
13. What this Means for You and Your Home
13.1. The Competency & Conduct Standard – Policy Statement on Qualifications Requirements for Social Housing in England is a mandatory regulatory framework taking effect in October 2026 under the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).
13.2. It requires registered providers to maintain written policies covering staff skills, performance appraisals, codes of conduct, and mandatory housing management qualifications for senior leaders.
13.3. For you, these changes are designed to lead to improvements in service quality through:
- Better managed and more reliable services.
- Employees who communicate clearly and treat people with fairness and respect.
- A stronger focus on understanding and responding to residents’ needs.
- Greater accountability for the quality of services provided.
- Strong leadership that promotes high standards and a positive culture across the organisation.
13.4. These changes will not affect the services you receive day to day, and you do not need to do anything differently. There is a phased implementation, over a 3 year period, to allow housing providers to meet the new requirements without disrupting services.
13.5. Our commitment: We will continue to develop our people so that services remain safe, professional, resident-focused, and aligned with the expectations of the RSH Competence and Conduct Standard.
14. Impacts
Resident/Employee Implications -
This policy clearly explains what behaviour and actions are expected from you, employees and contractors. It is based on legal requirements set out in the Transparency, Influence and Accountability (TI&A) Standard.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion -
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in service delivery and employment.
We will ensure:
- Equal access to services.
- Fair and inclusive treatment.
Compliance with the Equality Act 2010
Value for Money -
We will work more efficiently by listening to you, getting things right the first time, and making our services easy for everyone to access and use.
Data Protection -
We will ensure all employees, consultants, contractors and agency workers understand and adhere to section 6. Handling Residents Data.
Accountability -
This policy was co-designed with the Resident Forum.
Quality -
This policy puts you, our customers at the heart of all we do and ensures that service design and delivery is led by your needs.
When Things go Wrong -
Residents can communicate concerns through our formal channels: via telephone, email, our website or our social media channels.
15. Related Legislation
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy
Complaints, Compliments & Compensation Policy
| Author | Heather Moore |
| Job title | Organisation Development Manager |
| Date approved | September 2026 |
| Review due date | September 2029 |
