Client : Alliance Homes
Alliance Homes have been working with our partner organisation, Tentacles Consultancy, to refresh their approach to scrutiny.
Alliance Homes have been working with our partner organisation, Tentacles Consultancy, to refresh their approach to scrutiny. Firstly, the Customer Scrutiny Panel (CuSP) rolled up their sleeves and took a look at what’s working well in Alliance Homes’ services – and what could be improved. CuSP is a group of Alliance Homes customers who work independently to review, challenge and influence how services are delivered. They kicked things off with a fun little mini-game called Scrutiny Prioritisation where they sorted through the service areas to figure out which ones would have the biggest impact on customers, colleagues, and Alliance as a whole.
After lots of thoughtful discussion, CuSP narrowed it down to three top focus areas:
- Repairs
- Allocations
- Empty homes management
To dig deeper, the group held a Discovery Session, where they invited Alliance Homes colleagues from these areas to join in the fun! It was a great chance to hear about real challenges, future plans, and ask lots of questions (shout out to the Service Delivery Manager who took it as a win that her team was chosen for scrutiny – now that’s the spirit!).
Michelle Benson (Service Delivery Manager) said:
“I love meeting customers and hearing what it feels like to receive the services I’m responsible for delivering. How can I expect to deliver a service that customers value and rate highly if I don’t ask them what we’re getting right and where things go wrong. Learning from customers is the best way to improve our services.”
The session gave everyone a chance to reflect on how things have been done in the past – and where we’re headed next. Unsurprisingly, just like in many places across the sector, repairs came out as the top priority.
CuSP chose Game of Homes as their scrutiny tool. The playful, interactive nature of the game sparked loads of ideas, feedback, and real lightbulb moments from both customers and colleagues. Having customer-facing colleagues from the call centre and maintenance team there made the conversations even more insightful.
After lots of lively chats, the group landed on three ideas to take forward:
- Exploring ways to invest in older properties
- Reviewing appointment times and how flexible they are
- Improving communication when there are follow-on works
These weren’t just wish-list items either. Using knowledge shared in the session the group built on things already in motion at Alliance Homes, like a pilot project for preventative home checks, which is currently in development and aims to identify repairs and proactively assist customers with any support needs.
The group also came up with some ‘golden rules’ for how to communicate better when follow-on works are required. Simple but powerful stuff!
CuSP member Hannah Bloodworth shared:
“It’s a fantastic way to scrutinise. I preferred it to models we used before. I found it easier.”
Mary Adams, another CuSP member, added after reading the Game of Homes report:
“I can see where I contributed to the output, which is reassuring and reflects the value of this approach.”
Game of Homes is a fresh approach to scrutiny with customers at the heart of it all. Why not give it a try?
