You said, we’re doing

We really value your views as they help to shape and improve the services you receive from us.

By listening to you, we gain a better understanding of your needs and what is important to you. This helps to make sure we do things better or carry on doing the things that we are doing well.

Acting on your views is a key part of the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Consumer Standard set out by the Regulator of Social Housing, which is all about making sure that we are open with tenants. It’s also part of how we hope to achieve our Corporate Plan objective of being customer focused.

Ways we are improving the service you receive from us

OngoPhotograph by Richard Walker/ImageNorth

A new approach to delivering our services

Following feedback from you, we’ve made important changes to how we deliver our frontline services, to reflect your priorities and provide the quality you deserve. The decision to change how we deliver our services came from feedback we received through a 2024 tenant engagement survey, which saw over 1500 responses.

Our new neighbourhoods approach aims to improve the way we deliver our housing management, property allocation, customer contact, and repairs and maintenance services, ensuring that they meet your needs. By changing our approach, we also aim to do things like improve overall customer satisfaction and ensure regulatory compliance.

Our Neighbourhoods approach

  • We have three regions, made up of nine or ten neighbourhoods in each.
  • We have introduced the role of ‘Neighbourhood Officer’ to replace our Tenancy Officers and Lettings Officer roles, who are part of an overall Neighbourhoods team.
  • Our maintenance teams work regionally too, reducing travel time and ensuring more efficient ways of working.
  • We have a newly formed Customer Hub, to work on more transactional tasks, freeing up our Neighbourhood Officers to be out within their communities.

Each region has a Regional Manager for Neighbourhoods and Maintenance, as well as an Anti-Social Behaviour Officer, Support Officer, and a dedicated Neighbourhood Officer for each neighbourhood within those regions.

Our new approach ensures that tenants have one point of contact for everything relating to their tenancy, and that they receive a consistent service from their Neighbourhood Officer and those within their regional team.

Ongo repairs

Repairs and Maintenance update

We’ve made lots of progress in improving the delivery of our repairs and maintenance service, and we’re pleased to see this being reflected in the positive feedback we’re receiving from you.

Below are some of the next key things we’re looking into:

Maintenance Policy
We revised our Maintenance Policy to ensure it reflects current legislation, strengthens our approach to building safety, and supports a more consistent and customer‑focused service. The updated policy brings greater clarity on roles, responsibilities, and service standards, helping us respond more effectively to residents’ needs while improving accountability across our teams and contractors.

Repairs customer journey
Based on your feedback, we’re working to improve how we communicate with you throughout the repairs process, ensuring you receive updates at every stage. We’re looking to launch this in April 2026.

Van stock increase
Our vans now stock more parts to be able to fix repairs more quickly and avoid delays. We are working with our materials provider JPS to look at the usage of materials, and we are regularly making changes to van stock and the core range of products held by our suppliers to enable repairs to be completed sooner.

Repeat repairs review
We’re conducting a comprehensive review of repeat repairs to understand the reasons behind them and identify how we can reduce the risk of them happening.

Making urgent repairs a priority
Alongside our dedicated repairs phone line, our Customer Advisors will have greater capacity to schedule urgent repairs, thanks to the introduction of a new category for non‑urgent requests. This will help us prioritise emergencies more effectively and improve overall response times.

Warranty repairs
We’re working with Ideal to develop a process which allows us to carry out repairs on those boilers which are still under warranty. This will help reduce delays and speed up the overall repairs process. We’re looking to begin this process from 1 April 2026.

Flagging follow-on works
Additional works needed to complete a repair will be more visible on our systems, ensuring they aren’t missed and that regular communication is provided.

Reviewing duplicate repairs
Our customers can report repairs in several different ways, which sometimes leads to multiple jobs being raised for the same issue. We’re reviewing our processes to identify and reduce these duplications, helping us create more capacity and speed up the overall repairs process.

Working together with our contractors
We’ve introduced regular joint meetings with all our contractors to review performance, share good practice, and make sure everyone is working to the same high standard. We’re using your feedback, real examples, and data from our checks to drive improvements. This will result in a more reliable, consistent service— from whoever carries out your repair. You should see better communication, clearer expectations, and a more joined‑up approach when we visit your home.

OngoPhotograph by Richard Walker/ImageNorth

Customer Contact Centre improvements

Emergency repairs line
Following on from your feedback, as well as feedback from Ongo staff, we now have a dedicated emergency repairs phone line throughout the day.

Having a dedicated phone line for emergency repairs allows us to prioritise these types of calls and get you the help you need more quickly.

Before the change, there was an average waiting time of over 12 minutes. By changing the way we work we are now answering on average 89% of all calls in under five minutes, with most, on average, being answered in under one minute.

100% of emergency repairs calls are being answered within five minutes.

Customer service training
We’ve put in place mandatory customer service training for all operational colleagues to ensure consistent communications, following feedback from tenants that sometimes this hadn’t been up to the standard we expect. 

We also quality control our calls to identify where advisors may benefit from more training and development. This also ensures that we are consistently delivering a positive and professional service. 

Out-of-hours feedback
We are meeting more often with our out-of-hours contractor following feedback that tenants have received an inconsistent service. 

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Neighbourhood Engagement events

Our Neighbourhood Engagement events are taking place in various areas across the region. The aim of these events is to engage with tenants and customers and understand first-hand any issues so that they can be actioned quickly, as well as any areas that can be improved.

Our Neighbourhood Services teams accompany the visits to carry out general tidying and weed clearing, if it’s needed.

Actions we’re taking following these events can be found below.

Actions we’re taking following our Neighbourhood Engagement events

Here are the actions we’ve taken following our Neighbourhood Engagement event in Crosby area, Scunthorpe:

  • We’ve shared information with tenants about our services to help them to sustain their tenancy.
  • We have identified and are directly working with some tenants to provide extra support.
  • We have installed a fence as a boundary to the rear of Robinson Close. This will help to restrict access to the area and will help to prevent ASB. A request for a gate installation has been passed to our contractor.
  • We’re looking into working on a disused/overgrown area – which is seeing flytipping – as part of our biodiversity project work. If chosen as a priority location, this work would take place in the next financial year. A site visit will take place to assess.
  • An area which contained needles was cleared during the event, and we’re linking in with the Police and Crime Commissioners to highlight this area to local teams.
  • We have supplied equipment to enable a mobility scooter to be stored safely.
  • We have contacted tenants who expressed an interest in getting involved with our tenant panels, such as Tenant Inspectors.

Here are the actions we’ve taken following our Neighbourhood Engagement event in Allenby Close, Lincoln:

  • We signposted tenants to information available on the Ongo website and social media around our Skills and Personal Development and tenancy sustainment initiatives.
  • We have identified and are directly working with some tenants to provide extra support.
  • We reported a repair on behalf of a tenant, with a scheduled visit and completion date the following month.
  • We are liaising with local Police Officers to ensure an increased presence in the area.
  • We have liaised with the local council to address the boundaries and responsibility of bin stores and fly tipping, which has seen an increased presence from them to help tackle it, and a closer working partnership between us.
  • We are looking into the possibility of a play area/safe space for children, following discussions with residents. We will follow this up with the local council and police teams. This is a larger piece of work and we will update when we can.
  • We have investigated reports of dog fouling in the area, and now believe this issue has been rectified.
  • We will be taking feedback received around information tenants would like to see at the start of their tenancy forward for consideration.
  • We have contacted tenants who expressed an interest in getting involved with our tenant panels.
  • Our contractors, Ground Control, will be instructed to complete a summer light prune and winter hard prune to overgrown hedges at some properties. A grass cutting schedule is in place and this is meeting our targets. Bush pruning is ongoing.
  • New Ongo signage for flat numbers and communal areas has now been installed.
  • We have raised a repair to fix a raised manhole cover with rubbish inside.
  • New signage identifying bin store numbers is in place, which is hoped to resolve/identify any fly-tipping issues.

Here are the actions we’ve taken following our Neighbourhood Engagement event in Allenby Close, Lincoln:

  • We signposted some tenants to information about our Skills and Personal Development and tenancy sustainment initiatives.
  • We encouraged residents to report any criminal issues to the police.
  • Our Neighbourhoods team are aware of a slip issue caused by trees to the rear of the flats. This is the responsibility of homeowners who own the private land to prune the trees.
  • We have liaised with North Lincolnshire Council to advise that residents have informed us that bins are not always being collected.
  • We have contacted tenants who expressed an interest in getting involved with our tenant panels.

 

Here are the actions we’ve taken following our Neighbourhood Engagement event in Chatterton Crescent, Scunthorpe:

  • We signposted some tenants to information about our Skills and Personal Development, tenancy sustainment initiatives, and specialist housing facility.
  • We have identified and are directly working with some tenants to provide extra support.
  • Extra security, lighting, CCTV cameras, fixed signs and notices have since been added across the building.
  • We have contacted tenants who expressed an interest in getting involved with our tenant panels.

Here are the actions we’ve taken following our Neighbourhood Engagement event in Lincoln Court, Scunthorpe:

  • We are arranging some further communication about heating costs for some residents, and letters have since been delivered.
  • We are liaising with some residents about our Skills and Personal Development and tenancy sustainment initiatives.
  • We have contacted tenants who expressed an interest in getting involved with our tenant panels.

These actions refer to door-knocking that took place in the following areas during 2025: Salacon Way, Wigmore Court, Weelsby Street, Hamilton Street, Bradman Court, Hilda Street and Calvi Court.

  • We provided residents with information about property moves.
  • We raised a request to our Neighbourhoods team to trim a hedge more often on Weelsby Street (twice a year) following requests from residents.
  • We gave information about occupational therapy referrals to residents.
  • We raised a request with our Income team to discuss financial support options with a resident.
  • We shared details of potential ASB in some areas with Neighbourhood Officers.
  • We’re investigating reports of windows not being cleaned with our contractors.
  • We’re liaising with North East Lincolnshire Council to confirm bin provisions in the area, and we requested a black bin for one resident.
  • We have contacted tenants who expressed an interest in getting involved with our tenant panels, such as Tenant Inspectors.

These actions refer to door-knocking that took place in the following areas during December 2025: Padstow Walk, Beaford Court, Melbury Walk, and Lynmouth Drive.

  • We have raised referrals with our Sustainment Coach, Income, and Skills and Personal Development teams for tenants.
  • Neighbourhood Officers are liaising with tenants over some ASB concerns in the area.
  • Neighbourhood Officers are looking into bin stores to tackle fly-tipping in the area. Fly-tipping is being reviewed and reported by Ongo colleagues on a weekly basis.
  • Neighbourhood Officers are planning two further estate walkabouts during 2026 to record any issues as they occur.
  • We have contacted tenants who expressed an interest in getting involved with our tenant panels.

These actions refer to door-knocking that took place in the Market Hill area of Scunthorpe during November 2025.

  • Information was given to tenants about fire doors.
  • Information was given to tenants about Occupational Health referrals.
  • Information was given to tenants about Home Choice Lincs.
  • Referrals were made to our Income team to provide assistance around financial support options.
  • Tenants were reminded to report ASB, which can be done quickly using the My Home app, or to call the police if there is an immediate threat.
  • Tenants were contacted by the Neighbourhood Officer to remind them of the dangers of throwing items out of windows.
  • Joint visits have been arranged for the both the police and Safer Neighbourhoods team to visit the area.
  • An emergency repair was raised to repair a magnet on a front door.
  • Tenants were informed that parking is managed by an external agency.
Customer Focus Committee

Customer Focus Committee

Our Customer Focus Committee, which includes Ongo tenants, reports to the Ongo Homes Board, and was set-up to make sure our tenant voices are an integral part of our governance structures.

Tenants know and experience our services every day, therefore they are the experts and we need them to be involved in the strategic decision making of the organisation.

Find minutes of the meetings here