- Your financesGuidance on paying your rent, and other financial advice and support
- Looking after your homeMaintenance, safety checks, adaptations, gardens, advice
- Looking after your neighbourhoodTackling anti-social behaviour and improving public spaces
- Looking after yourselfSupport for those emerging from difficult circumstances
- Thinking of making a change?Transfers, buying, intermediate rent/shared ownership, garages
- Customer profilingThe more we know, the more we can offer
- Resident involvementJoin us in making decisions that affect your home and community
Customer profiling
At Worthing Homes, we want to make sure that the homes and service we offer as a landlord are of the highest quality, accessible and fair.
The more we know about you, the more we can offer a service that suits your needs. We would like to complete this survey with you so that we have up-to-date information about you and your household.
The customer profile
We recognise that having information about the people in our properties is vital if we are to make sure that our services are effective. The information includes ethnicity, age, gender, employment status, language requirements, religion or belief and sexual orientation of residents. We can then use this information to help adapt our services to meet the needs of our residents and try to make sure that no group is excluded.
Some of you may have already provided information as approximately 600 residents were visited by our customer profiling co-ordinator in their homes between March 2010 to December 2010. The information obtained from the survey included:
- Number of occupants
- Economic status
- Gender
- Age
- Ethnicity
- Disability status
- Wheelchair use
- Visual impairment
- Hearing impairment
- Requirement for information in a language other than English.
Why are we doing another survey?
It is important that we keep information we hold up-to-date. We are sending out another survey in the early part of November 2011. As well as asking you to confirm that the details we already hold are correct, we also ask for information on your religion or belief and sexual orientation together with other important information. You may feel that they do not wish to supply this information and of course they are under no obligation to do so. Access to these details, however, will help us to meet the housing needs of our residents, relate to residents in appropriate ways and work towards eliminating discrimination in the communities we serve.
We want our services to be accessible to any customer who wants to use them. We want to understand which customers use a service and this will in turn help us identify where we may need to adapt and change to ensure customers are not disadvantaged in any way as a result of who they are and where they live.
By completing a customer profile questionnaire you are helping us to better serve you. It will also help us build up a picture of the demographics of our customer base and this will help us develop appropriate services for the future.
What kind of questions are we asking and why?
There are a range of types of questions asked and a couple are of a more sensitive nature. We understand that some customers may choose not to answer certain questions. The following information aims to explain what the types of questions are, why we ask them and how the information will be used:
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Customer contact details – customers have said that how we communicate is one of the most important things we need to get right. Knowing who to contact and how is critical to achieving this.
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Customer demographics – this includes things such as age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, household makeup, employment or economic status and health. We can see whether the makeup of our customers matches that in the wider community. The information will help us see if the homes, neighbourhoods and services we provide meet peoples’ current and future needs. It will help us to check that our services are accessible and whether peoples’ experience of our services is any different as a result of whom they are.
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Customer needs – knowing that a customer needs us to tailor a service to take account of their culture or belief or because they are disabled or as a result of other health factors will help ensure that the customers experience of using a service is as positive as possible.
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Customer aspirations – knowing what customers would like to do in the future about their housing options help us when we are looking at the size of homes we will be building in the future and whether they are for rent or provide opportunities for home ownership. Knowing which customers want to be involved in how the association is run, be part of the decision making process or to be involved in issues that affect their neighbourhood and community helps us to engage and support those customers to make a difference to the services provided.
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Customer’s idea about how we can improve – those experiencing a service first hand are the best people to identify how a service could be improved. The majority of service improvements and changes we have made in recent times have been as a result of customer feedback.
How confidential is the process?
All personal information provided by you will be held in confidence and only used by Worthing Homes Limited to develop deliver and monitor services. We will only publish broad demographic information about the profile of our whole customer base.
What information will be saved on our computer system?
It will be held and used in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998. We will not share personal information without your express consent unless required to do so by law.
What do some of these terms mean?
Some of the words and phrases used in the questionnaire may not be familiar ones to all customers. We hope the extra information below helps:
Nationality – is the nation or country that you belong to as a result of your birth place or being a Naturalised British Citizen. (A Naturalised British Citizen is the acquisition of citizenship by someone who is not a citizen or national of that country when he or she was born).
Ethnicity – the racial or cultural group that you identify with and whose customs and beliefs you follow. We are committed to ensuring that all ethnic groups receive fair treatment and equal access to our services. By providing this information customers will help us to monitor how well we are achieving this.
Transgender – is the term used by people whose gender identity or expression differs from their birth gender. This term may be used by people who consider themselves to be transsexual, cross dressing or a transvestite.
Heterosexual or straight – people attracted towards and who have romantic or sexual relationships with people of the opposite sex.
Gay and Lesbian – people attracted towards and who have romantic or sexual relationships with people of the same sex.
Bisexual – people attracted towards and who have romantic or sexual relationships with people of both sexes.
Carer – a carer may be a member of your family or a friend as well as a professional working for Social Services or another organisation including the voluntary sector.
We have included some frequently asked questions to help with any queries you may have.
If you have any queries, need more information or would like help completing this questionnaire please contact our Customer Profiling Co-ordinator, Antonia Jeffers on 01903 703 194. Alternatively drop into Davison House, North Street or drop into our Community House, 25 Dominion Road, East Worthing where our friendly staff will be more than happy to help.
