What we have done with resident feedback 2024/25

Getting involved

We know lots of you want to get involved, give your feedback and help us improve our services. We are creating options with residents to make sure there are several ways we can hear your views such as discussion groups, mystery shopping, online consultation and surveys. 

Keep checking our consultation website and tenant and homeowner involvement pages for more information on how you can have your say.

In 2024/25, we have added ways you can get involved, give us feedback and help us improve services. 

Surveys, focus groups and other ways to have your say

Join the resident involvement register and you can take part in online and telephone surveys or focus groups about housing topics that really matter to you.

There are other activities, like “mystery shopper”, where you report back on our services without our staff knowing you will be doing this, or attending drop-in sessions on estates.

This year, we have carried out “mystery shopping" of our repairs service and held focus groups with our residents on: 

• what you want to see in our annual report
• how we are training our repairs staff 
• whether our webpages were user-friendly
• helping us with our review of our Tenants and Resident Associations handbook

We have 285 residents on our resident involvement register. 65 residents joined this year.

We want to make sure that our diverse borough is represented and we hear the views of people from all backgrounds and cultures. Sign up by filling in this form. For more information about what is available and how you can take part: 

• email service.development@islington.gov.uk
• call 020 7527 4498

Tenants and Residents Associations

We have 42 Tenants and Residents Associations (TRAs) on our estates. To find out more about this and how to join a TRA, email HomesandCommunities@islington.gov.uk.

What we have done 

Resident Service Improvement Group

We formed our Resident Service Improvement Group in April 2024 and they have met every six weeks.

Ten resident volunteers - six tenants and four leaseholders - are working with us to improve services. In 2024/25, the group has reviewed our:

• estate parking
• management of shared (communal) areas
• repairs policy
• fire safety

RSIG members also helped us recruit roofing and scaffolding contractors and helped shape our plans for a complaints panel and our communications with you.

Talking about their first year of being part of the group, RSIG members said:

“Being a member of the RSIG over the past year has been an incredibly rewarding experience. It has provided me with the opportunity to represent residents, influence change, and collaborate with council representatives and fellow residents who share a passion for enhancing housing services and community life.”

"It's been a valuable experience being part of RSIG in its first year. I’ve appreciated the opportunity to meet with council officers and senior management as well as understanding more about how housing services work behind the scenes. The intention to involve residents more meaningfully feels genuine, and I believe we’re heading in the right direction.”

We will be recruiting for two new members of this group in late 2025. We will let you know how to apply on our council tenant and homeowner involvement page, estate notice boards, electronic notice boards and social media. Let us know if you want to support us to improve services.

Tenant and leaseholder forums

We held two tenant forum meetings and two leaseholder forum meetings in the north and south of Islington in late spring 2025. After these trial forums, we will now hold them every three months in the north, central and south of the borough.

Forums will give both tenants and leaseholders a new way to raise issues that matter to you, hear about plans for the areas you live in and meet with staff who deliver your services.

We asked residents who attended the first forums what issues they wanted to discuss at future meetings because we want to include topics that are important to you. We will talk about our repair and maintenance services, how we manage anti-social behaviour and estate services in upcoming forums.

We will have more information about forums on our website, estate notice boards, electronic notice boards and social media.

Homes and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Committee

The Homes and Communities Scrutiny Committee oversees community safety, housing estates, housing repairs and safety, housing need and homelessness.

The purpose of the scrutiny committee is to:

• review the performance of local services
• explore decisions and actions we take on the areas they cover
• contribute to the review and development of council policy
• make recommendations to improve service delivery for residents

In 2024/25, we recruited two tenants and one leaseholder to the committee. This makes sure we have your voice as part of our democratic scrutiny and these the residents' insights will be very important in helping elected members scrutinise housing services and drive improvements.

Estate drop-ins and fun days

In the past year, we carried out over 100 community drop-in sessions and fun days on our estates. These events let residents speak with housing staff, find out about what was going on in their local area and give feedback on our services. These events bring resident involvement to you in your area and make us more visible on estates.

• We held two Somali Fun Days to promote housing services and build connections with one of our largest ethnic communities, with over 300 residents attending. They included information stalls, community talks, food and entertainment. 

Through drop-in sessions and fun days, residents have been active in contributing to the improvement of their neighbourhoods and services. Thank you to everyone who has contributed. 

We will be running more estate drop-ins and fun days throughout the year.

Over the past year, some of the things we have done include:

• Local engagement: Drop-in sessions across north, central and south areas of Islington, covering all 17 wards
• GP practice pilots: Housing advice sessions in GP surgeries to “make every contact count” and support vulnerable residents
• Community fun days: Borough-wide events with family activities.
• Shared Engagement Calendar: Improved visibility and coordination of events.
• Tenant and Leaseholder Forums

We have recruited six new Resident Empowerment Officers who will be working with residents to empower and make tenant voices stronger. We will update you about more chances to get involved in 2026. 

You said, we did in 2024/25

You told us what you needed and we:

• changed the title of our resident engagement strategy to ‘Resident Involvement and Participation Strategy’ after getting your feedback and wanting to show that the main point of the strategy is that we are working more with you and taking your viewpoints
• added an extra recycling bin at Jersey House and planned making the bin area bigger with fire-safe enclosures fixing the overflowing recycling bins and showing we are planning for the longer term
• are reviewing our complaints process because of your reports of slow replies and repeated requests for information
• are reviewing our rehousing policy so that we put families facing domestic violence or those with disabled children first
• helped get a request for a bike hangar installation at Trecastle Way planned for installation in 2026

Resident Complaints Panel

We set up our Residents Complaint Panel in 2024/25. The panel meets three times per year and helps us to: 

• improve the experience for residents making complaints 
• learn from complaints to improve our services 
• improve the accessibility of our complaints service
• better understand what causes escalation of complaints from stage 1 to stage 2 

We work hard to deliver high quality services at all times to every one of our residents, but we know that we don’t always get it right.  

When things go wrong, it’s important that we listen to what you are telling us, act quickly to put it right and learn from our mistakes.

Your feedback in 2024/25 and what we are doing about it

You told us that you are most concerned with:

• repairs in your homes
• anti-social behaviour (ASB)
• our handling of complaints

Based on these complaints, we have done the following.

Repairs and maintenance

• The ‘find my operative’ tracking system shows you when your repair appointment should happen and when you are the next job in the line. 
• "What happens next" cards let you know what the next steps are if a repair can't be done on the first visit.
• We have updated the information we need to collect from you on phone calls for roofing, leaks, shower leaks and electrical issues to help us complete jobs on the first visit.

Redesigned tenancy services

• We have made sure that you, and our accountability to you, is at the centre of our service.
• Our new smaller patch sizes mean that you know your local housing officer and we know more about everyone we're serving.  

Better resourcing of our complaints service

We are investing more in complaints management to keep our focus on resolution and high-quality responses sent good time. 

Learning from complaints

We are still dedicated to making sure everyone gets the best possible service and that we deal with your concerns quickly, effectively and with care.

To make the most of what we've learned from your complaints, we are:

• tackling the causes of our most common causes for complaint
• working to understand which complaints are escalated in the complaints process and why
• bringing in a team to gather feedback surveys about your experience of the complaints process
• working with our resident complaints panel to get your views on how we can best resolve complaints

Professional development of our staff

Professional, understanding and well-trained staff are at the heart of a good service. We continue to give our staff the knowledge and skills they need to work with you by a yearly set of training for existing staff and detailed starter training for new staff. 

How to make a complaint and what happens next

To make a complaint:

• use the council complaints form 
• email customer.solutions@islington.gov.uk
• call us on 020 7527 7701
• write to us at Customer Solutions, Housing Operations, 222 Upper Street, Islington, N1 1XR

You can also make your complaint to a member of staff, such as your caretaker, concierge or a repairs operative, and ask that they pass your concerns on to the Customer Solutions team.

When we receive your complaint, you should get a reply to say we have received your complaint within five working days and a formal response in 10 working days after that.

If for any reason we can't meet these deadlines, we will contact you to let you know and to keep you updated on the progress of your complaint.

Let us know what you think of our annual report

If you would like to give any feedback on this year’s annual report to residents, contact service.development@islington.gov.uk. Tell us what you found interesting or what you thought was missing and what sort of information you want included in future annual reports.