Mutual Exchange Staff Session Tues 10 May 2016, 10.00-11.30am Attendees: Libby Tilson/Jill Hayton – Business Strategy Housing Options Assistants – 5 members of staff across Hub network Activity One: What is working well? -
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Walker – mutual exchange happening well. Customers need hand holding through the process but customers are finding their own exchanges locally through word of mouth informal processes are working and people want to move within their own areas. Mutual exchange has reduced rent arrears on many cases where customers pay off their arrears suddenly after being in debt for some time so that they can move. It is a good incentive to clear arrears. MX application form is very easy to use, much shorter than the TWHs application form and straightforward and it allows the customer to keep the same reference number avoiding duplication in reference numbers. Mutual exchange has worked well to reduce void costs in some cases by encouraging customer to swap rather than transfer. There is Facebook group for Newcastle mutual exchanges which is working really well to help match people up. People are finding each other on their themselves, advertising their own homes and then coming to YHN to register to complete the move.
Activity Two: Frustrations Partners: -
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Not all TWH’s partner staff are up to date with using MX system which causes delays at our end. They don’t have log ins and have a general lack of knowledge about how mutual exchange works on the system. (Bernicia, Places for People in particular) Partners have standard 3 day call back service which means HO staff have to wait 3 days for a response. This eats in considerably to their 42 day mutual exchange turn around. There is a loss of communication when mutual exchange goes to second landlord approval stage. HO staff are left for periods of time not known what is going on and when customers contact them for updates they can’t give them any information which causes frustration.
Delays/Hold ups: -
When using the system customers will often log themselves against the area where they want to live and not the area where they currently live so the information goes to the wrong patch/area of the city and can sit there for some time before it is re-directed. 1
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Expressions of interest between customers have to bounce back and forwards three times before it can be progressed. o Customer 1 contacts Customer 2 to express interest in their property. o Customer 2 receives notification of this and has to reply to confirm they are interested in Customer 1’s property also and responds to Customer 1. o Then Customer 1 has to re contact Customer 2 to confirm that they are still interested o Customer 2 has to ok it at their end at second approval to continue. o However Customer 2 doesn’t get notification of this second contact at second approval stage from Customer 1 so often they don’t progress the mutual exchange from this point and/or they get confused because they think they have already agreed to it and don’t know what to do. Housekeeping of MX system is not consistent in that old adverts don’t get reviewed and removed as they should. There are a lot of out of date adverts on their which people think are available and come up in their searches but they are aren’t. When customers try and contact the customer to express interest in the property they get no response causing delays.
MX System: -
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Inconsistencies around how staff understand and use the system in different offices causing confusion. Mutual exchange is a purely online system which creates a barrier for some customer types that YHN should want to help move via mutual exchange such as older people wanting to downsize and swap with families. Housekeeping of MX system is poor in that old adverts don’t get reviewed and removed as they should meaning there are a lot of out of date adverts on their which people think are available and come up in their searches but they are aren’t. When customers try and contact the customer to express interest in the property they get no response causing delays. Too many multiple passwords for different parts of the city causing confusion and makes it difficult for staff to access parts of the system they need. Staff often have to wait for customer to tell them they have submitted a bid because they can’t view this due to password system.
General Comments: -
Once the process goes passed 42 days staff can’t stop a mutual exchange where they may need to. Customer abuse the mutual exchange process. They will do a mutual exchange and then terminate the tenancy and there is no procedure to stop them from doing this. No requirement to stay in the property for a certain amount of time following the swap. This then impacts voids costs and defeats the point of mutual exchange benefit to YHN.
Activity Three: Improvement Suggestions Partners: 2
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Develop better relations with partners so that we can work easier alongside them to reduce delays and hold ups with better lines of communication. Direct contacts with partner staff / points of contact to speed up process for customer.
Educating/Helping Customers: -
Advertising their homes to make them more appealing, encouraging customers to better describe their home by adding photographs and more detailed information about their homes. Using the system, how to better search for properties and use drop down boxes, how to log their details correctly so that their details don’t go to the wrong Hub. How to advertise their homes on social media, join Facebook group. Update approval letter to customers to make it more useful and explain better what happens next, what happens with repairs etc. – include step by step guide. Clearer customer guidelines on eligibility, legal statement more hard hitting. Alerts on home page for customer at second approval stage to prevent delays and hold ups between customer contact.
MX System: -
Update the MX system so that it reflects the new patch areas re: the 5 Hubs. One password per Hub per Hub area to avoid confusion make using the system easier and staff to able to view the information they need. Make sure staff remove old adverts and follow housekeeping procedures to review adverts after 12 months. Alerts on home page for customer at second approval stage to prevent delays and hold ups between customer contact. System to allow more than 2 way swap on the system. Currently a 5 way swap underway that the system can’t deal with.
Activity Four: Customer Contact – Step by Step Guide 1. Log in to Tyne and Wear Homes and search for Mutual Exchange. 2. Complete the simple application form for mutual exchange and you will keep the TWH Number, no additional references numbers for you to worry about. Make sure you put in a description about your home that you think we advert is well to customers and give them the information that they will need to decide if they are interested in your home. 3. You will receive a letter from your local Hub letting you know that you can look for properties on mutual exchange list. 4. You can then start looking for mutual exchange properties – make sure you put the right information in the search boxes so you have the most success sin find properties that meet what you are looking for. 5. Once you have found a property to swap with and made contact with your fellow swapper contact your local office to let us know and we can help you with the next bit of the process. 3
6. We will arrange with you a home visit and technical inspection and electrical inspection of your home. 7. If everything goes ok with the home visit we will approve your move and you will receive a letter from us to confirm this. 8. If for whatever reason you can’t move we will also let write to you at this point and let you know why you can’t move and advise you on what you need to do so that you can move in future. 9. You then arrange between you and the person you are swapping with a date for moving. When you have this date let your local Hub know. 10. Within a couple of days from moving make sure you come into your local Hub and sign your new tenancy agreement to make the move official. Activity Five: Partner Questions -
What is working well for your organisation with mutual exchange? How do you engage customers in mutual exchange and promote it? What methods do you use? What are your frustrations with the Tyne and Wear Homes system? What FAQs do your customers ask? What are the blockages from your point of view that stops mutual exchange from happening and/or slowing up the process? Would your staff like to work shadow our Housing Options staff to better understand the system and work better with us? Can you provide us with points of contact from your organisation so that we know who to contact about mutual exchange? We are going to be holding some localised customer mutual exchange information sessions to educate customers on using the system and looking for moves. Would any of you staff like to take part?
Activity Six: Social Media Advice -
Customer to put Hub email address on not their personal email or phone number Customer to advertise home by giving description of property, local amenities, new regeneration works on properties, selling points Customer to put on YHN’s disclaimers re: eligibility etc. Customer to post of photos of their home but not of their front door – don’t make themselves vulnerable Join a trusted Facebook group Use Twitter reminders Follow Gum Tree advice
Activity Seven: FAQ Review Questions need to focus on what customers actually ask regularly about: -
What is the criteria? Am I eligible? I am an introductory tenant can I move? How do I register? What do I need to do? Why is the other person not replying to me? What can I do? Why can’t I find a property that I want? How do I search for a match? 4
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How do I describe my property in the advert? What do I say? What photographs should I put on? Can I do more than a 2 way swap? Can I swap with someone out of the north east? Can I swap with a private tenant? How much can I upsize or downsize? When can I order my delivery van? Do you help me move? When can I change my children’s schools? When will I get my technical inspections and home visit? Why can’t the other person move? why aren’t they eligible? Do they have rent arrears? – info needed on Data Protection
Activity Eight: Customer Events Ideas Location: -
Local events across the Hub network – one in each Hub Focus on using the system and the computers at the Hubs Customers are moving locally and so this needs to be reflected and supported in the events
Staff involvement: -
Housing Options staff to be involved – they could do with being encouraged to talk to customers about mutual exchange, become more familiar with the system themselves. Tenancy and Estates Assistants to be involved as first point of contact for customers as they lack knowledge and confidence in talking about mutual exchange. Partner reps could be invited to develop links and points of contacts and to help them with the systems as they don’t seem to be able to use it.
Customer Invites: -
Invite customer currently on mutual exchange list (even those not active to prompt them, remind them they are registered), customers on transfer list.
Content: -
Simple and straightforward focusing on using the system. Information and education session to customer re: o searching skills to find the desired properties - using drop down boxes for better results, narrowing search etc. o how to make the most of their adverts – how to describe their properties, how to use photos o how to check notifications, how to respond. o Talked through step by step guide on the process and FAQs o Social media advice - Facebook groups, Gum Tree advice
Promotion: 5
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At the local Hubs E-Bulletin to customers Social Media advertising on Facebook group pages – make requests to join those groups
Activity Nine: E-Bulletin Review LT to send staff Mutual Exchange e-bulletin following session for comments and feedback.
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