Tell us how we did – you could win 200 quid

The Abdullas with their vouchers
The Abdullas with their vouchers!

John Biggs is over the moon to have won
John Biggs was over the moon to have won!







We've now had the results of our latest customer satisfaction survey - the first we've carried out since 2009.

We sent the survey out to all tenants earlier in the year and the results were counted and verified by an independent research company. You can read a PDF of the full report here. (Can't open PDFs? install free 'Adobe reader' software from the Adobe website.)

Everyone who returned their survey was entered into a prize draw to win £200 shopping vouchers. Our first prize winner was John Biggs, of Pinfold Avenue, who told us he would probably have to give his £200 vouchers to Mrs Biggs! Our second prize of £100 vouchers went to Sabah Rahim Abdulla of Goodworth Walk and the third prize of £50 vouchers went to Paulette Henry of Mansford Drive.

Budget cuts meant that we had to make big changes over the past year. We made some difficult decisions, and restricted some services, but the results show people are still generally pleased with how we do things.

The results also show where we didn’t do so well, and where we need to improve. Watch this space - money is still tight but our priorities and values remain the same:

  • Spending money wisely
  • Supporting communities to be successful
  • Putting people first

Here are some of the highlights:

Overall Service

82% of people are satisfied with the overall service provided by Northwards. This is the same as in 2009. Given that we had to change some of our services due to budget cuts, we are delighted that satisfaction has stayed the same.

We also asked if customers were happy for Northwards to continue to manage their homes. 88% of you said yes! This is a real boost for us, and we're proud that you have shown confidence in the work we are doing.

Neighbourhood and Local Area

79% of people are satisfied with the area they live in - up from 76% last time.

The neighbourhood issue causing the most problems for you is rubbish and litter (66%). Since our last survey there have been changes to the way rubbish is collected in Manchester, with general waste collected every other week. We realise that not everyone has got used to this change, and we're working hard with our Council colleagues to improve awareness around recycling.

77% of people feel safe overall in their neighbourhood. We’re pleased with this result. We have worked hard over the last 18 months with other agencies like the Police and Manchester City Council to solve problems quickly. Initiatives like Project Cove are clearly having an impact.

Customer Service

86% of people rated the customer contact centre as good or excellent and 80% rated the service they received at their local office as good or excellent. This is really positive. Our local services offices have been through significant changes over the past 12 months. After our budget was cut, we needed to look at ways of working more effectively. This included job losses and many employees have taken on new areas of responsibility. It’s good to know that during this period of change we still managed to deliver a good service.

82% of people said that Northwards is good at keeping them informed (this is down slightly from last time). We’re working hard to try and improve on this. In spite of budget cuts, we still publish the Northwards Natter four times a year. We’re also trying to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter more effectively, as well as the Northwards Smartphone App,  to make it easier for customers to contact us.

Thank you to everyone who returned the survey. You are really helping us to see where we need to work harder. We plan to do these surveys every other year, so look out for the 2014 survey to be in with a chance of winning some great shopping vouchers!

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