Introduction
The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 allowed the Regulator for Social Housing to give directions to registered providers requiring them to collect, process and publish information about their performance in relation to matters covered by standards. As a result of this legislative change the regulator published the Tenant Satisfaction Measures. This is our second set of Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) results.
These measures consist of both performance data taken from our IT systems and perception measures collected through a survey. The results of both are captured in this report. In collating the information and reporting back we are required to comply with the technical guidance. As a result, this report is very detailed and covers information on our methodology.
Background
The TSM perception survey followed the exact wording and order as required by the Technical Guidance, with just two additional questions asked at the end around internet use and accessing the internet which we asked to monitor change over time as we had collected this information the previous year. The survey covered questions for key areas of service, such as homes (including repairs/maintenance), tenant involvement/communication, neighbourhoods, anti-social behaviour and complaints.
Methodology
A census approach was undertaken and as such, all of Wealden District Council’s rented households were invited to take part in the survey (including Retirement Living Leaseholders, General Need’s tenants – including those in temporary accommodation and those on a licence).No households were removed. For reporting purposes, the year-end figure of number of properties owned as at 31 March 2025 was 3054 rented homes, 3145 homes including low cost home ownership (shared ownership and leaseholder properties). However, at the time the survey was sent out there were 2971 properties that were owned and managed by us and also occupied meaning empty homes were not sent surveys to complete (stock figures fluctuate due to loss of dwellings through Right to Buy or demolition/remodelling and with new homes being built or purchased).
We decided to use a census survey over a sampling approach for a number of reasons:
- To ensure the data was statistically reliable in accordance with the confidence levels required by the technical guidance – the larger the numbers surveyed the more likely this is to be met.
- To ensure everyone had the opportunity to provide us with their views.
- To help us identify any trends in the data when we looked at the profile of respondents and their satisfaction levels.
- To avoid making sampling errors in deciding which households should be included if a sampling approach was used.
A mixed methodology was used including both online and postal distribution of the survey to maximise the number of returned surveys that we received back. This meant that all households whom we had an email address for were emailed a direct link to an online survey, asking them to complete the survey online. For those whom we did not have an email address for they were sent a hard copy of the survey in the post. A freepost reply envelope was provided for respondents to return the completed questionnaire. Each household had a unique reference on their letter to enable returns to be monitored, allowing us to profile respondents and input their answers into Wealden’s tenant involvement software “TpTracker”.
The TSM perception survey was carried out in-house and no contractors were used.
The surveys were sent out by post to those without an email address on 24 June 2024. For those with an email an email with the link to the online survey was sent on 3 July 2024, with an email reminder on 25 July, 12 September and 21 October 2024 to those that had not yet responded. The survey closed on 30th November 2024.
The online survey was created from our IT system called TPTracker and the survey results were automatically recorded back into it, with returned postal surveys being manually entered. This allowed us to analyse the information from one system.
A prize draw incentive was also offered to all respondents to maximize participation, with the opportunity to win £100 worth of vouchers for one prize winner. A number generator was used to select the winner.
Weightings
A survey that has met the sample size requirements can still be biased if certain groups are under or over-represented. Therefore, it is sometimes necessary to weight the responses to ensure the TSMs reported are representative as far as possible. Weighting data is a technique to adjust the data collected from a sample to reflect the total population. Using the profile characteristics in the TSM technical guidance, we have added the following weightings to our data to ensure the responses are representative of both our tenants and our stock type and size. We weighted by 5 elements – tenants age and ethnicity and stock type (general needs to include temporary accommodation and retirement living), the property types to cover house, flats, bungalows and property size based upon how many bedrooms it had
The tables below show our actual profile (labelled target) and the profile of respondents (labelled current) – each individual response was given a weighting to ensure that we achieved the target profile from our results this was done by each question since not all respondents answered all questions.
Target | Current | |||||
Stock Type | Stock Type | |||||
| Retirement Living | 421 | 14.17% | Retirement Living | 179 | 20.09% | |
| General Needs | 2550 | 85.83% | General Needs | 712 | 79.91% | |
| & Temp | 2971 | 100.00% | 891 | 100.00% | ||
Property Type | Property Type | |||||
| Flat | 1428 | 48.06% | Flat | 452 | 50.73% | |
| Bungalow | 252 | 8.48% | Bungalow | 120 | 13.47% | |
| House | 1284 | 43.22% | House | 318 | 35.69% | |
| Bedsit | 7 | 0.24% | Bedsit | 1 | 0.11% | |
| 2971 | 100.00% | 891 | 100.00% | |||
Property Size | Property Size | |||||
| 1 bed | 1200 | 40.39% | 1 bed | 414 | 46.46% | |
| 2 beds | 927 | 31.20% | 2 beds | 273 | 30.64% | |
| 4 beds | 34 | 1.14% | 4 beds | 7 | 0.79% | |
| 3 beds | 800 | 26.93% | 3 beds | 195 | 21.89% | |
| 5 beds | 3 | 0.10% | 5 beds | 1 | 0.11% | |
| 0 beds | 7 | 0.24% | 0 beds | 1 | 0.11% | |
| 2971 | 100.00% | 891 | 100.00% | |||
Ethnicity | Ethnicity | |||||
| White-British | 1753 | 59.00% | White-British | 569 | 63.86% | |
| Ethnicity not known | 1141 | 38.40% | Ethnicity not known | 301 | 33.78% | |
| Ethnic Minority | 77 | 2.59% | Ethnic Minority | 21 | 2.36% | |
| 2971 | 100.00% | 891 | 100.00% | |||
| Age Band | Age Band | |||||
| 75 to 84 | 421 | 14.17% | 75 to 84 | 209 | 23.46% | |
| 65 to 74 | 546 | 18.38% | 65 to 74 | 231 | 25.93% | |
| 85+ | 155 | 5.22% | 85+ | 70 | 7.86% | |
| 55 to 64 | 578 | 19.45% | 55 to 64 | 167 | 18.74% | |
| 25 to 34 | 302 | 10.16% | 25 to 34 | 38 | 4.26% | |
| 35 to 44 | 425 | 14.30% | 35 to 44 | 69 | 7.74% | |
| 45 to 54 | 435 | 14.64% | 45 to 54 | 86 | 9.65% | |
| 16 to 24 | 60 | 2.02% | 16 to 24 | 6 | 0.67% | |
| Not known | 49 | 1.65% | Not known | 15 | 1.68% | |
| 2971 | 100.00% | 891 | 100.00% | |||
Survey Method and Response Rate
At the end of the data collection period, 891 responses were received to the survey that went out representing a 29.99% response rate. This is a good response rate for research of this type and higher than the response obtained in 2023-24 survey which was 26%.
Low Cost Rented Accommodation responses | |||
Method used to send the Survey | Number sent by this Method | Number of Responses | Response Rate by each method |
Online | 2317 | 572 | 24.69% |
Post | 654 | 319 | 48.78% |
Total | 2971 | 891 | 29.99% |
The overall response rate was 29.99%.
Of the 891 responses 64.20% were from postal surveys against 35.80% of all online surveys.
Response type by stock type:
Response by method type | Retirement Living | General Needs |
Online | 106 | 466 |
Post | 73 | 246 |
Total | 179 | 712 |
Accuracy of Data
With a total of 891 tenant responses to the survey an accuracy of 2.77 overall is achieved which allows the survey findings to be used with confidence. Rounded up to 3% this means that if 50% of respondents answer “very satisfied” to a question in the survey, then we know that between 47% and 53% of all households would give the same response, including those who did not return a completed survey form.
The TSM technical guidance requires for providers with between 2,500 and 9,999 properties such as us, a + or – 4% accuracy rate and so at 3% our LCRA (rented homes for which we are required to report back to the regulator on) exceeds this requirement. Therefore, based upon the number of responses, the accuracy levels achieved means that the results are statistically reliable and can be relied upon to be an accurate reflection of our tenant’s views.
Profile of Respondents
Responses by age
The table below shows that responses by age.
Ages of all tenants at the time of the survey (In numbers and as a percentage) | Age Band of all tenants that responded to the survey. | |||||
75 to 84 | 421 | 14.17% | 75 to 84 | 209 | 23.46% | |
65 to 74 | 546 | 18.38% | 65 to 74 | 231 | 25.93% | |
85+ | 155 | 5.22% | 85+ | 70 | 7.86% | |
55 to 64 | 578 | 19.45% | 55 to 64 | 167 | 18.74% | |
25 to 34 | 302 | 10.16% | 25 to 34 | 38 | 4.26% | |
35 to 44 | 425 | 14.30% | 35 to 44 | 69 | 7.74% | |
45 to 54 | 435 | 14.64% | 45 to 54 | 86 | 9.65% | |
16 to 24 | 60 | 2.02% | 16 to 24 | 6 | 0.67% | |
Not known | 49 | 1.65% | Not known | 15 | 1.68% | |
2971 | 100.00% | 891 | 100.00% | |||
The data above shows that the age profile of respondents did not reflect those of our tenant population with some ages overrepresented and some under representative and therefore weightings were used to ensure that the data was representative and reliable.
Gender
In looking at the results we have analysed the responses by gender, 65.36% of respondents to the survey were females and 34.64% males. This is fairly consistent with the popular profile of Wealden’s tenants of which 67.46% are females and 32.54% males. As a result, we have not added any weighting to the results.
Ethnicity
In looking at the results we have analysed the responses by ethnicity and can see that we have had a lower response from tenants whose ethnicity is unknown than our population of these tenants. The response data has been weighted by ethnicity to ensure that it is representative and reliable.
Ethnicity of all tenants at the time of the survey (in numbers and as a percentage) | Ethnicity of all tenants that responded to the survey | |||||
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White-British | 1753 | 59.00% | White-British | 569 | 63.86% | |
Ethnicity not known | 1141 | 38.40% | Ethnicity not known | 301 | 33.78% | |
Ethnic Minority | 77 | 2.59% | Ethnic Minority | 21 | 2.36% | |
2971 | 100.00% | 891 | 100.00% | |||
Responses by accommodation occupied
Responses by stock type occupied
In looking at the results we have analysed the responses by the classification of the building/stock type covering general needs (which includes the temporary accommodation owned by us) and Retirement Living.
Our profile of stock type at the time of the survey | Stock type occupied by respondents | |||||
Retirement Living | 421 | 14.17% | Retirement Living | 179 | 20.09% | |
General Needs | 2550 | 85.83% | General Needs | 712 | 79.91% | |
& Temp | 2971 | 100.00% | 891 | 100.00% | ||
We can see that although only 14.17% of our stock is retirement living, 20.09% of respondents to the survey lived in retirement living, therefore the data was weighted to ensure that it was representative and reliable.
Response rate by Property type
In looking at the results we have analysed the responses by the type of property occupied covering houses, bungalows and flats (including maisonettes) and bedsits.
Profile of Properties of this type owned | Profile of property type occupied by respondents | ||||||
Flat | 1428 | 48.06% | Flat | 452 | 50.73% | ||
Bungalow | 252 | 8.48% | Bungalow | 120 | 13.47% | ||
House | 1284 | 43.22% | House | 318 | 35.69% | ||
Bedsit | 7 | 0.24% | Bedsit | 1 | 0.11% | ||
2971 | 100.00% | 891 | 100.00% | ||||
The table above highlights response from respondents living in bungalows was overrepresented whereas for those living is houses there was an under representation. The data has therefore been weighted to adjust the results for this difference to ensure the results are reliable.
Responses by size of the property occupied
Finally, in looking at the results we have analysed the responses by the number of bedrooms the property has covering 0 (bedsits), 1, 2, 3, 4 and those with 5 or more bedrooms.
Profile of stock owned by size | Profile of the number of bedrooms the respondent’s property had
| |||||
1 bed | 1200 | 40.39% | 1 bed | 414 | 46.46% | |
2 beds | 927 | 31.20% | 2 beds | 273 | 30.64% | |
4 beds | 34 | 1.14% | 4 beds | 7 | 0.79% | |
3 beds | 800 | 26.93% | 3 beds | 195 | 21.89% | |
5+ beds | 3 | 0.10% | 5+ beds | 1 | 0.11% | |
0 beds | 7 | 0.24% | 0 beds | 1 | 0.11% | |
2971 | 100.00% | 891 | 100.00% | |||
The table above shows although we only own 40.39% of properties with 1 bedroom 46.46% of respondents lived in a property with 1 bedroom whereas 26.93% of our properties had 3 bedrooms and yet only 21.89% of respondents lived in a property with 3 bedrooms. The data was therefore weighted to take account of this difference and ensure that the results are reliable.
Part 1: Tenant Perception Measures – tenants of Low Cost Rented Accommodation (LCRA):
The weighted results are the one reported back to the Housing Regulator and not the unweighted results. The return calculates the figure to one decimal place so rounding up and down is used.
Measure | TSM 24Number of completed responses | TSM Satisfaction Result 2024 – weighted to ensure they are representative of our tenants and the homes they live in | TSM Satisfaction Result 2024 – unweighted | TSM Satisfaction Result 2023 – unweighted (no weighting was carried out in 2023) |
TP01 Overall Satisfaction | 885 | 80.4% Satisfied Dissatisfied 11.83% Neutral response 7.8% | 84.5% Satisfied Dissatisfied 9.15% Neutral response 6.3% | 84.6% Satisfied 9% Dissatisfied Neutral response 6.4% |
TP02 Satisfaction with repairs | 663 | Of those that had reported a repair in the past 12 months: 78.3% Satisfied Dissatisfied 13.01% Neutral response 8.67% | Of those that had reported a repair in the past 12 months: 84.3% Satisfied Dissatisfied 9.2% Neutral response 6.49% | 70.4% had reported a repair in the past 12 months with 81.7% Satisfied Dissatisfied 6.6% Neutral response 11.6% |
TP03 Satisfaction with the time taken to complete most recent repair | 647 | Of those that had reported a repair: 76.8% Satisfied Dissatisfied 16.58% Neutral response 6.60% | Of those that had reported a repair: 81.5% Satisfied Dissatisfied 12.83% Neutral response 5.72% | 72% answered that they had reported a repair in the past 12 months with Of these 80.4% Satisfied Dissatisfied 6.2% Neutral response 13.4% |
TP04 Satisfaction that the home is well maintained | 885 | 75.6% Satisfied Dissatisfied 14.35% Neutral response 9.94% | 83.2% Satisfied Dissatisfied 9.38% Neutral response 7.46% | 80.1% Satisfied Dissatisfied 10.2% Neutral response 9.7% |
TP05 Satisfaction that the home is safe | 878 | 79.1% Satisfied Dissatisfied 13.33% Neutral response 7.53% | 85.3% Satisfied Dissatisfied 8.66% Neutral response 6.04% | 82.1% Satisfied Dissatisfied 9.8% Neutral response 8.2% |
TP06 Satisfaction that the landlord listens to the tenant views and acts upon them | 821 | 65.3% Satisfied Dissatisfied 18.68% Neutral response 15.94% | 70.8% Satisfied Dissatisfied 15.59% Neutral response 13.64% | 66.3% Satisfied Dissatisfied 15.1% Neutral response 18.7% |
TP07 Satisfaction that the landlord keeps tenants informed about things that matter to them | 858 | 74.2% Satisfied Dissatisfied 10.41% Neutral response 15.40% | 79.6% Satisfied Dissatisfied 8.39% Neutral response 12% | 76.7% Satisfied Dissatisfied 6.8% Neutral response 16.5% |
TP08 Agreement that the landlord treats tenants fairly and with respect | 867 | 76.5% Satisfied Dissatisfied 9.74% Neutral response 13.75% | 79.9% Satisfied Dissatisfied 8.18% Neutral response 11.88% | 76.7% Satisfied Dissatisfied 7.7% Neutral response 15.5% |
TP09 Satisfaction with the landlord’s approach to handling complaints | 192 | Of those that had made a complaint in the past 12 months 41.1% Satisfied Dissatisfied 45.5% Neutral response 13.52% | Of those that had made a complaint in the past 12 months 43.2% Satisfied Dissatisfied 44.27% Neutral response 12.50% | 22.9% of respondents had made a complaint in the past 12 months Of these 44.9% Satisfied Dissatisfied 31.2% Neutral response 23.9% |
TP10 Satisfaction that the landlord keeps communal areas clean and well maintained | 390 | Of those respondents that live somewhere with communal areas that the council maintains Of these 69.7% Satisfied Dissatisfied 19.68% Neutral response 10.64% | Of those respondents that live somewhere with communal areas that the council maintains Of these 76.4% Satisfied Dissatisfied 14.1% Neutral response 9.49% | 41.1% of respondents live somewhere with communal areas that the council maintains Of these 68.9% Satisfied Dissatisfied 18.4% Neutral response 12.7% |
TP11 Satisfaction that the landlord makes a positive contribution to neighbourhoods | 631 | 68.4% Satisfied Dissatisfied 7.63% Neutral response 24.05% | 73.4% Satisfied Dissatisfied 6.02% Neutral response 20.60% | 49.2% Satisfied Dissatisfied 10.7% Neutral response 40.1% |
TP12 Satisfaction with the landlord’s approach to handling anti-social behaviour | 567 | 57.8% Satisfied Dissatisfied 20.88% Neutral response 21.27% | 62.8% Satisfied Dissatisfied 18.69% Neutral response 18.52% | 36.4% Satisfied Dissatisfied 15.2% Neutral response 48.4% |
As part of the new Housing Regulation, we will be submitting our results to the Housing Regulator before 30th June 2025. The regulator intends to publish the results of all social housing providers which will be available at: Reports and statistics
As part of our return to the Regulator for social Housing we have to report back on a number of other measures, the data from which comes for our IT systems.
Part 2: Systems Data
Property Measures:
RP01-Homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard | Results for 24-25 | Results for 23-24 | |
Tenants Satisfaction Measure | Proportion of homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard Low Cost Rented Accommodation only. | 2.4% Or 72 of our 3054 rented homes. | 6.1% Or 185 of our 3017 rented homes. |
RP02- Repairs completed with target timescale |
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Tenant Satisfaction Measure | Proportion of: 1)non-emergency and 2)emergency responsive repairs completed within the landlord’s target timescale Low Cost Rented Accommodation only. | 1) 92.9% Or 6666 of our 7175 non-emergency repairs competed on time. 2) 98.6% Or 958 of our 972 emergency repairs completed on time. | 1) 85% Or 5791 of our 6812 non-emergency repairs competed on time. 2) 97.3% Or 515 of our 529 emergency repairs completed on time. |
BS01- Gas safety checks |
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Tenant Satisfaction Measure | Proportion of homes for which all required gas safety checks have been carried out. Low Cost Rented Accommodation and Low Cost Home Ownership combined (excluding 100% shared owners). | 100% All 2612 of our homes with gas have had a gas safety check. | 100% With 2674 of our 3017 homes have gas. |
BS02- Fire safety checks |
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Tenant Satisfaction Measure | Proportion of homes for which all required fire risk assessments have been carried out. Low Cost Rented Accommodation and Low Cost Home Ownership combined (excluding 100% shared owners). | 100% All 1044 of our homes that require a fire risk assessment have had this carried out. | 100% 1034 or our homes are accessed via communal areas and as such require a fire risk assessment. |
BS03- Asbestos safety checks |
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Tenant Satisfaction Measure | Proportion of homes for which all required asbestos management surveys or re-inspections have been carried out. Low Cost Rented Accommodation and Low Cost Home Ownership combined (excluding 100% shared owners). | 100% Communal areas serving 910 of our homes meet this requirement. | 100% Communal areas serving 910 of our homes meet this requirement. |
BS04- Water safety checks |
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Tenant Satisfaction Measure | Proportion of homes for which all required legionella risk assessments have been carried out. Low Cost Rented Accommodation and Low Cost Home Ownership combined (excluding 100% shared owners). | 100% Communal areas serving 910 of our homes meet this requirement. | 100% Communal areas serving 910 of our homes meet this requirement. |
BS05- Lift safety checks |
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Tenant Satisfaction Measure | Proportion of homes for which all required communal passenger lift safety checks have been carried out. Low Cost Rented Accommodation and Low Cost Home Ownership combined (excluding 100% shared owners). | 100% We have 409 homes served by a lift all of which are in retirement living. | 100% We have 459 homes served by a lift all of which are in retirement living. |
Non-property Measures:
NM01- Anti-social behaviour cases relative to the size of the landlord | Data for 24-25 | Data for 23-24 | |
Tenant Satisfaction Measure | Number of: 1) anti-social behaviour cases, of which 2) anti-social behaviour cases that involve hate incidents opened per 1,000 homes. Low Cost Rented Accommodation and Low Cost Home Ownership. | 19.1% (60 cases across 3145 homes) 0.3% (1 case out of the 60 involved hate incidents) | 18.56 (56 cases across 3017 homes) 0.33 (1 case out the 56 involved hate incidents) |
CH01- Complaints Relative to the size of the landlord |
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Tenant Satisfaction Measure | Number of: Low Cost Rented Accommodation only. | Stage 1: 18.7% – 57 landlord related complaints from 3054 homes. Stage 2: 4.9% – 15 landlord complaints from 3054 homes. | 8.6% – 26 landlord related complaints from 3017 homes. 1.99% 6 of these proceeded to stage 2. |
CH02- Complaints responded to within complain Handling code timescales |
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Tenant Satisfaction Measure | Proportion of: 1) stage one complaints responded to and 2) stage two complaints responded to within the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code timescales. Low Cost Rented Accommodation only. | 40.4% – 23 out of the 57 stage 1 complaints received were responded to in time (all 23 without the use of the permitted extension). 60% – 9 out of the 15 stage 2 complaints were responded to in time (8 out of the 9 were without the use of a permitted extension). | 92.3% – 24 out of the 26 were responded to within the 20 days (includes any that had up to a day 10-day extension) 100% – all 6 were responded to within the 40 days (includes any that had up to a day 20-day extension). |