Reading housing annual report 2024 to 2025

​​A welcome message from Matt Yeo, Reading Borough Council’s Lead Councillor for Housing​  

I am delighted to share 2024 to 2025’s Annual Housing Report with you. It reflects the progress we’ve made over April 2024 to March 2025- celebrating what we’re doing well—while also being honest about the challenges we’ve faced and those that lie ahead. 

Our priority remains clear: to provide safe, secure, and affordable homes for all. We know there is still more to do. Demand for housing continues to rise, and we are continuing to navigate financial pressures. However, these challenges will not deter us from working hard to deliver for you – our tenants. 

Thank you for your input, patience, and cooperation throughout the year. Together, we can keep improving the services that matter most to you and build stronger, more resilient communities. 

Our key priorities for the year ahead 

• Driving continuous improvements in our Repairs Service 
• Enhancing communication and engagement with tenants 
• Ensuring all homes remain safe, secure, and meet decent homes standards 

Please take the time to read this report, and if you’re willing, share your comments and feedback with us. Your views are vital – they shape our priorities and help us deliver better services for everyone. 

Together, we can build stronger communities and empower lives. 

Our performance – 2024/25 in numbers 

Repairs and compliance 

10,620 total repairs completed  

68% of customers satisfied with repairs 

100% gas safety inspections completed 

100% fire risk assessments completed 

100% water risk assessments completed 

100% lift statutory inspections completed 

100% asbestos surveys completed 

98.4% Electrical safety test certificates completed 

3126 fire safety doors visually inspected each month 

Rent – what we collected in 2024/25 and how we reinvest it: 

£52,578,422.91 rent collected 

£326,754.94 of former tenant arrears debt collected 

2024/25 spend per £1 (pie chart, pence labels)

Tenant engagement

A message from the Tenant Voices Panel – representing you, the tenant

At the heart of our work lies the belief that every tenant’s experience matters.  Tenant Voices is dedicated to sharing the insights of those of us who call our properties home. Throughout the year we looked at how the Council engages with tenants through surveys, forums, and direct conversations, gathering honest reflections on what is done well and where we can help make improvements.

Tenant involvement provides supportive easy to understand training to suit all abilities with the guidance of the Tenant Participation Team who ensure everyone feels valued and heard.

I hope this report ignites curiosity into how we the tenants can hold the Council to account and speak up and make a difference. Working together, that’s how progress can be made.

So, let’s all keep asking questions about what matters to us to help improve our homes and communities. Thank you.

Our role is to support tenants of Reading Borough Council to challenge and  monitor the Housing Service, to tell them what we’re doing well and what they need to improve. We also help tenants by providing advice, support, and training to help them feel confident and effective when engaging with the Council.

Opportunities to get involved

We are looking for tenants to join our new tenant voices panel to help empower and enrich tenants’ lives.  You do not need any special knowledge or experience, just:

• a willingness to keep an open and questioning mind,
• the ability to think about the ‘big picture’ (what’s going to benefit most tenants not just you)
• be able to join us either on an online meeting or in person once a month (for about 2 hours) to discuss ideas and ensure actions to improve the service are progressing. Some background reading may be required so that you can fully contribute to the discussions, but this can be done at your own time and convenience.

What we can offer

• training, advice, and support to help you feel comfortable taking part in the discussions
• help with technology to get you online if you want to take part virtually
• the opportunity to meet other tenants like yourself who care about their homes, environment and community. 
• the chance to make a real difference to how Housing Services communicates and engages with our tenants.

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard requires landlords to take tenants’ views into account in their decision-making about how landlord services are delivered and communicate how tenants’ views have been considered.

Throughout 2024-25, the Tenant Voices Panel worked hard to help shape the new Tenant Engagement Strategy.  The strategy outlines how Reading Borough Council will listen to and involve you in shaping Housing Services and your communities.

It provides a clear way for you to influence decisions, provide feedback, build trust and engage in positive communication with us.  This will all help to improve services and your satisfaction.

Ways to get involved

There are lots of opportunities for you to get involved. Let us know what you would like to get involved in.  Visit Get involved – Reading Borough Council and see below for more information.

• Complete a survey
  Inform – Low time commitment
  We carry out surveys throughout the year. One survey is the Annual Tenant Satisfaction Survey, which is a requirement for all social housing landlords. It enables us to understand what tenants think of our services and lets tenants compare our performance with other landlords. An independent company carries out this survey, your answers are confidential (unless you state otherwise). We also carry out other surveys via text, post, phone and email to get tenant views on our services.
• Love your block
  Inform – Low time commitment
  Love your block is a tenant-led bi-annual newsletter. All tenants who live in a block that receive cleaning services will receive this, to include useful information and any updates to the service. This offers an opportunity for tenants to become involved in the block cleaning panel.
• The sounding board
  Inform – Low time commitment
  The sounding board contains a list of everyone who wants to get involved, how they would like to be involved and any areas of interest. For example, a specific interest in Neighbourhood Services, the Repairs and Property Service or becoming a member of one of our panels. When an opportunity to give your views comes up, we match the opportunity with your preferences. If there is a match, we will let you know and you decide if you would like to be involved or not.
• Mystery shopper
  Involved – Medium time commitment
  Posing as a customer, you will help us understand the experience of our tenants when they first contact us. You will be given full training to help you know what you should ask on the phone or in an email, or what you should do on the website or in person. There will then be a short form for you to complete to report on your experience.
• Block champion
  Involved – Medium time commitment
  Block champions keep an eye on their blocks and report any issues such as litter, repairs and concerns around the standard of cleaning or building safety. As a champion, you will be issued with a handbook and reporting sheets so you can record any problems to report.
• Estate walkabouts
  Involved – Low time commitment
  Estate walkabouts happen regularly across the Borough and are advertised to encourage tenants and residents to join in. They’re a great way to check and improve standards in our neighbourhoods. The walks give tenants a chance to share what’s happening in their area and suggest improvements. For many, it’s also the first step to getting more involved.
• Community centre drop ins
  Involved – Low time commitment
  These are held in local community centre buildings. Tenants can come along and have their questions answered by a member of the housing team. Staff attend from various departments, for example: housing management, money advice, antisocial behaviour team, and the safer communities team.
• High rise forum
  Involved – Low time commitment
  Building Safety Resident Engagement Panel will be open to tenants living in high-rise properties and offers a chance to address your specific needs and concerns. High-rise living comes with unique challenges, and it’s important for us to listen to those who experience it firsthand. The group will also serve to keep tenants informed about any planned works or improvements and provides an opportunity for the group to share ideas and discuss solutions together.
• Building cleaning panel member
  Consult – High time commitment
  The Building Cleaning Panel is a group of tenants who meet with Housing Management and the building cleaning service to monitor the standard of cleaning in communal areas across our blocks of flats. Panel members look at data and performance information and check and challenge the standards of the cleaning service. Members could also carry out mystery shopping block inspections to look at the standard of cleaning across the blocks.
• Tenant Improvement & Decent Neighbourhood Fund (TIF) Panel
  Consult – High time commitment
  The TIF is a pot of money available for tenants and officers to identify small scale environmental projects to benefit their local area. The TIF panel is a group of trained tenants who review and approve project bids to ensure they are suitable, properly funded and based on thorough tenant consultation. Supported by Housing Management, the tenants make the final decisions on funding projects each year. The panel meets at the start of the financial year to choose projects and then holds regular online meetings to monitor their progress and review impact reports after completion.
• Tenant Quality Mark
  Consult – Medium time commitment
  This includes looking over leaflets, letters, online publications and other material to make sure it is easy to understand and get our message across clearly. Once it has been reviewed and approved by the panel, the document/content will receive a ‘Tenant Quality Mark’ stamp. You can review documents from your own home and in your own time.
• Tenant Voice’s – panel member
  Collaborate – High time commitment
  Housing has a long history of involving tenants in the decisions it makes regarding their homes and local community. The pandemic made us rethink our ways of working and more services moved online in response to lockdown. Now is a good time to look at how we engage with our tenants, how we respond to what they tell us and identify the ways that tenants wish to give their views. This is a new panel that will oversee the drafting of tenant engagement strategy, conduct research, identify appropriate actions and monitor the progress.
• Tenant And Council Together Panel (Tact)
  Collaborate – High time commitment
  Tenant and Council Together (TACT) is our tenant scrutiny panel. It consists of a group of trained tenants who identify areas of the Housing Service where they would like to carry out a deeper performance assessment on. This involves looking at data, interviewing senior and front-line members of staff and tenants and producing a report with recommendations for improvements which is submitted to senior housing managers. Following the introduction of the Tenant Satisfaction Measures and throughout the creation of this strategy, there have been 2 key areas tenants want to focus on, Repairs & Maintenance and Complaints and on both of which scrutiny will be welcomed.

If you would like to be considered for a place on the panel or for more information on this or any of our other engagement opportunities, please scan the QR code below or contact

Mary Hull, Antoinette Solera or Rachel Whitrod in the Tenant Engagement Team:

• Phone: 01189372730
• Text:   07834335309
• Email:   tenant.participation@reading.gov.uk
• Website: RBC Housing Tenant Engagement Sounding Board

Our headline achievements in the past year:

• A Tenant Engagement Strategy Working Group was set up so that our involved tenants could help inform the new Tenant Engagement strategy.
• Housing Online was launched in May 2024.  This enables Reading Borough Council Housing Register applicants to manage their application for housing, and you will be able to submit forms, track applications, submit documents easily and bid for available properties. 
• We have been working on developing the capabilities of Housing Online even further, with features such as Repair reporting and being able to view your tenancy now being available.
• Tap for Reading was launched on 27 January 2025, allowing you to support those who are homeless and rough sleeping in Reading. All money collected is pooled and split between our four homelessness charity partners who work with those most in need.

Update on the Regulator for Social Housing Inspection

In December 2024 we were notified that the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) would be inspecting us during February 2025. Inspectors from RSH attended the Civic Offices and were on site for 3 days between 11-13 February 2025.

The outcome of the inspection was that Reading Borough Council received a C3 rating.  This was published on 30 April 2025. Their judgment highlighted more service improvements needed within the Repairs Service, Tenant Engagement and how Affinity (who manage approximately 1200 homes on the Council’s behalf) manage antisocial behaviour reports and complaints. For more detailed information, please visit the RSH’s webpage – Reading Borough Council (00MC) – Regulatory Judgement: 30 April 2025 – GOV.UK.

This report details the important work we were doing in the lead up to the inspection and things we already had in place or were working on prior to the inspection.

We wanted to acknowledge the outcome of this inspection in this year’s report to let you all know that we are working hard to make things better for each one of you.

Complaints

How many received, and on what subject?

• Number of complaints received in 2024/25: 573
• 526 were stage 1 complaints – the first stage of the formal complaints process
• 47 were stage 2 complaints – the second and final stage of the formal complaints process, should tenants feel disatisffied following a stage 2 response, the next step is to escalate their concerns to the Housing Ombudsman Service

Most common complaints

1. Communication breakdown
2. Poor quality of service                                               
3. Inefficient repairs work handling
4. Staff conduct
5. Failure to follow procedure
6. Resources and management
7. Handling of sensitive and urgent cases
8. Interdepartmental co-ordination
9. Documentation and record keeping
10. Managing expectations

Our perfomance in responding

Complaints have timescales we must adhere to in order to meet regulations.  We are required to respond to Stage One complaints within 10 working days and Stage Two complaints in 20 working days.

• 54.11% of complaints were responded to on time
• 45.89 of complaints were responded to late

Learning from complaints to improve our service to you

We are committed to consistently providing an excellent service to all our tenants. We value all feedback about our services and see this as an opportunity to learn, adapt and improve, so that our tenants can have confidence in us to deliver a high-quality standard of service.

Following on from the recent inspection by the Regulator of Social Housing in February 2025, we understand and are fully aware that we have not done a good job at dealing with and responding to your complaints.  We are not where we want to be.  Together, along with our colleagues at Affinity, we plan to improve and learn from complaints.

What we have done so far:

• Introduced a new Learning from Complaints process, to reduce repeat failures and learn from our mistakes.
• Increased the resources in the Corporate Customer Relations Team to help manage the workload and deal with the high volume of complaints.  This will help us to investigate your complaints thoroughly, provide effective resolutions and respond on time.
• Set up an action tracker for Complaints, ensuring complaints are managed from start to finish, ensuring accountability and progress, providing a central place to help manage them all and helps with compliance and continuous improvement.  It makes sure we follow through on our commitments.

What we want to continue to improve on complaints handling and do this well long term:

• Engaging with you, our tenants, encouraging you to provide feedback so we can learn
• Engaging with tenants around frequency and method of this feedback to shape service improvement through the Tenant Complaints Panel
• Ensuring the timescales and targets for responding to complaints is met
• Fostering a culture that prioritises complaints as soon as they are received
• Upskilling staff, to enable more staff to respond to complaints, which in turn will give the service greater resilience
• Using the data we collect to understand patterns and demographics.  Are the complaints all about similar things?  Are the same group of people having to regularly complain, or is it a certain area, for example?
• Analysing the tenant profile on complaints received to ensure representation across all demographics and consider ways to improve any gaps identified

Compliance and repairs

The Housing Property Services Compliance Team was formed in July 2022 and manages and delivers assurance on all statutory fire safety and asbestos inspection compliance. The Compliance Team also monitor and report on gas safety, water safety, mechanical and electrical compliance.

The team are the first point of contact and engage with five different Regulators:

1. Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Services
2. Building Safety Regulator
3. Health and Safety Executive
4. Regulator for Social Housing – Quarterly reporting
5. Homes England – Cladding Safety Scheme

The Compliance Team provides monthly reports on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) and to the Council’s Housing and Communities Management Team (HCMT).

The team report across 22 inspection areas in 16 disciplines which reflect both statutory and mandatory requirements:

Compliance Inspection Reporting

Asbestos Communal Re-inspections (Annually)	Fire – Fire Risk Assessment (Annually)
Electric Safety Test, EICR (5-Yearly Domestic)	Fire – Flat Entrance Door Inspection (Annually)
Electric Safety Test, EICR (5-Yearly Communal)	Fire – Sprinkler System Service (6-Monthly)
Fire Alarm System Service (6-Monthly)	Gas – Domestic Safety Check (Annually)
Fire – AOV Service (6-Monthly)	Lift – Insurance Statutory (Annually)
Fire – Bin Chute Damper Service (Annually)	Lift – Servicing Stairlifts (6-Monthly)
Fire – Communal Area Door Insp (Quarterly)	Lift – Servicing passenger (Monthly)
Fire – Dry Riser Service (6-Monthly)	Lift – Servicing bed-hoist (Quarterly)
Fire – Emergency Lights Service (Annually)	Lightening Conductor Inspection (Annually)
Fire – Fire Extinguisher Service (Annually)	Mansafe Inspection (Annually)
Fire – Fire Risk Assessment (3-yearly)	Water Risk Assessment (2-yearly)

Fire risk assessments – 100%

• All Fire Risk Assessments were completed within date.
• There is an ongoing programme to complete any remedial actions identified.
• RBC officers undertake weekly inspection of the high-rise buildings and monthly inspections of the low-rise buildings.

Asbestos surveys – 100%

• All communal asbestos surveys were completed and within date.
• Any identified remedial works have been completed.

Passenger lift surveys – 100%

• All communal passenger lifts have 6 monthly inspections
• These were all completed within date.
• Any remedial works identified were completed.

Gas safety inspections – 100%

• Annual inspection of all residential boilers within occupied properties were completed within date
• Any remedial works have been completed.
• These inspections include carbon monoxide detectors and smoke/heat alarms within the property

Electrical safety test certificate – 98.4%

• Residential Electrical Safety checks are undertaken every 5 years or at change of tenancy.
• The new changes in RBC’s Tenancy agreements will ensure access to complete inspections within date.
• Any remedial works identified have been completed during our inspections.

Water risk assessments – 100%

• All buildings with communal water tanks have had the installation assessments completed and water tanks inspected.
• All high priority remedial works have been completed.

As of 31^st March 2025, there were NO urgent remedial works to carry out.

In 2024-25 the Repairs Team had already begun to put an action plan together on how to improve our services on decent homes, compliance, repair turnaround times and customer satisfaction.

Repairs Performance Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – March 2024 to March 2025 – How do we compare?

KPI	Target	March 2024	March 2025
Outstanding Repairs	1000	5122	3370
Customer Satisfaction (%)	90	90.6	81.88
Repairs Completed Within Timescale (All Priorities) (%)	90	85.12	74.23
Emergency Repairs Completed Within Timescale (3 hrs) (%)	95	99.28	80.18
Urgent Repairs Completed Within Timescale (2 working days) (%)	95	83.16	41.86
Routine Repairs Completed Within Timescale (15 working days) (%)	90	90.56	77.85

We are aware that we have improvements to make to our Repairs Service and are working hard to ensure that we do. There is a working group that has established a service improvement plan to help tackle this and focus on the areas where improvements are needed the most.

Please click here to fill in our customer satisfaction form – we would love to hear about your experiences with our repairs service:

Customer Satisfaction Form

Ensuring you live in a decent home by surveying your property

To meet our aim of getting behind every front door during the next 12 months and to provide further assurance to the Regulator of Social Housing on the condition of our stock, we signed a contract at the beginning of February 2025 with Ridge and Partners to carry out decent homes surveys on 2300 of our properties. Letters were sent to those households introducing the contractor and provided details on what tenants could expect during the visit.

As of 31 March 2025, Ridge had carried out approximately 900 surveys with another 600 issued to them to complete in the weeks ahead at the beginning of April 2025. 

The primary aim is to provide robust, up-to-date data on the condition of our homes, which in turn will inform future investment planning and compliance with Decent Homes standards.

Several key themes have been identified that require works which are included in our current plan. These include the replacement of windows, front doors, pitch and flat roofs together with remedial works that are required to external wall finishes and chimneys. We are currently in the process of drafting several programs of works with the aim of completing these works in the current financial year, 2025 to 2026 and beyond.

93% of our properties surveyed so far meet the Decent Homes standard.

Making your community safer with our Anti-Social Behaviour Team

Here is what we have been doing to improve the service:

• Developing a new case management system to work alongside the current NEC system already in place for the rest of Housing.  This system is now in place and was launched at the beginning of April 2025.
• We have been working alongside our involved tenants to review, update and refresh our factsheets.
• To address issues with data reporting, we implemented a new case management system for our officers to use. This brings us in line with other departments in Housing, to enable a more joined up working approach, better cross working and ensures all of housing related notes are in the same place. This gives us a whole picture of every tenant.

Managers conduct case reviews to ensure processes are being followed correctly by the team. We are continuing to work closely with our partner agencies, such as Thames Valley Police to make Reading safe for everyone.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Team became part of the Community Safety Partnerships Team (CSP) in 2023, which brings together local organisations to help make Reading a safer place. These organisations work together to reduce crime, protect people and support the community.  It’s main members are Reading Borough Council, Thames Valley Police (Reading area), The Probation Service (South Central), Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care System (BOB ICS), Brighter Futures for Children and the Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.  We have been continuing to strengthen these relationships throughout 2024 to 2025, and these organisations continue to support Reading to help make it a safer place for everyone.

Helping the homeless through Tap for Reading

In January 2025 we launched ‘Tap for Reading’, an innovative way to donate to those who are homeless in Reading. The scheme is designed to ensure donations from the public reach those most in need whilst helping to deter begging on the streets. The tap points can be found at locations including The Oracle, Broad Street Mall and Reading Station.

Tap for Reading donations are divided equally between the four charities involved in Reading’s Homelessness Partnership: Launchpad Reading, The Salvation Army, St Mungo’s and YMCA Reading. They provide practical support to people who are, or have been, rough sleeping in Reading. They will ensure that essential items such as clothing, food, specialist courses, travel to appointments, kitchen items and furnishings to make a home, and identification support to open bank accounts, register with doctors and dentists, are received by those most in need.

By supporting the Tap for Reading scheme instead of giving directly to people on the streets, residents will also be helping to minimise street begging. 100% of the money donated will go to the Council’s homelessness charity partners who will ensure that funds donated are used for what is needed directly and precisely to help Reading’s homeless population. Not a single penny of residents’ donations will go on the scheme’s administration fees or merchant service charges.

The tap points have been set up by Reading Borough Council, in partnership with Reading’s Business Improvement District (BID), to support the work of its homelessness charity partners.

We have several tap points in Reading where you can donate using your contactless credit or debit card. The locations for all donation points are:

• The Oracle shopping centre (by Pret a Manger, RG1 2AQ)
• Reading Station (RG1 1LZ)
• Broad Street Mall (by lifts and info point, RG1 7QE)
• The Purple Turtle (9 Gun Street, RG1 2JR)
• Ebb & Flow (apartments foyer reception, 3 Friar Street, RG1 1HR)

The locations for all donation points, more information on how the money will be spent and how to donate online if you can’t make it to a tap point, can be found at www.reading.gov.uk/tapforreading

Aside from using the Council’s tap points to help reduce homelessness, the best thing residents can do if they suspect someone is homeless is report it via www.thestreetlink.org.uk. Reports are sent straight to the Council’s commissioned outreach services so they can provide direct support to homeless people.

Every three months, all money collected through Reading’s tap points is distributed equally between our homelessness charity partners. We will share regular updates on the webpage on how the funding has been used and the number of people it has helped.

Your rent

Our teams are responsible for ensuring we collect your rent promptly and efficiently, so we can deliver your housing services. But we also do way more than that.

Our Income and Financial Inclusion Teams support our tenants by giving money advice to make sure you tenants are receiving all the benefits they are entitled to. We also refer for food parcels, fuel and energy support.

We have done all of this and more over the last year and will continue to work hard to ensure you can remain in your homes.

The Rent Team 

Over the last year, we have focused on early intervention to support tenants falling into arrears and to avoid debt escalating.

What our Income and Recovery Officers do:

• manage accounts that are in rent arrears
• responsible for contacting tenants who are in arrears to offer advice and support on how to manage their debt, and to set up repayment plans.
• Representing the Council in court possession hearings, carrying out evictions and face to face visits
• Listening to tenants and helping them in times of hardship
• ensure that referrals are made to our Money and Energy Advice teams for support where needed
• Make tenants feel comfortable discussing any hardships they may be facing.

Challenges

Continuing to help those who are struggling amidst the continued high cost of living. We estimate there are still over 2000 tenants not claiming all benefits they could be entitled to. We need to reach these tenants.

Money Advice and Financial Inclusion

Money issues and debt can happen to anyone, often due to situations beyond their control.

We have a friendly Money Advice Team who provide free, confidential, and impartial advice. They are ready to help check you are not missing out on income, make a manageable budget that works for you, and if you have debts, support you to understand the options to deal with them.

If you are worried about money, or not sure what to do, you are not alone. There is no problem too big or small, the Money Advice Team is here to support you

Achievements

• Money Advice to 540 RBC tenants
• Made 160 food parcel referrals
• 41 tenants were referred to the Social Inclusion and the Housing Energy Support Teams for additional support
• 115 tenants supported with Household Support Fund
• Assessed 1739 Discretionary Housing Payment applications

You are at the heart of our performance and decision making as to what happens within your communities, such as through the Tenant Improvement Fund (TIF).

Improving your communities through the Tenant Improvement Fund

The Tenant Improvement Fund (TIF) is a pot of money set aside from the rent you pay for small scale environmental improvements in your neighbourhoods.  Over many years this money has funded a wide variety of projects across our estates. 
   
All bids for TIF money are presented to a panel of trained tenants who check the suitability of the bids and that a consultation of local tenants has been carried out before they approve them. The Tenant Panel holds a meeting online every few weeks throughout the year to review and to approve bids for funding.    

During 2024 – 2025 the Tenant Panel:

• approved 15 projects, with a focus on improving communal garden areas and installing secure cycle stores
• Provided £96,000 in funding for these projects

You said

Residents at Weirside Court Sheltered Housing (Orts Road estate) told us they wanted their communal garden to be improved so they could go outside to enjoy it, and to do some gardening of their own.

We did

We responded by planning a major improvement project there. In 2024 we carried out the first phase of the improvements which included better fencing for improved security, cleaning up the patio area, installing an outside water tap and putting in a new gazebo to replace the old pagoda. We have also tidied up the plants and foliage.  

Further works are taking place this year at Weirside Court, including installing a greenhouse and improving the walkway and ground floor access to help residents to safely enjoy the garden area. 

The map below shows the areas where the TIF budget was used throughout 2024-25.

If you would like to tell us about your ideas for Tenant Improvement Fund projects where you live, we would like to hear from you! And if you are interested in finding out more about how you could become a TIF Tenant Panel member please contact us.   
 
You can send an email to tenant.participation@reading.gov.uk, or call us on 0118 937 2730.

Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs)

The TSMs are a submission that all Registered Providers of Social Housing must complete and send to the Regulator of Social Housing every year.

The TSMs are made up of Tenant Satisfaction Survey results and specific management information that the Regulator requires to monitor our performance.  The table below shows our tenant satisfaction measures for 2024 to 2025, along with figures for the previous years.

Question	Top-Line Findings – RBC Council Housing Services  2024, 629 responses overall  (2023, 641 responses overall; 2022, 561 responses overall)	2024	2023	2022	Change (from ’24 – ’23)
Q1	Overall satisfaction with RBC Housing Services	71%	78%	82%	Decrease of 5% or more
Q2b	Satisfaction with overall repairs service over the last 12 months	68%	80%	76%	Decrease of 5% or more
Q3	Satisfaction with time taken to complete most recent repair	66%	75%	73%	Decrease of 5% or more
Q4	Satisfaction that RBC Housing Services provide a home that is well maintained	72%	83%	84%	Decrease of 5% or more
Q5	Satisfaction that RBC Housing Services provide a home that is safe	81%	86%	88%	Decrease of 5% or more
Q6	Satisfaction that RBC Housing Services listen to your views and act upon them	68%	73%	79%	Decrease of 5% or more
Q7	Satisfaction that RBC Housing Services keep you informed about things that matter to you	74%	81%	87%	Decrease of 5% or more
Q8	Agree that ‘My landlord treats me fairly and with respect’	84%	89%	91%	Decrease of 5% or more
Q9b	Satisfaction with RBC Housing Services’ approach to complaints handling	22%	36%	29%	Decrease of 5% or more
Q10b	Satisfaction that RBC Housing Services keep communal areas clean and well maintained	74%	77%	70%	Decrease of 5% or more
Q11	Satisfaction that RBC Housing Services make a positive contribution to your neighbourhood	74%	79%	85%	Decrease of 5% or more
Q12	Satisfaction with RBC Housing Services’ approach to handling ASB	64%	68%	67%	Decrease of 5% or more
Q13a	Satisfaction that RBC Housing Services give you the opportunity to make your views known	72%	80%	84%	Decrease of 5% or more
Q14	Staff at RBC Housing Services pleasant and polite? (Yes)	90%	95%	94%	Decrease of 5% or more
Q15	Likelihood of recommending to family and friends – promoters or passive	73%	78%	82%	Decrease of 5% or more
Q16	RBC Housing Services has stayed the same or got better in the past year	76%	85%	83%	Decrease of 5% or more

Housing Ombudsman Landlord Report

The Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) recently published their landlord report for those landlords with 5 or more findings made in Ombudsman cases determined between 1^st April 2024 and 31^st March 2025.

The report finds that Reading Borough Council had a total of 5 determinations, all resulting in findings of maladministration, leading to a 100% maladministration rate. ​

The national maladministration rate for similar landlords is 71%.  This puts Reading’s rate significantly higher than the national average.

Breakdown of the findings:

• 11 findings were recorded by the Ombudsman
• 55% were classified as maladministration
• 45% as a service failure.

No cases were found to be outside their jurisdiction or withdrawn.

Reading’s 100% maladministration was found in:

• property condition
• complaints handling
• anti-social behaviour
• moving to a property.

How do we compare against others?

The national maladministration rates for landlords of similar size and type is 77%.

Reading Borough Council’s performance in categories such as property condition (100% maladministration) and complaints handling (100% maladministration) exceeds national averages (73% and 77%, respectively).

Orders from the Housing Ombudsman and Compliance

23 orders were issued by the Housing Ombudsman across the 11 findings.  Reading complied with all the orders. The compensation ordered to be paid out by the Ombudsman totalled £2,500.  The highest amounts related to property condition and complaints handling. ​

This report does highlight significant areas of concern for Reading in our service delivery.  This report further highlights the need for improvement in handling complaints and service failures, as also found by the Regulator at the inspection in February.  We would like to reiterate our commitment to going through this process, making the service better and more effective for everyone.  A link to the full report can be found at Landlord-Report-Reading-Borough-Council.pdf.

Affinity

A proportion of our tenants currently live in properties managed by Affinity. Reading Borough Council is working closely with Affinity to ensure a consistent and high-quality service for all our tenants.

Tenants managed by Affinity are Reading Borough Council tenants, and it is important to us that the service you receive reflects the same standards and outcomes as those managed directly by the Council. To support this, Affinity has implemented an improvement plan, and we are now holding regular strategic and operational meetings to strengthen our partnership.

We are making progress in aligning policies between Reading Borough Council and Affinity, and all staff training will be delivered in the same way across both organisations to ensure consistency in service delivery.

Information accessibility

Information accessibility ensures everyone, including people with disabilities, can perceive, understand, use, and interact with information on an equal basis.  It means:

• Universal Access: Everyone should be able to access and understand information, regardless of their ability or background. 
• Multiple Formats: Information needs to be provided in formats that can be perceived by different senses (sight, hearing, touch). 
• Understandable Content: Information should be presented clearly and simply to aid comprehension for people with different learning needs. 
• Digital Interaction: Digital platforms and technologies must be designed to be easy to navigate and usable with assistive technologies. 
• Communication Support: Providing the necessary communication support and resources to meet specific needs. 

Why it’s important:

• Empowerment: It enables people to make informed decisions about their lives and participate fully in society. 
• Equity: It promotes equal opportunities for everyone to access information and services. 
• Legal Compliance: In the UK, it’s a legal requirement for health and social care organizations to provide accessible information. 

During 2024 to 2025, we worked towards developing a new Tenant Accessibility Policy.  This is an internal policy for all staff, to ensure all information and accessibility requirements can be accounted for.

The policy explains how we will achieve good outcomes for vulnerable residents of housing and landlord services, including people who are homeless, applying for housing and our tenants and leaseholders, to make sure they can access our service.

The Policy is a statement of our commitment to ensure residents facing barriers to accessing our services are supported to ensure they are not disadvantaged when doing so.

Our Customer Feedback policy sets out how we handle feedback which includes, comments, compliments and complaints. The policy also adheres to the requirements of both the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling code and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

We welcome all feedback. The quickest and simplest way to make a comment, compliment or complaint is to complete an online customer feedback form by going to Make a complaint or compliment – Reading Borough Council.

How to contact us – and who to contact

(Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm unless stated)

Team	Phone	Email
Allocations	0118 937 2172	allocations@reading.gov.uk
Rent Team	0118 937 2784	rents@reading.gov.uk
Court Team	0118 937 2863	court.hearings@reding.gov.uk
Housing & Estates	0118 937 2161	H&EServices@reading.gov.uk
Repairs	0800 318 296	https://housingonline.reading.gov.uk
Repairs out of hours (Mon – Sun, 5pm – 9am)	0118 937 3737	–
ASB	0118 937 2147	teamASB_GenMail@reading.gov.uk
Money Advice	0118 937 2197	moneyadvice@reading.gov.uk
Homelessness Team	0118 937 2165	housing.advice@reading.gov.uk
Homelessness Out of hours (Mon – Sun 5pm – 9am)	01344 351 999	–
Sundries	0118 937 2369	sundry.accounts@reading.gov.uk
HB	0118 937 3707	benefits@reading.gov.uk
Council Tax	0118 937 3727	tax.council@reading.gov.uk
Affinity	0800 028 6942	customerservices@affinityhousing.co.uk
Complaints	0118 937 3787	housing.complaints@reading.gov.uk
Home Ownership	0118 937 2092	homeownership@reading.gov.uk
Tenant Participation	0118 937 2730	tenant.participation@reading.gov.uk