Highlighted in the report are the following examples of the strengths of the organisation, where the Commission think we are doing well and deliver a good service:

• The majority of residents are either satisfied or very satisfied with the service they receive from the Customer Service Centre and most are pleased with the repairs service.
• Staff have a good understanding of residents cultural needs, and services have been tailored to reflect this.
• Sanctuary is financially sound and is keen to achieve value for money.
• Staff are becoming more visible and accessible on estates and schemes.
• The lettings service has specialist staff with good local knowledge and understanding and the lettings service has been reviewed to offer more choice for prospective residents.
• Homes are generally in good condition and performance on servicing gas appliances is good – residents have been involved in selecting a gas contractor.

The report also highlights some areas for improvement, including:

• Dealing more effectively with customer dissatisfaction and complaints and using information from complaints to improve services.
• Ensuring that the new resident involvement strategy is implemented and improves involvement - this is an area where we need your help and you can find out more in the insert included in this edition of New Signal.
• Providing an improved repairs appointment service.
• Ensuring that anti social behaviour is dealt with effectively.
• Actively managing situations where repairs are not completed in the target time and ensuring consistent quality in the communal maintenance service.

The Audit Commission recognises that Sanctuary has a track record of service improvement, that staff are trained and supported and that improvement plans are sound and adequately resourced – and so has judged Sanctuary to have “promising prospects for improvement”.

Sanctuary will now be working hard across the country to make sure that we improve in the areas the Commission has identified as being weak, and we will have regular meetings with our regulator, the Housing Corporation, to confirm that we are making good progress.