Also included in this month's newsletter:

• Information about making complaints and reporting anti-social behaviour
• Advice on testing your heating before you need it
• Support with energy bills
• Thank you for your newsletter feedback
• Gardening competition winners
• Our quarterly Tenant Satisfaction Measure results
• An update from our Estates team

How do I....?

It's important you know your rights as a customer, and what to do if things aren't going quite right. Check out two 'how to' guides below:

How to complain

We welcome your feedback, both good and not so good! We always aim to get things right the first time round. But if this doesn’t happen, let us know so we can get things sorted.

We have a specialist Customer Resolutions team who make sure your issues are investigated quickly, resolved as soon as possible and that we learn from your experience.

If you would like to make a complaint, you can share your feedback by calling us on 0300 303 1010, emailing us at ContactUs@ParadigmHousing.co.uk, or you can click here to fill in our online complaint form.

How to report anti-social behaviour (ASB)

We take all reports of ASB seriously and we will work with you to help prevent ASB from occurring and will react when incidents happen.

If you are reporting ASB to the Police, you should let us know too. We can then work closely with the Police if needed to help resolve your case.

You can report ASB by calling us on 0300 303 1010 or emailing ContactUs@ParadigmHousing.co.uk

It's getting chilly

Test your heating
There are mince pies on the shelves, autumn leaves on the ground, and a chill in the air. But before it gets really cold, you should test your heating. If it isn’t working, call us and we can fix it before you need it!

Test your heating with our easy three-step guide to make sure everything is ok:

• Turn your thermostat to 30°C
• Turn up your radiators and leave them on for 30 minutes
• Check your boiler has come on and your radiators are warming up.

If your heating doesn't work after this, please call us on 0300 303 1010. We're here to help.

An update from our Estates team
From October, John O'Conner, our grounds maintenance contractor, will be trimming the hedges and shrubs around our estates. This is part of our regular maintenance, which we postponed to allow for bird nesting season. Now that nesting season is over, the hedges will be cut back to keep the area tidy.

If you have any questions about this work, please do call us on 0300 303 1010.

Support with energy bills

If you’re worried about the cost of heating this winter, please don’t suffer in silence - you might be able to get help. Check out some ways you might be able to get support below:

Four out of 10 eligible pensioners are missing out on benefits of up to £3,900 a year. Are you one of them?
The government recently decided to withdraw the winter fuel payment from most pensioners. The only way to qualify now is to apply for pension credit, which is available if you are aged 66 or over and on a very low income.

Pension credit offers support for a range of household expenses including the winter fuel payment, but many people are not claiming the support they are entitled to.

To find out all about pension credit, including whether you qualify and how to apply, click here.

Are you receiving the right benefits?
If you’re struggling with the cost of living, you should check if you can claim benefits or increase your current benefits. To check what benefits you can get, you should use a benefits calculator for a detailed check based on your situation.

Contact Citizens Advice
They can refer you to agencies for support or provide advice on the next steps to get help.

Contact us
We’re here to help. Our Customer Service Advisors are available between 8:30am-5:30pm, Monday to Friday. Call us on 0300 303 1010 or email ContactUs@ParadigmHousing.co.uk. They can also refer you to relevant agencies for support and put you in touch with our Customer Support team.

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who entered our gardening competition!

We’re delighted to announce our winners:

Front garden: Mrs Williams from Aylesbury

Balcony/indoor green space: Ms Trumpet from High Wycombe
"Here’s my balcony bang in the centre of town. It’s my little bit of peaceful pretty space, always changing through the year. It’s been a real boost to my mental health."

Back garden: Mr and Mrs James from Great Missenden - who also were the winners of our gardening competition in 2004! Scroll to the bottom of this email to see what the garden looked like then.

Mrs James told us, "We love our garden very much and spend hours doing it, we have several different areas which can be used at different times of the day. I am 64 and my husband is 75 and our garden is our passion."

We’ll be in touch with the winners in the next few days to confirm their prizes. Check out some other amazing entries below!

Thank you for your feedback
Thank you for the feedback we received from the survey about our newsletter. We're happy to hear that most of you found it informative and helpful. Some of you mentioned that there was too much jargon, and it wasn’t always relevant. We’re working to improve this and hope you find this edition clearer and more useful.

You also said you'd like to hear more about cost-of-living tips and advice. We'll include something on this topic in every newsletter for the next six months. After that, we'll ask again what you'd like to hear more about.

Mrs James' garden in 2004: