Welcome to your April news from Paradigm

Advanced notice about increased costs

Many of you pay service charges for a range of services to your block or estate. We want to let you know that service charges will be increasing and you will receive a letter about this in May. We understand that this may cause some concern, which is why we wanted to give you advance notice and explain why the increase is necessary.

Your service charges pay for things like the cleaning and maintenance of communal areas, the upkeep of internal and external decoration and repairs to communal areas such as lifts, entry systems and lighting. Some of you will also pay for your heating through your service charges. This year, we have had to renew insurance and ground maintenance contracts, so you may see a particular increase in the costs of these two services.

We strive to provide high-quality, value-for-money services to all our customers. Unfortunately, like everyone else, our costs have increased and we need to raise our service charges to continue the current standards and provide the necessary services.

We're here to help
We understand that an increase will be difficult. You will receive more information in the coming weeks but, in the meantime, if you're struggling financially, please get in touch by calling 0300 303 1010. You can also take a look at the Support Hub on our website.

Helping us improve our services to you

We are constantly reviewing all the feedback we get from you and use it to improve the way we work and the services you receive. And it's now easier to see how we are performing against the targets we set.

In April 2023, the Housing Regulator introduced the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) which require all social landlords, like Paradigm, to collect data in a standardised format. This makes it easy for you to see how we are doing, compared to other similar organisations. You can find out more about TSMs by watching this video:   

Our performance
We’ve published figures from April to December 2023 and will continue to update these four times a year. This gives you an idea of how we’re performing including what we’re doing well, and where we need to improve. We’ve been monitoring these results closely, trying to understand what is driving them, and putting in place improvements.

Our Customer Service Offer and Customer Care Standards

Customer Service Offer
Customers have helped us to develop our Customer Service Offer, which sets out the services you can expect from us. We have used all the feedback we get from you to look at what's important to you and what you want us to do. You can see our new offer below.

Customer Care Standards
Our Customer Care Standards set out how we will deliver our services to you. They are the promises we make to you about the level of customer care you can expect to receive from us.

We've been busy updating these standards to make them clearer and more transparent. You can find out more about these standards here.

Unhappy with the service you have received? Please tell us

Pets

We want you to enjoy living in your home and we know that pets can be a big part of this enjoyment.

If you want to have a pet, you do need to get our permission first. We need to ensure your home is suitable and the pet won’t cause any issues for your neighbours.

You can apply for pet permission here.

If you own an XL Bully

If you own an XL Bully dog, you will need to have a certificate of exemption to legally keep your pet. You will be committing a criminal offence and be in breach of your tenancy agreement if you do not hold a Certification of Exemption.

More information is available on www.gov.uk about XL Bully dogs, including how to check if your dog is an XL Bully and applying for an exemption.

Supporting our customers with energy debt

We were awarded £30,000 by HACT (Housing Associations' Charitable Trust) to support customers with energy debts.
We used this money to help 36 customers completely clear any energy debt they had. 

Read one of the stories below from our colleague Rosebell, who helped a customer in Milton Keynes :

"During a window installation programme, I spoke to a customer who told me that his windows had been allowing heat to escape, resulting in wasted energy and high heating costs. He racked up a debt of £3,000 due to his health circumstances, and with him being unable to work, he didn't know how he was going to pay. I told him about the HACT fund and helped him gather evidence to apply for the funding. He called me to tell me the good news that all his debt was cleared, and he couldn't believe it. He told me that he has now got his life back again, and a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders."

If you're struggling to pay your rent or bills, we're here to help. Call 0300 303 1010.

Join our team

We've got a whole host of vacancies available that might be the perfect fit for you. From Electrician to Carpenter, check out our roles here.

We're more than a housing association. We’re a growing business committed to delivering excellent services to customers and building a great place to work, where everyone can belong.

If you’d like to make a positive impact on the lives of our customers, while developing your career in a professional and supportive environment, we’d love to hear from you!