Beyond Repair?

In 2016, GreenSquareAccord made bold promises to overhaul their repair services, pledging improved response times, better communication, and an overall enhanced experience for residents. Yet, here we are in 2024, and the reality paints a very different picture. Delays, unresolved repairs, and a lack of accountability continue to frustrate residents, raising the question: what went wrong? In this blog, we will dive deep into the failures, challenges, and missed opportunities that have left residents feeling abandoned and unsupported.

“Our customers are telling us we need to improve our responsive repairs service, so this will be a priority for the year to come. It is also a significant opportunity to positively influence customer satisfaction since 48% of calls and 60% of complaints relate to repairs. There is a clear imbalance between satisfaction with the quality of our homes and our cost per unit which our new corporate plan specifically seeks to address.”

Robin Bailey GreenSquareAccord Board Chair 16th July 2019

The Promises of 2016 - What Went Wrong?

Back in 2016, GreenSquareAccord’s Annual Report painted a hopeful picture for residents. The housing association pledged to make significant improvements to their repair services, focusing on resident satisfaction, quicker response times, and a more efficient system for handling maintenance issues. For many, it seemed like a turning point—a commitment to tackle long-standing problems and improve the quality of life for residents across the board.

However, as we review the 2024 Annual Report, it’s clear that these promises have fallen short. Despite the large sums of money reportedly invested in upgrading the repairs service, many residents are still facing the same issues that were highlighted nearly a decade ago. Poor communication, unresolved repairs, and lengthy delays are still common complaints.

One major issue is the failure to resolve repairs in a timely manner. While the reports boast improved processes, residents continue to report long waits and unaddressed issues. This failure to meet promises of efficiency raises concerns about how funds are being allocated and whether these investments are truly benefitting residents.

The 2024 report also highlights the growing use of technology to improve customer service and track repairs, yet many residents claim that repairs are being falsely marked as resolved when they are still ongoing. This not only skews the performance data but further erodes trust between the housing provider and the people they serve.

What went wrong? The problem seems to lie in the implementation. While the strategy may look good on paper, the execution has been marred by a blame culture, lack of accountability, and a persistent communication breakdown. Instead of residents seeing the promised improvements, many feel abandoned and left to deal with issues that have dragged on for months, if not years.

The 2024 Report - More Promises, Same Issues

GreenSquareAccord’s 2024 Annual Report offers a glimpse into the efforts made to address long-standing issues within their repair services. While there are some signs of progress, the overall experience for residents remains far from ideal, with many still facing significant delays and frustrations.

One of the most notable achievements in the past year is the reduction in the backlog of repairs, which dropped from 11,630 to 6,971. This decrease is a positive step, showing that efforts to catch up on long-overdue repairs are starting to take effect. However, the fact that nearly 7,000 repair jobs remain unresolved highlights that the problem is far from being eliminated.

Another area of improvement is the increase in the percentage of repairs completed correctly on the first visit. In 2024, 90% of repairs were completed "right first time," compared to 81% in previous years. This improvement means fewer repeat visits, which should reduce frustration for residents. Additionally, the completion of 100% of emergency repairs within the 24-hour target indicates strong performance when handling urgent issues, such as safety-related repairs.

Despite these improvements, residents are still experiencing challenges. One of the most telling signs of this is the lack of improvement in customer satisfaction. The satisfaction rate has remained stagnant at 88%, indicating that, while the operational aspects may have improved, the resident experience has not significantly changed.

The lingering backlog of 6,971 outstanding repairs remains a key issue. Although it’s a reduction from the previous year, it still represents thousands of unresolved problems that residents are waiting on. This backlog is particularly problematic for non-emergency repairs, with 27.4% of them not being completed within the target timeframe. While urgent issues are handled swiftly, residents with less critical repair needs are left waiting for long periods.

Communication continues to be a major pain point. Many residents report poor communication and a lack of updates regarding the status of their repairs, which adds to their dissatisfaction. Even with improvements in completing repairs on the first visit, 10% of jobs still require repeat visits, further delaying the resolution of issues and adding to the inconvenience for those affected.

False Reporting - Are Repairs Really Being Resolved?

One of the most troubling issues uncovered is the practice of closing repair cases while they remain unresolved. GreenSquareAccord has repeatedly marked repairs as "complete" when, in reality, the problems still persist. This raises serious questions about the accuracy of their reporting and the true progress being made.

This pattern of false reporting calls into question the validity of the data presented in their annual reports. Is this a symptom of deeper problems within their systems and processes? Evidence suggests that GreenSquareAccord lacks a reliable method for tracking repairs across their business. GreenSquareAccord, following multiple mergers, are still without one centralised system that could be used to follow issues through to completion.  Still lacking that single process for handling complaints and bringing together a complex set of policies and procedures across thier operational services in the prevailing years since the troublesome 2021 merger.

Both the customer service and housing teams appear to be left in the dark. When residents reach out for updates on their ongoing repairs, they are often met with uncertainty. Neither team seems to have a clear understanding of what is happening, and residents are left without answers or solutions. The internal communication between teams is fragmented, further compounding the problem. This breakdown in communication creates a bottleneck, making it difficult for any team to provide accurate information or timely updates, which only deepens residents' frustration.

These internal inefficiencies and failures in communication are not just logistical problems—they hinder the entire repair process and lead to misleading reports. With cases being prematurely closed, the numbers published in GreenSquareAccord’s reports may paint an overly optimistic picture of their repair performance. This lack of transparency and accuracy creates a disconnect between what is reported and the real experiences of residents, who are still living with unresolved issues.

Blame Culture - The Real Barrier?

One of the most pervasive issues within GreenSquareAccord’s repair services is the culture of blame that seems to dominate both internal processes and resident interactions. Rather than taking responsibility for delays, missed repairs, and ongoing issues, GreenSquareAccord often shifts the blame—either onto the residents themselves or between different internal teams, creating a cycle of inaction and frustration.

In many cases, residents report conflicting feedback from GreenSquareAccord's engineers and their homeownership team. For example, engineers might acknowledge a problem on-site, only for the housing or customer service teams to later downplay the issue or suggest that the fault lies with the resident. This not only delays the repair process but also leads to a breakdown in trust between residents and the housing provider.

This blame culture has further entrenched communication failures across the organization. Instead of addressing issues head-on and finding solutions, teams often seem more focused on deflecting responsibility. The result? Repairs are delayed, closed prematurely, or ignored altogether, with little accountability.

For example, in the case of a serious leak affecting multiple flats in Oxford, engineers acknowledged the severity of the problem, but subsequent communications from GreenSquareAccord’s customer service team minimised the issue, marking it as resolved despite evidence to the contrary. Rather than working together to fix the problem, the lack of clear internal communication allowed the leak to persist for months, leaving residents in uninhabitable conditions.

This internal fragmentation is exacerbated by the tendency to push responsibility back onto the residents, whether by blaming condensation or suggesting minor fixes that don’t address the root cause. Residents are left feeling unsupported, forced to live in homes that are deteriorating while the housing provider looks for someone else to blame.

The issues at GreenSquareAccord extend beyond simple repair delays. From the broken promises made in 2016 to the systemic failures outlined in the 2024 report, it is clear that both residents and the housing provider are stuck in a cycle of unfulfilled commitments. Until GreenSquareAccord addresses its blame culture, communication failures, and inaccurate reporting, residents will continue to suffer from unresolved repairs and inadequate service. For those wanting more insight into these issues and the ongoing struggle for accountability, the future looks uncertain, but the conversation must continue.