The GSA Way Isn’t Working.
The above text was written as part of an introduction to a report I had penned back in November 2020.
At that stage, Ruth Cooke was advocating her then-corporate strategy of 'simply brilliant landlord.' In the same report, which was written during and after an ongoing complaint had been raised and closed with GreenSquare (the complaint that would later result in all affected residents being compensated to the tune of £1200), I also referenced that year's annual report and delved into Ruth Cooke's tenure at and before GreenSquare.
Ruth Cooke was appointed group chief executive at GreenSquare in May 2019. She replaced Howard Toplis who was asked to step down in part due to GreenSquare failing to implement a large number of high-priority actions arising from their own internal risk assessments. These failures included overdue gas safety certificates across a number of properties as well as out-of-date lift service checks.
The Regulator of Social Housing noted that: “Some of these urgent actions had been outstanding for a number of months, and the issue affected a significant number of tenants, including potentially vulnerable tenants.” This mis-handling led to the group being downgraded to G2 as well as a £5m fall in operating surplus.
Robin Bailey, chair of GreenSquare, said in his foreword to GreenSquare annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2019: “None of this is acceptable to the board and executive. Together with a much-changed executive we are determined to fulfil our ambitions of becoming a great landlord and builder of more affordable homes.”
During her time at GreenSquare, Ms Cooke has been working on corporate finance deals involving around £350m of existing debt, £140m of new revolving credit facilities and £50m of new borrowing. This has involved renegotiations with existing lenders BlackRock’s European Infrastructure Debt Team, Lloyds Bank, MetLife Investment Management, NatWest, Santander and Triodos, whilst fostering new relationships with Barclays and MUFG.
Ms Cooke is also shepherding in a merger with Accord, an investment partner with the Homes and Communities Agency. She is strategic in this merger having previously built relationships with this Midland based housing provider during her time at Midland Heart, and in her role as Chairman of Connexus Housing. She is also a member of West Midlands Housing Association Partnership, and had a brief stint as chief executive at Clarion Housing Group among other roles.
This week, I've been reminded of just how many of these issues are still ongoing. Many of the purported celebrations highlighted by GreenSquareAccord as testimonies to their improvements and leadership, not just in thought but in tangible actions, have now appeared as hollow celebrations.
During this time of reflection, I'm now aware of how many of these ongoing concerns are echoed across multiple counties. As such, it's time to accept that the GSA Way isn't working.
We are going to look back at the issues and responses from GreenSquareAccord (then GreenSquare) and assess which, if any, of these issues have been resolved and if they affect other residents of GreenSquareAccord. By doing so, we can evaluate what has been achieved over the last five years since Ruth Cooke was appointed to the role of CEO at one of the UK's largest housing providers.
Part One - Response Times (Communication)
To start here is an extract from the offical complaint response from our then Customer Care Specialist:
Firstly, I’d like to apologise for the length of time it has taken to resolve the issues you have raised. It is clear from my investigation that a number of these have been ongoing for a long time and have involved numerous members of staff without resolution. I am sorry this is the experience you have had with our service and I want to stress that this is not the standard we strive to provide our customers.
Customer Care Specialist - 25th September 2020
As we all know, complaints offer every organisation the opportunity to learn and evolve into a better service provider.
In the four years since the above statement was written and provided to me as part of a formal complaint response, has GreenSquareAccord been able to streamline their communications? Are they now able to provide timely responses to issues negatively affecting their residents? With a Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications having taken almost two years of salary out of the pockets of GreenSquareAccord residents, and who believes that “If it didn’t go well this time, don’t worry, just keep going…” which is all very well whist we pay his mortgage, but when do we and GreenSquareAccord start to gain value for our money from him?
Anyway, here are some redacted replies received by GreenSquareAccord residents this year.
From: Julianne Britton <Julianne.Britton@greensquareaccord.co.uk>
Date: 5 March 2024 at 10:49:54 GMT
To:Hi *****
Sorry for not messaging you yesterday.
******************************************************************
Kind regards
Julianne
Julianne Britton
Director of Customer Services
W greensquareaccord.co.uk
Another.
From: Julianne Britton <Julianne.Britton@greensquareaccord.co.uk>
Date: 4 March 2024 at 20:20:04 GMT
To:
Dear ***********
Thank you for your email and sorry for not responding sooner.
**********************************
Kind regards
Julianne
Julianne Britton
Director of Customer Services
Another.
From: Julianne Britton <Julianne.Britton@greensquareaccord.co.uk>
Date: 23 February 2024 at 07:54:43 GMT
To:Hi *****
I’m so sorry I haven’t got back to you again about this, although I haven’t got an answer I still should have let you know what’s happening.
***********************
Kind regards
Julianne
Julianne Britton
Director of Customer Services
This promise of an update was broken.
From: Julianne Britton
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2024 10:17 PM
To
Subject:Hi *********
I am so sorry for not responding sooner. ********************
Julianne
Julianne Britton
Director of Customer Services
Ms. Britton also finds herself needing to apologise on behalf of her team. Here is an extract from an official complaint review dated 21st February 2024.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge your feedback regarding the need to chase the written confirmation of the phone call which Lisa promised to provide. I’m sorry this was overlooked although was pleased to see Lisa did send this promptly once she received your reminder. I know this will have added to your frustration, and it should not have been necessary for you to chase us for this. Please be assured we have reminded the Customer Care team of the importance of always delivering on the promises we make, as I completely agree we can only build back trust with our customers by doing what we say we will. Thank you for this valuable feedback.
It’s not just GreenSquareAccord’s customer Service Director and Customer Care Specialist who missed deadline, here’s another one from their Head of Insight, a title which according to her Linkedin profile means “I lead the gathering of strategic customer feedback to drive positive business change, making sure our customers are at the heart of our decisions.”
Indeed, with multiple missed opportunities, it was taken as an excuse.
So as customers, we still need to chase GreenSquareAccord for responses to issues raised. They still miss their own agreed timeframes, and they need to be reminded of agreed actions
Surely it's just customers they keep waiting. Surely it wouldn’t be professional bodies such as the Housing Ombudsman, surely.
Not just customers then, governing bodies too.
Having agreed to more time, surely GreenSquareAccord would meet this deadline, surely…
But did the Housing Ombudsman also have to chase GreenSquareAccord?
So in the years since the latest corporate strategy, now titled "Simpler, Stronger, and Better," was launched, have communications with customers improved?
Nope.