Tenant Satisfaction Measures

The Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) Standard mandates that all registered providers develop and report TSMs in accordance with the guidelines set by the regulator. As part of this requirement, it is necessary for Housing 21 to inform its residents about its approach to conducting the TSM Perception survey and collecting data.

This section details Housing 21’s methodology and outlines the criteria specified in the Regulator of Social Housing’s publication, Tenant Satisfaction Measures Return.

The Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) Standard requires all registered providers to conduct tenant perception surveys and report performance annually as specified by the RSH. TSMs are intended to make landlords’ performance more visible to tenants so that tenants can hold their landlord to account. TSMs consist of 22 measures: 10 providing management information from data held by the landlord and 12 satisfaction measures gathered from tenant surveys. In addition to overall satisfaction with landlord services, the measures cover five key themes:

• Keeping properties in good repair
• Maintaining building safety
• Respectful and helpful engagement
• Responsible neighbourhood management
• Effective handling of complaints

There are 2 categories for households surveyed: LCRA (low cost rented accommodation) and LCHO (low cost home ownership).

Housing 21 works with Acuity Research & Practice Ltd, an accredited organisation that is dedicated to providing research services in the social housing sector. We use survey information to understand how our tenants feel about their homes and services and how we can improve. Acuity was commissioned for collecting, generating and validating reported perception measures.

In 2024/25, Housing 21 completed TSM surveys with a census. Housing 21 must ensure that they survey enough residents to meet a statistical accuracy (margin of error at 95% confidence interval) of +/- 5%.

During 2024/25, Housing 21 completed 11,529 LCRA (low cost rented accommodation) TSM surveys and have 19,029 LCRA properties, which means that a statistical accuracy level of +/- 0.6% was achieved. As for LCHO (low cost home ownership) properties, Housing 21 completed 998 TSM surveys and have 1608 LCHO properties which means that a statistical accuracy level of +/- 2.0% was achieved. Both of the accuracy levels achieved are at a greater level of accuracy than required.

No tenant was removed from the sample frame.

Incentives: All surveys will be entered into a prize draw with a chance to win one of 10 x £50 Vouchers.

Housing 21 completed a total of 11,529 LCRA, and 998 LCHO surveys between 20/05/2024 and 14/02/2025.

The TSM Surveys were completed via Telephone, Internet and Postal surveys. The rationale for using a mixed methodology approach is:

• Accessibility and Inclusivity: Ensuring accessibility for all tenants, which aligns with our goal of reaching a broad and representative sample
• Engagement and Data Quality: Indirect interaction by paper and online, and direct interaction over the phone tends to enhance engagement, allowing participants to answer clarifying questions and leading to more accurate and detailed responses. This is particularly valuable for nuanced satisfaction metrics
• Response Rates: Using a mixed method approach maximises the robustness of our data and ensuring the results truly reflect the tenant base. Continuing to include a telephone aspect also allows Housing 21 to be reactive to flags and alerts, which improves tenant recovery
• Reliability and Consistency: Maintaining consistency with previous years' methodologies allows for more reliable trend analysis. It also enables richer information to be gathered
• Independence: Using Acuity, an independent market research agency, means that participants are free from influence from the rest of the organisation

Telephone surveys were provided at the request of residents who required an alternative survey format.  All residents receiving paper questionnaires had the opportunity complete the survey online via a QR code or URL link by following the instructions provided on the covering letter. The survey is carefully scripted to ensure a professional and consistent process.

Survey responses are anonymised and shared with Housing 21, so that feedback can be analysed to understand how we can improve.

Representative checks were carried out to ensure that the survey was representative of the tenant population as a whole. The characteristics by which representativeness was determined were:

• Tenure type
• Length of tenancy
• Age group
• Business stream
• Region
• Patch
• Scheme

For more detailed information on repetitiveness checks, please contact: research@housing21.org

Six different survey versions were provided to households according to tenure and care provision. Two of which were TSM only questionnaires (LCRA and LCHO), two included a set of additional questions around Housing 21’s care service for one resident only, and the final two questionnaires included additional questions around Housing 21’s care service for two residents in a household.

The questionnaire versions are:

Rented

Rented and Care Services (one resident)

Rented and Care Services (two residents)

Shared Ownership

Shared Ownership and Care Services (one resident)

Shared Ownership and Care Services (two residents)