|
| Working together to improve our services | Above is a short video highlighting the work of our customer involvement and communities team during 2025–26. It shows how customers have had meaningful opportunities to share their views and help shape the way our services are delivered.
Over the past year, there have been 52 customer involvement activities, leading to more than 200 recommendations from customers! This feedback has directly helped strengthen our strategies, policies and ways of working, creating positive changes and services that better reflect what matters most to our customers.
One example of these involvement opportunities is the customer scrutiny team, who recently reviewed our caretaking service for general needs homes. During 2025, the team spent time with caretakers, spoke with managers and listened to customers who use the service. They made seven recommendations, which were welcomed by Claire Williams, supported housing manager, and approved by Selwood Housing’s board of directors.
Six months on, improvements are already being made. Cleaning schedules have been reviewed and now include tumble dryer maintenance, caretakers have completed refresher training on reporting repairs, and equipment needs have been identified.
If you're interested in getting involved to help shape our services, click below to visit our website to find out more. For our next involvement opportunity, we would like to invite customers who have been through our formal complaints process between January 2024 and December 2025 to take part in a focus group. We look forward to hearing your views then!
|
| Get involved
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Safety in your home |
Keeping your home fire safe is something we all play a part in. Simple steps like testing your smoke alarms regularly, taking care when cooking, avoiding overloading plug sockets, and keeping exit routes clear can make a big difference. Planning an escape route and knowing what to do in an emergency can also help keep you and your loved ones safe. Our website contains lots more information on keeping your home fire safe.
Following recent unfortunate incidents, we’re also asking customers to think about how they would cope if the unexpected happened. As your landlord, we insure the building, but you are responsible under your tenancy for insuring your belongings.
Home contents insurance isn’t compulsory, but it can help protect your possessions from risks such as fire, theft and water damage, giving you peace of mind. You should have recently received a letter with more information, and you can find out more on our website. |
|
|
 |
Staff event closure notice | Our offices will be closed all day on Thursday 18 June for our annual staff event.
If you have an emergency during this time, you can still call our customer support number on 01225 715715 and speak to our out of hours service.
If you need to book a routine repair or ask a non-urgent question, we would ask that you call back when we re-open on Friday 19 June, or email us instead.
|
 |
|
 |
Paying your rent | If you pay your rent online, you might be using a system called 'allpay'. This is a service we use to let you pay your rent easily and securely.
As of 11 May 2026, allpay requires the download of their new app: ‘allpayments’. Please download via the Apple App store or Google Play.
This is not an update of the old app; the new app must be downloaded separately.
Click below to visit the allpay help and advice centre.
|
| Allpay help centre
| |
|
|
|
 |
Antisocial behaviour | We want your home and neighbourhoods to be an enjoyable and safe place to live. But if you, your family, or local community feel unsafe or threatened by antisocial behaviour, we will take it seriously and provide support and advice.
Antisocial behaviour ('ASB') is when someone acts in a way that causes, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to someone else. This could include:
General noise that may be more obvious in summer months, such as dogs barking, children playing outside, neighbours doing DIY, or the occasional outdoor event like a barbecue, isn't considered antisocial behaviour.
Of course, we try to prevent antisocial behaviour occurring in the first place. We partner with local organisations to help make our communities great places to live, and we continue to improve our neighbourhoods. Neighbourly disputes are also often sorted with an informal conversation (see these useful tips on gov.uk).
Although antisocial behaviour happens infrequently, we take all complaints seriously and understand how difficult it can be to report if this is happening to you. Please don't hesitate to contact your neighbourhood manager, or report ASB using our online form.
If you believe a crime has been committed, you should call the police first, particularly if you are concerned for your own safety. Then, let us know, once you’re safe. |
|
|
|
 |
Customer complaints forum |
We’ve made an important improvement to how we close complaints, based on feedback from customers. Complaints can be made up to 12 months after the issue or when the issue is discovered. Rest assured, making a complaint won’t affect your rights as a tenant or result in any consequences for your tenancy.
Some customers told us they weren’t always clear about the final outcome of their complaint or whether everything agreed had been completed. We’ve listened and made changes to improve this.
Now, every complaint is formally closed by our complaints team, who will send a clear closure letter. This explains the final decision and confirms that all agreed actions have been completed.
This change also means we can carry out extra checks before closing a complaint, making sure things like repairs or follow-up actions are fully done. It helps give customers more confidence in the process and keeps us accountable.
We value all feedback and use it to keep improving our services. One customer shared: “I'm happy with the outcome overall and appreciate the time and effort taken to address my complaint.” Find out more about the customer complaints forum by clicking below.
|
| Customer complaints forum
|
|
|
|
 |
Water safety |
With summer comes the risk of heatwaves and hosepipe bans. These can also bring a higher risk of legionella bacteria that thrive in the warm water of rarely used taps, water butts and hosepipes. In fact, past studies showed that 95% of garden water butts harboured the bacteria which is responsible for Legionnaires disease.
Here are a few tips to reduce the risks and stay water safe:
Click below for more safety advice.
|
| Tips and advice
| |
|
 |
Summer pests | Warmer weather can bring some unwelcome guests to the picnic table!
Ants, wasps, flies and mice can be a nuisance and sometimes cause damage. We have some useful pest control tips and advice for you.
And if you'd like to burrow even deeper, head over to the website of the British Pest Control Association. You’ll find plenty of advice on how to deal with the most common nuisance pests.
For more general advice about caring for your garden in the summer months, take a look at the gardens section of our website, where you'll find advice for controlling weeds, repairing patios and sheds, and installing a rotary washing line.
Click the button below to see our full range of repairs tips and advice for inside and outside your home.
|
| Repairs for your home
| |
|
|
|
Final message from CEO Barry Hughes as he prepares to leave Selwood Housing
| As I come to the end of my time at Selwood Housing, I am proud to look back on the progress we have made. Importantly we are now helping more customers than ever, we have 2,000 more homes than 20 years ago and we are investing millions each year in maintaining and improving our existing homes.
I know that there is always more to do and we will continue to work with customers to make improvements. If you would like to get involved with making things even better, then please get in touch with our involvement and communities team. I am delighted that we have been able to appoint a new chief executive from within the group and I am sure Mark Mayler will lead Selwood Housing to more success in the future.
|
|
|
|
