Sentinel achieves Excellence in Service
9 November 2006 -
Only 14 months after joining the Quality Housing Services (QHS), Sentinel Housing Association has gained the Excellence in Service Certification.
QHS is a standard of excellence specifically for the housing sector and provides a set of standards that Housing Associations, like Sentinel, can work towards in order to constantly improve the quality and range of services for their customers.
The organisation gives targets to measure business performance against, which helps Housing Associations identify the levels of service they provide. By meeting the targets set by QHS, Sentinel has entered one of the most unique certification schemes for service excellence in Europe.
To qualify for the certification, Sentinel sustained high standards across ten service areas over a six-month period:
- Opening & Reception
- Telephone accessibility
- Information & documentation
- Dealing with those seeking housing
- Maintenance
- Rent payment & collection
- Complaints handling
- Estate services
- Participation
- Diversity & Equality
These service areas were assessed through a number of on-site audits, mystery shopper visits, telephone accessibility checks and customer questionnaires.
Sentinels Customer Service Manager, Miriam Morris, said: "Obtaining the certification award is excellent news and we are very proud of our achievement. It is made even more special by the fact that the results monitored by QHS are dependent on what our customers say and think about the service we provide, information that is invaluable to us. This confirms that the service we are offering to our customers is continually improving."
The QHS certification system enables Sentinel to drive forward an effective programme of continuous improvement across every aspect of customer performance.
Investing in our homes and neighbourhoods to provide good places to live.