News

Leading housing provider, Sanctuary Group, is expanding its highly successfully in-house repairs service by extending it to thousands of residents across the Midlands this week.
The Internal Maintenance Service (IMS) workforce has been set up specifically to ensure we can provide the best possible service to our residents, with the aim to increase customer satisfaction and ensure value for money with a consistent level of service across the Group.

The IMS is being rolled out in phases across the UK and is currently operational in the Midlands, Ely, Hertford and Rochford, with the Midlands’ expansion’s ‘go-live’ this week.
11 operatives with a variety of maintenance skills have been recruited to cover Staffordshire and the East and West of the Midlands and have received intensive induction training ahead of today’s start date. Each operative will carry out responsive and out of hours repairs and maintenance work on empty properties, under the guidance of Midlands Operations Manager Phill Heales.

This brings the total number of operatives in the Midlands to 29, covering properties across West Midlands, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.

Resident involvement has been key to the successful set-up of IMS so far, with a number of initiatives to ensure residents play a direct role in shaping the service they receive. Resident representatives sit on the interview panel during each phase of the recruitment process and also review promotional literature for the service.

Perhaps the most crucial element of resident involvement however has been their active participation in training the newly recruited operatives. As part of the induction process residents speak to operatives about their own expectations from the service and the code of conduct by which the operatives should operate.

Resident Geoff Copestake took part in the most recent recruitment drive and commented: “To participate in the recruitment of operatives who will be visiting residents homes is a really valuable opportunity. It’s important to give the candidate a perspective from both sides, the employer and the customer, and was appreciated by each of the interviewees.”

Darren Newman, Director of Maintenance, said: “Having residents involved in the set up of IMS is a hugely important part of the process and helps our staff to understand the impact the quality of service will have on our customers.

“We are now on to our fifth operation in the UK and these roll-outs take a huge amount of time and dedication from a number of different teams in the organisation to be a success.”
Plans are now well under way for the implementation of IMS in London & South East (Hackney & Haringey) in April, followed shortly afterwards in Ipswich, and a multi-phase roll out in the North of England from late May onwards. The South West is expected to follow in the Summer.

If you would like to know more about the Sanctuary Midlands IMS operation, please contact Phill Heales on 0121 445 9980 orphill.heales@sanctuary-housing.co.uk