Westmorland and Furness: Tenant Satisfaction Measures Survey
Background & Context
Westmorland and Furness Council Housing Service commissioned M·E·L Research to support its annual Tenant Satisfaction Measures work. The wider context was the Regulator of Social Housing’s requirement for social housing providers with 1,000 or more homes to report against a standard set of Tenant Satisfaction Measures. These measures were designed to show how landlords were performing in key areas such as repairs, complaints, treating tenants with respect, maintaining homes, keeping tenants safe and giving tenants opportunities to have their say.
The Council needed robust, independently collected evidence on tenants’ experiences of its housing services. The research needed to generate the 12 Tenant Perception Measures required for regulatory reporting, while also giving the Council a clearer understanding of what tenants felt was working well and where service improvements should be focused. The survey also provided an opportunity to strengthen the Council’s understanding of tenants’ needs, communication preferences and accessibility requirements through additional equality, diversity and inclusion questions.
The audience for the research was the Council’s relevant tenant population. All dwellings in scope were general needs dwellings let on social rents, and no households were excluded from the sample frame. This meant the survey had to be accessible and inclusive, allowing tenants to respond in a way that suited their preferences and circumstances.
Approach
M·E·L Research was commissioned to collect, generate and validate the reported Tenant Perception Measures. The survey followed the descriptions and calculations set out by the Regulator of Social Housing, and the approach was aligned with the Tenant Survey Requirements and Technical Requirements publications.
The fieldwork used a mixed-method approach:
Postal survey: A census approach was used, with all tenants in the relevant tenant population sent an invitation to take part. Postal questionnaires were used as the main collection method. Tenants who had not already completed the survey were sent two follow-up postal reminders.
Online survey / CAWI option: Tenants were also given the option to complete the survey online using a QR code or web link. This Computer Assisted Web Interviewing option supplemented the postal approach and was included to maximise accessibility and inclusivity.
Accessible questionnaire materials: The questionnaire was available in paper format and in an accessible digital format. The materials explained the purpose of the Tenant Satisfaction Measures, how responses would be used, how M·E·L Research would process the data, and how tenants could complete the survey.
Census sample design: Rather than drawing a sample of tenants, the Council used a census approach. All tenants in the relevant population were invited to take part. The achieved sample size was 511 responses, producing a confidence interval of +/-3.9%, which was lower than the Regulator’s required +/-4% threshold.
Weighting and representativeness: The achieved sample fell out in a broadly representative way, with minor weighting applied to improve representativeness. Responses were weighted by property type, age, gender and geography, specifically bungalow/house or flat, age 16–61 or 62+, gender, and Furness or Eden geography.
Incentive: Tenants were offered the opportunity to opt into a prize draw, with four £50 shopping vouchers available.
The questionnaire covered the full range of Tenant Perception Measures, including overall satisfaction, repairs, time taken to complete repairs, whether homes were well maintained and safe, whether the landlord listened to tenants and acted on their views, whether tenants were kept informed, whether tenants felt they were treated fairly and with respect, complaints handling, communal areas, neighbourhood contribution and anti-social behaviour. It also included an open question asking what one thing tenants would most like the Council to improve, followed by optional questions on contact preferences, disability, communication support needs, age, gender identity, ethnicity, religion and willingness to be recontacted for future research or involvement opportunities.
Outputs
M·E·L Research generated and validated the reported Tenant Perception Measures for Westmorland and Furness Council Housing Service. The outputs provided the Council with a robust, regulator-aligned evidence base showing how tenants felt about the services they received and where improvement activity should be focused. The work also supported transparent publication of the Council’s TSM results and summary of approach.
The analysis produced the 12 Tenant Perception Measures required for reporting. Results included positive evidence around several key areas, including overall satisfaction, satisfaction with repairs, satisfaction with the time taken to complete the most recent repair, satisfaction that the home was safe, and agreement that the landlord treated tenants fairly and with respect. The Council used the findings to understand both areas of strength and areas where further action was required.
The survey findings were used by the Council to identify clear areas of focus for service improvement. These included neighbourhood-level measures, increased visibility in communities, improvements to communal areas, tackling anti-social behaviour, strengthening tenant engagement and scrutiny, improving performance reporting, and continuing to strengthen complaints handling. The results also supported the Council’s work to improve its understanding of tenant needs and experiences, including how services could better reflect the diversity of its communities and engage underrepresented groups.
The final outputs were suitable for regulatory reporting, tenant-facing publication and internal service improvement planning. They gave the Council a validated set of scores, a transparent summary of the survey methodology, and additional insight into tenant needs, accessibility requirements and service priorities. This meant the research went beyond compliance by helping the Council understand how tenants experienced its housing services and how it could continue to improve those services in response to tenant feedback.
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