Give a little time, make a big difference

Are you passionate about your community and eager to make a real difference? This role could be perfect for you!

You’ll be the eyes and ears of your scheme and neighbourhood - listening to what matters most to your neighbours and sharing their experiences. You’ll help shape positive change by bringing your community’s voice to the Regional Customer Group.

We will need around 2–3 hours of your time a month. Some of the things you might get involved in include:

• Attending local community events
• Working with Housing Partners on Community Action Plans
• Taking part in Regional Customer Group meetings

Your voice matters - help us make it heard.

Are you passionate about making a difference in your community?

Together with others from similar settings across the country, you'll help shape the future of our Independent Living Schemes and services, ensuring the voices of people in your community are heard and valued.

We will need around 2–3 hours of your time a month. Some of the things you might get involved in include:

• Attending local community events
• Working with Scheme Managers on Community Improvement Plans
• Taking part in the Independent Living Group meetings

Think of this group as the customer ‘board of advisors’ who feed directly into the Customer Experience Committee (CEC).

You’ll be responsible for providing CEC with a clear and true view of what our customers are saying and how they’re feeling. You’ll also lead the way on national issues which come through the Regional Customer Groups.

We’ll need around 3-4 hours of your time a month. Examples of things you will do include:

• attending group meetings
• monitor and comment on our performance
• preparing documents which summarise ‘Customer Voice’ at Accent

If you enjoy writing and have an eye for clear, simple language, this role is for you!

You’ll help us review and create digital and printed communications for our customers - making sure everything we share is easy to understand and written in plain language.

We will need around 1-2 hours of your time a month. Some of the things you might get involved in include:

• Creating newsletters
• Helping to write our annual customer performance report
• Reviewing leaflets and other documents to suggest improvements

Your input will help us communicate better - and make a real difference to how customers experience our communications.

You’ll carry out detailed reviews of our services which may not be performing against target and produce evidence-based scrutiny reports with actionable recommendations. Scrutiny exercises will be agreed with our Customer Experience Committee.

We’ll need around 2-3 hours of your time a month. Examples of things you will do include:

• reviewing performance information
• interviewing Accent colleagues
• report writing

We always try to put ourselves in our customers’ shoes when improving our services - and you can help us do that even better.

You'll be making sure that all voices, especially those from underrepresented communities, are heard and valued. It’s important our services, communications, and spaces are accessible and welcoming to everyone - regardless of race, gender, disability, age, religion, or background.

We will need around 1-2 hours of your time a month. Some of the things you might get involved in include:

• Attending meetings where you can share your personal experiences
• Helping us gather feedback from customers who voices aren’t always heard
• Reviewing our services and policies to make sure all customers’ needs are met

Are you a long-standing Accent customer who’s passionate about making a difference? This role is a fantastic way in which you can help us improve the services that matter most to you and your community.

As a member of this group, you’ll work closely with Accent colleagues and other customers to focus on key service areas - like Estate Services - chosen by the Customer Experience Committee.

We’ll need around 2-3 hours of your time a month. Some of the things you might get involved in include:

• Attending project meetings
• Sharing your insights and experiences
• Documenting how your feedback has helped shape and improve our services

Your voice and experience can help us do better - together.

Want to make a real impact on the customer experience at Accent? This role puts you right at the centre of it all.

As a key link between customers and the Accent Board, you’ll help to make sure customer voices are heard where it matters most.

We’ll need around 2-3 hours of your time a month. Some of the things you might get involved in include:

• Attending committee meetings (held every 3 months)
• Reading and reviewing documents ahead of meetings
• Preparing to present, if needed

Your insight and involvement will help shape decisions that affect customers across Accent.

Find out more about our customer experience committee.

Stacy Hartley runs her own beauty salon. She’s also been an Accent customer for more than 20 years, and a member of our customer experience committee for over a year.

As the customer champion for complaints, Stacy still sits on the customer experience committee but now also focus on how we manage customer complaints. We caught up with Stacy to learn more about what she does, and how she’s finding the position. 

"My job is to look at complaints that come in, and understand why we’re getting them in the first place! Then, I work out how we can answer them in a good way for the customers to get the best outcome for them and for Accent. 

I’m able to act impartially and request information I need, and I look over complaints documents and outcomes. It’s very transparent. 

One of my focuses is on Tenant Satisfaction Management scores around complaints, which are low at the moment. This is mostly because it takes too long for customers to get a reply to their complaint – so if we can get those complaints seen quicker and in a good manner, then we can focus on other areas and improve services all around. 

In the long term, I want to increase the perceptions of the customers and let them see what I see. Accent provides good quality homes and their whole values are aligned with serving the customer, but sometimes, it may not feel like that and that’s where us customer champions come in."

Jackie Best works with young offenders to support them with education, training and employment. She’s also been an Accent customer since 2020, and was member of our customer experience committee for just over a year before becoming our customer champion for anti-social behaviour.

"I have a real interest in improving the lives of people who are in challenging circumstances. It’s a steep learning curve but hopefully, we can support people with the challenges they face around anti-social behaviour.

As a customer champion, the big thing for me is about making the relationship between Accent and the customer as two-way and positive as possible. This is my bread and butter because it’s the same in my day job working with young offenders with complex lives who engage in anti-social behaviour. 

I have access to Accent’s reports, and information, and chat regularly with Accent staff. Data is also very important. Using that to have a deep dive into the profile of the customers helps me get a real understanding of their different characteristics, and how anti-social behaviour impacts those specific groups. 

It’s about really trying to understand who our customers are, so we can help them feel safe which is one of the fundamental things in life. If we can get a general feeling that people are happy in their homes in a tangible way, then that would be fantastic."

Helen Hutchinson has been an Accent customer since 1996, and a member of Accent’s customer experience committee for two years. As customer champion of estate services, she reviews how we deliver our estate services and listens to customers to see where we can do better.

"Years ago, I worked with Accent to give them feedback on a letter they sent to their customers. The tone of voice was confusing and even a little scary for customers. I helped them change it – I loved being involved and helping change the system to help other customers understand.   

My work as a customer champion involves getting involved in estate cases, speaking to the Housing Ombudsman, and travelling to talk to Accent customers having issues.  I really enjoy meeting people face-to-face to help them work things out, and hear their views – sometimes things don’t come across properly in text. It also means customers understand that Accent is listening, and is taking what they say seriously.  

It’s given me a much better understanding of Accent, and what they’re trying to do as an organisation. It’s not a profit-making business – instead, all the money is being reinvested into building more homes. And they really do listen. Not all customers know that."