Salix Homes Customer Committee kicks off first digital meeting of the year

Salford-based housing association, Salix Homes, officially kicked off the start of its Customer Committee last week by holding its first digital video meeting.

The committee, which officially launched in March, is at the heart of the businesses governance structure and gives its tenants a real voice by allowing customers the opportunity to make real positive changes to the organisation.

As part of the committee, the 12 members who are also Salix Homes customers, are responsible for ensuring that the business meets its high consumer standards and that value for money is being achieved across all services areas.

The committee members come from a range of backgrounds, professions and talents and were chosen following a lengthy application process which saw over 120 applications.

The first meeting, which was held digitally via Zoom due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, saw the members welcomed by the Salix Homes chair, Grainne Heselwood. The meeting was used to discuss terms of reference, Salix Homes’ current approach to services during this current period of lockdown, and also to discuss the businesses’ current 2019/20 performance.

The meeting finished with a session from communities’ service director, Warren Carlon, where he and the committee worked together to shape the new supporting communities strategy.

Customer committee member, Vicki Gallagher, said “Lockdown proved no barrier to us fulfilling our role as a committee. We all felt very welcome and comfortable at our first meeting. It was important for us to know how Salix were responding to the C19 crisis, especially in terms of vulnerable tenants, and we were reassured that a great deal is being done.

“As a committee we questioned aspects of Salix’ year-end performance and the Supporting Our Communities Strategy. We were able to provide our own insights as tenants and provided a number of ideas for the strategy, as well as suggestions for continued support to Salix customers during, and post, C19.”

Salix Homes’ customer engagement manager, Anne-Marie Bancroft, managed the committee application process and will be supporting the committee throughout, she said, “We are immensely proud of the committee and really pleased to be working with them during these uncertain times. Customer voice is more important than ever right now, and the committee are crucial to help guide and support us through these uncertain times.”

The committee will be meeting six times a year and taking part in ongoing accredited training throughout their involvement.