Contents
- The Tenant Satisfaction Measures
- Approach
- Survey Design
- Methodology
- Sample Size
- Representative Sample
The Tenant Satisfaction Measures
The Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) Standard requires all registered providers to conduct tenant perception surveys to generate and report TSMs annually as specified by the Regulator of Social Housing. TSMs are intended to make landlords’ performance more visible to tenants and help tenants hold their landlords accountable.
The TSM Standard consists of 22 measures: 10 management information measures and 12 satisfaction measures. They cover five key themes:
- keeping properties in good repair,
- maintaining building safety,
- respectful and helpful engagement,
- responsible neighbourhood management,
- effective handling of complaints, alongside an additional measure for overall satisfaction with landlord services.
All the information must be an accurate, reliable and valid to provide a transparent reflection of the performance.
Approach
Bassetlaw District Council commissioned IFF Research to carry out this research in accordance with guidance provided by the Regulator of Social Housing. IFF Research is an independent research agency with extensive experience in gathering robust tenant feedback for a wide range of sectors.
Survey Design
The survey design meets the criteria as defined in Tenant Survey Requirements of TSM.
Bassetlaw District Council also included the following additional questions within the survey:
- ‘‘Why do you say that?’’ positioned at the end of the theme, Overall satisfaction with landlord services
- ‘‘Generally, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the way housing provider deals with repairs and maintenance?’’ positioned at the end of the theme, Keeping properties in good repair
- “How satisfied or dissatisfied are you that Bassetlaw District Council are easy to deal with?” positioned at the end of the theme, Respectful and helpful engagement
- “How strongly would you agree or disagree with the following statement “I trust Bassetlaw District Council to do what they say they will do”?” positioned at the end of the theme, Respectful and helpful engagement
- “Have you experienced anti-social behaviour in your neighbourhood in the last 12 months?” positioned at the end of theme Responsible neighbourhood management
Please note that a ’Don’t know/Refused’ option was included for questions TP01, TP02, TP03, TP04, TP09 and TP10 for interviews conducted via telephone.
This was not read out as an answer option and only used in instances when a tenant was unable to select an option from the responses available but wanted to continue to provide their feedback. This prevented interviewers from making assumptions or inferences on the tenant’s behalf and enabled these tenants to continue with the survey to provide their feedback.
When submitting data any ’Don’t know/Refused’ would be removed from the reported base for each of these questions for percentage calculations.
As a result, the TSM survey results submitted may include tenants who refused or were unable to answer TP01 but wanted to continue to provide their feedback. This is in line with the introductory text confirming that their data would be included in the data submission to the Regulator.
IFF Research has achieved 630 valid responses to TP01 for LCRA, this exceeds the minimum requirement.
We consider that a respondent who has terminated an interview has effectively withdrawn their consent to participate in the research. We appreciate that this is open to interpretation, but we take the most cautious approach to uphold our ethical standards. We do include partial responses, where tenants have skipped or refused to answer any questions but have submitted their interview.
Methodology
The TSM survey was conducted on a monthly basis from 1st April 2023 – 30th March 2024.
Surveys were conducted by telephone. This methodology supports inclusivity and flexibility for survey completion. All surveys were conducted via telephone interviews, this was to facilitate continued and comparable trend with an existing tenant satisfaction programme.
Sample Size
The required sample sizes are shown in the table below:
| Tenure Type | Population | Confidence interval required | Number of interviews required per annum for submission | Number of interviews completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low-Cost Rental Accommodation (LCRA) | 6,539 | +/- 4% | 550 | 630 |
Bassetlaw District Council is required to complete a minimum of 550 surveys per annum among LCRA tenants to meet a +/- 4% confidence interval.
Initially a random sampling approach was used where tenants had an equal and fair chance of being invited to participate. The sample profile was monitored, and quota sampling was introduced in February 2024 to address any under or overrepresented groups to ensure that the final sample profile was representative of the full tenant population. Quotas were set for age group.
Representative Sample
The Regulator requires providers to ensure, as far as possible, that the survey responses used to calculate the perception TSMs are representative of the relevant tenant population. The sample needs to be representative otherwise perception measures will be biased estimates of the satisfaction score for the relevant tenant population.
Based on the review we are satisfied that the sample population and TSM results accurately reflect that of the full tenant population and no weighting was applied.
Last Updated on Monday, September 23, 2024