Working with our customers: engagement update Jul-Sept 2021



Engaging with our customers and listening to their views is very important to us. Customer feedback makes a difference to the way we deliver our services, drives improvements for everyone who lives in a First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) home and local communities, and helps us as we strive to be an excellent landlord.

On this page you can see all the ways we’ve worked with our customers to make positive changes July-September 2021…

FCHO Customer Voice Panel

Our Customer Voice Panel (CVP) is made up of customers from across our neighbourhoods and has been set up to give a real voice to those who live in our homes, so they influence our services and bring about improvements.

  • 66 customers now part of the CVP
  • 18 customers attended the July CVP meeting
  • 14 CVP meetings held this quarter
  • 242 customers engaged with across service reviews and CVP engagement activities
  • Customers reviewed our:
    • Deck Access Policy
    • Allocations Policy
  • Alt engagement session held to design the Alt Resident Café reopening
  • Together with Tenants survey completed by one of our CVP members
  • Other CVP activity included virtual meetings:
    • To gather feedback for the FCHO Board away day
    • Supported Kickstart recruitment
    • Meet the CEO session attended by 14 customers, at which FCHO Chief Executive Donna Cezair discussed the vision for our organisation over the next three years
    • To explore Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) monitoring

FCHO Neighbourhood Champions

Our Neighbourhood Champions carry out quarterly neighbourhood inspections and report back on the condition of their neighbourhood including grounds maintenance, communal area cleaning, litter and flytipping.

  • 12 customers took part in the July inspections

Following the launch of our Neighbourhood Champions Inspection handbook in June 2021, our Neighbourhood Champions have reported that they have a better understanding of how to complete an inspection effectively. The information we have received has been more in-depth, helping us to improve how services are delivered in our neighbourhoods.

"The handbook is useful if you are someone doing an inspection for the first time and shows you the kinds of things to look out for. I used it and read it all before doing my inspection which made it easier to do."

Jess Rigby, Neighbourhood Champion

"The handbook was really helpful when I was doing my inspection."

Tasnim Begum, Neighbourhood Champion


FCHO Funding Awards

Our Stronger Communities team supports community and voluntary groups in Oldham with a number of funding streams.

ROCA (Respect Our Community Awards)

ROCA is our grant scheme which offers funding to community and voluntary groups in Oldham.

Grants of up to £500 are available and are awarded to groups that provide the most benefits to our local communities.

Community Groups/Networks

Stronger Communities supports and is involved in multiple community partnerships and networks. It supports community groups with activities like grant funding applications outside of ROCA and our community awards.

  • We are currently working on the reopening of our community centres, following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions
  • We have engaged with volunteers from three community centres, ahead of planned re-openings in the coming weeks
  • Budding Neighbourhoods Awards were held in September and winners' photos have been showcased on our website and social media channels.

West Vale redevelopment

West Vale is our project set to transform the area where Crossbank House and Summervale House currently stand and build 88 high quality, new homes to help meet local housing need. We are working with local people and organisations for the benefit of the community as the West Vale project progresses.


You said, we did

During this quarter customers reviewed our:

  • Deck Access Policy

  • Allocations Policy

We also consulted with customers about our organisation's plans for the next three years, which helped shape discussions at the FCHO Board away day.

  • 242 customers engaged July-September 2021
  • 126 customers provided feedback for our FCHO Board away day

FCHO Heading 07

Neighbourhood Plans

  • In August we launched our Neighbourhood Plans to connect our customers with the area they live in
  • All 21 plans have been carefully designed to include information our customers said they wanted to know about the area where they live. They cover everything from the number of homes we own in the neighbourhood and what our current customers think about living there, to investment work and support available to customers
  • The Neighbourhood Plans will be updated quarterly in line with customer feedback and work by our Stronger Communities and Neighbourhood Services teams, to make sure they stay up-to-date and relevant for each area

What our colleagues and customers say

Here’s some recent feedback on our customer engagement from our customers and colleagues.

"Ground’s maintenance staff are always pleasant and happy to get into conversation with customers.’’

Neighbourhood Champion

"I feel the stronger communities’ team are the link between the customers and FCHO."

Laiq Khan, CVP member

"Since being involved in the CVP and giving feedback we have seen a huge improvement in FCHO as a landlord, as we have witnessed them take our feedback on board and change their service to benefit the customer."

Kendall & Jess, CVP members

"Being involved has really been an eye opener for me, I have a much greater understanding of the services available to customers and all the support avenues available. Becoming a CVP member continuously highlights that FCHO care about customers."

Zoe Rigby, CVP member


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Get involved with our Stronger Communities team

If you would like to get involved with our Stronger Communities team, please get in touch.

Telephone: 0161 3937117 
Email: ci@fcho.co.uk