Partners collects the rent on behalf of the London Borough of Islington. You can pay your rent by direct debit or standing order straight from your bank account, or by using a swipe card at your local bank or post office. Please call the Income Team at Partners if you need more information about these methods of payment. To pay by credit card or switch card over the phone you should call HFI Direct on 0800 694 3344. This is Homes for Islington's call centre but they can take payments for rent over the phone.
The Partners Repairs’ Team pride themselves on a right-first-time approach to repairs. It is part of our desire to deliver ‘an excellent service’, helps ensure minimal disruption to the Residents, and ensures a cost efficient service.
In order to ensure our Operatives can complete a repair first time, we must;
- Ensure we ask the right questions and obtain as much information when raising the repair. This way we know who to send – plumber, roofer, carpenter or electrician.
- Ensure we allow sufficient time for the Operative to complete the repair. This is dependent on us getting sufficient information from the Resident, when raising the Job e.g; size, location, extent of damage, possible cause.
- The right tools. Our Operatives are qualified trades people who carry the tools appropriate for their trade.
- The right materials. We have years of experience working within the homes of Islington Residents, and analyse the type of repairs we are most frequently called to deal with. Operatives stock their vehicles weekly with the most commonly used materials.
- We also carry out regular vehicle audits, monitoring levels of stock and condition of tools.
Sometimes, however, its not always possible to complete a repair first time. For example if an item needs replacing e.g a bath, or if subsequent plastering and decorating works are required. Under circumstances such as this, we would agree a follow-up appointment for the works to be completed.
We monitor the volume of repairs completed first time to ensure we continue to deliver an efficient service, with minimal disruption to Residents.
It is imperative our Operatives complete a good quality repair, if we are to deliver an excellent, efficient service, with minimal disruption to Residents.
We monitor the quality of repairs in four ways;
- Post Inspections. Supervisors randomly select roughly 10% of repairs completed and visually inspect them for quality, on a weekly basis.
- Customer Satisfaction calls. We aim to call 100% of residents within a few hours of a repair to ensure they are satisfied with the work done.
- Customer Satisfaction questionnaires. We post Customer Satisfaction questionnaires with every appointment letter. The reasons for dissatisfaction are monitored for performance and training purposes.
- Complaints. We monitor the reasons for Complaints and identify any trends. Again, this is used for performance and training purposes.
When you report a repair you will be given an appointment on a convenient date between 8-1 and 12-5.
We are unable to give specific appointment times because we cannot guarantee how long each appointment will take.
In order to correctly identify the possible repair required and how long it is likely to take, we ask you for detailed information about the problem when you first report the repair. This allows us to arrive prepared and complete the repair as quickly and efficiently as possible. Sometimes repairs require more work than we expect and we cannot complete it as quickly as we had planned.
The existing appointment 'slots' provide us the flexibility we need to complete your repair first time. Providing specific appointment times would mean we lose that flexibility. In the case where an appointment took longer than expected, we would either have to leave the repair incomplete to ensure we make the next appointment on time, or complete the repair and be late for the next appointment.
We prefer to arrive for your repair within the timescales that we have given and complete your repair first time, rather than arrive late for a specific appointment or not be able to finish your repair.
However, we do try and be flexible. If you want an appointment around a specific time, e.g. early morning, we can make a note of this on our system, and try and provide you the first appointment of the day. We will do all we can to meet your preference, but we cannot guarantee that we will attend at a specific time. We will always attend within the 5 hour slot that we have given you.
Please contact the Income Team at Partners to request a housing benefit form. They can also help you complete the form and will explain what supporting information you will need to provide so that your claim can be processed. Partners are not responsible for assessing your benefit claim, but can forward your application directly to the Housing Benefit department.
All repairs should be reported to the Customer Services Team using the repairs helpline: 0800 587 3595. If you have an emergency repair and the office is closed, you should call our out-of-hours service on 0800 195 5255.
Contact your Tenancy Officer at Partners on 0800 587 3595 with details of your complaint. We will investigate the complaint and take any further action necessary.
