We know that the people who live in our homes are in the best position to help shape our services, keep an eye on our performance and influence the work we do in our communities.
Our customers have a strong voice across our organisation, to the very top level, and contribute to our business in a variety of ways, through:
- Looking closely at our services and telling us what they think and what we can improve.
- Recommending targets for service levels and reviewing them with our Board.
- Helping us shape our plans, policies and strategies by sharing their feedback, expertise and input.
- Providing their insight and know-how to help us take a hyper-local approach to our community investment work.
- Developing what we do and how we do it, through customer journey mapping and co-creation.
Our new engagement framework
As SNG we’ve been working to combine our engagement offer using your feedback so all customers get the best possible opportunities. In summer 2024 we announced our new SNG framework, with new opportunities for customers to help improve our services and hold us to account.
Over the autumn we were delighted to receive a large number of applications to join our new Customer Influence Panel and Scrutiny Panel: the two main structures within this framework.
Each panel has its own Chair and several panel members, with the Customer Influence Panel also having a Vice Chair. As well as covering expenses, each of these roles are paid. The Panels each have approximately 4-6 meetings a year, both in-person and digitally.
Customer Influence Panel
Our Customer Influence Panel is a customer-led and customer-appointed group made up of 12 members. It influences and scrutinises our business performance, strategies, and policies.
Scrutiny Panel
Our Scrutiny Panel is a customer-led and customer-appointed group with 5 members. It oversees scrutiny activity, carrying out dedicated reviews of specific services as requested by the Influence Panel - supported by a wider pool of customers who will carry out ad hoc scrutiny reviews.
Wider engagement
The two panels will help us to shape opportunities for other customers to get actively involved but our Engage digital platform is already available. This offers a flexible and accessible way for customers to share their thoughts, feedback, and ideas - whenever and wherever suits them: though surveys, polls, discussion forums, and more.
The platform will develop over time but is designed as a space for open, honest reflection, enabling customers to actively influence and shape the services we deliver. By working together, we can encourage fresh perspectives and drive continuous improvement.