Customers helping us improve our home move support

Customers have been helping us improve the experience of people choosing to move from homes that require significant investment into another Aster home that better meets their needs.

In these cases, we have contacted customers offering them the option to remain in their current home, or to move to a different Aster home that we believe better fits the standards we would expect.

Members of our customer groups recently took part in a scrutiny session to look at the process from a customer's point of view – from the first conversation about their home through to finding a suitable property, moving and settling into their new home.

Customers told us that good, regular communication is particularly important. They also highlighted how uncertainty around timescales or a lack of updates can make an already significant life change more stressful.

Following their feedback, we're looking at a number of improvements, including:

• making our initial letters clearer and more customer-friendly
• providing better information about what customers can expect and how long finding a suitable home could take
• agreeing how and when each customer would prefer us to keep in touch
• providing regular updates, including when there isn't a significant change to report
• giving customers a written summary after home visits so their needs, preferences and agreed next steps are clear
• involving customers in reviewing our letters and information before changes are introduced.

Customers also highlighted the importance of personalised support. This could include help with packing and removals, redirecting post, arranging utilities and, where needed, support with storage or decluttering.

We'll continue to work with customers as these improvements are developed to make sure feedback leads to meaningful changes.

A big thank you to everyone who took part and shared their experiences and ideas. Your feedback is helping us make sure customers going through a move feel informed, supported and listened to throughout the process.