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Welcome

This year, Thrive Customer Voice members highlighted their interest in property improvements, customer satisfaction and complaints performance. We’re pleased to provide more detailed information on complaints and performance under the Tenant Satisfaction Measures, which we now also report to our Regulator annually (page 20).

It’s been an ambitious year at Thrive whilst we’ve been preparing for new regulations coming into force in April 2024. This has been particularly challenging alongside rising costs and an increase in the number of repairs logged.

We’re continually seeking ways to enhance your experience, while keeping to our service standards outlined in the Thrive Deal. This year, we’ve changed the way we carry out HomePlan visits to reduce the number of appointments needed while ensuring your home’s condition is monitored. More details can be found on page 4. In this report, you’ll also learn about how we’ve acted on your feedback, such as bringing forward plans to start upgrading some communal door entry systems after you expressed safety concerns.

Moving forward, we will continue to listen to your feedback and this year will focus on improving our repairs, cleaning and grounds maintenance services. Read on to find out more.

This report is for you, so we’d love to hear from you if you have any questions. Just reach out in your usual preferred way.

Have a say your way!

Become a Thrive Customer Voice member at: thrivehomes.org.uk/getinvolved

Your Home

Regular checks help us fix issues early to keep your home safe and well-maintained and stop things like damp and mould happening.  

Now most of our homes have received a HomePlan visit, we’re moving away from yearly visits for every home. Instead, we’ll check in with you during other routine appointments. This means fewer visits but more frequent monitoring, making our service more efficient and convenient for you. 

We’ll be looking over the condition of your home and asking you a few more questions by means of:

  • Safety checks
  • Phone calls
  • Home visits
  • Routine repairs

If we don’t touch base with you throughout the year, we may arrange a HomePlan visit to check everything is ok. Every five years we’ll carry out a Stock Condition Survey so we can plan upgrades your home may need.  

  • 90% of Thrive tenants have received a HomePlan visit, Stock Condition Survey or new home inventory.  
  • 99.94% met decent homes standard 

To ensure your safety and well-being, we monitor every customer account and will reach out if we haven’t heard from you at least once a year.  

  • 261 customers contacted (Data as at April 2024. All customers that live alone have been in contact with us in the last 12 months. 70 silent customers are over 70 years old and live with family. 191 silent customers are under 70 years and live in multi-person households)
  • 0 concerns raised  

Improving our homes

Each year we spend more on our homes to keep them in a safe, working order.  

£6.82million 2023-24 

£5.1million 2022-23 

£4.3million 2021-22 

Here's what we replaced: 

 

2023-24 

2022-23 

Bathrooms 

53 

67 

Boilers & heating systems 

310 

266 

Kitchens 

63 

91 

Roofs 

98 

165 

Windows 

147 

161 

Doors 

206 

111 

Fire doors 

44 

117 

Electrical works 

232 

115 

Fire safety works 

12 

30 

Door entry and lift works 

4 

5 

Flooring 

7 

13 

Environmental works 

4 

3 

Major aids & adaptations 

49 

54 

Works to building walls 

5 

8 

Structural works 

4 

1 

External wall insulation 

55 

24 

Our replacement programmes change each year based on what our homes need. 

By checking your home regularly, we can plan improvements to keep it in good shape. We’ll replace things only when needed, which might be sooner or later depending on their condition. 

We’ve heard your feedback and understand that you’d like to know when home improvements are due. We’re developing technology to provide this information, so for now, just ask us. 

How we arrange upgrade: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgrbqxcnlK8&feature=youtu.be

Ways we kept you safe

  • 99.95% homes had a valid gas certificate

(At the end of March 2023, two homes did not have a valid gas safety certificate due to access issues. If customers will not let us into their homes for gas and electrical checks, we take legal action to gain access in accordance with the tenancy agreement).

  • 97.66% homes & 100% communal areas had electrical safety tests

(All overdue are either booked in or legal action is being taken).

  • 100% flat blocks have had a fire risk assessment carried out

See what actions we’re taking at thrivehomes.org.uk/my-home-info

  • 100% of recommended fire safety actions and works completed within target
  • 100% of fire safety equipment serviced and fixed where needed within target
  • 77% felt they have a safe and secure home 

(Compared to 76.64% when compared to other social landlords that use IFF, our market research company).

  • 100% water hygiene checks (communal)
  • 100% asbestos checks (communal)   
  • 100% lifts in working order
  • 100% heat, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms checked
  • 100% fire doors checked to meet our legal obligations
  • 44 fire doors replaced
  • £48,960 lost when customers were not at home for 1632 safety checks
  • £107,392.74 spent on clearing bulk rubbish 

We work with a number of independent organisations to make sure we meet all safety rules as a social landlord to give you extra piece of mind.  

Learn more about the ways we keep you safe at thrivehomes.org.uk/homesafety

Above & beyond

Keeping you safe in your home is our priority. That’s why our approach to health and safety goes above national standards. 

5 yearly electrical safety check 

instead of the legal requirement of every 10 years 

Annual servicing of unvented hot water cylinders*  

Changing shower heads in sheltered schemes every three months to prevent legionella*

Inspect flat blocks every three months 

monthly for four storeys and above 

*There are no legal requirements to replace shower heads or undertake annual services, we do this to ensure our customers are safe.

We have a good working relationship with local fire and safety services, and we have passed all our audits over the past year. For more information about how we keep your home safe, head to: thrivehomes.org.uk/homesafety

These are some of the other ways we kept you safe in 2023-24: 

Holding skip days to clear items left unsafely in communal areas.  

Meeting with residents to talk about the safety of their building.  

Registering our tall buildings with the Building Safety Regulator to confirm compliance. 

Bringing forward plans to upgrade some door entry systems to keep your building safe. 

Carrying out extra inspections where fly-tipping is an issue 

Warm and efficient homes

Year on year, we’re making our homes more energy efficient. 

 

 

% of existing homes at EPC C or above 

2023-24 

83% 

2022-23 

75% 

2021-22 

56% 

Since April 2022, we’ve secured over £2million in funding for the installation of external wall insulation that will benefit 237 homes.

“The house is retaining heat a lot better. Mentally I feel so much happier. I’m not having to wear my dressing gown all the time like I used to, as I always felt so cold. 

In previous winters, I’d go around sellotaping gaps in the windows to stop the wind. Now the house is so toasty and warm. I feel like I have a brand new home” Thrive Customer.

700 homes have had Endotherm liquid added to their gas central heating system to help it heat the home with reduced energy use.  

450 homes check to make sure their loft insulation met standards.   

Please keep lofts clear! It’s so important lofts aren’t used for storage, so we can gain access for maintenance needs and to install more insulation in homes that need it. 

Looking forward:

  • 131 homes to receive External Wall Insulation this year.
  • 100% of our home will meet the Government's energy efficiency target by 2030.
  • 100% Gas central heating systems to receive Endotherm by March 2025.
  • 200+ Homes to receive lost insultation.

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB)

ASB can be disruptive and affect how you feel about living in your home. 

Sometimes, neighbours might cause a nuisance without realising the impact on you.

Adam and Louise were good neighbours for two years, often helping each other out. Trouble started when Louise’s partner would visit at odd hours causing a lot of noise, which sometimes involved the police attending. Adam felt upset and talked to Louise, but she didn’t see a problem. The noise kept up, so Adam turned to Thrive.  

We investigated the impact the issues were having on Adam and other neighbours and put together an action plan to address it. This included making Louise aware of her tenancy conditions and giving Adam access to a noise recording app to gather evidence. 

After gathering noise evidence, Thrive met with Louise, who recognised the impact of the noise and agreed to apologise to Adam and ensure her visitors would no longer be disruptive. 

Thrive monitored the situation, and Adam later confirmed the noise issues had stopped and he is mending their neighbourly relationship. 

To help, we’ve created a new tool on our website to show what is and isn’t ASB and the best way to deal with it. 

This handy tool also advises when we need to involve partners like the police, who have different powers to manage ASB and need to be involved before any action can be taken. 

Learn more at thrivehomes.org.uk/asb

Handling ASB in 2023-24

 

2023-24 

2022-23 

Total cases 

276 

 

Open cases worked on each month 

82 

69 

Number of new cases per month 

14 

8 

Days to resolve a case 

193 days  

185 days 

Total closed cases 

201 

95 

Satisfaction with our ASB handling approach 

60.10%5 

57.1% 

The top three types of ASB cases relate to: 

Noise – 24% 

Drugs- 15% 

Abuse, harassment or threat – 17% 

We also worked on a number of other cases to support our customers…  

 Designer to illustrate: 

  • 53 sustainment cases 
  • 7 hate crime cases 
  • 12 domestic abuse  

"Without Casey’s team involved, I would still be trying to find support for my brother" - Thrive Customer.

See how our partnerships go beyond housing and supports lives. Read on… thrivehomes.org.uk/case-studies/wellbeing-support

Keeping customers in their home

As a social landlord, we must work with our partners to help tenants keep their homes where possible.  

Who we worked with to support our customers last year… 

  • Police -18
  • Mental health - 14
  • Multi-agency - 7
  • Social services - 6
  • Alcohol services - 3
  • Drug services - 1

Eviction is a last option 

The route to eviction involves many steps and is a challenging and lengthy process, where the court has final say. It can take anywhere from 12 months – three years to evict a household. Last year, we evicted: 

  

Failing to pay rent 3 households 

 

Anti-Social Behaviour 2 households 

 

No entitlement to succeed the tenancy 
2 households 

 

Repairs service

Over the past two years, we’ve seen more repairs being logged. This is partly due to our new approach to proactively handling damp and mould, the age of our homes, and increased rainfall throughout the year. 

To help us with this increase, we’ve had to rely more on external contractors. We know you prefer our own Thrive Homes Services (THS) engineers, so we have been growing the team to keep up with the number of repairs whilst improving your experience. 

Good working order 

  • 17,744 repairs completed – compared to 16,825 previous year.
  • 71.7% satisfaction with the repairs service (1 Compared to 73.7% when compared to other social landlords that use IFF,
    our market research company).
  • 78.35% repairs completed right first time.
  • 96.5% emergency repairs completed on time.
  • 20.3 days to complete a repair on average (our target is 20 days for routine repairs).
  • 67% satisfied with the time taken to complete a repair (2 Compared to 66.38% when compared to other social landlords that use IFF,
    our market research company).

Keeping you informed is important 

Last year, we worked with Thrive Customer Voice to set fair repair times, including adjustments for those with needs and vulnerabilities.  

This information, along with up- to- date monthly wait times are available on our website at thrivehomes.org.uk/repairs 

Here’s how we kept to these timescales last year…  

Repair timescale 

Performance achieved % 

24 hours: emergencies 

99.8% 

20 working days: routine repairs   

71.2% 

60 working days planned works  

85.9% 

Listening to your feedback, we are focusing on improving by: 

Fixing things first time 

Employing more skilled engineers 

Keeping you better informed 

These changes are underway, and we have started to see an improvement, with 90.3% of customers who received a repair in February 2024 satisfied with their experience. 

Around your home

Last year 5.2% more customers were satisfied with the condition of their communal area.

In 2023, you voted to extend the cleaning service for 12 months to avoid cost increases. We’re pleased to see your satisfaction has improved despite no major changes. 

With plans to review both the cleaning and grounds maintenance contracts in 2025, we have been focusing on: 

  • Routine inspections
  • Spot checks
  • Regular contractor meetings
  • Monitoring recurring problems
  • Rearranging missed visits
  • Reviewing and responding to your feedback 

We also created a new way to view your schedules and give feedback on visits. 

Stay in the know! Visit our website to access helpful dates, times and safety information. 

View your cleaning or ground maintenance schedules 

  • Easily give feedback on visits
  • Read safety information about your building

A lot of this information is  available to download and  print at home, too. 

For more information visit thrivehomes.org.uk/my-home-info

219

gave feedback on cleaning and grounds maintenance

(148 in 2022-23) 

61.7%

feel we keep communal areas clean and well maintained

(54% in 2022-23) 

Looking ahead

We’ve started working with customers to shape the future of our cleaning and grounds maintenance services.  

With inflation high, we are expecting to see a rise in costs and will be carefully reviewing the requirements of the contract to secure the best value for money.  

Already, we know it’s important to you that we make sure our service is consistent with clearer communication and regular spot checks from both Thrive Homes and our contractor.

Stay tuned to hear about the changes to these services at thrivehomes.org.uk/getinvolved

Our services, your experience

This year we have been preparing for the new Consumer Standards. These have been set out by our Regulator to make sure your home and experience of our services meet a certain standard. We have: 

  • Made repair timescales clearer on our website
  • Outlined accessible help for our services
  • Trained colleagues to better understand your needs
  • Increased checks to make sure colleagues are responding in a helpful way
  • Added cleaning and maintenance schedules to our website

Customer satisfaction  
 

Thrive 

Other landlords 

UKCSI (January) 

2023-24 

73.04% 

66.45% 

76% 

2022-23 

69.8% 

67.5% 

77.7% 

2021-22 

71.4% 

74.98% 

78.4% 

2020-21 

74.92% 

80.96% 

76.8% 

How do we measure up? 

Based on the Tenant Satisfaction Measures, we’re pleased to see an improvement in overall satisfaction last year! 

What’s behind these changes?

(On average, feedback from non-Thrive tenants shows 57.9% feel their landlord listens and acts on their feedback, 74.5% feel respected by their landlord’s colleagues and 73.7% are satisfied with the condition of their communal area. This data is when compared to other social landlords that use IFF, our market research company.)

  • 61.9% feel we listen and act on your feedback, +5% more than last year
  • 79.6% feel respected by our team, +3.9% more than last year
  • 61.7% are happy with the condition of communal areas, +5.2% more than last year. 

Signed, sealed, delivered!  

As sent to our Regulator, you can read about our full performance and what we’re doing to improve under the Tenant Satisfaction Measures on our website: thrivehomes.org.uk/TSM-23-24 

Improving your experience 

It’s important that we work closely with our colleagues to improve your experience.  

 

98% of colleagues completed mandatory learning modules  

 

32 members of our team have completed our Allyship training to support diversity and inclusion. 

Our colleagues are becoming more aware of your needs, and we’re checking to make sure they are helping you in the right way and meeting our service standards as set out in the Thrive Deal.  

Learn more about Thrive's Allyship Project at www.youtube.com/watch?v=wELuv49aeqs

Already, we’re seeing an improvement… 

  • 67% of actions being responded to within timeframes (+14% from 2022-23).
  • 63% of customers agreeing their query was resolved at first point of contact (+8% from 2022-23).
  • 65.5% of customers saying they 'trust Thrive to do what we say we will' (+10.4% from 2022-23).
  • 39% of customers felt we kept them informed throughout the complaints process after adding a mid-point check-in (+7% from 2022-23).

There’s more to come!

We’re also working on upgrading our technology to better provide our services to you. In 2025, you can expect to see a new way to manage your account online.

This year we will be focusing on:

  • Improving the availability of our repair appointments and keeping you informed along the way.
  • Renewing our cleaning and grounds maintenance services to make sure they meet our standards.
  • Looking into the root causes of complaints and how we can prevent these.
  • Improving safety, such as upgrading door entry systems.

We look forward to sharing these improvements with you in next year’s Annual Report!

Complaints

In line with the sector, we received 13% more complaints than last year. This is likely because:

  • We regularly reminded you to tell us when things go wrong.
  • The new Housing Ombudsman Complaints Code, has changed the way we must record complaints.
  • high-profile government campaigns and media attention have promoted tenant’s’ rights across the nation.

More complaints, but we’re keeping up! 

Even though we received more complaints, we’ve managed to meet the response times set by the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaints Handling Code.  

  • 395 complaints received across 5,809 of our properties
  • 95% of complaints handled within timescale (including extensions)
  • 79% of complaints resolved at stage 1 of our complaints process
  • 11.5 average working days to reply to a stage 1 complaint (including extensions)
  • 23.5 average working days to reply to a stage 2 complaint (including extensions)
  • 5 cases referred to the Housing Ombudsman, awaiting determination
  • 30% of tenants have made a complaint
  • 37% satisfied with our approach to complaint handling (compared to 38.15% when compared to other social landlords that use IFF, our market research company).

Turning complaints into positive change

Listening to your feedback, we made the following changes:

  • Employed more engineers and colleagues in our repairs planning team to increase appointment availability.
  • Dedicated a group of engineers to respond to complaint disrepair cases more quickly.
  • Brought forward plans to renew and upgrade some of our communal door entry systems.
  • Increased inspections around bin stores where there is a higher risk (weekly where we have identified issues).
  • Created a dedicated complaints team to improve quality of responses, customer experience and value for money.
  • Updated our complaints policy: thrivehomes.org.uk/complaints-policy

“I would like to thank you for the time you have taken to look into this further and for a fair outcome” Thrive Customer.

We meet the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code!

Learn more about our complaints handling performance, how we plan to improve, our Board’s response and our self-assessment against the Complaint Handling Code on our website!

thrivehomes.org.uk/complaints

Counting compliments

Your positive feedback in numbers

  • 185 compliments  
  • 136 in 2022-23 

We are incredibly proud of our repair engineers! It’s heartening to know that 40% of your compliments were about them. You told us: 

  • Their quality of work is great.
  • They treat you with respect.
  • You feel they are easy to deal with.

"I would like to express my complete gratitude to the gentleman who attended. He was extremely polite, courteous and explained the process along the way and went above and beyond to ensure the process went as smoothly as possible"  – Thrive Customer. 

  • 77% feel they have a safe and secure home.
  • 79.6% feel they are treated fairly and with respect.

"Sara has made me and my children feel so safe and welcome. She understood how I felt and respected every inch of my insecurities and worries and has always gone above and beyond to make me feel safe and listened too. She is a great credit to Thrive!" – Thrive customer.

Share your good news with us and hear about how we’re making a difference to your experience at thrivehomes.org.uk/compliments 

Thrive Customer Voice

We’re proud to partner with members to shape our services. Last year, 1,259 households influenced our services by: 

  • Telling us what topics to include in our Annual Report for Tenants.
  • Helping toed set our repairs timescales, including adjustments for those with needs or vulnerabilities.
  • Shaping the guidance we share for dealing with damp and mould. 

And it didn’t stop there… 

From January to March 2023, our surveys showed a slight drop in home safety satisfaction. We followed up with a detailed survey, focusing on fire safety, security, and more. Your feedback highlighted concerns about door entry systems and anti-social behaviour (ASB). In response, we: 

  • Worked with members to update our Anti-Social Behaviour policy and create Good Neighbour Guidance.
  • Invested over £350k to upgrade some door entry systems.  

Who are our members? 

  • 65% Aged 65+
  • 20% Aged 18-34
  • 10% Aged 35-65
  • 5% No Date of Birth
  • 45% of households are a member
  • 43 members with no access to online
  • 4.5* rating of our updates summarising how we’re acting on member’s feedback 

"It's great to know a company is actively seeking feedback from their customers to want to improve then customer experience" - Thrive Customer Voice Member, January 2023.

Our costs

Last year, the average rent for a Thrive property was about £144 per week. Even though our costs went up, we kept providing the service we promised in the Thrive Deal.

Last year we spent... 

Repairs 

24% 

£6,993,000 

Making Homes safe 

6% 

£1,922,000 

Investing in existing homes (MW) 

17% 

£5,071,000 

Building New Homes 

13% 

£3,800,608 

Energy Efficiency upgrades (MW) 

7% 

£1,998,000 

Other 

33% 

£9,922,00 

 

Per year 

Overall average cost per home (this is known as cost per unit, which includes factors like
operating cost, maintenance and management expenses).

£4,976 

Our highest paid director’s salary, shown as an average cost per home (Salary excludes pension and national insurance contributions).

£28.75

Our total directors’ salary costs, shown as an average cost per home (includes 15 board members and five members of Thrive’s Executive Team. Costs include pension and national insurance contributions).

£160.34

Want more detail? Read our full Annual Financial Accounts here.

Supporting customers  

197 referrals made to Citizens Advice Service 

11 referrals to local authorities for homeless support when at risk of eviction 

“Whilst experiencing financial difficulties, our rent account fell into arrears. Your colleague was very understanding and patient whilst we worked to find a solution. We are so grateful” – Thrive Tenant.

Welcoming new customers

Last year, 539 new customers joined Thrive. We’re proud to support customers with a range of housing options to support their needs.

  • 77 new homes built.
  • 81.7% satisfied with their experience becoming a customer.
  • 0.8% of our homes refurbished for shared ownership

(we convert some homes to shared ownership so we can fix up properties that are too costly to rent out. This way, we keep them as affordable housing and still earn rental income. This programme helps us invest in our current homes and fund).
the building of new ones).

  • 3 customers bought their home through Right to Buy or Right to Acquire.
  • 54 mutual exchanges took place.
  • 5 customers downsized.

“Thank you from me and my dog Rufus for helping us to move to a safe, peaceful and happy home life” – Thrive Customer.

Who lives in our homes? 

Getting to know you better helps us understand your needs and tailor our services. Last year, we updated 6% of our customer records. We’re using this information to: 

  • identify and address any dissatisfaction related to specific locations or characteristics
  • make adjustments for customers with vulnerabilities and disabilities. 

Can you take a moment to update your information? 

We promise to keep it private and won’t use it to change your tenancy now or in the future. Update your details at thrivehomes.org.uk/my-info or get in touch with us as you usually do! 

Find out more about how we handle your data at thrivehomes.org.uk/privacy-policy

Who lives in our homes

Total number of customers

  • 11,882* in 2024
  • 12,230* in 2023

This total number of customers includes primary and joint tenants as well as household members. Gender doesn’t add up to 100% as commercial properties are included.

Religion

9.45% of data held:

  • 11 Buddhist, 8 in 2023
  • 878 Christian, 670 in 2023
  • 104 Muslim, 56 in 2023
  • 10,759 No information, 11,383 in 2023
  • 130 Other, 95 in 2023

Age

94% of data held:

  • 0-18 20%
  • 19-24 7.5%
  • 25-35 16%
  • 35-44 15.1%
  • 45-64 11.9%
  • 55 - 64 12.1%
  • 65+ 12.9%
  • No Info 6%

Gender

99.07% of data held

  • 53.03% Female, 53.03% in 2023
  • 45.96% Male, 46.84% in 2023
  • 0.23% Transgender, 0.13% in 2023
  • 0.0% No Information, 0.0% in 2023

Ethnicity

52% of data held

  2024 2023
Asian 1.99% 1.57%
Black 2.39%  2.01%
Chinese 0.08% 0.06%
Mixed 1.04%  0.91%
White 45.17%  43.46%
No Information 48.11%  51.77%
Other (Other means prefer not to say) 1.24%  0.22%

Disability

17.3% of data held

  2024 2023
Hearing Disability 13 18
Learning Disability 4 3
Mobility Disability 17 19
Vision Disability 30 26
Mental Disability 145 92
Physical Disability 157 90
Other Disability 475 377
No Disability 1273 834
No information 10,465 10,771

Sexual Orientation

20.38% of data held

  2024 2023
Gay or Lesbian 30 12
Heterosexual or Straight 1974 1,470
No Information 9460 10,726
Other (other means prefer not to say) 418 22

Giving back

Everything we do is driven by our social purpose to help individuals and families find good quality, safe and affordable homes. But we don’t stop there.  

We are proud to provide grants to organisations that support our customers and make a difference in our communities. Last year, we funded projects that improve mental health, offer job training, support young people and enhance community facilities. 

Three Rivers Citizens Advice Service 

Delivering money advice and budgeting support. 

Herts Mind Community Support Services 

Providing domestic abuse and community support caseworkers. 

 

9Lives Furniture 

Provides affordable, pre-loved furniture and trains people with learning difficulties. Our grant supports expanding their training courses and hiring a tutor. 

Action4Youth 

 

Offers transformational experiences for children and young people. Our grant funds crisis support at The Junction in High Wycombe for disadvantaged youth. 

Watford Workshop 

Provides employment and training for adults with disabilities. Our grant helps cover general operating costs to improve their prospects and living standards. 

 

Slice of Happiness 

Supports high-risk individuals with mental health services. Our grant helps them continue offering free community support. 

 

DSCVR Creative 

Promotes mental health through music production for young adults. Our grant supports the ‘Own Your Sound’ project, helping over 30 young people. 

 

Random Café Watford 

A pay-as-you-feel café with a community garden. Our grant funds the construction of a new café and supplies essential items. 

 

Giving back

Stay in touch 

Contact us in your usual way: