Changing the narrative on safety and compliance

The role of the contractor in compliance has changed beyond recognition – or at least it should have.

Today, we need to look far beyond the numbers – and understand that we’re also here to preserve culture and help landlords tell an authentic story about their role in people’s lives.

It’s not enough to provide 100% compliance by getting through every door to carry out gas and other safety checks. We have a bigger role than that.

Often, we may be a resident’s only face-to-face contact with their landlord in a 12-month period. The way we behave in people’s homes, how we communicate with them in the build-up to and after checks, our processes, and the information we report back to landlords leave a lasting impact on individuals and service delivery.

In a new regulatory era where landlords are judged on perception, we need to ensure our actions and behaviours in communities, online, and in the office reflect the values of the organisations that we work for.

Our role is to keep people safe, but also to build and maintain trusting relationships.

Trust the process 

This starts by making sure we have the right processes in place and that we are operationally sound.

There are legal and contractual obligations for what a contractor must deliver, but this should be the baseline of what we do – not a target.

At Liberty, we begin by prioritising open communication with residents through multiple channels, including letters, texts, and customer check-ins before, during, and after each visit. We also place a QR code on the side of every boiler, giving residents instant access to a customer hub with live chat, support, and other resources.

Our Customer Safety strategy – RESPECT, initially used during the pandemic, ensures we separate work areas, explain each stage of work to the resident and treat people’s homes with care. By delivering on scheduled appointments and respecting residents’ spaces, we drive customer engagement and trust.

We want to make every contact count when we are in people’s homes.

Our team undergoes regular training, from the initial onboarding process to performance reviews, and they take the time to interact and check in with residents while working in their homes.

Liberty has a Red, Amber, Green (RAG) status system that supports the teams to ensure we are prioritising work in the right homes, and we can flag early if there are issues to access properties to carry out checks.

We stay on top of the latest legislation and best practices – in areas like smoke alarms, CO detectors and fire safety to make sure we’re working with landlords well in advance to put the right checks in place and proactively adapt our approach.

Our jeopardy toolkits also help us spot and mitigate risk on every contract we work on, which strengthens our commitment to safety and reliability.

Telling a compelling story

We need to flip the narrative around the work that we do in people’s homes – and that can only be done with collaboration between resident groups, landlords and contractors.

“We need to get into your home because it’s important we are compliant” is not a compelling message for residents.

Instead, we must be clear on the benefits these checks bring to individuals and communities, and the risks if they don’t happen. Gas safety checks play a huge role in keeping people and families safe – they are essentially an MOT on people’s homes.

We need to look beyond telling people what we do and why the work is required, it is important to understand how we make them feel following every interaction with us.

Not only will this improve access rates for contractors going into people’s homes but increase resident satisfaction too.

Our commitment to telling powerful stories on safety and compliance has earned us recognition, including an HPM Award for our gas safety awareness campaign last year and a RoSPA Gold Award for a seventh consecutive year.

Reporting back

The Regulator, The Ombudsman, and just about everyone working in social housing knows that good data leads to better services – and happier residents.

We can provide lots of information to landlords from our visits; the key is making sure that it is accurate and useful information.

This is one of the reasons why we have aligned our Net Promotor Score questions to some of the Tenant Satisfaction Measure questions, included in our surveys. This enables landlords to see a direct link between our work in people’s homes and the wider satisfaction.

This level of transparency is important for landlords when they appoint multiple contractors, to allow them to make informed decisions around which areas are driving up satisfaction and which are having a negative impact.

Compliance has changed. Liberty continues to strive to shape that change to align with our client’s needs.

We’ve listened to feedback from landlords and residents and hear that we have a much bigger role to play in people’s homes and in the sector.

We’ll get behind every door to make sure homes are safe, but also take time to understand residents, treat people with empathy, and feedback on what we find.

That’s how we can make sure that residents live in safe homes while helping landlords tell a story of care, reliability, and respect.

New Managing Director announced for Liberty

After overseeing the transition of Liberty to Wates, Ray Jones has decided to leave the business following six years as Group Managing Director.

Ray has been a pivotal figure in Liberty’s journey to join the Wates Property Services team as well as overseeing growth of the business, which delivers property maintenance for 186,000 UK homes, plus heating & compliance and decarbonisation expertise.

Steve Jackson has been appointed to the role of Managing Director for Liberty. Steve brings a wealth of experience to the role, with more than 35 years in the industry, and 28 years at Wates. He has spent 24 years specialising in social housing and was instrumental in creating Wates’ retrofit proposition. Having already been working closely with the Liberty team, he will focus on effectively integrating the team as well as growing the business in the coming years.

Steve was a founding board member of Wates Property Services on its formation in 2006 and has since held numerous senior positions including Director of Operations, Regional Managing Director and most recently, Strategy Director, affording him a wealth of industry knowledge and experience to drive Liberty forward.

We thank Ray for his contribution to the Liberty team and wish Steve the best in taking the business forward.

Customer Service Week 2024: celebrating excellence

National Customer Service Week is all about celebrating customer service and the people focused service Liberty provides to clients and customers.  

This week-long celebration highlights the importance of customer service in building strong relationships with customers and enhancing their overall experience.

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a valuable tool that measures customer loyalty and satisfaction. Liberty is proud to say its NPS is consistently higher than the industry benchmark and is currently at +71 across the heating & compliance and repairs & maintenance businesses. This is a testament to the quality of our customer service. Additionally, its Trustpilot rating has increased to 4.3 out of 5, reflecting the positive experiences of our customers, with many praising our responsiveness and professionalism.

Liberty’s good customer service is built on a foundation of four core values – passion, openness, respect and trust. Colleagues deliver these through four key principles; people focused, smart, innovative and accountable. These principles are reflected in the feedback received from our customers, who often commend our team for their helpfulness and dedication.

Throughout the week Liberty will be recognising and celebrating the achievements of its colleagues efforts by sharing excellent customer service on X and LinkedIn.

Liberty takes the lead in promoting Gas Safety Week to clients across the UK

Liberty, is spearheading a series of nationwide events during Gas Safety Week (9th – 15th September 2024).

We will be working with 13 of our clients nationwide to help share essential gas safety tips with thousands of members of the public.

Working with partners, we will be holding various pop-up events and distributing advice leaflets throughout the week in order to reach as many residents as possible to share the importance of being gas-safe.

Neglected boilers, ovens, gas fires, and other gas appliances can pose significant risks, including gas leaks, fires, explosions, and the silent threat of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, making Gas Safety Week all the more crucial.

The business and our partners are sharing top tips on responsible gas appliance upkeep and how to spot signs an appliance is unsafe.

In Leeds the service delivery team will be sharing gas safety leaflets with tenants as part of their annual boiler service and will be targeting hard to access tenants to ensure their home is safe and remind them of the importance of having a boiler serviced regularly.

Liberty and Exeter City Council will be delivering a talk on illegal gas works at a coffee whilst in Haverhill, the service delivery team will be hosting a Meet the Contractor event for new client Havebury Housing Partnership who awarded Liberty as its heating services contractor in August 2024.

Over in the North West, pop-up events will be hosted for Magenta Living, ForHousing, Port Sunlight, West Lancashire Council and Wrexham County Borough Council, all aimed at highlighting the importance of being gas-safe.

Karen Sloan, Managing Director for Heating and Compliance at Liberty, said: “As a leader in the property services sector, Liberty is proud to take a proactive stance in promoting Gas Safety Week.

“We believe in the power of awareness and education to empower individuals to make informed decisions that positively impact their safety and the safety of those around them.

“With over a quarter of a million homes serviced by Liberty, we want to reach as many people as possible so we can all play our part in keeping our homes gas-safe.”

Jonathan Samuel, Chief Executive Officer for Gas Safe Register, said: “This is the fourteenth Gas Safety Week and the theme for 2024 is Checking — Every Check Counts. The week will encourage checking, in many guises, and shine a light on the importance gas safety in keeping ourselves and our community safe.

“Throughout Gas Safety Week, our partners, stakeholders and Gas Safe Register will share information to help everyone be gas safe, so I am very pleased to have the support of Liberty to help share those messages, such as check the Gas Safe Register to ensure your engineer is registered and qualified.”

Top tips are:

• Check for warning signs that could indicate your gas appliances are not working correctly. Signs may include lazy yellow /orange flames instead of crisp blue ones, black marks on or around the appliance, a pilot light that keeps going out, or too much condensation in the room
• Be aware of the six main symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning – headaches, dizziness, breathlessness, nausea, collapse, and loss of consciousness.
• Fit an audible carbon monoxide alarm and make sure your friends and relatives have one too.
• Make sure you have your annual safety check. Gas appliances should be safety checked once a year and serviced regularly by a Gas Safe registered engineer. If you rent your home make sure your landlord arranges this. Set a reminder so you don’t forget at GasSafeRegister.co.uk.

Liberty has over 50 years’ experience in heating solutions and compliance services. And their team of skilled professionals is dedicated to providing top-quality solutions that ensure the safety, comfort, and efficiency of heating systems in domestic and commercial environments.

Liberty leads successful beach cleanup initiative in Southport

In a demonstration of community support, national property maintenance business Liberty, who work with social housing landlords in the area, showcased their commitment to giving back as five colleagues recently braved the British seaside to complete a beach cleanup in Southport.

The Liberty team started their day early at 8:30AM. Despite facing unseasonable weather conditions, including wind and rain, the team spent the morning collecting litter along the stretch of land bordering the beach between Beach Car Park, near Weld Road, and Southport’s iconic pier.

This social value activity was initiated by Pierce Moloney, who reached out to his contacts in the local area to inform them of the plans. Sefton Council were keen to assist and gave permission for the team to use their skips, which were already located near the pier, for the safe disposal of the collected waste.

Despite the challenging weather, the team’s spirits remained high. Equipped with warm clothing, waterproofs and safety equipment they spent the morning working their way up the beach and competing to see who could collect the most waste. Their hard work and friendly competition paid off, with the team ending the morning with seven bin bags full of litter and a broken plastic crate, significantly improving the cleanliness and beauty of the shoreline for local residents.

Liberty is committed to delivering social value in support of the communities where it works, and were pleased to have made a positive impact for the local community in Southport.

Pierce Moloney from Liberty said: “Giving back in the communities that we service is always a priority to us here at Liberty, and despite the weather this was a really fun morning where we can honestly say we’ve made a positive impact to the local area that is clear to see. Southport has a beautiful beach, which is full of wildlife due to the grasses and wildflowers along the shoreline, and I’d encourage anyone to pay it a visit, but remember to take your litter home with you.”

Liberty celebrates 7th consecutive win at RoSPA Gold Awards

Liberty has won a prestigious Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Gold Award for the 7^th year in a row, demonstrating its continued commitment to health and safety excellence.

Liberty was also awarded RoSPA’s ‘Gold Medal’ for its continued improvement year on year in occupational health and safety, which is presented to organisations that have received the Gold Award for five to nine consecutive years.

Roy Butler, Health and Safety Director at Liberty, said: “Being honoured by RoSPA for the 7^th time is a significant achievement that underscores our dedication to safety. It reflects our team’s hard work and our culture of prioritising the wellbeing of our customers, contractors, and employees.

“This is a proud moment for our entire team who work tirelessly to uphold the highest safety standards and motivates us to keep pushing forward.”

The RoSPA Awards program has been going for 68 years and is the UK’s largest and most impactful health and safety programme.

With almost 2,000 entries each year from over 50 countries, covering over seven million employees, they offer a platform to spotlight excellent work done in health and safety.

Commenting on Liberty’s win, Julia Small, RoSPA’s Achievements Director, said: “Workplace accidents don’t just pose financial risks and operational disruptions; they significantly impact the quality of life for individuals. This is why acknowledging and rewarding excellent safety performance is vital.

“We congratulate Liberty for winning a prestigious RoSPA Award and showing an unwavering commitment to keeping employees, clients and customers safe from accidental harm and injury.”

Liberty offers the full range of property services, and its teams are experts in reactive and planned maintenance across all technical disciplines, refurbishments, mechanical and electrical projects, construction, and whole-home decarbonisation.

Liberty has won four valuable heating contracts with Swindon Council, London Borough of Enfield, Newport City Homes, and Havebury Housing Partnership, totalling over £15 million.

In Swindon, the £10 million contract with the local authority will see Liberty supplying and installing new central heating systems in 10,400 homes.

The contract is for three years initially, starting in August 2024, with scope for an additional two-year extension.

As part of the contract Liberty will give back to the local community by:

• Volunteering 64 hours per year over five years to benefit the community.
• Working alongside ‘BEST – Be A Better You’ charity to fight against knife crime.
• Providing £850,000 per year in the local supply chain throughout the contract.
• Embedding a sustainable procurement policy into the contract.
• Working alongside suppliers to reduce material packaging.

Over in the London Borough of Enfield, Liberty has won a £3.3 million three-year contract to deliver gas servicing and installations to more than 4,000 homes. With an option for the contract to be extended for two years, the property services firm will also repair and service alternative heating systems for the council such as ground source heat pumps.

Liberty will provide a 24/7 customer service center for tenants and out-of-hours emergency heating services.

Liberty will also give back to the local community in Enfield through:

• Visiting local schools and colleges twice a year for five years.
• 160 hours per year offering career guidance and support to unemployed people.
• 52 apprenticeship weeks per year of the contract and five six-week work placements per year.
• £475,000 to be spent within the local supply chain over the course of the contract.
• At least 480 hours volunteering over five years to benefit the local community.
• £1000 to be donated to local community projects.
• Five free decarbonisation data monitoring/property surveys from NetZero Collective.

Liberty has won a third contract with Newport City Homes covering gas installations, servicing and repairs, and electrical repairs, rewires and EICRs across 10,000 homes.

The contract is for an initial 2 years with the option to extend for a further 1+1.

As part of the contract, Liberty will invest in the local community by:

• Developing and managing a contract-specific Employee Skills Plan (ESP) to map out current apprentice, employment and work experience provision.
• Recruiting through local job centres as well as advertising locally and provide guaranteed interviews to customers who meet qualifying criteria.
• Working closely with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to help them gain qualifications and support them onto sustainable employment.
• Working in partnership with the Military of Defence to support former Royal Marines to begin new careers.
• Creating relationships with local schools, colleges and training providers through Liberty’s Training and Development Team to identify suitable candidates for work experience positions and apprenticeships.
• Delivering quarterly energy advice workshops for customers.
• Offering five free decarbonisation data monitoring and property surveys from NetZero Collective.

The fourth contract with Havebury Housing Partnership will see Liberty deliver domestic and commercial heating servicing, and also provide repair services and maintenance, including CO, heat, and smoke alarm maintenance during each service.

The contract, worth £1.2 million per year, is set for three years with the option to extend for another year and covers over 6,500 homes.

Ray Jones, Group Managing Director of Liberty said: “We are thrilled to have secured four new contracts and look forward to providing high-quality services and outstanding customer services across over 31,000 homes.

“As always, our commitment to the communities we serve remains a huge part of our work and we are looking forward to making a real impact through providing employment opportunities, apprenticeships, work experience and volunteering initiatives.”

Owain Roberts, Director of Property and Place at Newport City Homes said: “It’s important to us at Newport City Homes that we work with organisations who align with our values, placing customers and communities at the heart. This is why we’re thrilled to be working with Liberty across our gas and electrical services. The social investment into our communities will change lives across the city, and we’re excited to see what the next 12 months bring.”

Scott Bridge, Assistant Director of Asset Management, said: “We were really impressed with Liberty’s ‘can do’ approach. The service they provide aligns with our one common goal campaign, which we launched last year. This includes contacting residents when they are on the way to an appointment and confirming any follow-up appointments while they are with the resident.