The last quarter was full of projects and activity to support individual customers and improve services in their communities. Behind the scenes, we’re also continuing to progress on completing the merger of Sovereign and Network Homes. On 1 April 2025, we’ll officially become a single organisation called Sovereign Network Group.
We know that rising living expenses remain a concern, especially in the colder months, so don’t forget to check out our customer guidance hubs for resources on managing your finances, accessing benefits, job opportunities, and housing options if you’re thinking of moving.
The second round of our Commercial Support Fund launched in November 2024. One shining example is Kings Café in Basingstoke, transformed from an old butcher’s shop into a vibrant community café - partly because of SNG funding in round one.
Funding paid for the café’s signage and even supported a school-led competition to name and design its logo. In December, the winning ideas came to life: a great example of creativity and community pride.
December marked the end of a six-week ‘Confidence, motivation and empowerment’ course, designed to help SNG customers take their next steps toward career success.
Here’s what one customer shared:
"The guidance and expertise have been truly transformative. From the very first session, the tutor's ability to create a safe, supportive, and uplifting environment made it easy to engage and speak up. Thank you for empowering me with the confidence and clarity to take meaningful steps forward. This workshop has been a life-changing experience, and I am so grateful for your guidance and encouragement."
If you'd like to improve your career confidence and motivation, whether you’re already in work or looking for work, contact the Employment and Skills team: employmentandskills@sng.org.uk
64 projects in SNG communities received grants totalling over £57,600 through our Winter Wishes Fund.
Picket Twenty Community Centre near Andover was one of them – with a £600 award enabling them to bring some festive joy by hosting over 90 children, families, SNG residents and the wider community with a Santa’s Grotto, arts and crafts, an escape room and festive disco.
Here are a few quotes and pictures from the day:
“We all had the best time today at the Christmas event. So much thought went into making everything magical. Can’t wait until the next event.”
“Amazing afternoon - my kids loved every minute. Thank you very much for all the effort you all put in; We can't wait for next year!”
The Positive Pathways Programme has launched across Basingstoke and Deane, aimed at creating safer communities by reducing anti-social behaviour (ASB) and serious crime while supporting young people in building positive futures.
To make sure young people have a voice in shaping the initiative, we’re creating a Youth Panel whose members will be mentored and trained to share their experience, help grow the programme and inspire others.
Residents at Knightstone Grange in Hythe came together in November for the first of two Community Picnic and Clean-Up Day events. With a service for removing household items, family activities, and discussions on community improvements, the event was a hit - drawing over 40 people.
SNG and community partners were there to listen to residents’ views about living on the estate and how it could be improved. It also gave our partners (Handy Trust - Youth Services, Families Matter, Itchen College, and Hythe’s ASB officers) a chance to talk to residents about the services and support available in the area.
Funding from SNG and the Police Crime Commissioner’s office is supporting ongoing efforts to run activities across the area to help connect the community, reduce ASB and increase feelings of safety.
We want to make it easy for customers to know more about our services and performance. And the Customer Annual Report 2023-24 - South & West is a key part of being transparent and letting customers hold us to account.
We produced parallel reports for South & West and London & Hertfordshire as most of our day-to-day customer services, support and contact channels were still separate. The report highlights what’s been happening in some key services plus performance information – including new Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs), introduced by the Regulator of Social Housing.
As part of the Safer Somerford Programme in Christchurch, Dorset, we ran our third Community Day which included a multi-agency drop in at Somerford ARC (the local community centre) and a community clean up and lunch at Hunt Road.
We worked with Dorset Police, BCP Council and other local organisations to support the community through skips, disposing of fly tipping, litter picking and estate improvements.
Throughout the day we gathered feedback from residents on community safety - discussing issues like ASB, fly tipping and crime. Many commented on the change they’ve seen over the last six months and how it’s become a nicer place to live because of recent action in the area.
The programme, funded by the Police Crime Commissioner’s office, will also partner with Vita Nova - a recovery arts charity, to bring youth outreach programmes to local schools, addressing issues like addiction, knife crime, and community safety.
You said, we did!
Your feedback matters - by understanding your needs we're able to create services that work for you. This is why we've introduced 'close the loop', which is designed to do just that.
Each month, on the anniversary of when they joined SNG, we send a survey to customers asking them to rate us and tell us what they think we can do to improve - either in their neighbourhood, or across SNG.
- 487 issues have been successfully resolved following a ‘close the loop’ call.
- 294 complaints have been prevented.
You can learn about some of things we’ve done as a result of feedback in your area here. A highlight from Q3 in our Reading and Newbury locality showcases the link between customer feedback and the action we’ve taken:
- You said: Families need more support to keep their tenancies going and reduce the risk of homelessness.
- We did: We've jointly funded a Family Support Worker post with West Berkshire Council, as part of our Supporting Families programme.
Supporting customers and investing in communities
Debt advice
- Helped customers to save £959,971.81
- 2,771 customers supported around fuel poverty
- The service also generated £99.8m in social value
Financial inclusion
- Supported 6,780 cases with financial inclusion (such as through fuel/heating vouchers, food pantry packs, the welfare fund or white goods)
Employment and skills
- 249 jobs were secured
- 1,640 training courses or other outcomes achieved
- 88 people supported with business start-ups and self-employment
Community investment
- 317 community organisations supported
- 636 customers supported through digital inclusion activities
- 457 young people took part in youth social action through the SNG #iwill programme
- 24,126 engagements in Community Investment
Funding
The team secured over £1,436k of external funding to enable our services and support to help even more customers.
Here’s some lovely feedback from a customer who benefitted from advice from the team:
“I’ve interacted with Katrina a few times over the past couple of years, but her recent guidance has been especially impactful. I hadn’t realised I was entitled to claim the DLA element of my Universal Credit as a carer for my daughter, until Katrina informed me. She advised me to contact Universal Credit and have it added.
“Thanks to her advice, not only was it included, but I also received backdated payments. This allowed me to clear my rent arrears and buy new clothing for my daughter. While SNG and its staff often face criticism on social media, I believe it’s important to highlight the good work they do. Thank you!”
How we’re performing
In October to December, our overall customer satisfaction (63.3%) remained stable, as did satisfaction with our Contact Centre team and ease of getting in touch with us.
We’ve continued to improve the service and respond to more complaints in our target timescales (85% at stage 1 and 65% at stage 2) as well as getting better at how we respond (an increase to 87% on our quality measure).
To showcase our commitment to resolving issues quickly and efficient, we published our Complaints Customer Promise, outlining how we handle concerns and what to expect at every step.
- In quarter 3, our satisfaction score for repairs remained stable at 79% and our ‘close the loop’ work [link to relevant accordion section] is also helping to flag any issues quickly so they can be resolved.
- Satisfaction around how easy it was to get a repair carried out was 7.2 out of 10 (where 1 is not at all easy and 10 is very easy).
- We published our Repairs Customer Promise, detailing how we work to complete fixes promptly, including what we need from you to provide a smooth service.
This is one compliment on the service from a Hampshire customer: “I just wanted to pass on my gratitude to the team after the completion of works at my property.
Graham, Tim & Matt did a fantastic job with the installation of a new kitchen and the electric works. I wanted to point out how much pride they all take in their work, and I found them professional, friendly, helpful and respectful.
They all went out of their way to make sure they guided me through the whole process to make sure I was completely happy with all the work and there wasn’t a stone left unturned.”
Here are some other key performance figures for the year to December:
- How much customers trust SNG - 64.4% satisfaction
- How satisfied or dissatisfied customers are that SNG listens to their views and acts on them - 53.7% satisfaction
- How satisfied or dissatisfied customers are that SNG keeps them informed about things that matter to them – 71.4% satisfaction
- How satisfied how customers are with our customer contact services stayed stable in Q3, with digital contact scoring the highest at 83%. This could be partly down to accessibility improvements on our website and through the Recite Me toolbar (which includes screen reading, reading aids, custom styling options and on-demand translations).
“Every time I ring upset with a problem, there is an amazing human being at the other end of the phone. Best company/housing association in my opinion. Trust them with everything.”
Our news
We publish news stories throughout the year. In quarter 3, we released 13 stories - you can read them on our News page on our SNG website 
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Festive cheer for SNG communities thanks to Winter Wishes grants
SNG is bringing festive cheer to its communities by awarding almost £60,000 through its Winter Wishes Fund.
SNG and Octopus energy deliver first ‘Zero Bills’ homes for social housing residents
SNG and Octopus energy customers in Exeter become the first social housing residents to move into homes with no energy bills for at least 5 years.
Berkshire resident wins award for SNG’s In Bloom gardening competition
A talented customer living at an SNG home in Berkshire has won an award for how her garden shines as an example of sustainability.