Will you support us in tackling violence against our staff?

Thank you for your patience when contacting us this year. 2021 has been a challenging time for everyone and I know we often haven’t answered your calls or been able to carry out your repairs as quickly as you’d like, but as we come out of the pandemic, we are starting to see signs of improvement.

Like many organisations, recruitment and access to some materials continue to be an issue. So, our teams are working extremely hard in difficult circumstances to serve residents.

But I wanted to let you know about a couple of incidents we’ve had recently. On two separate occasions, two frontline staff have been attacked physically by residents. Thankfully both are ok, but understandably they are shaken from the incidents. I’m sure you’d join me in being horrified that people can be attacked for just doing their jobs.

While these physical attacks are unusual, sadly verbal abuse is much more common. Every day our teams face name-calling, disrespectful language and threats. I’m sure you’ll agree this is completely unacceptable.

We will be taking the strongest possible action against the people concerned and they may end up losing their homes. We have a zero-tolerance approach to any kind of violence or abuse to our teams. They are ordinary people, going about their day job and deserve to be treated with respect and decency by all.

Please support us in tackling violence or abuse against our teams. We know we can serve you best when we are out and about in the schemes and neighbourhoods where we work, listening to residents and supporting them. Please let us know if you see or hear anything you think we should be concerned about.

Thanks very much,

Simon Clark

Group Director - Housing