Case Study Housing Repairs
The Housing Repairs service was a complex, high-volume statutory service impacting 77,500 homes of residents annually.
Complaints were high, clarity poor, and the service lacked a shared view of the customer journey, driving avoidable demand and undermining trust.”
By aligning the partnership on a common journey and service model, all but one performance KPI had improved (including a measurable fall in complaints). The service introduced a new face-to-face triage offer, reducing avoidable call-backs and failure demand.
Systemic and Service Redesign to improve Communications and to reduce Complaints
Residents didn’t understand what counted as an urgent repair. Staff lacked a shared framework for decisions. The organisation needed a future-proofed system that reduced frustration, improved fairness, and drove measurable improvements in satisfaction and performance.
Service and Systemic Design | Local Government
2022 - 2023
My role: Service Design Lead
Number of people in co-design team: 89 (Council, Delivery Partner and Residents)
💎 Key Skills used:
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Leading a design team (inc. delivery providers)
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Setting up and managing a dedicated design community space
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Human Centred Design
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Stakeholder engagement and Co-Design
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Process mapping and systems thinking
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Change and project management
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Empathy and Communication
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Adaptability and problem solving
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Technical knowledge (Housing)
Reflection 💡 - This service re-design reinforced that enabling language and expectations creates just as much value as optimised processes. Our biggest insight: shared understanding and clear communications between the Council, the delivery partner and residents reduces failure demand and improves satisfaction at the point of need.”
⚙️ Key Design Methods Used:
Discovery and Define (User Research - workshops and Survey) | Customer Journey Mapping | Service Blueprinting | User Stories | Personas | Service Patterns | Stakeholder Mapping | Service Improvement Planning
The Brief
"We want a service that reflects our needs"
"I would like a review of what is classed as an urgent response"
[Customers - Housing Repairs Survey 2023]
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To make recommendations for the review and re-design of the service which is future proofed in terms of the customer journey and efficiency and effectiveness (through a service blueprint).
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To undertake a full discovery and define design process, that includes a robust business case for any future development, and improvements.
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To review performance and satisfaction, and make recommendations to improve satisfaction, and reduce complaints, and resident effort.
The main required deliverables were:
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A Customer Journey Map
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A Service Blueprint
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A Business Case and Options Appraisal
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Documented future needs and requirements through Customer and User Stories
The Process
The Housing Repairs Co-Design Survey
(Design, Analysis and Technical Report)
I led on the design and the production of the survey, analysed the responses and authored the technical report. This was for the purpose of the discovery and define phase of the service and systematic design.
The main Research Question (RQ) was:
What are the experiences and views of the partnership repairs service, as well as those that are benefiting from it?
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The survey was a collaboration of the design project in a Council and with its delivery partner
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The questions were also co-designed with resident engagement from the partnership. An appreciative enquiry (strength based) approach was taken to the formulation of the questions
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The research was undertaken using Microsoft Forms, with a Word fillable, and Word printable version which was distributed to the partnership team members who had tenancies in the area
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The survey was anonymous. and moderated where necessary to protect the privacy of all those involved
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It was analysed using MS Forms, MS Power BI, and WordArt. The moderated data was transferred using Excel
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The MS Form was developed using MS Teams so that the dashboard of the data could be viewed by key stakeholders
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The survey was open in January - February 2023
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218 responses were received in this time (after duplicates were removed). The word versions were input into the MS Forms survey manually, so that the data could be analysed together
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The average time for completion was 14:30 minutes. The total effort hours for the partnership team members and residents was therefore around 52.6 hours for the survey
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The survey used mixed methods (words and numbers) and included 9 questions
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A surface literature search was undertaken to inform the survey. Limited evidence of service and co-design in the public sector was found in the literature (impact level of this research is therefore innovation
The Results
Journey and service blueprint agreed across the partnership:
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Moving in (you're tenancy) - 3 customer goals
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Requesting a repair - 6 customer goals
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Managing my requests - 6 customer goals
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Paying for a repair - 2 customer goals
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Supporting you to make home improvements (and stay safe in your home) - 7 customer goals
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Telling us about your experiences of the service - 6 customer goals
The service design was completed on time to the satisfaction of the partnership. Including all of the deliverables.
At the time of completion all but one key performance indicator had improved (including the number of complaints).
The service have now added a face to face offer for logging chasing, and escalating.
The Customer Journey Map
Housing Repairs Service and Systemic Design Case Study on a Page
The final design in numbers:
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223 User Stories (needs and requirements for users and customers) were documented, prioritised and added to the product backlog (via DevOps)
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75 pages of transcripts from co-design workshops moderated and anonymised
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6 Service Patterns identified
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29 Customer goals identified
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6 Customer Personas identified, plus 6 Partnership User Personas
Some example user stories that we produced from discovery research with customers:
"I must be able to request an emergency repair, so that I can keep myself up to date with progress whilst keeping my family safe"
"I must be able to state what the issue is, so that I can keep my household safe"
"I must be able to request a non emergency repair, so that I can manage my own expectations and that of my household"
Other selected related service designs that were undertaken at this time:
Homelessness | Housing Development | Disabled Facilities Grant | Building Control