Our plan for how we'll improve communication with our customers, colleagues and wider stakeholders.
where communities thrive
Improving our communication Our 2026–2028 plan
Key achievements Over the past year, the Communications team supported Southway through a significant period of change — including a new Chief Executive, the launch of a new Five-Year Plan, a refreshed brand and values, new Consumer Standards and a Regulatory inspection. The team engaged over 10 % of customers through Five-Year Plan consultations, collecting more than 1,000 responses from customers and colleagues. The team raised Southway’s profile by securing positive press coverage, hosting influential political visits to new housing schemes, writing successful award submissions and strengthening Southway’s brand. A new tone of voice is making communications clearer, more empathetic and inclusive, and a new website helps customers access our services more easily. Behind the scenes, the team has protected Southway from reputational risk through effective issues management and media training. To add to this, the team has dealt with around 300 requests for communications support from colleagues. Effective communication is crucial to the success of Southway’s Five-Year Plan. It supports the business through change, manage risks, support growth and improve how we talk and listen to our customers, stakeholders and colleagues.
3 Key achievements 4 Customer and colleague insight 5 Aims 6 Our Communications approach 7 Who are we communicating with? 8 Our key messages: What do we want to tell people?
1,000 RESPONSES
9 Objectives 10 Channels 11 Measuring success
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Communications Strategy 2026–2028 3
Shaped by you This strategy is shaped by themes from customer and colleague feedback gathered in several ways. Customers want us to get better at communicating key services like repairs and keeping them informed. They also want us to use clearer language that everyone can understand. Colleagues want us to improve collaboration and information sharing.
Aims: What do we want to achieve?
We want to improve internal and external communication to help Southway achieve its Five-Year Plan and vision to ‘provide excellent customer service and quality homes, where communities thrive’ . This strategy supports all the Five-Year Plan themes but will have the most impact across Customers, Colleagues and Growth and the Data, Digital and Communication & Collaboration parts of Southway’s toolkit. Through better communication, we will: Help increase customer and colleague satisfaction Enhance and protect Southway’s reputation Champion the Customer Voice Position Southway as an expert voice on social housing issues Strengthen relationships with customers, colleagues and wider partners Be more inclusive and accessible Support the digital transformation of services and help more tenants to get online Help colleagues communicate more effectively and champion good communication Increase value for money.
TSMs
Pulse survey
Be more proactive, keeping you informed
Be easier to understand with no jargon
Feedback tells us that our communication should:
Complaints feedback
Consultations
Improve collaboration
External communications review
Customer service surveys
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Our Communications approach Proactive communication achieves the best results. Poor communication is a reputational risk and can lead to unnecessary worry or confusion for our customers. It's better to get ahead of a crisis, so even reactive communication is planned and well managed. We have introduced Communications Business Partner meetings with Assistant Directors and Heads of Service to help plan ahead. Our communication will be: • Proactive and planned — give people enough time to engage and help mitigate any reputational risks. • Flexible — to deal with changing situations and any emerging crises. • Open and honest — tell people the truth and help manage expectations. • Empathetic — understand people’s needs, saying sorry where it’s needed. • Collaborative and two-way — champion the customer voice, tell people how they can get involved and make it easy for them to get in touch with us. • Accountable — explain how decisions are made and who makes them. • Focused on people — put people first and tell stories about real people. • Clear, accessible and inclusive — in line with our new tone of voice, we’ll use plain English and shorter sentences to help everyone understand us. We'll also respect everyone’s backgrounds. • Data driven — tailored to customers’ needs and preferences. • Timely — we’ll communicate promptly. • Value for money — Keep communication cost effective.
Who are we talking to?
We communicate with a range of people for different reasons. Customers and colleagues are first and foremost but it’s important that we keep in touch with partners too, as it shows the wider impact we’re having in our communities which could help secure future funding and new opportunities. It also shines a light on issues facing tenants to help lobby Government for positive change in social housing.
Our audiences: • Tenants, customers and wider communities
• C olleagues and prospective employees • P rospective tenants and homeowners • Local politicians and councillors • R egulator/funders (Regulator of Social Housing, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Homes England, etc) • W ider partners (Councils, police, health and community services, universities, etc) • B oards and Committees • Trade bodies and other partners (National Housing Federation, Greater Manchester Housing Providers, PlaceShapers, etc)
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Communications Strategy 2026–2028 7
What do we want to tell people?
What we plan to do
Our objectives are to: 1 Improve customer feedback by promoting ways for customer to have their say 2 Increase colleague engagement by 90% (Pulse survey) 3 Increase positive press coverage by 20% and shift negative media sentiment to be more balanced 4 H old more stakeholder visits with politicians, partners and the media 5 G row social media followers and increase engagement by up to 50% 6 Increase stakeholder engagement by 20% and launch a partners’ update 7 E mpower colleagues to take more ownership of communications with more centralised templates available for day-to-day/routine tasks 8 Increase customer satisfaction with our written communication 9 Increase engagement in our digital communication by 10% 10 Increase sign-ups to the new customer portal and new users to the mobile app 11 Increase the number of tenants who say we keep them informed about things that matter to them to 75% (Tenant Satisfaction Measures) 12 C omplete the Southway brand roll out 13 A chieve a 15% increase in Value for Money.
Each time we communicate, we'll look for opportunities to reinforce the following key messages .
Southway: ✅ Is a trusted landlord that cares about its customers, colleagues and communities ❤ Provides excellent customer service and quality homes, where communities thrive 🗣 Listens to customers to ensure their voices are heard before making decisions 📈 Strives for continuous improvement guided by customers 🏠 P rovides quality affordable housing and builds new homes to meet demand 🌱 H as ambition for growth, with an aim to own and manage 10,000 homes by 2030
💰 W ill invest £5m over five years to help communities live well and independently 📢 C hampions social housing to raise awareness of issues facing customers and communities 🏘 Is community-driven and not-for- profit, reinvesting any surplus in communities and services 🌈 Celebrates diversity and recognises everyone’s contribution 🫶 Is guided by its REACH values in everything it does 🤝 Supports the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter to help raise employment standards across the region.
GOALS
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Communications Strategy 2026–2028 9
Stories
Stories
Channels
Measuring success
Stories
Stories
Stories
Stories
Stories
Stories
Stories
Stories
Stories
We will measure the impact of this Communications Strategy via: • Ongoing customer and colleague feedback • Tenant Satisfaction Measures • Employee pulse surveys • Complaints and customer service surveys • P ress coverage and sentiment • A nalytics built into our digital platforms and software to track reach and engagement • Stakeholders’ participation in events • Regulatory gradings
Stories
Stories
External
Internal
Southway’s website
Intranet (HIVE)
Social media (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp Channel, You Tube)
Colleague events
Southway Stories
Team meetings, briefings
Local/regional/national media
Digital screens
Trade press (Housing, business, property)
Community events/drop-ins
Microsoft Teams
Community centres, libraries, GPs, Southern Gate reception
Office locations
SMS/text alerts
Team Meeting Tool
Letters, email, phone Customer portal and App (coming soon)
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southwayhousing.co.uk
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If you have any other suggestions on how we can improve our communication with you, please contact us. Email: communications@southwayhousing.co.uk Have your say
Southway Housing Trust is the business name for Southway Housing Trust (Manchester) Limited Registered office: Southern Gate, 729 Princess Road, Didsbury, Manchester M20 2LT. Southway is a registered society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 Registered in England. Registration number: 30348R. Southway is registered with the Regulator of Social Housing. Registration number: L4507. Southway is an exempt charity.
@southwayhousing
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