Getting to Know You

Council tenants across the borough are being asked to provide information that can help Wigan & Leigh Housing provide even better services.

The highly rated landlord, which manages Wigan Council’s 25,000–plus homes, is sending questionnaires out to all tenants over several days starting on Monday 26th July. The information collected will be used to shape future services around them. Residents will be asked to classify themselves along age group, ethnicity, disabilities and so on.

Peter Gee, Chief Executive of Wigan & Leigh Housing says:

“As well as delivering our day to day services we are in the middle of an extensive modernisation programme, so it’s especially important that we remember to treat people fairly and with respect. This means making sure that everyone, without exception, gets a good quality service as well as a real choice in the services they receive. The information we are asking people to volunteer will help us to do this. Any information provided will be classified ‘confidential’ and will not be used for any other purpose than checking we are being fair.”

To encourage as many people as possible to return the forms, the first five names drawn out of a hat at the end of the exercise will receive £50. Any information provided will be held on computer by Wigan & Leigh Housing and used only to ensure that all tenants receive the same level of service.

Note to Editors

• For more information, please contact Dave Herschell at Wigan & Leigh Housing on (01942) 827680.
• A key recommendation emerging from the government’s Best Value Inspection of 2002 was that Wigan & Leigh Housing should improve the information it held on individual tenants.
• Under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, Wigan Council is responsible for monitoring all its policies and procedures to ensure that they do not adversely impact on the promotion of race equality. The council’s approach to equality also extends beyond race to the groups identified in the council’s ‘social identity’ model: age, class, disability, ethnicity, gender, religion or belief, and sexuality.