A housing association in Bradford brought back-of-house colleagues out into communities to meet customers face-to-face.

Accent Housing’s Big Conversation campaign, now in its third year, aims to listen, learn, and act on customer feedback.

Senior leaders, including CEO Nick Apetroaie, joined teams knocking on doors across the country on September 4, inviting residents to input into its customer charter, and encouraging them to stay involved.

Mr Apetroaie said: “This isn’t just a campaign, it’s a commitment.

“Like many in the sector, we haven’t always got things right, but we want to work with our customers, allowing them to hold us to account.”

This year, 258 colleagues from 11 departments knocked on 5,671 doors and collated 1,951 surveys.

Forty per cent of the customers reached this year were new to the Big Conversation thanks to Accent’s focus on inclusion and reaching out to more rural and outlying areas they service.

Since its launch in 2023, the campaign has involved 633 colleagues knocking on 20,546 doors across multiple regions.

Chris Lynn, an Accent customer and vice chair of the Independent Living Scheme (National Group), said: “The Big Conversation was a great experience.

“It was overwhelmingly positive, jolly, informative and I felt genuinely heard and treated with compassion.”