Last month marked the beginning of the new financial year. This provides a perfect opportunity to look back at what we achieved in the previous 12 months.

Customer satisfaction is a real focus for us so I was really pleased to see we had exceeded our target, with a net promoter score of +43.39. This is a score of how likely customers are to recommend Karbon to others - we had aimed for +40. This bodes well for our ambitious satisfaction target for 2025/2026. We know how important a swift response for repairs is for customers  - we were pleased to get our average wait time down to 18 days and we will work hard to bring it down further this year. Despite bad weather and volatile times financially, we completed 707 new homes last year - and I'm looking forward to seeing Karbon continuing to grow in 2025/2026.

The start of a new financial year can be a worrying time for many of us, as bill increases come into effect. We took the difficult decision to raise our rents by just above inflation (CPI+1%.) The rent increase enables us to continue to provide high levels of service and investment in our homes, ensuring they continue to be well-maintained, healthy and safe. It also means we can build more much-needed affordable homes and continue to ensure we meet national environmental sustainability targets. We have support available to any of our customers who might be struggling with the cost of living. Our Money Matters Team offers a personalised and confidential advice service to help with all things money-related, including Universal Credit, debt, budgeting, benefit checks and energy advice and grants.

Supporting people to live well for longer is a key part of what we do and it has been exciting over the last few months to see our plans for supported and extra care schemes take shape. In March, we were delighted to see our 10, newly built supported housing bungalows in Hebburn complete and ready to welcome the first residents. We worked alongside South Tyneside Council to develop the scheme to support residents with learning disabilities, autism and complex care needs to live more independently.

Work got underway on the development of a new extra care scheme in Morpeth town centre too. This scheme will provide much-needed specialist housing, designed to help those with additional support and care needs to live independently. The 84-apartment scheme will include a mix of one and two-bed apartments, 15 of which will be designed for people with dementia and two suitable for bariatric care. Residents will have access to 24/7 care on site.

In this edition, you can read about how work is progressing on new homes in Pelton, County Durham, our investment in homes in Hartlepool, how we back our customers who need additional support and how we’ve supported an animal activity centre in Northumberland through our social value work.