In this report we reflect on our mission, vision and priorities, and we have assessed performance against each of our strategic priorities for the year ending March 2026.

At Keelman Homes, our vision is to build a better Gateshead. The strategic priorities that enable us to do that are:

1. Putting our customers first: we strive to achieve high levels of tenant and leaseholder satisfaction in all that we do.
2. Providing quality affordable homes: achieved by reinvestment in our existing homes, ensuring homes are safe and by building more affordable homes when we can.
3. Remaining well governed and financially strong: achieved by careful monitoring and honest, transparent reporting.

Achievements: how we delivered against our priorities in 2025/26

We set operational targets annually and these help us to assess whether we are performing well against our priorities overall. We present below some results on tenant satisfaction and housing management reporting data for the year.

Priority 1: Our customers

• How we responded to our customers:
  • 1,470 routine repairs and out of hours repairs were carried out, and 90% of customers surveyed afterwards were satisfied with the repairs service overall, while 92% were satisfied with the quality of work.
  • The average speed to answer calls was 76 seconds during regular open hours, and on average out of hours calls were answered in 51 seconds.
  • 100% of emergency call outs were attended to within our target of 24 hours.
  • 5% of appointments made with tenants were kept.
  • 6% of routine responsive repair call outs were carried out within our target of 20 working days.
  • Rent collection as a percentage of net rent debit from current and former tenants exceeded collection targets.
  • Twenty of our tenants were supported to manage their finances through the Karbon Money Matters team.
  • 100% of complaints were responded to within the Housing Ombudsman’s timescales.
• From October 2025, Keelman Homes, working in partnership with Karbon, was ready for implementation of Awaab’s Law and we set up new KPI reporting to monitor responsiveness to any new reports of damp and mould.

Priority 2: Providing quality, affordable homes

• Landlord performance within our homes:
  • 100% of homes had an annual gas check and received a validation certificate.
  • 100% of homes had a valid electrical safety certificate.
  • 100% of homes complied with the Decent Homes Standard.
  • Keelman Homes held valid stock condition data on 95.76% of our homes.
• 17 new lets were offered to individuals and families registered on Gateshead’s Home Choice portal on Gateshead Council’s website.
• We secured a grant funding offer of £197,657 from the Warm Homes: Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, Wave 3, to be released over several years. We made a commitment to match fund this amount as a minimum, and to use the budget to support achieving EPC C across all homes by 2030.
• We entered a partnership with Tees Valley Housing Consortium to support delivery of the warm homes plan.
• Two minor planning applications were submitted in the year to the local planning authority for schemes which, combined, would deliver 13 new affordable homes.

Priority 3: Remaining well governed and financially strong

• There were no regulatory interventions during the year, and we continue to operate within the standards set out by RSH. Regulatory returns were made on time.
• Self-assessments were carried out against the NHF Code of Governance 2020 and the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.
• The Keelman Homes website was updated with publications where applicable and in line with the Regulator’s transparency and accountability standards.
• Internal policies were reviewed and updated when due.
• We achieved value for money metric results in line with our expectations and comparable to sector peers, though the UK and sector economic backdrop has had a negative impact on performance compared with the prior year.

Future Plans

Focused on the priorities above, our identified areas for improvement are as follows:

• Improved service delivery for our tenants in response to complaint handling: we consider the level of complaint reporting is higher than we would like it to be. Closer scrutiny will be applied with a view to enhancing the customer experience.
• In 26/27 a census-style TSM survey will be conducted. It is anticipated that perception scores will improve since the last survey, conducted in 24/25, due to team reorganisation and new digital platforms introduced by our partner Karbon.
• We aim to see an improvement in the thermal efficiency of our homes. This will be tested following investment work and re-lodgement of EPCs.
• A reduction in tenancy arrears: Keelman currently has a higher average arrears total than sector peers. We must focus on working with those households who are struggling to pay bills.
• A review of our organisational structure to check whether our current operating model achieves the best outcomes for customers and other stakeholders.

We have calculated our VfM Metrics for 2025/26 based upon the Housing Regulator’s VfM Standard for smaller Registered Providers: