Update on your services – 19 April 2021
As lockdown restrictions continue to ease in line with the Government Roadmap out of lockdown, we want to remind our customers that your safety, and that of our colleagues, is still our top priority.
Help us to keep everyone safe
When our teams are helping you, in your home or out and about in your neighbourhood, please continue to follow social distancing and national guidance closely. This will keep you and our staff safe and will help us to maintain your services as much as we possibly can.
When sharing communal areas (such as stairwells, hallways, or communal rooms) with other customers or with Onward staff, we ask that you wear face masks and keep to social distancing rules. This is essential to minimise the risk of infections spreading and is particularly important in our sheltered and extra care facilities.
We promise to do everything possible to keep you safe. Our staff may decline to deliver a service if they feel that all reasonable precautions aren’t being taken by customers.
If you need us, we can help
The Government Roadmap out of lockdown is clear that most businesses are subject to restrictions until June at the earliest. The ongoing restrictions make it harder for us to deliver your services, because of limits to our supply chains and the availability of staff. As a result, some services are being delivered differently and we are doing as much as we can by telephone, to minimise face to face contact and unnecessary travel.
Long delays are possible in the weeks ahead, so please consider whether your repair request is urgent. We are prioritising need so we can make the best use of limited resources.
If you need one of our services and cannot wait, contact us. Our established safe systems of working mean that we continue to provide most customer services effectively and safely, although it may take a little longer than usual and we will deliver services remotely where we can.
Delivering repairs safely
Our established safe systems of working allow our frontline teams to continue to provide a safe repair service for our customers. We will continue prioritising emergency repairs, but customers may be asked to wait longer for routine repairs to be dealt with. Please consider this in advance of reporting a repair request.
We will keep you informed if your repair is delayed or the appointment has to be changed.
The My Onward portal is the quickest and easiest way to report a new repair. You can also report a repair by telephone through the Contact Centre on 0300 555 0600.
We will provide further updates as the situation evolves.
Feeling vulnerable? Get in touch.
Onward is here to support vulnerable customers, as we have been throughout the pandemic.
People defined as clinically extremely vulnerable must stay at home as much as possible and keep all contact with others to a minimum. We know that this makes life hard in lots of different ways. We can help by giving you someone to talk to and helping you get everyday essentials like food and support services.
We continue to provide essential services for our vulnerable customers to ensure their health and wellbeing and to prevent isolation. When this brings us into contact with you, we will follow our tried and tested safe systems of working and use all appropriate PPE.
If you are feeling vulnerable, contact us. If it is money worries, you need help getting food or if you are just feeling lonely – call us and we will do everything we can to help.
Money troubles? Contact us.
We want you to be secure in your home, even if money becomes harder in the weeks ahead. No customer will be evicted as a result of hardship caused by coronavirus, where they are working with us to get their payments back on track.
Onward will work with any customer struggling to pay rent to make this manageable in the long term. We offer one-to-one advice and support on topics including access to benefits and managing household budgets.
If you would like to speak to someone about your money, our Financial Inclusion team is here to help. Please contact us.