Lincolnshire Housing Partnership (LHP) has become the first organisation in the country to achieve the Customer Service Excellence Version 2 accreditation, the revised national quality standard.
The framework, originally developed by the Cabinet Office, assesses organisations across five key areas to help improve service delivery. Version 2 places greater emphasis on customer insight, inclusion, technology and innovation, community engagement, and measurable outcomes.
LHP has held Customer Service Excellence accreditation for six years. Following an independent assessment, the housing association achieved the new standard in recognition of its commitment to customer-focused services, continuous improvement, and placing customer insight at the heart of decision-making.
As the first organisation assessed against the new standard, LHP demonstrated how these principles can be embedded within both strategic planning and day-to-day service delivery. The assessment highlighted a strong commitment to understanding customer needs, using feedback to shape services, and ensuring customer outcomes remain central to organisational decision-making.
John O’Hanrahan, corporate head of customers at LHP, said: “Over the past year, our focus has been on giving our customers a wider range of ways to contact us and making sure we’re constantly using customer voices to influence our decision making.
“Changing how we do things means we need to make sure we uphold our standards and deliver excellent service every time – and this is where Customer Service Excellence Version 2 comes in. It’s helped us to make sure our actions are tied to outcomes, and our decisions driven by influence and feedback.
“I’m incredibly proud to see LHP as the first organisation to achieve Customer Service Excellence Version 2. It is an amazing achievement, and a testament to the hard work delivered day in, day out, by colleagues, customers and partners of LHP. We look forward to continuing our journey with Customer Service Excellence as we strive to always deliver excellent customer service to our customers.”
Richard Adkins, systems and finance director and CSE assessor at Assessment Services, said: “We are delighted to recognise Lincolnshire Housing Partnership as the first organisation to achieve Customer Service Excellence Version 2. The assessment identified strong evidence of customer-focused service delivery, innovation, community engagement and continuous improvement.
“LHP has set an excellent benchmark for future organisations seeking to achieve the revised standard and demonstrates how customer insight and organisational learning can be translated into positive outcomes for customers and communities.”
Image credit: ama_mia/Shutterstock
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