Introduction
We have launched our first annual Customer Insight Report, which will help us to shape our plans and improve the way we support customers.
Our Customer Engagement Team worked on a project to better understand who our customers are and what matters most to them. They looked at three main areas:
- Customer profile check. We looked at the customer information we already have. This allowed us to understand who they are, find any limits in what we know, and spot any missing details.
- Customer engagement survey. We asked customers what matters to them now and in the future. We also asked how they want to keep in touch with us.
- Forecasting and future customer needs. We studied data about different regions and industries to try and predict who our future customers might be. Thinking about people’s changing needs may guide our plans and decisions, and highlight chances to plan ahead.
Using all this information, we’ve learned a lot about what our customers need and what’s most important to them. We also understand how these needs might change in the future.
This will help us make smart choices when we update our Corporate Plan and Customer Strategy to meet customers’ needs.
Age, gender, nationality and religion
The average age of our customer is 54 years old.
97% of our customers are UK nationals, and 94% identify as British, English, Northern Irish, Scottish or Welsh.
97% of our customers speak English as their first language.
| Age | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 16-34 | 17% |
| 35-44 | 16% |
| 45-54 | 15% |
| 55-64 | 19% |
| 65+ | 32% |
| Unknown | Less than 1% |
| Gender | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Female | 59% |
| Male | 41% |
| Transgender | Less than 1% |
| Unknown | Less than 1% |
| Nationality | Percentage |
|---|---|
| UK National | 97% |
| Poland | 1% |
| All other EEA Nationals | 1% |
| Non-EEA National | 1% |
| Religion | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Christian | 51% |
| No religion | 44% |
| Other | 4% |
| Buddhist | Less than 1% |
| Muslim | Less than 1% |
Who is in the home?
Over a third (37%) of our customers live alone. 40% are in households with children or dependents.
• One-person household 37%
• Lone-parent household 18%
• Couple with child(ren) 22%
• All other households 23%
What our customers do
A third (35%) of our customers said they are working or in full time education.
Working full time
Working part time
Disabled/long-term illness
Fully retired from work
Full-time education
Carer
Looking after the house
Unemployed/looking for work
Prefer not to say
What customers say about their finances
More than one in three (41%) of our customers told us they only have enough money for essentials or are running out of money before the end of the week/month.
• I tend to run out of money before the end of the week/month 17%
• I only have enough for the essentials 24%
• I usually have money left at the end of the week/month 17%
• I am can afford some of the luxuries of life as well as the essentials 16%
• Prefer not to say 26%
Customers who say they are running out of money are more likely to be:
• aged under 55 (23%), particularly 45-54 (27%)
• disabled or have a long-term illness (43%).
Disabled or vulnerable customers
When asked about their working status, a quarter of customers said that they are disabled. More than half of customers said there is someone in their house who they considered to be disabled. Older customers are more likely to say someone in their household is disabled. 44% of customers also said that there was someone in their house who they considered to be vulnerable.
Do you consider yourself or someone in your household to be disabled:
- Yes 57%
- No 37%
- Prefer not to say 6%.
Do you consider yourself or someone in your household to be vulnerable:
- Yes 44%
- No 46%
- Prefer not to say 10%.
Digital access
84% of believe housing’s customers are using the internet at least daily. 8% of customers never use the internet.
How often people use the internet depends a lot on age. People who are 65 or older are much more likely to never use the internet.
Never use the internet:
16-34 0%
35-44 2%
45-54 4%
55-64 9%
65+ 33%
What is important to customers now: top five responses
- believe housing being easy to contact 92%
- Feeling secure in my home (property that is wind and watertight) 91%
- believe housing providing a quality repairs service 90%
- Feeling safe in my community 89%
- Being able to trust believe housing to resolve my problems 87%
Customers rated ‘ease of contacting believe housing’ as their top priority this year. This is an increase from 2024, when it was in fifth place.
A quality repairs service was the top priority for customers in 2024, and it remains a key concern, appearing in the top three priorities for customers.
Feeling safe in the community is also seen as important, particularly by older customers. 92% of customers aged 65+ said this was very or fairly important, compared to 87% of those under 65.
What is important to customers in the future:
- believe housing making homes more energy efficient 88%
- believe housing provided adaptations 85%
- believe housing protecting the environment 76%
- believe housing building new homes 73%
- Ability to move home 69%
When asked about future priorities, most of our customers said improving their current home was more important than moving.
But customers who identified as carers were more likely to prioritise the ability to move and the development of new homes by believe housing.
Energy efficiency and environmental sustainability were more important to women and those aged 55+.
Across most areas, customers shared similar views on future priorities.
Awareness of support services
About half of our customers say ‘yes’ to knowing we offer these types of support:
Welfare benefits advice
Household financial guidance
Work, training and apprenticeships
Building confidence online
Communication preferences
When we asked customers how they preferred to communicate with us, most preferred email for sending and receiving information.
Inbound:
• Email 59%
• Letter 51%
• Text message 38%
Outbound:
• Email 57%
• Telephone 34%
While customers prefer to communicate with us by email, they still want other ways too.
Forecasting: understanding the changing profile and needs of customers
One of the main aims of our project was to understand who our future customers might be. This helps us to plan ahead and keep providing services that are important to customers and meet their needs.
We used a wide range of information to compile the report. This included forecasts about County Durham’s population and trends in the housing sector. We used data from trusted sources and these included the Office for National Statistics, Durham Insight, the National Housing Federation and other social housing providers. We also considered broader social, economic and environmental changes. For example, recent reports show that some councils are relocating families from large cities to northern towns. This includes Horden in East Durham, where believe housing has existing stock.
The data shows that the population of County Durham will grow, and that there will likely be more older people and fa lower proportion of children in the future.
As people age they are more likely to experience health issues and disabilities, and with lower healthy life expectancy in County Durham, we expect more of our customers will need support with these challenges.
Based on the forecasted population growth and factors like the cost-of-living crisis, we’re expecting an increase in demand for our housing. There will likely also be an increased demand for homes that are suitable for older people and those with disabilities and we may need to adapt more properties to meet our customer’s needs. Whilst the demand for family sized housing may decrease, the need for single person homes is expected to grow, especially in rural areas.
We also considered how people moving around the county could change our communities, including a possible increase in residents from Black and minority ethnic groups. And, as more people go online, we expect the number of our customers accessing and using the internet will keep growing.
Summary
Key insights of the project include:
- Employment and education – around a third of our customers are working or in full-time education.
- Health and vulnerability – more than half of survey respondents said that they, or someone in their household, is disabled; this number was just under half when asking about vulnerabilities.
- Financial pressure – more than a third of our customers are experiencing financial strain.
- Digital access – the number of non-digital customers continues to decrease.
Recent engagement and forecasting highlighted several evolving customer priorities:
- Ease of contact – our customers’ top priority, with communication often mentioned in customer feedback.
- Safety in the community – especially important to our older customers, a group expected to grow.
- Repairs – remains one of the top three priorities for customers, showing the need for a reliable and efficient repairs service.
- Energy efficiency – customers’ most important future priority, suggesting a growing expectation for sustainable and cost-effective homes.
- Adaptations – seen as very important, particularly by retired and disabled customers.
- Support awareness – many customers still do not know what support is available to them.
- Communication preferences – email is the preferred method for communication, but a mix of options remains important. Older customers prefer direct methods, while younger customers prefer digital.