Co-Ownership leads the way in customer service excellence

Northern Ireland’s regional shared ownership provider, Co-Ownership, is leading the way to customer service excellence by achieving the ServiceMark Accreditation from the Institute of Customer Service (ICS.)

The ServiceMark Accreditation was awarded last month by the independent professional membership body for customer service.

The recognition came after Co-Ownership demonstrated a customer centric approach, scoring highly in two surveys conducted by The Institute, and through an assessment which included interviews with staff members.

The Institute of Customer Service’s ServCheck survey was used by the organisation to gather feedback from staff, whilst the Business Benchmark survey helped to collect data from customers.

Jo Causon, CEO of The Institute of Customer Service, said: “By achieving ServiceMark accreditation, Co-Ownership has demonstrated a commitment to providing excellent service to customers and embedding a service-focused culture. Our assessor highlighted that it was evident that this commitment runs through all areas of the company, noting the pride that employees have working for a customer centric organisation.”

The organisation was assessed against a number of categories, including: commitment, credibility, capability, continuity; consistency; creativity; experience; helpfulness; handling of complaints; customer ethos; emotional connection and; ethics.

Glynis Hobson, director of Customer Services at Co-Ownership, explained: “We are proud to lead the way in Northern Ireland in receiving accreditation from the Institute of Customer Service. It is a testament to our commitment to delivering excellent customer support and is demonstrated every day by our people in all our customer interactions. We are passionate about looking after our people and in doing so enabling them to look after our customers.

“We have helped thousands of people across the country realise their dream of owning a home and understand what home ownership means to families and individuals and how daunting it can be. As such, we partner with our customers, supporting them on every step of their journey.”

Co-Ownership has been supporting people into home ownership in Northern Ireland since 1978 and currently supports 10,000 households. The model, designed to help people who would not otherwise be able to own a home of their own, allows the homeowner to buy a share of a house,

whilst Co-Ownership buys the rest. The homeowner pays the mortgage on their share and pays rent to Co-Ownership on its share. When able to, the homeowner can increase their share in the property until they own it all.

Glynis added: “To date, over 30,000 people have become homeowners across Northern Ireland with the help of our products and, with on-going support from Department for Communities, we will continue to help those who may not otherwise be able to realise their dream of homeownership.

“On 1 December 2021, we announced an increase in the Property Value Limit for our Co-Own and Rent to Own products from £165,000 to £175,000. The change is intended to support people across Northern Ireland as they seek to become homeowners, whilst responding to rising property prices.”

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