Dear Tenants

In this edition you can read about how we are doing on delivering our programme of repairs, find out important information on your rent payments and Universal Credit and how you can get involved in your local Community Information and Participation Service.

Do remember to save the date and get involved in this year’s Tenant and Leaseholders conference on Saturday 5 September at West Bromwich Albion football club. To get involved in what the conference should included,  you can email us on: Comm_Partnerships@sandwell.gov.uk or call 0121 569 2537 (leave a message and we’ll get back to you).

Remember that this newsletter is for YOU. We want to make sure we are giving you useful information, so do tell us if there is anything you’d like to hear about from us.

Thank you for your support.

Warm regards

Vicki Smith

Councillor Vicki Smith

Cabinet Member for Housing

What is Domestic Abuse?

Domestic Abuse is defined as any incident or pattern of incidents of physical or sexual abuse, violent or threatening behaviour, controlling or coercive behaviour, economic abuse, psychological, emotional or other abuse between those aged 16 and over or personally connected to each other.

Abuse might be between married couples, boyfriends and girlfriends or between lesbian or gay couples or even child to parent abuse. Domestic abuse doesn’t just mean physical violence, and it can include:

• Coercive control: a pattern of intimidation, degradation, isolation and control with the use or threat of physical or sexual violence
• Psychological and/or emotional abuse
• Physical abuse
• Sexual Assault and abuse
• Financial abuse
• Harassment and stalking
• Online or digital abuse
• Forced marriage, female genital mutilation and so called honour based abuse that are perpetrated primarily by family members.

What Support is available?

In Sandwell there is lots of support available for you if you are suffering domestic abuse or if you are worried about someone who is.

In an emergency

In an emergency always phone the police on 999. Use the 101 number to call the police if it's not an emergency.

Black Country Women's Aid

Black Country Women's Aid provides a range of services and support to men and women experiencing domestic abuse. You can call them 24 hours a day on 0121 552 6448. They provide a full range of services including access to emergency accommodation, access to legal advice, court support, counselling, rape and sexual violence services.

Housing

For advice on housing including ways to keep safe in your home, re-housing or obtaining a place in a refuge you can call our Housing service on 021 368 1166.

For help to find emergency accommodation outside normal office hours call 0121 569 6883 or visit the housing section of the Sandwell Council website.

Repairs update

We know having a safe and well-maintained home is important to you. That’s why improving the repairs service is a key focus of Sandwell Council’s Housing Improvement Plan. As part of this work, the Council is working closely with contractor Seddon to reduce the repairs backlog while continuing to deliver a strong day-to-day repairs service.

Did you know…

• More than 86,000 repairs have been completed in council homes over the past year.
• 95.6% of emergency repairs are completed within 24 hours, helping keep tenants safe.
• Over 95% of tenants who have had a repair, are satisfied with the repairs service.
• Repairs remain the biggest factor influencing overall tenant satisfaction.

   

  This ongoing work is helping to ensure council homes across Sandwell are safer, more comfortable and better maintained for you, our tenants.

Easter Bank Holiday Closure – Important Information About Your Rent Payments

Easter Bank Holiday Closure – Important Information About Your Rent Payments

With the Easter Bank Holiday approaching, we want to make sure your rent payments reach us in time to be processed before the end of the financial year.

Our council offices will be closed on Friday 3 April and Monday 6 April 2026 for the Easter break. We will reopen as usual on Tuesday 7 April 2026.

To ensure your payment is applied to your rent account before the Easter closure, please make sure you pay by the dates below:

Monday 30 March 2026 For payments made using:

• PayPoint
• PayPal
• Post Office

Thursday 2 April 2026 (before 6pm) For payments made using:

• Card payments (online or automated phone line)
• Cash payments

These deadlines ensure there is enough time for your payment to clear and appear on your rent account before offices close and year‑end processing begins.

Need Help?

If you need any assistance with making a payment or want to discuss your rent account, please contact the Rents Team on: 📞 0121 737 5148

We’re here to help and want to make sure everything is in place for you before the Easter holidays.

What will happen in April 2026?

Universal Credit will send you a to‑do on your online account called “Confirm your housing costs.”

You must complete this to-do, so your rent is updated correctly.  You can only use the 'Confirm your housing costs' to-do to report these changes and you should not contact Universal Credit to report them in any other way or before the changes actually happen.

You can find your new rent charge information in the rent increase letter we sent you in February or by logging into your MySandwell account.

Here’s what you can expect when you receive the “Confirm your housing costs” to‑do task:

You need to select yes and continue.

You need to select yes to confirm your rent and service charges are charged weekly and input your new charges for both and continue.

We are here to help.

We are committed to helping you sustain your tenancy.  If you are experiencing difficulties paying your rent or other priority bills, please don’t delay contacting us – early contact gives us the best chance to support you effectively.

You can contact the Income Management team on 0211 737 5148 Monday to Thursday 9am to 5.30pm and 9am to 5pm Friday.

Your Complaints Answered

We recently held the first meeting of our Complaints Review Panel. The panel will look at how complaints are being responded to, to make sure responses are appropriate and that relevant lessons are being learned and changes implemented as a result. We’ll share more updates as the work of the group progresses.

Here is some positive feedback we received from one of our tenants who made a complaint to us about several issues, including low water pressure affecting their ability to shower:

After reading your response letter I can see that you have thoroughly gone through everything and I’m grateful to you for hearing me out, for apologising on behalf of Sandwell Council and for making an offer of compensation. It made me quite emotional reading your letter, the fact that you can relate to the stress I’ve gone through and been so supportive and kind, you haven’t tried to fob me off or beat around the bush and you have really made me feel valued and heard, the care and compassion you have shown, from the initial telephone call to the content of your letter, is worth its weight in gold and I honestly cannot thank you enough. 

You’ve upheld what I have complained about and that alone, means more to me than anything else.

If I could be face to face with you, you would see the emotion, relief and gratitude that I hold for you.

We know we don’t get everything right, but making a complaint is quick and easy and gives us detail on where things are going wrong and shows us where we need to make changes.

How to log a complaint | Sandwell Council

Get Involved in Your Community with SCIPS

Have you heard of Sandwell Community Information and Participation Service (SCIPS)?

SCIPS is a resident-led charitable organisation that has been supporting people and neighbourhoods across Sandwell for more than 30 years. Their team offers a wide range of skills, expertise and practical help to strengthen local communities, including support for residents involved in Sandwell Housing Services.

Whether you’re already active in your neighbourhood or thinking about getting involved for the first time, SCIPS can help. For example:

• Thinking about setting up a Tenants and Residents Association (TRA)?
• Interested in learning new digital skills?  We have some funding to provide digital training to local people so they can access and use online services
• Already running a community group or TRA and need support with funding bids?

SCIPS membership is open to individual residents, community groups, and Tenants & Residents Associations. Members receive a variety of benefits, including: