The NHMF Service Provider Forum's event on October 2nd, 2025, was a fantastic gathering that brought an audience of our members face to face with housing providers, regulators, a campaign group led by social housing tenants, specialists in AI and procurement to discuss some of the opportunities and challenges facing our sector today: artificial intelligence in responsive repairs, communicating and working respectfully with residents, the importance of frameworks and navigating the Procurement Act 2023. Hosted for the first time by Amy Boothman (Ian Williams) as acting Chair, the conversations were refreshingly honest, forward-thinking, and collaborative – exactly what we strive for as a forum.

Artificial Intelligence: Embracing Innovation Responsibly

Ettan Basil from Help Me Fix and Rosie Hughes from MCP kicked things off brilliantly, sharing their real-world experience of AI deployment in responsive repairs. It was interesting to hear how Help Me Fix’s platform now serves 300 clients covering 250,000 properties using an intelligent three-stage approach: AI triage for straightforward issues, human video engineers for anything complex, and physical visits when needed.

The results speak for themselves – 60% resident utilisation and steadily improving satisfaction scores. What really impressed was Rosie's honest account of challenges they've faced in deploying Help Me Fix, and what they have learned from these. This transparency helps us all navigate AI adoption more safely. The discussion explored AI's impressive capabilities – speaking 200+ languages naturally and emerging computer vision technology for damp and mould assessment – whilst being clear-eyed about the importance of keeping humans firmly in the loop. As Ettan and Rosie wisely noted, “AI excels at simple tasks, but human expertise remains irreplaceable for complex situations”.

Respecting Residents: Building Trust Through Action

Our second panel brought together some brilliant voices to collectively discuss Respecting Residents. Christopher Harrison from the Housing Ombudsman Service shared findings from their comprehensive 'Repairing Trust' Spotlight report, which gathered over 3,000 responses – an impressive level of engagement. While the statistics highlighted clear areas for improvement in communication and work quality, they've given us a roadmap for positive change.

Bali Kaur Nahal from Estuary Housing inspired us with her six customer fundamentals framework – simple principles that, when consistently applied, can transform resident experience: Make things as easy as possible for the customer, set expectations, deliver on that expectation, keep the customers informed during the process, treat them as individuals as some will have genuinely unique requirements, and put things right when they go wrong.  Her emphasis on ensuring our values reach residents' front doors through every interaction resonated powerfully.

Nic Bliss, from resident campaign group Stop Social Housing Stigma, shared important insights about how use of language that we use when we are discussing and working in people’s homes, rather than ‘housing stock’, can reduce residents’ feelings of stigma and create a more collaborative relationship between housing associations, contractors and tenants. Pam Hankinson, also from Stop Social Housing Stigma gave us an invaluable gift: honest feedback from a resident's perspective. Her personal experience highlighted precisely where we can all improve – particularly around responsiveness to feedback. Rather than quarterly reviews, she's shown us the value of immediate action. This kind of constructive dialogue is exactly what moves our sector forward.

Frameworks and Procurement: Exciting Opportunities Ahead

We were delighted to welcome Paul Smith, the new Head of Frameworx, who joined us for the first time to deliver the update from our NHMF procurement partner. It was great to hear how well they are doing, underlining the benefits it brings to both SPF and NHMF members.

Staying with Procurement, NHMF Frameworx Director David Miller was joined by Lee Maskell from Faithorn Farrell Timms to launch the new NHMF Procurement Working Group. The group has been set up to monitor and support the sector on the Procurement Act 2023, and in the spirit of best practice that runs through all the NHMF Working Groups, Lee introduced us to the ‘Practical Guide to Procurement’ that the group is working towards launching next year. There was a call for input into the Guide from Service Provider Forum members to support their aim: to make this a guide that is useful for everyone that deals with procurement in the sector. Please email Sonya Russell to get involved - sonyarussell@effefftee.co.uk

The new Act brings with it many challenges for both clients and service providers, and there’s more to come. Richard Brooks from Anthony Collins Solicitors joined the conversation to discuss these further. For example, the new KPI requirements necessitate the setting of at least three for contracts over £5 million and publishing annual performance – represent significant change. But approached collaboratively, they're an opportunity to demonstrate excellence and drive continuous improvement. The key is working together to set meaningful, achievable KPIs that genuinely measure what matters.

Moving Forward Together

What was most striking throughout the afternoon was our sector's willingness to have honest conversations and learn together. In the Q & A sections after each presentation our members had many questions for the various speakers with only a desire to keep things on time preventing this going on indefinitely!  We look forward to channelling this collaborative spirit into the feedback sessions for the new procurement guide and hope to see many of you at the NHMF conference in January.

Members should watch for one-page summaries from all sessions.

We were delighted to welcome 8 new members to the meeting. For those interested in joining our growing community, please visit our website to learn how you can contribute to shaping the future of social housing maintenance and improvement: https://www.nhmf.co.uk/serviceproviderforum

Together, we're building something better.