Accreditation and awards

Customer Service Excellence (CSE)

In 2020 we reapplied for Customer Service Excellence (CSE) accreditation, and the outcome of the assessment was "Continued award of the Customer Service Excellence Standard has been recommended" The assessor said, "Sapphire Independent Housing Ltd were found to have a deep understanding of, and commitment to, Customer Service Excellence. The commitment was displayed from Senior Management levels through to operations and front line staff."  The assessor highlighted many areas of good practice, citing SIH has responded well to ensure that the service to residents has continued whilst fully meeting the Covid-19 guidelines, the introduction of the roles of Operations Director, Repairs and Compliance Manager, Repairs and Compliance Officer, Housing and Resident Engagement Officer and Housing Operations Manager has had a positive impact on the running of SIH.

Sapphire regards excellent customer service as essential to ensure we deliver our mission and stay focused on our values as an Association. CSE accreditation has helped us to drive continuous improvement and develop our people to acquire new skills focusing on customer service and engagement. The accreditation demonstrates Sapphire competence as a housing provider and enables us to celebrate our successes.

Investors In People Gold

Sapphire recognises that our people are our most valuable resource. We actively encourage an environment where our people feel valued and listened to. We have a strong focus on health and well-being as we want our people to be happy and positive in their everyday working environment.  The IIP accreditation has helped us to focus on new and exciting ways to communicate and innovate with our people. One of our key business objectives is to continue to be an employer of choice and IIP supports us in achieving this.

Disability Confident Committed

Sapphire’s overall mission to improve lives and value people is more than just a statement. It overrides everything we do and helps us to focus on why and how we do things. We are committed to promoting a fair and accessible working environment for all our people. We appreciate there is a diverse network of professional talent, knowledge and experience available to us and we want to ensure our recruitment and retention process is inclusive and accessible. Being Disability Confident Committed is helping us to focus on how we can be become a Disability confident employer and stay true to of our core values of respect and integrity.

Sapphire are proud sponsors of an Elephant Pump in Africa

At Sapphire we are aware that keeping our staff members hydrated will aid them to perform at their very best throughout the work day.

As a result, we decided to invest in six mains fed water cooolers from AquAid. Our unique relationship with AquAid has also given our company the opportunity to help those less fortunate than ourselves, because with each purchase an automatic donation is made to the Africa Trust. These funds are used to build ‘Elephant Pumps’ - a modified version of an age old Chinese rope pulley system. One such pump is currently being installed in Africa on our behalf and it will be a much needed source of clean and fresh drinking water for many.

To date AquAid has built over 8,000 such Elephant Pumps across parts of Zimbabwe, Malawi and Liberia; and have donated in excess of £13 million to charity

Make a Stand pledge

Sapphire has signed a pledge, developed by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) in partnership with Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) and Women’s Aid, committing to taking action to support people experiencing domestic abuse.

This pledge reinforces Sapphire's values of respect and integrity, by offering additonal assistance with providing support for our residents and staff experiencing domestic abuse, as well as helping us to achieve our business objectives of  investment in our residents and continuing to be an employee of choice. By signing up to the Make A Stand pledge we are committing to taking the action in four significant areas by September 2019.

Living Wage Employers

Sapphire became an accredited a Living Wage Employer by the Living Wage Foundation In December 2018.

Introducing the Living wage is a long-term investment in our people. We see it as the right thing to do as we believe all our people deserve a fair days pay for a fair days work. We are commited to promoting a fair working environment for everyone and this accrediation helps us stay focused on our values and business objectives and continue to be an employer of choice. 

Cyber Essential Statement

At Sapphire Independent Housing, we take security of our data and information very serious. That is we have obtained Cyber essentials to assure our stakeholders that:

We strive always to protect ourselves against the growing threat of cyber-attacks and possess the required basic controls.

We have taken the steps to ensure we have a more secure network, protecting users from 80% of the most basic cyber security breaches

We are also enabled to showcase our credentials as trustworthy and secure when it comes to cyber security.