The Dispute Service has released its Annual Review for 2020/21, which reveals how the deposit protection provider adapted and performed in a challenging year.
As a result of the Covid pandemic and Black Lives Matter, the organisation introduced rapid changes to make positive differences to staff and customers alike.
Thanks to the measures put in place company-wide during the previous year, staff were able to work remotely without disruption, and existing technological solutions were rapidly enhanced. This meant that customers of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) have suffered no downtime in service in the period since the first lockdown in March 2020.
In response to the challenges of the Black Lives Matters protests last year The Dispute Service also set-up a staff led Diversity Working Group to review TDS’s approach to diversity and inclusion. As a result of the Group’s work the company’s values were amended.
Since then, the organisation continues to be nationally recognised for its efforts in the Best 100 Company awards and the ESTAS. It also passed its triennial review of the Customer Service Excellence Award with eight areas of its customer service praised by the Assessor. This is a UK Government Cabinet Office backed standard and a tribute to the hard work at TDS.
“After the catastrophic fire that destroyed our head office in January 2019, we are certainly no strangers to maintaining business continuity in the face of adversity. As a not-for-profit organisation, we are well placed to move quickly and introduce new solutions and innovations that allow us to keep supporting our employees and customers,” commented Steve Harriott, Chief Executive at the Dispute Service.
Those who work in the private rented sector will find insights in the report on tenancy deposits, disputes and adjudications. As in previous years, cleaning tops the list of most common reasons for disputes at the end of tenancy. The report expands on other reasons for disputes and shows how these disputes are resolved.
“We are immensely proud of our colleagues at TDS and also the equally tireless work of our industry partners with whom we have worked closely to support agents, landlords and tenants through a difficult year,” added Steve.
The TDS Annual Review is now available for free download at: TDS Annual Review 2020-2021
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About the Dispute Service
- The Dispute Service Ltd was established in 2003 to operate tenancy deposit schemes across the UK and provide alternative dispute resolution services.
- Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) is operated by the Dispute Service Ltd and is the only not-for-profit deposit protection scheme in England and Wales.
- Tenancy Deposit Scheme provides both Custodial and Insurance-backed deposit protection [currently the largest scheme] and currently protects 1.466m deposits.
- SafeDeposits Scotland is the largest Custodial scheme in Scotland. It currently protects over 142,000 deposits and resolves 3,500 disputes a year and is a subsidiary of The Dispute Service Group.
- In 2013 the Dispute Service Ltd formed TDS Northern Ireland to operate a scheme there as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dispute Service Ltd.
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