Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Housing presented the report which updated that Committee on the draft Voice of the Tenant Strategy.  The Social Housing Regulation Act (2023) introduced new consumer standards effective from 1 April 2024.  One of the consumer standards is the Transparency, Influence and Accountability standard.  The consumer standard was about being open with tenants and treating them with fairness and respect to enable tenants to access services, raise complaints and influence decision making and hold their landlord to account.

To comply with the standard, the Council engages with tenants and invites them to influence the way we shape and deliver our policies and services.  We also provide opportunities for out tenants to monitor and scrutinise the services we provide.

The draft strategy had been reviewed and updated to reflect the current regulatory framework.  The Council had extended the Key Principles of tenant engagement to be more comprehensive and updated the Menu of Opportunities with three tiers of engagement rather than two to make it clearer on the time commitment required for the different levels of involvement.

Tier, one required a high level of commitment and time as participation at this level enabled tenants to make recommendations to inform decision-making on policies and service delivery. This comprised of the Tenant Panel and Task and Finish Groups.

Tier, two required less commitment and time.  This enabled tenants to give feedback on services they received and also provided an opportunity for the Council to inform tenants about what we were doing or how we had responded to tenant feedback.

Tier, three was the most flexible in terms of time and commitment, allowing tenants to be involved as and when they wish to be.  Most activities could be carried out locally or at home without the need to attend meetings.

There would be an eight week consultation period with tenants which would be both in-person and on-line to maximise engagement with as many tenants as possible.  Feedback from the consultation would be considered before the strategy was submitted to Cabinet. 

The Chairman stated that although he liked the document, he felt that it was very corporately worded and he felt that it required rewording and possible the name of the document needed to be changed, also there was no mention within the document of elected Members who he felt had a crucial role in communication with tenants.  The Head of Housing indicated that she would take on board the comments made.  Further discussion followed in respect of how the document was worded and it was felt that there was a need to move away from “Council speak”. More comments on the content of the document and its wording followed.  The Director of Housing and Projects indicated that more consideration would be given to how the information was presented but stated that the draft was a starting point only.  Following more discussion on the content and how it was presented it was proposed that a workshop be held over the summer for Members to look at the document in more detail. In person session would be arranged with tenants to get their feedback on the document

It was proposed that any decision on the document be deferred to the September meeting of the Committee to allow the Members workshop to take place over the summer and receive feedback from the tenant consultation this was seconded and on being put to the vote agreed.

Decision

To defer a decision on the Voice of the Tenant Strategy (Tenant Engagement) to the September 2026 meeting of the Committee to allow a Member workshop to be held over the summer and for feedback from tenants to be considered.