Member Spotlight

It’s our members that make Tpas such a great organisation to be part of and what better way to show this than with our member spotlight feature.

Each month we will invite one of our members to share their engagement achievements, tips and ambitions, allowing you to keep bang up to date with what others are up to across the sector.

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Member Spotlight  - Leeds Federated HA   

We asked Louise Darby, Customer Engagement Manager at Leeds Federated HA, to share some of the work they are currently doing.

If you’d like to contact Louise about any of the below, click here

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Give us a little known fact about your organisation

We’re 50 years old this year! Our first office was a terraced house nestled between homes we were improving. Just like the surrounding homes, our office had an outside toilet and needed upgrading. We invested in the area, improving the homes and our office. Over the last 50 years we’ve moved to different offices around the Leeds City Region but have continued with our aim to help people make a home, and when we downsized our recent office space following the pandemic, we converted the building into new homes.

Tell us about a time that engagement has made a difference to your services or communities?

In previous years, operational day-to-day communications came up as a key issue in surveys. To gain an independent perspective on our letters and communications, we commissioned an external review in 2022. After an initial assessment from an independent communications organisation, we worked with scrutiny panel members and staff to develop a guide for improving our tone of voice in our written communications. Now, we have representatives across the organisation who work with colleagues to improve the way we write our letters, ensuring they are purposeful, positive, and personal.

What are you currently working on when it comes to engagement?

As you might expect in customer engagement I am working on a range of things, from planning for community-based events in the summer and encouraging colleagues to join in, to reviewing our customer engagement and influence policy to make sure the organisation is meeting the consumer standards.

Five new customers have recently joined the Customer Voices Panel, so we are also discussing the Panel’s priorities for scrutiny for the coming year and what is important to focus on from a customer perspective. They’ve recently considered the new Corporate Plan with Matthew Walker Chief Executive and Michelle Collins Customer Service Director and are providing a strong challenge and considered arguments to really test thinking, as our values, strategy and goals are reviewed.

Like lots of residents they are very keen to know what their service charge is paying for and who is working in their communities and neighbourhoods. And championing the importance of the Neighbourhood Officer being a key point of contact.

Some of the Panel members will be coming along to the next Tpas member network meeting on 8 April 2025.

Why did you decide to join Tpas?

We decided to join Tpas in 2021 as I had taken part in the Tpas engagement maximiser pilot project in a previous role; we were still operating in pandemic conditions and realised we had to rebuild relationships and trust. We recognised the resources and expertise in Tpas would be really important. Following the Tpas engagement maximiser process again, testing different messaging and developing an email campaign really helped.

What is your top engagement tip?

Keep calm and don’t give up! Listen carefully to the experiences both customers and your colleagues are sharing as generally when they are brought together and everyone collaborates in a respectful way, there is consensus and understanding of what needs to change and why.

What’s the one thing you are really proud of when it comes to engagement?

The people, both customers and colleagues and that they care and want to make things better.

During a workshop to review our written communications and develop an approach to what we now call ‘tone of voice’ a customer shared a quote that silenced everyone, including the trainer.

We’d reviewed a range of our standard letters with staff and customers together, which was quite uncomfortable and cringy when even we as staff couldn’t explain our own letters.  We accepted that some of them made no sense and we didn’t seem to have a clear answer of how a letter should be written or a rule of thumb.  When one of the customers, Derek said when he spoke or wrote he always had in the back of his mind whether it was:

True,  Necessary, Kind

That has really stuck with me. So, I am really proud that you can play a role in bringing people together and changing something for the better.

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Previous Member Spotlights

March 2025 - North Star Housing Group

February 2025 - Wigan Council

January 2025 - Worthing Homes

December 2024 - Lumensol

October / November 2024 - Orbit

September 2024 - Gentoo

August 2024 - Watford Community Housing

July 2024 - BFT Mastclimbing

May / June 2024 - Stonewater

April 2024 - Hull City Council

March 2024 - Partners Foundation

February 2024 - Red Kite Community Housing

January 2024 - St Leger Homes of Doncaster

December 2023 - settle

November 2023 - Flagship Group

Sept / Oct 2023 - Hinckley and Bosworth Council

August 2023 - Tenants Hub CIC

June / July 2023 - Dovecotes TMO

May 2023 - Stockport Homes

April 2023 - TPTracker

March 2023 - Metropolitan Thames Valley

February 2023 - West Kent

January 2023 - Fairhive

December 2022 - Platform Housing Group

November 2022 - Integrated Solutions - City Plumbing

September / October 2022 - Homes Plus

August 2022 - Aspire

May 2022 - Arches

April 2022 -  Acis Group

March 2022 - wdh

February 2022 - Michael Dyson Associates Ltd

January 2022 - South Yorkshire HA

December 2021 - Gateshead Council

November 2021  - LiveWest

October 2021 - YMCA Thames Gateway

September 2021 - Bernicia

August 2021 - Anglian Building Products

July 2021 - Warrington HA

June 2021 - Futr

May 2021 - Vale of Aylesbury HT

April 2021 - Aaron Services

March 2021 - Soha

February 2021 - North West Leicestershire DC

January 2021 - Vinci Facllities

December 2020 - Ongo

November 2020 - Places for People

October 2020 - Community Gateway Association

September 2020 - Dacorum BC

August 2020 - Eastend Homes

July 2020 - Connexus

June 2020 - Gridizen

May 2020 - Grand Union Housing Group

March / April 2020 - Onward Homes

January / February 2020 - Estuary HA

December 2019 - Muir Group

November 2019 - Blackpool Coastal Homes

October 2019 - Texthelp

September 2019 - Greatwell Homes

August 2019 - Selby DC

July 2019 - North Star Housing Group

June 2019  - Rotherham MBC

May 2019  - Homes for Haringey

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I'd like to be in the spotlight

If you'd like to be featured in our Member Spotlight and highlight the work you are doing, please get in touch by emailing lisa.holt@tpas.org.uk.