Benefits of the Tpas SMART Review
Thursday 9th of January 2025
Amanda Mason, Customer Engagement and Sustainability Manager at Northumberland County Council explains in her blog, the positive impact of having a SMART review with Tpas and the difference it has made to her organisation.
We needed something but at this point wasn’t sure what “that something” was... then in one of my regular catchups with Gillian Mclaren of Tpas, (which always turns into a longer session than planned and inevitably a new idea or inspiration for something comes from it). It was in one of these very catch ups that Gillian explained all about SMART reviews!
It was actually a bit of a light bulb moment for me, having spent the previous few weeks searching for “that something “.
So, I decided it was exactly what we needed to help guide us and navigate through this new era of regulation. We had also been given the news that we were one of the local authorities to take part in a pilot assessment. No pressure there!
Like many, I’m assuming, we had continued and muddled on with our tenant engagement activities, however, the landscape was about to change for the much needed better and we needed to review and reevaluate all things involvement.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about the SMART review as I knew only too well it would highlight where serious change and improvements needed to happen. I needn’t have worried!
It starts with a desk top assessment, followed by some in-person focus groups and one-to-one discussions.
It was the best money I have ever spent in my 30 years in housing. We were provided with a detailed report with sensible and realistic recommendations, just what we needed as we were very much in a “can’t see the wood for the trees” situation.
It provided clarity and direction and the kick we needed to structure our activities and processes to give our tenants and our organisation some robust foundations to help us move forward, particularly with the new regulatory regime and compliance requirements.
It has seriously made such a positive difference to us! We had a realistic action plan for all of our engagement work:
• We were able to demonstrate to the regulator (in our mock inspection) that we had reviewed our involvement activities – that was a massive bonus (we didn’t know they’d ask for evidence of a review).
• We now have a Tenant Influence Panel who are super excited and are represented on a very new Housing Assurance Board. They are also about to embark on a scrutiny project of our Estates Service and now have a top 10 of priorities they want to explore and work with us on.
• We have a Housing Assurance Board (our new governing body in the council) who will monitor the service performance with our tenants against the consumer standards and TSMS.
• We have been able to engage productively with our Exec team about how we involve tenants and how crucial it is on many levels. Our SMART review findings supported us and backed us up every step of the way.
• We have, more importantly, found new confidence in our ability to deliver real meaningful tenant involvement.
Our confidence in our tenants and ourselves has now led us to take that next step and work towards accreditation, something that was never a consideration until now.
We are really proud of our progress, and I know I speak for our tenants and of course my small but perfectly formed team of three. It’s a bit scary, there’s lots to do, but our tenants deserve a top-notch service!
We really couldn’t do this on our own and we are forever grateful to Gillian Mclaren and Caritas Charles of Tpas for their consistent encouragement, constructive advice and patience. So... from one quick catch up (which, in reality, is never quick because I am such a chatter box), a new chapter emerged and our journey continues, (in the right direction)!
Amanda Mason
Customer Engagement & Sustainability Manager
Northumberland County Council