Tpas Accreditation - One Year On
Monday 21st of November 2022
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Karen Chambers, Resident Involvement Manager at Cross Keys Homes, talks about the changes they've made in their organisation since receiving their Tpas Landlord Accreditation.
We completed our accreditation process back in August 2021, the process really made us think about what we do as an organisation, making sure that our residents can get involved in meaningful ways and have a strong voice, shaping and influencing our services.
Times have become increasingly tough for our residents since we went through the process and developed our action plan. Our services are continuing to react to our residents’ changing needs, to ensure we remain here for them, when they need us. The plan was put in place to remedy some of the gaps and recommendations made by tpas as part of the process. Involving our residents and delivering quality homes and services has always been a priority for CKH, going through the accreditation process is a great way to focus, challenge and carry out a deep dive into the way you work with a ‘critical friend’ approach and provides significant assurance with key areas of learning to keep that focus.
We continue to review our action plan on regular basis and report back to our Resident Board quarterly, supporting our approach and keeping a focus for all of our activities, groups, and reviews on the main principles of the National Tenant Engagement Standards, Charter for Social Housing Residents
So, what changed and what do we do differently?
We:
- Developed and introduced an on-line learning module introducing all customer facing employees to the Communities team (increase knowledge of what is on offer within the team, including resident involvement)
- Now provide an annual outcomes report from Scrutiny Panel (presented to Resident Board)
- Ensure that information is provided on resident involvement outcomes to the Communications team for inclusion in relevant communications/annual report.
- Developed with residents and then introduced a digital performance dashboard for residents to access on our website – evidencing current performance information (will be kept in line with Tenant Satisfaction Measures and Charter for Social Housing Residents)
- Developed a resident involvement dashboard to record and publish activity – internal performance monitoring and use this for reporting to resident involvement groups
- Brought together a resident group to participate in the regulatory consultation exercise on the Tenant Satisfaction Measures
- Used resident feedback into the organisation and Housing Ombudsman spotlight reports to determine subjects for scrutiny review
- Reviewed our current formal resident involvement groups to make sure they still work effectively and make a difference
- Went on a tour of our estates with involved residents to see the outcomes of their decisions on spending to improve our estates
- Introduced a ‘resident approved’ seal to make it clear where residents have been involved in the development and approval process of something (policy/strategy reviews etc.)
- Continue to provide community-based activities and learning to support our residents and local communities.
- Reviewed our Resident Voice – Resident Involvement Strategy to keep it up to date and reflect the newly published tenant satisfaction measures