National Tenant Conference
The Tpas National Tenant Conference is always an eagerly anticipated and informative event and this year will be no different.
In a new location, and with an increased capacity for more delegates, we will bring you two days of up to the minute policy analysis, constructive debates and challenge, practical skills and knowledge and space to discuss with other tenants and housing staff across the country.
Delegates will:
Discuss the latest housing policies that affect all social housing landlords and crucially discuss what that means for engagement and tenant influence.
Examine practical solutions being used across the sector to solve common tenant engagement challenges.
Hear direct from sector leaders, stakeholders, housing staff, community leaders and tenants, from all different types of organisations across England, giving you new and inspiring perspectives and skills.
Explore how we bring together the advantages of digital means of engagement and influence with the need to connect back more in our communities.
Connect with like-minded tenants across the country – share your ideas, your problems, your solutions and your asks of the sector.
This conference is for:
All tenants and residents, and anyone who takes an active role with their landlord or in their wider community.
Keynote Speakers
Day 1 - Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman
Tpas are delighted to announce that Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, will be the keynote speaker at our tenant conference in July.
Always a popular speaker, Richard will take us through the new business plan for the Ombudsman service. There have of course been a steady stream of severe maladministration findings against landlords over the past year. Richard will address some of these to draw out the learnings for us all. He will talk too about the good practice he sees and how that insight can help us all improve our complaints handling and general service levels as we prepare for new consumer regulation from April next year. But just as important in this session will be time for you to ask your questions directly to Richard. It’s sure to be a fascinating start to the conference.
Also joining us at the conference on Wednesday 12th July will be Kate Dodsworth, Director of Consumer Regulation at the Regulator of Social Housing for our Debate session: Consumer Regulation – will it truly deliver the change that tenants want and the sector needs?
Day 2 - Croydon Council
A thought provoking and salutary session will open day two of our conference. We will be joined by Susmita Sen, Corporate Director of Housing at Croydon Borough Council along with Croydon residents Yaw John Boateng and Les Parry. The exposé conducted by ITV News in 2021 of the appalling living conditions on the Regina Road Estate in Croydon was shocking to us all, with images we will never forget. Come along to this session to hear how Croydon residents ended up in this situation and hear too of the work that has been going on since to put things right. Susmita will talk about the cultural change that is underway and the challenges to be overcome to make that happen whilst Yaw and Les will speak to us about their experiences as involved residents and how they feel they are now being listened to. A tough to hear, but ultimately a frank and honest session, that will leave us all with lessons to reflect on.
Conference Running Order
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Conference Day One – Wednesday 12th July 2023 |
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Time |
Time |
Session |
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09.00 |
10.30 |
Delegate Registration |
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10.30 |
12.00 |
Opening Session |
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12.00 |
13.00 |
Lunch: Networking & Exhibition |
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13.15 |
14.30 |
Workshop Session A |
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14.30 |
15.00 |
Refreshment Break: Networking & Exhibition |
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15.15 |
16.30 |
Workshop Session B |
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19.00 |
22.00 |
Evening Meal & Entertainment |
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Conference Day Two – Thursday 13th July 2023 |
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Time |
Time |
Session |
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09.00 |
10.00 |
Networking & Exhibition |
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10.00 |
10.45 |
Key Note Speaker |
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10.45 |
11.15 |
Refreshment Break: Networking & Exhibition |
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11.15 |
12.30 |
Workshop Session C |
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12.30 |
13.30 |
Lunch: Networking & Exhibition |
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13.45 |
15.00 |
Workshop Session D |
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15.15 |
15.45 |
Closing Session |
On Wednesday 12th July, there is a 3 course sit down meal included in the price of the conference. There will be fun and entertainment during the evening and we will be joined by the Duplettes who will play their unique style of vintage and modern classics!
Conference Programme
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Workshop Information |
Workshop Leader |
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DAY ONE – WEDNESDAY 12TH JULY |
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A1 |
Debate: Consumer Regulation – will it truly deliver the change that tenants want and the sector needs? Consumer Regulation is coming and with that there’s operational, strategic and sectoral changes that will be needed too. Firstly let Kate bring you bang up to date on the work underway in preparation for increased consumer regulation. She will discuss the challenges for landlords as they work now to get ready and will discuss what tenants can expect in this new regulatory environment. Hear too From Mushtaq on how we ensure we make the necessary strides forward on diversity and inclusion as part of the regulations. Blasé will share his perspectives on what more tenants need to know and see for long lasting change to be realised.
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Panel members: Kate Dodsworth, Director of Consumer Regulation, Regulator of Social Housing. Mushtaq Khan, CEO Housing Diversity Network Blase Lambert, CCH Chief Officer |
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A2 |
Practical skills for scrutiny Being a tenant/ resident/customer scrutineer really does require a variety of different skills including researching, presenting, interviewing and many more This fast- moving session will therefore cover some of the main skills needed, helping you to fulfil your role successfully
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Tonia Punter, Tpas Associate |
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A3 |
Welcome to Planet Performance Whether its key performance indicators, satisfaction surveys or annual reports, organisations are awash with data and insight but how can tenants make sense of it all and use it effectively in their role? This session explores the different types of data and insight and looks at what questions you should be asking.
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Caritas Charles, Tpas Policy and Insight Manager |
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A4 |
Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) – what's new and what more can we be doing Anti social behaviour is always a top concern for tenants and communities and always a key topic for scrutiny panels. Let Resolve - the experts in the sector - bring you up to date on what's happening policy wise and then discuss some of the practical guidance and good practice you can deploy in your organisations. |
Rebecca Bryant OBE Resolve Anti Social Behaviour |
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A5 |
Delivering Meaningful Social Value – What part can tenants play? Housing associations and councils now regularly build social value requirements into their contracts. This interactive session will explore how tenants are engaged in creating these requirements and challenge whether they are delivering meaningful outcomes for tenants and their communities. |
Mathew Baxter Chief Executive Echelon Consultancy |
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A6 |
Tenants involved with Governance A chance to explore the importance of tenants being involved in governance at organisations. What should that role look like, what are the challenges and rewards of getting involved in that way (be it Board, subcommittee or key tenant panel)? Most importantly what do you need to make sure tenants are truly holding organisations to account at the highest level? |
Emma Gilpin, Tpas Consultancy Manager Aster Group - Neil Kane, Karen Gregory, Denise Harper |
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B1 |
Debate: Are we making any progress on repairs? Time and time again we are told that repairs are the biggest area of concern for tenants. The new Tenant Satisfaction Measures will throw increased focus on landlords repairs service. Join this panel session to discuss why many tenants are still not getting the repairs service they should rightly expect. What’s gone wrong and what needs to change? Sure to be a lively debate. |
Mathew Baxter, CEO, Echelon Group Kai Jackson, Black Country HG |
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B2 |
Looking after you - top tips for avoiding engagement burn out. Being an involved tenant is no doubt a very rewarding and satisfying role, but it can be exhausting at times too. Join us on this session to learn some tools and techniques to keep you firing on all cylinders. |
Jackie Grannell, Tpas Associate |
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B3 |
Housing Policy – the essentials 2023 has already been such a busy year in the Housing world! We know that keeping track and up to speed with it all can be tricky so let our policy expert bring it all together for you in this engaging and informative session. |
Claire Powell, Tpas Policy Advisor
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B4 |
Self assessment - where’s your engagement at? This interactive session invites you to explore and examine how engagement in your organisation compares against the Tpas National Engagement Standards. Using our self-assessment tool, you will pinpoint areas of success and identify any areas that need work. It also gives you a great opportunity to see what others are doing too. |
Michael Hill, Tpas Consultancy Manager |
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B5 |
Four Million Homes programme Four Million Homes is the new programme, funded by Government, to give guidance and training on resident rights and how to stand up for them. In this session you can hear more details of the programme and how you can be involved. But more importantly this is a contribution session too to give your views on what should be in the programme for the benefit of all tenants and your ideas on what more needs to be done. |
Leah Eatwell, CCH Policy and Programne Manager and Blase Lambert, CCH Chief Officer. |
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B6 |
Tpas Landlord Accreditation in Engagement Want to hear some best practice from landlords across the country? Then this workshop is for you! Be inspired and learn more about what your organisation could be doing now to meet the new consumer standards and super charge engagement for all tenants. |
Gilllian Mclaren, Tpas Consultancy Manager. Aster Group - Neil Kane, Karen Gregory, Denise Harper Stockport Homes, Rebecca Sweeton, Bob McGechan, Claire Osment |
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DAY TWO – THURSDAY 13TH JULY |
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C1 |
Debate: Tenant Satisfaction Measures - How can we collect and use them to make a genuine difference to tenants? Collecting the data for the new Tenant Satisfaction Measures has already started and reporting on them will start next year. But how can we go beyond just that to ensure the insight we gain really drives long term change for tenants and organisations? “Tick box” mentality, “gaming” and league tables are things that none of us want to see – let’s discuss together how the TSM’s can be a springboard for better conversations and partnership working. |
Fleur Priest Stephens, Tenant Engagement manager, Regulator of Social Housing |
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C2 |
Chairing Skills Whether you're a regular chair, brand new to it, or just thinking about giving it a go, this session covers all the essentials to ensure that you can be that effective and efficient Chair who has the role sorted. |
Jackie Grannell Tpas Associate |
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C3 |
Social Media – how can it work for engagement? Social media is everywhere in todays’ world but what is it’s place when it comes to engagement? Join us to find out how you can harness the power of social media, and make it work for you. |
Emma Gilpin, Tpas Consultancy Manager |
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C4 |
Putting the heart back into housing This workshop will explore TAROE Trust’s current campaign which highlights the importance of emotional insights in housing service delivery. Delve into some of the emerging findings and issues from their “Feeling at Home” research project. Also discuss TAROE Trust’s new Respect for All Charter which sets out a set of expected behaviours from landlords and their contractors in service delivery. |
Darren Hartley, Chief Executive Taroe Trust |
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C5 |
Professionalism - what it is and how tenants can shape? With the Government pushing for Housing staff to be qualified and be overall more “professional” this workshop considers the whole professionalism agenda, examining what it means for engagement staff, and customers/residents/tenants. It will explore what values, behaviours, skills and ethics customers/residents/tenants see as important and how they can work with their organisation to ensure that staff are the best they possible can be. |
Caritas Charles, Tpas Policy and Insight Manager
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C6 |
Aspire Housing - journey to success This insightful and thought-provoking workshop gives you the opportunity to hear how staff and customers at Aspire have worked together over the last few years to transform engagement. They will show how their innovative approach has encompassed accountability, service development, customer feedback and reality checking, to deliver impact and change. |
Adrian Foster, Aspire |
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D1 |
Debate: Community Engagement - a new focus The importance of community engagement is back in the spotlight. The Better Social Housing Review recommended housing associations should actively seek to create more community-based hubs, based on the principle of ‘go where the tenants are.’ So, what do we need to do to encourage a commitment to true community support and engagement? What does that mean in practice and what roles are there for tenants' associations and community groups in the new regulatory world of social housing? |
Phil Hayes, Chef Exec, Rotherham Federation of Communities |
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D2 |
Making meetings work - top tips for online and in person Most of us will spend many many hours in meetings whether in person or online, so unless we want to valuable waste our time, it's super important that we make sure we are getting the most from them. This session will help you do this with some useful tips and techniques.
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Michael Hill, Tpas Consultancy Manager
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D3 |
Working successfully with others It is likely that if you are involved in engagement, you will need to work with others as part of a group, panel or team. This session will show you how to do this effectively so you can strengthen relationships, remove conflict, and deliver better outcomes. |
Tonia Punter, Tpas Associate and Gill Mclaren, Tpas Consultancy Manager |
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D4 |
Community Ambassadors - bringing a borough together through engagement Find out more about this innovative project which brought different Housing providers from one London Borough together to ensure residents, regardless of their landlord, could work effectively to improve services and communities in the Borough. It explains how the programme was developed, the work the Ambassadors do, and what successes and challenges there have been along the way. |
London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames and Partners
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D5 |
Resident engagement in energy efficiency improvements - what do we need to get right? An information sharing and discussion session with Kathy from NHC and James Temple from Broadland Housing who are part of an exciting project looking at Cross Sector Net Zero Communications. Get yourself up to date on the current net zero agenda – what actually is Net Zero all about? Hear about research undertaken so far with tenants on the kinds of communication they really want. Discuss practical tips and ideas that can inform your net zero engagement in the future – what will be best practice for you.
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Kathy Thomas, Project Lead, Northern Housing Consortium. James Temple Broadland Housing |
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D6 |
Tenant Mediators – who they are and what do they do? When it comes to mediation, Places for People do things differently as they put customers at the heart of their offer with their hugely successful customer mediation project. The project sees customers and staff become fully qualified mediators, who deal with a range of neighbourhood disputes including noise, problems, parking problems and unsociable behaviour. This workshop will provide insight into how the project works and what outcomes have been achieved. |
Matthew O’Neill, Mediation Coordinator Places for People & PFP Tenant |
Costs
2 day member rate - £475
2 day non member rate - £635
The 2 day carer cost is £290.00 - please contact us to book.
All ticket costs are subject to VAT
About the Hotel
We have some rooms on hold at the hotel for the night of the conference – 12th July. This is at a special rate of £139 B&B. These can be booked using this link Please use code ATPAS. As of 23rd June - The allocated rooms are now fully booked. To check availability at the venue, please call 024 7660 3000 and you will be offered the best rate available.
There is plenty of free parking at the hotel (You will need to validate your parking ticket on arrival).
The hotel is approx. 20 minutes drive from Coventry town centre and train station. A taxi will cost approx. £15.00.
The Double Tree Hilton has some fabulous leisure facilities for you to take advantage of, there is a pool and fitness centre!
Visit the hotel website to see their accessible amenities
The hotel has limited accessible rooms so if an accessible room is required, we would recommend you book your room as soon as possible.
Other Local Hotels
There are 2 other hotels close by.
Holiday Inn Coventry
Located 0.6m miles from the venue. This hotel has 4 accessible rooms
To book visit their website
Premier Inn Coventry East
Located 0.6miles from the venue. This hotel has 2 accessible rooms
To book visit their website. The hotel also has an onsite restaurant.
Further information
To make your booking you will need an account for the Tpas website - if your organisation is a Tpas member and you don't already have an account, seach for the organisation here.
If you have any issues with booking your conference place, please email lisa.holt@tpas.org.uk
If you have any other questions or need further information about the conference, please call Jordan Walker on 0161 871 8521 or email jordan@connectin.co.uk
Date
Wed 12th Jul 2023, 9:00am - Thu 13th Jul 2023, 4:00pm
Venue Details
Double Tree Hilton Coventry
Paradise Way, Walsgrave Triangle,, Coventry, Warwickshire, CV2 2ST
Tickets
| 2 Day Delegate Rate Early Bird | ||
|---|---|---|
| Membership | Staff | Tenant |
| Members | £365.00 | £365.00 |
| Non-Members | £485.00 | £485.00 |
| 2 Day Delegate | ||
| Membership | Staff | Tenant |
| Members | £475.00 | £475.00 |
| Non-Members | £635.00 | £635.00 |
Event Contact
Name: Jordan Walker
Email: jordan@connectin.co.uk
Phone: 0161 871 8521
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