Journey to Excellence - Tpas Landlord Accreditation
Tuesday 7th of March 2023
Residents are the real experts, and we are so fortunate to be supported by so many who take an active role in giving us feedback so we can continually improve our services. It’s so important for us to hear our customers’ voices.
Over the last three years in particular at Together Housing we’ve done a lot of work to strengthen our customers’ voice. We wanted to go through the accreditation process to validate the work that we’ve done, with the help of our residents, & what better way to do that than to invite the experts in (Tpas!) to independently review our approach.
The accreditation process took a year to complete and it’s really stringent, made up of three stages – we set up a small project group and gathered over 220 documents as evidence to support our self-assessment. This was followed by a survey of Board members and staff, as well as focus groups and interviews with residents, staff and Board, so that Gillian our assessor could validate some of the information we’d supplied. We had lots of support and advice from Gillian throughout the whole process thank goodness.
When Gillian contacted us in January to say that we’d passed the accreditation, we were over the moon. This recognition shows we have made real progress, that we’re accountable for our actions and that residents’ efforts are making a difference to people’s lives.
One of the residents involved is Justin Appleyard, who said: “It was a tough process, but worth it. I have found the experience of being an active resident working with Together Housing so rewarding in so many ways. I believe I have supported other residents to be better informed and get their issues resolved sooner. My involvement, along with Together Housing working in a person-centred way, has helped shape some services for the better.”
Nana-Essi, involved in one of the many resident focus groups during accreditation, said: “As a resident with multiple disabilities, I am in danger of becoming a recluse; albeit inadvertently. However, being invited onto various resident engagement activities cancels out this possibility. We are kept engaged with meetings as well as attending courses that all go a long way to improving one’s understanding of the various workings of a social housing provider. Meeting and getting to know new people is such a valuable bonus.”
As well as highlighting good practice, Tpas also made recommendations on how we can keep improving our relationships with residents. On the back of these recommendations, we are now looking to strengthen our Customer Voice Group, which holds us to account while scrutinising performance and satisfaction.
The accreditation process has been rewarding and we’ll build on the good work done so far. Thanks so much to Gillian and the team at Tpas, your help and support throughout was brilliant.