The top 6 questions Landlords ask about our Accrediations
Friday 6th of May 2016
As a consultancy manager for Tpas, much of my time is supporting clients obtain our accreditations.
I thought I would share with you some recent questions we have been asked about the landlord accreditation in particular.
Q. How is Tpas accreditation and criteria changing to reflect forms of digital engagement? We are undergoing an 80% channel shift to self-service through digital transformation.
A. A number of organisations are going through this with the aim of increasing accessibility and improving efficiency whilst meeting the digital inclusion agenda. We would say that it is important to take residents along on this journey. There are many channels that residents use to get in touch and use services, it is important to ensure that intelligence to transform services is from both qualitative and quantitative means such as customer journey or appreciative enquiries. Our updated accreditation criteria will emphasis this.
Q. What benefits do we get from Tpas accreditation?
A. The accreditation shows you have achieved independent external validation on your compliance with the national regulatory standards.
Accreditation is demonstrating your commitment:
That Resident Involvement and Engagement is Business critical
You can evidence the Business benefits through Improved services and efficiencies
You can evidence the Benefits to residents through Enhanced accountability and satisfaction
You can evidence the Community benefits through Increased social capital and community capacity
The accreditation is seen as an improvement tool – you receive an improvement plan that is designed to help you achieve efficiencies and greater value from your service. It is a peer review conducted by an independent accreditor that includes self-assessment, independent assessments and focus groups, observation, research and interviews and a final independent panel approval. The information gained must be able to help you to improve and review your service.
Previous accredited Landlords benefit from case studies, snapshots and invites to talk on good practice at Regional meetings and National conferences - we put people and organisations in touch with each other and broker relationships that make a difference.
Q. How does Tpas accreditation benefit all residents?
A. Resident involvement is about striving for service improvement and scrutiny, so this accreditation proves to your customers and communities your commitment and gives greater confidence in systems, processes, engagement and empowerment. We look for areas that involvement is making a difference. If it isn’t - we will tell you.
This is about reassurance that resident involvement does not operate in a vacuum, staff work together and listen to residents and involvement is meaningful, not just a numbers game. Residents are involved in the accreditation process which is very important to Tpas. Many of our competitors do not talk to residents or staff.
Achieving accreditation protects and builds your reputation for quality involvement and go the extra mile in ensuring your services meet residents’ diverse needs.
Q. What alternatives are there to Tpas?
A. There isn’t an alternative.
Tpas are a leader in this field; the accreditation has evolved over a number of years. Tpas have additional accreditations that are for other clients outside landlord organisations.
Q. How we get an ROI from the Tpas accreditation – how does it offer value for money?
A. There are areas of the assessment which help organisations to identify where they could have better systems in place to measure and identify the impact, outcomes and cost effectiveness of activities. We do question and challenge you; we do not tell you what we think you want to hear. We also identify and promote good practice.
The overall value achievable depends on the organisations’ commitment to the accreditation and willingness to implement our suggestions. It is not just the outcome of achieving accreditation; it is the course of action taken over time that will give you the better return. We could talk about KPI’s if you want us to, but we know how staff and residents engage when we meet them, they are buzzing about their organisations, their work and their achievements - where else can they? Positive impacts on morale, satisfaction and efficiencies would be key returns for us and you, where you can demonstrate you are more than a business.
Tpas mission is to improve services, save money and bring lasting change to communities.
Q. How does working towards Tpas raise our performance or supports the pursuit of our corporate goals?
A. As above - and in addition to, you can use the accreditation to further promote your high standards as a top quartile business performer, we always ensure that any involvement enhances achievement of corporate aims. We don’t control your performance; the accreditation is a demonstration that you achieve our standards. We would advise through an improvement plan how you could achieve improved efficiency, quality and effectiveness but actually doing this is down to you. We would advise that it is incorporated into any transformation and service improvement framework.
Take a look at the accrediations we offer.