Tenant Participation Strategy 2009 - 2012

Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

A Strategy for Tenant Involvement 2009 - 2012

Contents Section 1.

Foreword Our vision for tenant involvement Introduction Tenant Participation at Tamworth Borough Council at a glance The Legal Bits – your rights

Section 2.

What is tenant involvement?

Why do we involve tenants and what are the benefits?

How the strategy was developed and who was involved What you told us

Section 3.

What do we want to achieve Ways that you can get involved and influence your housing service Providing information How we will plan tenant involvement activities Our ten pledges when consulting with you

Section 4.

Equalities and Diversity Resources for tenant involvement Tenant involvement and the bigger picture Monitoring the tenant involvement strategy Conflict resolution

Action Plan Thank you How to get in touch with us

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Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

Section 1

A Strategy for Tenant Involvement 2009 - 2012

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Foreword Welcome to our Tenant Involvement Strategy. This strategy is the result of several months work by a group of volunteer tenants, the tenant participation team and housing officers. It has been produced to help you; tenants of Tamworth Borough Council get involved with the housing service you receive by Tamworth Borough Council. The strategy is also intended to be a useful document for officers of Tamworth Borough Council, partner organisations, and Councillors to ensure that all parties are informed about the strategy for getting tenants involved in their housing service over the next three years.

We hope that you find the document useful and easy to understand. A short guide to this strategy is available – please contact the Tenant Participation Team on 01827 709448 or freephone 0800 183 0454 The starting point for the development of this strategy was based on the understanding that knowing what tenants think about all aspects of the housing service, is crucial to help shape the service and determine priority areas to improve service delivery.

We recognise that tenants are at the heart of the housing service and that tenant involvement is a continuous process which must be constantly reviewed. Tenant involvement methods need to be flexible and able to adapt to suit the varying ways in which tenants wish to participate.

We recognise that if you are giving up your time to give us your thoughts or find out more about the housing service, whether that should be by reading Open House (the tenant newsletter), filling in a survey, attending a meeting, open day, workshop or discussion group, you want to know that your views will count and make a difference. For that reason we are committed to listening to what tenants are telling us about their experiences and using this to improve our service.

By ensuring that we deliver what is set out in this strategy and by working in partnership with you, the tenants of Tamworth Borough Council, we will give people opportunities to make their local areas and communities better places to live in and ensure that we provide excellent housing services that meet the needs of our customers.

Our vision for tenant involvement is:

“to put tenants in the driving seat to help make improvements to our housing service, homes and communities.�

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Faith Shell

Councillor Mary Oates

Rob Barnes

Chair of the Tenant Consultative Group

Portfolio Holder Quality of life

Deputy Director Housing Services

Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

Introduction Our new tenant involvement strategy is the first stage of turning goals into reality and with your involvement this will result in better decision making and higher quality housing services. This strategy is for tenants of Tamworth Borough Council, it aims to set out how the Council and tenants will work in partnership together to improve housing services.

The strategy sets out: ●

Your legal rights

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What tenant involvement is and how you can get involved

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How we will resource tenant involvement

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How we will monitor how successful we have been in implementing this tenant involvement strategy

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An action plan setting out our priorities for tenant involvement

It is an exciting time for tenant involvement with the development of the new Tenant Services Authority. In addition, recent and emerging government policy has created a ‘window of opportunity’ for tenant involvement, in particular the following government policies have all placed an emphasis on involving and empowering individuals, communities, residents and tenants in the development and delivery of public services: ●

Community Empowerment White Paper, Communities in Control (2008)

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Housing and regeneration Act (2008)

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The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill- Duty to Involve, Consult and Inform (2007)

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Cave Review – Every Tenant matters: a review of social housing regulation (2007)

Tenant empowerment is at the heart of the Government's drive to ensure that decent homes are available to all who rent from social housing landlords. The Cave Review of Social Housing Regulation recommended that there should be one regulator for all forms of social housing and that tenants groups should have some role in saying to the regulator whether the landlord is good at tenant involvement or whether they are satisfied. As a result, the Tenant Services Authority was launched in December 2008, which is the new regulator for homes owned by Housing Associations and housing co-operatives and from spring 2010 is likely to become the new regulator for local authority landlords. In addition, to work alongside the Tenant Services Authority it is being proposed that a new organisation called the National Tenant Voice will be set up to give tenants more influence at a national level. Tamworth Borough Council will ensure that tenants are kept informed about these changes and are able to get involved with events and opportunities to get involved relating to the changing national agenda for tenant participation.

At the time of writing this document the Tenant Services Authority is developing new standards for social housing in consultation with tenants. The Tenant Services Authority say that ‘first and first and foremost, we are a champion for tenants – standing up for their interests and aspirations, and putting their needs first’ www.tenantservicesauthority.org The Council’s Tenant Involvement Strategy has been designed to ensure that tenant involvement continues to play a full part in the delivery of the Council’s wider vision and corporate priorities.

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Tamworth Borough Council’s vision and corporate priorities Tamworth Borough Council’s vision is that:

By 2020, Tamworth will be an ideal place to live, work and raise your family in the Heart of England So that we can turn this vision into a reality we have also developed new corporate priorities designed to focus our housing services and resources on the issues identified as being of the greatest concern to the people of Tamworth and of value to the town’s future development.

To help us identify these priorities we have used the information gathered through events, ongoing consultation with council tenants and residents using Council services and a wide variety of on-going engagement activity involving the local community and our partners. The Council’s corporate priorities are set out below together with some examples of housing services are already playing a significant role in delivering these borough-wide priorities – it is intended to develop this further as we move through the consultation agenda and develop our value for money statements

Working with others, we will actively tackle the causes and impact of crime and anti social behaviour ●

Committed to the Respect Housing Management Standard

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“What’s Happening” programme launched for Estate Walkabouts and inspections linked to multi-agency and partnership working

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Piloting Property Inspections

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Held several staff training events on effective case management and legal remedies

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Attendance at Safer Estate Meeting

Working with others, we will create and maintain a clean and green environment ●

Achieved Value For Money savings with the development of the new garden assistance scheme

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Reviewed the specification for sheltered gardening services

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Introduced Performance Indicators for cleaning and caretaking to include the removal of graffiti, cleaning of alleyways and other communal areas.

Working with others, we will provide a vibrant and prosperous town centre

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Manages of medium-rise blocks of flats in the town centre which ensures a significant residential population in the town centre

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Organises a range of resident events that make use of town centre facilities

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Works with others to ensure that there is co-ordinated approach to services such as those tackling antisocial behaviour.

Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

Working with others, we will continue to raise our positive profile within the Heart of England ●

Refreshed website to be more up-to-date and informative

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Created a media management approach to housing news via the web and good news stories

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Held several events in reception to launch the tenants insurance scheme, home swapper and financial inclusion

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Reviewing service standards to publicize service improvements.

Working with others, we will improve housing standards for the people of Tamworth ●

Reissued the Tenancy Management Policy

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Developing a Landlord Services Delivery Plan 2009/10-20012/3

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Achieved TQ performance on decency

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Implementation of the Tenant Involvement Strategy 2009 - 2012

Working with others, we will improve health and education standards for the people of Tamworth ●

Improved homes to ensure that they are decent, warm and weather-tight

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Reduced the use of bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless families, this type of accommodation can have detrimental health impacts

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Provides a twenty-four hour emergency alarm service for elderly and vulnerable residents which enables quick access to emergency and health and care services.

Value for Money and accountability will underpin the delivery of all corporate priorities.

Working with others, the Council will deliver services that are well governed, ethical, effective, efficient and economically viable ●

Developing a Value For Money statement that capture all Value For Money savings including:-

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Reviewed Housing Management Structure leading to savings

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Reviewed Discretionary Housing Services leading to savings

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Reviewed Repairs to secure a value for money maintenance partner

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Reduced the numbers of people in B & B cutting budgets

We hope that you find this document useful and interesting to read, if you have any questions or queries or would like to find out more about tenant involvement at Tamworth Borough Council please contact the Tenant Participation Team on freephone 0800 183 0454, alternatively you can check out the Council website – visit www.tamworth.gov.uk

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Tenant Participation at Tamworth Borough Council at a glance…

Tenant Participation at Tamworth Borough Council has evolved since the launch of the last Tenant Participation Strategy produced in 2005/2006. The Council has developed pro-active participation arrangements with its tenants, holding a series of three annual Tenant Fun Days, telephone surveys, door to door surveys, mystery shopping, local consultation roadshows, interactive workshops and discussion groups on a variety of housing service areas.

Some of the key successes over the last 12 months include:

Tenants’ Voice Established in February 2008, this group meets on a regular basis with the tenant participation team to plan, design and contribute to quarterly edition of the tenant newsletter Open House.

Tenants’ Fun Day The Tenant Fun Day held in July 2008 was the third annual event of it its kind. Bigger and better than before with over 200 people attending, the event provided an opportunity to gather useful information in a fun way from groups of people who are not normally involved.

Afternoon Tea Assembly This event was the launching pad for the development of the new sheltered housing forum ‘Seniors United’ (see below for more information). Over 80 Sheltered housing scheme tenants attended this fun event to have their say about how they would like to get involved in future tenant involvement activities.

Seniors United Established in September 2008, this group provides a forum for sheltered housing tenants to discuss issues relevant to their needs and discuss changes needed to services in their local area or scheme, as well as plan activities and events to benefit and involve all sheltered housing tenants.

Wish upon a star scheme Launched in summer 2008 this scheme was developed to encourage communities to develop their own solutions to local issues. Over 100 tenants and residents put forwards their ideas for local community projects and the top three projects are currently being developed including, a tidy up project, sheltered housing fun day and DIY training for tenants.

Staffordshire Tenants Forum This group has been meeting for several years and consists of tenant representatives from Tamworth Borough Council, Trent and Dove (Burton upon Trent) and Home Zone Living in Lichfield. The group has carried out numerous mystery shop activities and continues to meet to share good practice which can benefit all tenants.

The focus of much recent tenant involvement activity has been on delivering clearly defined consultation activity, addressing specific issues or service related areas. There has also been much emphasis on enabling tenants to participate in a way that is convenient to them, with the majority of consultation activity being carried out in the local community. This style of consultation has seen the increased involvement of tenants who might not ‘traditionally’ get involved, such as young tenants and their families.

We have worked hard at improving the way we involve tenants, however we recognise that there is still much more that we can do to involve tenants, to help us deliver excellent services. This new involvement strategy has been designed to take account of tenant feedback, to ensure that tenants are able to get involved and have their say in the best and most appropriate way that suits them.

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Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

The legal bits - your rights Your landlord is Tamworth Borough Council – for tenants, this means the home you live in is owned by Tamworth Borough Council. Tamworth Borough Council manages, maintains and improves council homes.

This part of the document tells you about the rights you have in law.

Since 1980, tenants have had a right to be consulted about issues affecting the management of their homes.

This right was first introduced in the 1980 Housing Act. Over time this has been extended to include: ●

The Right to Manage – which gives tenants the right to set up a Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) to take over some or all housing management functions.

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Best value – which requires Councils to undertake in-depth reviews of their services and consult with tenants to ensure that services meet peoples’ requirements cost effectively. The basic idea of Best Value is for Tamworth Borough Council to continually improve services by:

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regularly listening to tenants and leaseholders

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learning from what we are told

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making changes to our service based on what we learn.

The National Framework for Tenant Participation Compacts – which requires councils to develop an agreement with tenants setting out how they will work together to improve housing services and tenant involvement.

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Section 2

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Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

What is tenant involvement?

Put simply, tenant involvement is about the Council and tenants working together in partnership to improve housing services and ensure that the service is achieving value for money.

From the research the tenant participation project group have undertaken during summer 2008 we have identified that tenants are interested in becoming involved, with 51% saying that they would like to get involved in the future. However, it is also evident that many report apathy about doing anything in reality.

People told us that the reasons they don’t get involved include: “I would if I had more time, but I have other commitments” and “I thought I wouldn’t make a difference”.

Some tenants may want to take part in improving services and decision making on a regular basis and over a long period of time, however as highlighted above due to hectic lifestyles many are unable to participate on a regular basis and may only get involved on an ad hoc basis, or when there is a key decision or issue that directly affects them.

We recognise that tenants should be able to get involved when it suits them and in issues they choose to be involved in. Tenants want opportunities to be involved that are convenient to them and that give them a personal as well as a collective say.

We offer lots of ways for residents to get involved in a way that suits them. It is important that the feedback we gather reflects the wide range of views held by tenants of Tamworth Borough Council. Getting involved can mean lots of different things from filling out a questionnaire, to coming along to ‘one off’ fun days, discussion groups, estate inspections or regular meetings.

For more information about ways you can get involved, see page 17

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Why do we involve tenants and what are the benefits?

Involving tenants can make a real difference to housing services, for the simple reason that tenants living in Tamworth and using the housing service know what they want and need.

Council officers and tenants are equal partners and by working in partnership together should be able to improve housing services and ensure that the service is achieving value for money.

There are many good reasons why tenants should be able to give their input and have a strong voice regarding their Housing Service. These include: ●

To give tenants a real say in housing services and the way we provide them

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To ensure that the services provided meet peoples’ individual needs

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To make sure we provide high quality services

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To help make homes and neighbourhoods, better places to live free from crime and anti social behaviour

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Better communication between staff and tenants

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Informed and knowledgeable tenants who have the skills and confidence to influence decisions

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Staff and tenants being more aware of each other’s perspectives and organisational and financial limitations

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Breaking down misunderstandings between landlord and tenants, and building mutual respect and understanding

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Increased tenant satisfaction with their home and neighbourhood

Involving tenants can make a big difference. Simple changes can often make a significant difference to people’s lives. We aim to make sure that when we undertake consultation with tenants about a particular topic or service area that we listen to the information you tell us and do something about it. Where this might not be possible, for example, due to lack of funding, we will endeavour to work with ‘you’ the tenants to look at other alternatives.

The benefits of tenant participation and improvements in service delivery will not happen overnight but will evolve over time as effective information, communication and participation structures strengthen.

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Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

How the strategy was developed and who was involved This document has been put together by the ‘Tenant participation strategy project group’ consisting of 6 tenant volunteers, the tenant participation team and housing officers at Tamworth Borough Council. The group have been working together for several months to produce this strategy, following extensive consultation with tenants, leaseholders, local partner organisations and council officers. We are pleased to present this Tenant Involvement Strategy and hope that you find the document useful and easy to understand.

During the summer of 2008 the Tenant Participation Team and tenant volunteers attended a number of events to talk to tenants about how they would like to see Tenant involvement develop over the next three years. This strategy has been developed based on the responses to the questionnaires, and other forms of consultation undertaken during this time. In order to ensure that it reflects the views of tenants and leaseholders of Tamworth Borough Council as well as other interested parties such as, council officers and local partner organisations, the following consultation and research was undertaken to find out what people think about tenant involvement and establish what the priorities and direction should be for the future of tenant involvement at Tamworth Borough Council: ●

An assessment of Tamworth Borough Councils previous Tenant Participation Strategy 2005 – 2008.

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A review of best practice including an assessment of the Audit Commissions Key Lines of Enquiry (which is a checklist for Local Authorities setting out what an excellent organisation should be doing in order to deliver effective tenant involvement).

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Tenant involvement questionnaire

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Consultation with tenants at the Tenant Fun Day held in July 2008

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Consultation event with Sheltered Housing scheme tenants, called “An Afternoon Tea Assembly” held in August 2008

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Consultation with tenants at various local community events during Summer 2008, including: ●

Operation Teamwork held at the Leyfields

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Amington Carnival

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Outreach activities in Stoneydelph, Glascote and Belgrave

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A questionnaire distributed to housing officers

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A questionnaire distributed to local partner groups / organisations

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A workshop on the future of tenant involvement held with the Tenant Consultative Group in July 2008

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Draft tenant involvement strategy distributed for consultation to various key stakeholders.

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What you told us The focus of the above consultation activity was to determine what is important to all key stakeholders regarding their priorities for the future development of tenant involvement at Tamworth Borough Council.

Tenant’s views on tenant involvement The main method for consulting with tenants about the future of tenant involvement was via a questionnaire that tenants were encouraged to complete at the aforementioned local community events. 172 tenants completed the questionnaire.

The main findings from the survey included: ●

The majority of respondents, 69% said that they are aware that Tamworth Borough Council gives tenants the opportunity to get involved.

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The majority of tenants, 73% said that they had not been involved in having their say about how the housing service is run.

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Of those that had not been involved, they were asked why they had not been involved with the most common reason being ‘I do not know how to get involved’, with 35% of respondents stating this. Other common reasons included ‘lack of time’ and ‘health problems’.

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Encouragingly, 51% of respondents said that they would like to get involved in the future.

Reponses to questions regarding how and when tenants would like to get involved, highlighted a fairly mixed response. Generally tenants did not seem to favour any one particular method, time of day or location, thus indicating that future tenant involvement activity needs to utilise a range of different methods, venues/locations and also needs to be held at varying times of the day. See below for more information:

Fig 1. How would you like to get involved?

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Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

Fig 2. What time of day would be best for you to get involved?

Fig 3. Where would you like to get involved?

â—?

The most popular topic area that tenants would like to get involved with is repairs (27%), followed by anti social behaviour (24%) and capital works (15%).

â—?

Tenants were also asked to rate the importance of various tenant involvement projects. Figure 4 below shows the percentage of tenants who rated projects as very important or fairly important; as we can see there is a fairly mixed response, with all projects / activities rated as being of similar importance.

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Fig 4. Tenant priorities for future involvement projects and activities ●

Tenants rated the provision of transport, accessible meeting venues and offering a variety of ways to get involved as the three most popular ways in which Tamworth Borough Council could support them to get involved.

Fig 5. How tenants would like to receive support to get involved In summary, the information from the tenant survey has shown that when it comes to tenant involvement “one size does not fit all”. To ensure that tenant involvement at Tamworth Borough council is successful this strategy has been designed to reflect tenant opinion. It has been produced on the understanding that tenants want to see: ●

A flexible approach to tenant involvement

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Focused consultation activity

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A variety of ways for tenants to get involved

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Tenant involvement to be carried out a range of accessible venues / locations and at various times of the day

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Support to encourage involvement, such as transport provision and accessible venues

We hope that the information in this document reflects the views of everybody who took the time to fill in a questionnaire, or who attended a tenant participation event.

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Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

Section 3

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What do we want to achieve?

Equal opportunity to get involved We want all tenants to have an equal opportunity to get involved and provide us with feedback about services regardless of age, ability or background. We will provide information in the format that most suits their needs.

This will ensure that the decisions we make are based on representative views and reflect tenants’ expectations.

Our training programme will ensure that all tenants who are interested in getting involved can do so in a way that suits them.

Access to advice and information We will provide easy access to up-to-date advice and information about involvement activities.

Focus on actions and how involvement activities have made a difference It is important that the time and effort that Tamworth Borough Council and tenants put in to involvement activity adds value. We will therefore, be clear about what we want to achieve, what actions need to take place and when these actions need to happen. We will always review activity and outcomes. The team will support and guide projects so that we achieve outcomes.

High quality service from the Tenant Participation Team We will provide high quality, pro-active tenant involvement support. We aim to provide value for money in all tenant involvement activity. By regularly reviewing the level of support and resources we provide we can keep pace with changing demands. We will seek feedback about our service from staff and tenants so that we are continuously learning and improving.

Training and support that gives involved tenants the opportunity to gain the right knowledge, skills and confidence Our training programme is designed to help tenants have the skills, knowledge and confidence to get involved.

This means that tenants can make a full contribution in their preferred activity. We encourage tenants and staff to share ideas and work together to continuously improve services.

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Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

Ways that you can get involved and influence your Housing Service The key to getting the best out of your housing service is to tell us about the things you think we do right and the things that you think we get wrong. How you get involved is up to you, but we want to hear what you've got to say about our service.

We offer lots of ways for tenants to get involved in a way that suits them. It is important that the feedback we gather reflects the wide range of views held by tenants of Tamworth Borough Council. We want to hear views from people from different age groups, backgrounds, areas etc. This will help us to ensure that services and homes are developed to meet residents’ needs. Getting involved can mean lots of different things from filling out a questionnaire once a year to coming along to ‘one off’ fun days, estate inspections or regular meetings.

Our database of ‘involved’ tenants lists those who have expressed an interest in getting involved. Once tenants are on this list we can send them invitations to their preferred activities.

Our menu of opportunities to get involved includes:

1.

Tenants Voice

What is it?

Tenants’ Voice is a group of tenants who contribute and edit Open House the Council’s quarterly Tenant newsletter

How often does the group meet?

The group meets about once a month.

Who attends?

6 tenant representatives can attend Tenant Voice meetings How does it work?

The group is involved in all aspects of the development of Open House. Supported by the tenant participation team the group helps to decide what articles should be included, produces the page plan and may even write an article.

How much time does it take?

Meetings normally last for one and a half hours Does the group receive support from Council Officers?

Yes, a member of the tenant participation team provides support and assistance for the group.

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Responding to surveys

What is it for?

To test the quality of the service and get ideas for improvement.

How often?

Every so often we will ask a random sample of tenants to give us their views, by postal survey, surveys in our tenant newsletter Open House and surveys carried out at local events and activities.

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Who can complete the survey?

Any tenant or leaseholder may be asked to respond.

How much time does it take?

It will normally take only a few minutes to complete the survey, and will probably never take you more than half an hour to fill in a survey.

Can I receive support from Council officers?

Yes, if you are asked to complete a form and need assistance, the tenant participation will be happy to help (see contact information on page 56).

3.

Seniors United

What is it?

A forum for sheltered Housing Tenants to get together, share ideas and experiences.

Who can join?

Any sheltered Housing tenant is eligible to join.

How often do the group meet?

The group meet on the third Wednesday of every month.

How much time does it take?

Meetings normally last for one and a half hours.

4.

The Tenant Consultative Group

What is it?

The Tenant Consultative Group provides a united voice for tenants across the borough. It actively recruits, promotes, consults and involves Tamworth Borough Council tenants and leaseholders in Tenant Participation activities. Tenant Consultative Group members may also chair various sub groups and working groups.

How often does the group meet?

The group normally meets on the second Tuesday of every month at 6pm.

Who can join?

Any tenant or leaseholder can be a member of the TCG. The number of places on the TCG is up to a maximum of 30.

How much time does it take?

Meetings normally last for one and a half hour to two hours Does the group receive support from Council Officers?

Yes, a member of the tenant participation team provides support and assistance for the group.

5.

Discussion groups

What are they?

Discussion groups or focus groups as they are sometimes called are held with tenants to discuss relevant issues.

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Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

Discussion groups have been held to consider the repairs service, housing management and other service related areas.

Who can take part?

We regularly invite a random sample of tenants to take part in discussion groups. We also have a database of tenants who are interested in participating in one-off focus groups. If you would like to be added to the database, please contact the tenant participation team. Contact details are at the end of this document.

How much time does it take?

Discussion groups normally last about 1-2 hours.

6.

Wish upon a star

What is it?

Wish upon a star is a scheme aimed at encouraging and promoting local community activity for tenants of Tamworth Borough Council. The tenant participation team and the repairs contractor Morrison Facilities Services have teamed up to help make your wish for a community project come true.

Who can take part?

All tenants and residents can submit an idea for a local community project in their area. The best ideas will be short listed by a judging panel and subject to approval by the wider community, the project will be developed.

How much time does it take?

It should take no longer than 5 minutes to fill in a star and submit your idea to the Tenant Participation team. If your project is shortlisted you may decide to get more involved in the development of the project.

7.

Fun Days

What are they?

The Housing Service holds annual fun days to give you more information about the services it provides, talk to you about all aspects of the housing service and provide an opportunity for this to happen in a fun, friendly environment.

Who can take part?

All tenants are invited to come along.

How much time does it take?

Fun days are normally drop-in events, so you can stay for as long you like.

When do they take place?

We normally hold annual fun day events during the summer months; look out for more information in Open House and the local press.

9.

Estate Walkabouts

What is it?

An Estate Walkabout is an on site inspection of the exterior and communal parts, facilities and grounds of an estate managed by the Housing Department. Officers record the points and actions agreed with residents during the walkabout and take appropriate action to help improve the estate.

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Who can take part?

The key to a successful walkabout is to involve a wide range of local people. We encourage all council tenants, leaseholders and owner-occupiers to take part in each walkabout so that a cross section of views and opinions are represented. Also taking part in the walkabout will be Housing Officers, the caretaking team, street wardens, Police Community Support Office, local councillors and representatives of other agencies or groups.

When do they take place?

They take place regularly throughout the year; look out for more information about where and when estate walkabouts will be taking place in Open House, the local press and the Tamworth Borough Council website, visit www.tamworth.gov.uk

10.

The Staffordshire Tenants Forum

What is it?

The Staffordshire Tenants Forum consists of tenant representatives from each of the following landlords Tamworth Borough Council, Trent and Dove in Burton upon Trent and Homezone Living in Lichfield. The group is supported by an officer from each organisation. They meet monthly to share ideas and undertake projects to benefit all tenants and have undertaken numerous mystery shopping projects.

When do they meet?

The group meets on a monthly basis.

Who can take part?

There are 4 tenant representatives from each landlord. If a vacancy arises for a Tamworth Borough Council tenant representative, a new representative will be recruited via the involvement database of tenants who have specified an interest in getting involved.

11.

Tenant and resident groups

What are they?

They normally involve tenants and residents coming together in a local area to work together to discuss and tackle local issues, in conjunction with other agencies.

How often do they meet?

Groups can decide how often they want to meet.

Who can take part?

Any tenant or resident can set up a group in their local community. The Tenant Participation Team can work with you to help advise how to go about setting up a tenant and resident group.

12.

Tenant involvement database

What is it?

The tenant involvement database is a list of tenants who have specified that they would like to get involved in Tenant Participation at Tamworth Borough council.

How does it work?

Tenants who would like to get involved complete a short questionnaire telling us a little bit about themselves including, when they would like to get involved, what time is best for them to get involved, how they would

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Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

like to get involved and what topics they would be interested in finding out more. The Tenant Participation Team then contact tenants to get involved as appropriate.

Who can join the tenant involvement database?

All tenants and leaseholders of Tamworth Borough Council can join the database We also have lots of other informal opportunities to get involved, at a level that suits you: You can: ● write to us ●

telephone us

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e-mail us

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complete an online survey

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fill in a complaint form

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fill in a comment form

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visit the offices at Tamworth Borough Council

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respond to our written questionnaires

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take part in our telephone surveys

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take part in a discussion group

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join in an estate walkabout with local housing staff and tenants

These may be good ways for you to get in touch if you are busy, find it difficult to leave your home or simply prefer not to join a group. They are just as important as attending meetings.

To help you get involved we will: ●

provide taxis to meetings

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pay other travel expenses

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pay child care allowances

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give staff support

Please ask for a copy of the Tenant Participation Expenses Policy to find out more about how we will reimburse out of pocket expenses that tenant volunteers may incur.

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How will we plan tenant involvement activities There is no blueprint for planning tenant participation. Different ways suit different circumstances. Approaches should be flexible to suit the particular issues and the level at which tenants wish to get involved. When agreeing the best tenant participation approach for particular issues, there are a number of key steps to consider. The flow chart below outlines the key steps Tamworth Borough Council will consider when planning tenant participation activities.

Figure 6. Process for planning tenant involvement activity

Who will represent Tamworth Borough Council in the process?

Identify the topic or issue to be examined by tenants or the landlord

Who will represent tenants in the process?

Clarify the matter to be considered and agree expected outcomes

Identify timescales Identify what information is needed

Decide how to consult with stakeholders

Plan meetings and events

Examine findings and make recommendations

Feedback and report on the outcomes 24

Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

Identify support / training needs

It is important to the success of the Housing Service at Tamworth Borough Council that tenants are directly involved in the decision making process of the organisation. The table below summarises the various stages that will be followed when involving tenants in key decisions:

Figure 7. How tenants will be involved in decision making

Stage one Scoping the brief:

Tenant Consultative Group to advise on impacts and issues to be considered from a tenant and neighbourhood perspective

Stage two Consultation:

Consultation conducted with relevant stakeholders

Stage three Decision making:

Feedback on the findings from the consultation to Tenant Committees and others involved in consultation Report on the outcomes from the consultation to the Tenant Consultative Group as appropriate with a recommendation for a final decision Final recommendation from the Tenant Consultative Group to be included in the report to the decision making body e.g. Full Council or Cabinet.

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Our ten pledges when consulting with you Tamworth Borough Council’s housing department has made the following pledges when consulting tenants and other stakeholders. We will always:

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1.

Be clear about our objectives for the consultation, telling people at the outset who will be making the final decision, and when they can expect this decision to be made.

2.

Provide information in plain language and, where appropriate, community languages.

3.

Provide a name and contact details in case of a query.

4.

Explain all the options available and outline both the positive and negative consequences of choosing any one of these options.

5.

Encourage people to put their own ideas forward.

6.

Allow people reasonable time to consider their response.

7.

Listen carefully to what people have to say and keep a record of their responses.

8.

Report on the responses received to the Tenant Committee, Council or whoever is responsible for making the final decision.

9.

Give feedback on the eventual outcome within six weeks of the decision being made to all those involved in the consultation, giving the reasons for the final decision.

10.

Tell people when they can expect the changes to be implemented

Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

Section 4

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Equality and Diversity Society is made up of diverse groups and individuals of different backgrounds, abilities and interests. Recognising diversity is the first step in delivering services that are accessible and appropriate for everyone.

It is important for Tamworth Borough Council to address equalities and diversity issues and to comply with current legislation and good practice. We recognise the need to build good links with communities in the local area and to respond in a flexible and sensitive way to local needs and issues.

The Council has recently produced a Diversity and Equality Scheme that outlines how we will promote diversity and equality in the delivery of our services provided both directly by ourselves and in conjunction with our partners.

The Diversity and Equality Scheme is a document which sets out the Council’s commitments to embed equality and diversity across everything we do.

Taking into account UK legislation the scheme clearly addresses our duties and responsibilities in relation to: ●

Race

●

Gender

●

Disability

●

Sexual Orientation

●

Religion or Belief

●

Age

During all stages of the development, delivery and review of the Tenant Involvement Strategy, Equality and Diversity will be at the forefront of everything we do, to ensure that all tenants have an equal opportunity to participate and have their say about the Housing Service. This does not, however, mean treating everyone the same, as different groups and individuals have differing needs. By considering the six equality strands in al that we do will help to identify barriers that make it more difficult for certain groups to be heard and get access to services. Some groups, because of past discrimination, need assistance to reach the same starting point as others. This is known as positive action.

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Resources for tenant involvement Tamworth Borough Council is committed to delivering tenant involvement and will be able to do this by committing appropriate staffing and financial resources.

Financial resources Financial resources usually take the form of costs for providing training to tenants, paying for meeting rooms / venue hire, tenant expenses, staff costs and the production of communication material such as the Tenant Newsletter ‘Open House’.

Tamworth Borough Council will work with tenants to explore and secure external funding for projects and will provide full and clear information every year about the tenant involvement budget.

With respect to financial support the following commitments are made by Tamworth Borough Council to support tenant participation in Year 1 (2009 – 2010):

Expenditure

Budget (2009/10)

Staffing costs (including employers costs)

£70,260

General support (including training)

£26,130

Wish upon a star scheme

£10,000

Open House

£12,920

Total

£119,310

Additional resources may need to be identified to support the growth of tenant participation in the Borough to 2012. External sources of funding will be fully explored to complement existing budgets in meeting the requirement for any additional resource requirements. The following table identifies estimated costs of key projects and potential sources of funding:

Action

Year

Potential Funding Sources

Annual

Development of 1, 2 and 3 wish upon a star scheme

Existing Housing Revenue Account resources and external sources e.g. support from contractors

Cost £10,000

Annual tenant fun day

1, 2 and 3

Existing Housing Revenue Account resources and external sources e.g. support from contractors

£3,000

Training Programme

1, 2 and 3

Existing Housing Revenue Account resources and external sources e.g. free and discounted courses

£8,000

Annual awards ceremony

3

Existing Housing Revenue Account resources and sponsorship from local businesses

£2,000

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Staffing Resources

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●

The Tenant Participation Team, work across the borough with tenants and leaseholders to promote tenant involvement, organise local tenant involvement events / activities and facilitate tenant meetings.

●

The Estate Management and Income Management Team – attend Tenant meetings, facilitate estate walkabouts and other events

●

Senior managers attend meetings, forums and events as required and deemed appropriate by tenants.

Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

Tenant Participation and the bigger picture‌ Tenant participation should not be seen in isolation, but as an integral part of the way we operate as your landlord. We have produced Tamworth’s Tenant Involvement Strategy based upon local, regional and national priorities and by making links with other relevant strategies.

The following documents produced by Tamworth Borough Council will impact on the delivery of the Tenant Involvement Strategy:

Housing Strategy This sets out how the Council and partner organisations will improve housing conditions across all tenures within the Borough. Through extensive consultation with residents and service providers and taking into account evidence of local housing need, the strategy sets out a detailed action plan for tackling the housing issues faced by residents of Tamworth over the coming years.

Community engagement framework The Community Engagement Framework is intended as a guide and support document to encourage better community engagement, empowerment and increased cohesion. It has been written to help the Local Strategic Partnership and local communities in Tamworth work together as effectively as possible. It therefore is limited in scope to those activities which occur in Tamworth on the authority of the Tamworth Local Strategic Partnership. Content in the document may be applied more widely, but does not seek to replace the community engagement strategies of partner agencies, which may have a different, but complimentary, focus.

The changing national agenda for tenant participation This strategy also considers the changing national agenda for tenant involvement. Tenant empowerment is at the heart of the Government's drive to ensure that decent homes are available to all who rent from social housing landlords. The Cave Review of Social Housing Regulation, released in June 2007 recommended that there should be one regulator for all forms of social housing and that tenants groups should have some role in saying to the regulator whether the landlord is good at tenant involvement or whether they are satisfied. As a result, the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) was launched in December 2008, which is the new regulator for homes owned by Housing Associations and housing co-operatives. From spring 2010 it is likely that the TSA will be able to set standards for council tenants and tenants of arms-length management organisations too. In addition, to work alongside the Tenant Services Authority it is being proposed that a new organisation called the National Tenant Voice will be set up to give tenants more influence at a national level. Tamworth Borough Council will ensure that tenants are kept informed about these changes and are able to get involved with events and opportunities to get involved relating to the changing national agenda for tenant participation.

The Respect agenda We share the Government's values set out in the 'Respect Agenda' which support our aims to make our estates places where people feel confident, safe and supported. Tamworth Borough Council’s Housing Management team is currently developing plans to sign up to the Respect Standard for Housing Management. We will work

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with tenant groups as we develop our own local strategy for implementing the Respect Agenda. The Government initiative makes a direct link between enforcement powers of social housing landlords and the provision of support and rehabilitation programmes within the community. It will give us extra tools to deal swiftly and effectively with anti-social behaviour and provides a framework of accountability which will enable us to work in partnership with tenants. The Respect Standard for Housing Management provides a voluntary benchmark of the key elements that make up an effective landlord service in tackling Anti Social Behaviour. It has six core commitments: 1. Accountability, leadership and commitment 2. Empowering and reassuring residents 3. Prevention and early intervention 4. Tailored services for residents and provision of support for victims and witnesses 5. Protecting communities through swift enforcement 6. Support to tackle the causes of anti-social behaviour.

Tamworth Borough Council’s commitment to tackling Anti Social Behaviour, being accountable to tenants and other stakeholders, and empowering tenants, are prerequisites to effective performance. To ensure the effective implementation of the respect standard for housing management, clear processes will be developed to involve tenants in reviewing performance on anti social behaviour and mature debates with tenants will be held to set standards and targets.

Value for Money and Financial Inclusion The aim of the local government Value for Money agenda is to ensure that the resources available to local government are used in the optimum way to deliver better public services according to local priorities. The Housing Service is committed to involving tenants in reviewing service areas to ensure that tenants are receiving value for money. The Housing Service also has a vital role to play in breaking the cycle and tackling the causes of financial exclusion within communities. We can offer tenants support and advice including welfare benefits, help setting up basic bank accounts and reducing fuel poverty.

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Monitoring the Tenant Involvement Strategy The strategy will be monitored and reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that it remains relevant and achievable, as well as continuing to meet the broader aims and objectives of the Council and its partners.

To ensure that the actions within the Action Plan are delivered, a structured and comprehensive monitoring and review process has been put in place.

The strategy will be monitored by: ●

Review on a quarterly basis by the Tenant Participation Group, which includes tenant representatives’ and officers.

●

Regular updates by the Tenant Participation Group about the progress of the strategy will be given to the Tenant Consultative Group and at senior management meetings

●

Annual Fun Days will be held to assess tenant opinion / feedback about the strategy and progress made

●

Completing an annual impact assessment

●

Seeking independent advice and review from the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) and Tenant and Residents Organisations of England (TAROE)

●

Key local performance indicators, otherwise know as ‘the things that will be monitored’ (see page ? for more information) will be uploaded onto the Council’s Covalent system to monitor performance internally.

Key targets will also be reported and updated regularly on the customer dashboard on the Council’s website.

Conflict resolution Sometimes there can be conflict between providers of social housing and consumers of housing services, consequently when a dispute occurs the following procedures can be used to help prevent the dispute escalating and deal with the conflict appropriately and effectively: ●

A comment, complaint or compliment about Tenant Participation or any of the Council’s services can be registered by using the Council’s ‘Tell us’ scheme. The scheme is available in paper format at all council locations and also interactive on-line via the website. Complaints are dealt with by using a staged process, which in summary works as follows: ●

Stage one- Initial mediation will be offered if appropriate to stop a complaint escalating

●

Stage two – a head of service or assistant director will be responsible for investigating

● Stage three – it is proposed that a panel of Councilors (currently Scrutiny Committee) should hear the case should a complaint ever escalate to this stage. The panel will sit and hear both sides of the case

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presented by the customer or their representative and the officers of the council. A decision will then be made as to whether to uphold the decision. The customer will be advised of their right to go to the Ombudsman. ●

A conflict resolution agreement is being developed in partnership with tenants to help set out the steps that can be taken to help resolve a conflict between tenants that are involved in tenant participation activities and the Council.

●

The Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) have produced a Landlord and Tenant Dispute Toolkit which provides useful tools and techniques to help resolve conflicts – these methods will be employed when appropriate.

The action plan for tenant involvement (see page ?) sets out what we intend to do over the next three years to ensure effective tenant participation and targets that have been set to monitor how effective we have been.

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Thank you Thank you to the tenant participation working group and all the tenant and leaseholder volunteers who gave us their views about the getting involved in tenant participation at Tamworth Borough Council. Without your help, this document could not have been produced.

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Tenants leading the way to improve Housing Services

Getting in touch Tenant Participation Team To find out more about how you can get involved to have your say about the Housing service contact: Telephone: 01827 709448 Email: tenantparticipation@tamworth.gov.uk

Estate Management Team The estate management team can help you with the following: tenancy sustainment, tenancy issues including anti-social behaviour, mutual exchanges and community projects. The team is also responsible for caretaking team, including the cleaning of communal blocks and maintenance of estates.

Telephone: 01827 709491 Email: estatemanagementteam@tamworth.gov.uk

Income Team The income team deal with the following; income collection, arrears management, debt advice, financial inclusion advice, including welfare benefits advice. The allocations and voids team allocate properties in line with housing need and manage empty properties.

Telephone: 01827 709514 Email: incometeam@tamworth.gov.uk

To find out more about Housing Services and other council services visit www.tamworth.gov.uk

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If you would like this document in a different language or format, for example audio cassette, large print or Braille, please contact the Tenant Participation team on: Telephone: 01827 709448 Freephone: 0800 183 0454 Tenant Participation Team Tamworth Borough Council Marmion House Lichfield Street Tamworth Borough Council Staffordshire B79 7BZ

Designed and produced by Tamworth Borough Council www.tamworth.gov.uk

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