As part of the implementation of the Social Housing White Paper the Government started a consultation in December on its proposals for tenant satisfaction measures. The consultation runs until 3 March 2022 and we would encourage all in the sector to get involved with it.
As we know, the White Paper stressed the need for the resident voice to be heard and for social housing providers to listen, not just listen but to also put things right. That in turn leads to the questions of how do we do that, how do we reach the silent majority, how do we demonstrate that we are doing that? As Board Members tenants are becoming increasingly rare, particularly in larger organisations, how is their voice to be heard at a level where change can be brought about?
Many organisations are ahead of the curve on this and indeed you can hear how a number of our clients have been addressing this issue here. However, what is the consultation considering?
- Providers will be obliged to collect and publish data about tenant satisfaction
- There are a proposed 22 different measures, some measured by landlords, the remainder by surveys of tenants
- The measures come under 5 themes being repair, safety, engagement, neighbourhood management and complaints handling
- There will need to be an annual survey for providers with greater than 1000 homes, every other year for providers with less
The focus on neighbourhoods as well as the provider’s properties is interesting as whilst many providers have a holistic approach, others are far more focussed on being a landlord. The phrase “Neighbourhood Investor” once went out of fashion, is it back?
This standard is, of course, only part of the wider obligation under the White Paper about the resident voice so whilst the standard will bring about another annual exercise to be undertaken, providers need to be thinking what else they can do/continue to do, particularly those with no tenants at Board Level.
The Tenant Satisfaction Measures Standard is intended to be published this summer and come into force from 1 April 2023 but providers will be well advised to get ahead, influence the consultation and implement the proposals early. The consultation can be found here. We will report back once the outcome of the consultation process is known.
