Minutes:
Simon introduces himself and talks through the Tenant Satisfaction Measures presentation which Board members have in front of them and presented on screen.
Full consultation published yesterday which was all approved. There could be minor changes to Tenant Satisfaction Measures when passed by the Government, but Simon will advise if anything is likely to change as he talks through presentation. Simon also advises that the Tenant Satisfaction Measure regarding complaints has been removed.
Discussion around the STAR survey which is now being sent out to tenants on a quarterly basis instead of every 2 years, data is being collected by a number of methods. 1/3 phone, paper, online.
IM – Referred to so far as Tenant Satisfaction Measures, but effectively that is the new STAR survey. We used to survey tenants every other year, and all landlords asked tenants the same questions. Government reviewed the set of questions and streamline into 22. The idea of making board aware is this is a key piece of information to help the Board take a view on what’s going well and what’s not going well. Much more real time data. In future when coming to board to decide new topics, across this range of measures you can see that this is how we’re performing. This will be valuable information to view and will help the board to decide on what to review going forward.
SB - No confirmation yet on how many consumer standards there will be, but they will follow 6 themes. There will be a review once the act is passed and in force.
IM – On the consumer standards, at present they are relatively light touch. e.g., The standard that covers my service says you don’t need a scrutiny board, but you need to give tenants a chance to scrutinise, how we do that is up to us.
In a post Grenfell environment that needs a stronger approach, like building safety, listening, and responding to tenant views and feedback. Had that happened prior then Grenfell could have been a lesser scale of catastrophe or prevented. The new Tenant Voice Panel will help us review our performance against the new consumer standards. The Board will have access to reviewing some of these consumer standards and holding people like me to account, through helpful and respectful engagement, ‘to agree you do X well but not sure about Y’. Tenant satisfaction information along with assessment critiqued by tenants will help the service.
JG – At Grenfell, the council weren’t listening to what tenants were saying. Wouldn’t you have thought this is how you engage with tenants?
IM – The government approach and emphasis has now gone the other way; the new consumer standards will be more descriptive and involve more expectation from landlords regarding communication with tenants. Building Safety Act is much clearer and not open for interpretation, for example by autumn next year we will have had to register all high-rise buildings in Leeds with the regulator.
SB – The Social Housing regulator will be making sure we are compliant, and we are preparing to be scrutinised by them a lot more. So, we’re getting ready for that now with the STAR Surveys and re writing policy.
JG – I keep hearing this might change, or this might come along, is it a draft at present?
SB – The Tenant Satisfaction Measures are going to happen, with minor changes. Increased powers are coming for the regulator, but really, we don’t know until the bill is passed in parliament what exactly it will look like.
IM – The Tenant Satisfaction Measures are set, and we’ve been collecting information against those for last 6 months before we are formally required to report on them from next year. With the consumer standards, we’re not waiting for them to happen, but it is in the hands of the Government to implement. Senior Management are saying we know we will be tested more on this so let’s self-assess now to understand where we are currently as a minimum.
NB –When will the ‘accountable person’ be appointed? Will there be checks done on each block? As there are a lot of blocks.
SB – Teams who currently look after the blocks will do it and will channel the information back to the accountable person.
NB – Will those people have the right training to identify problems?
IM – The Building Safety Act makes the governance of high risk buildings stronger; the accountable person isn’t someone we’d recruit, it’s likely to be a current Senior Management Team member. It will be a named senior officer, so not a new post. For all the new demands of Building Safety Act we are looking at how we make sure that all the information we collect, that all that is put in one place and to make sure it is up to date, and all records are robust. That information is captured in reports and sent on to residents, and everything is in one place for transparency. So, lots of data managed in one place, but then if the regulator asks what’s going on in block A, we will have the information ready for them.
JG advises that SE submitted questions regarding this agenda item and IM confirms she will receive a written response to these questions as well as being noted in this meetings minutes.
SB – There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes to pull all this together and make us more transparent. You will see over the coming months the impact and the things you want to look at will be a lot easier to access.
JG – This isn’t set in stone, and some of it the council are already doing and that’s good. Can you explain the regulator?
IM – The regulator for Social Housing is being strengthened and will have increased powers to check how we’re doing in a range of ways against these standards. The regulator will go pro actively looking for landlords who are not complying with the new measures, they will have powers to fine us, make public orders and decisions about us, and implement new management structures (like Ofsted). We are one of the largest social landlords in the country, so they are likely to come to us first.
JG – Like an audit?
IM – Not dissimilar.
JG – Tenant Voice Panel, Housing Advisory Panel, Tenant Scrutiny Board – these are 3 communications that Leeds City Council have now besides STAR surveys, how will this be conveyed to people in Tenant Voice Panel what you’ve just told us?
IM – There is more that happens at a local level, engagement can be informal as well as formal boards. We would self-assess against the new standards and if that takes too long then we would go Tenant Voice Panel and say we feel these are strengths and areas for improvement, do you agree/disagree? The outcome from Tenant Voice Panel shared with Tenant Scrutiny Board and Housing Advisory Panels. It will be an honest appraisal of where we are in this service.
JG – When will this be passed?
IM – We are on tenterhooks waiting for it to go through, we are preparing by self-assessing and launching Tenant Voice Panel, so we are ready for the standards when they are implemented.
SB – Hopefully soon but there is a new Government in place, so we are waiting for them to bed themselves in and for the wheels of Government to start turning again.
JG – Some of this information is from a previous administration, so there could be lots of changes?
SB – I would imagine this won’t change much as this Government is always going to want to encourage transparency and openness post Grenfell. As Tenant Satisfaction Measures were approved yesterday, there shouldn’t be too much change.
NB – Will you be setting a precedent or getting an idea from other councils?
IM – We are sharing a lot of information with core cities, Sheffield, Birmingham etc. Developing sharing documents and ideas, and this absolutely feels the right way to do things. We feel collectively that there should be some degree of consistency across different Councils. When forming the Tenant Voice Panel, we had lots of contact with other councils to ensure we were following a similar trajectory.
DM – From 1st October, landlords have got to fit carbon monoxide detectors, does this include social landlords?
IM – We already do this, if you have a gas cooker you require a carbon monoxide detector. It will mainly impact private landlords.