This report requests approval for the new co-produced Tenant Engagement Strategy 2025-30.

The Committee considered a report requesting approval of the new co-produced Tenant Engagement Strategy (TES) 2025-2030, which was attached to the report at Appendix 1. Pat Watson and Gary Saunders of Tenants and Council Together (TACT) and Jordan Hatswell (RBC) attended the meeting and addressed the Committee on the Strategy.

The report explained that the Strategy outlined the Housing Service's ambitions for Tenant Engagement including its Vision and Priorities alongside the details of the Strategy’s formulation. The Strategy summarised the planned approach for tenant scrutiny and engagement to ensure that the service was held to account, the voice of tenants shaped service delivery and the service continued to adopt a continuous learning culture. It also aimed to provide assurance that the Housing & Communities Service was meeting its requirements for tenant engagement in line with the expectations set by the Regulator of Social Housing.

The report stated that officers had used feedback from the group, to develop, plan and implement a range of new engagement opportunities to appeal to a wider pool of tenants, including a digital membership option to all our engagement opportunities. Tenants had asked for the Strategy to be reviewed in two years following the launch of the Strategy and communication plan, to enable as many tenants as possible across a variety of channels to be included in the review process.

The report explained that the TES Working Group had identified the following Vision Statement: ‘Tenants are at the heart of everything we do; tenants know their voices are welcomed, respected and acted upon and our properties and estates are places tenants are proud to call home.’ The five priorities were:

1.    Information and Communication: To ensure that tenants knew their rights, the services they could expect and how the Council was performing compared to national standards and other landlords.

2.    Tenant Feedback: Feedback would be recorded, reviewed and acted on, with results shared clearly, demonstrating to tenants that their views made a difference. Tenant groups such as TACT and future engagement panels would use this information to focus on issues that mattered most to tenants.

3.    Recruitment and Support: The updated engagement options included informal opportunities alongside formal panels to suit a wide range of availability and interests. Tenants would have clear expectations, access to training and support to overcome barriers like IT access, travel, or caring responsibilities.

4.    Meaningful Methods of Engagement: Tenants were experts in knowing how the Council performed as a landlord. A variety of engagement methods including digital tools, surveys, and co-production would gather feedback to drive improvement.

5.    Complaints: Tenants needed to know their rights and how to raise concerns. Complaints would be handled on time and reviewed to identify lessons for improvement. There would be a Complaints Scrutiny Panel to monitor complaint handling to ensure high standards were met and there was a culture of continuous improvement.

The report also stated that the Priorities would be delivered through a proposed Menu of Engagement and the Tenant Engagement Model that had been agreed with tenants. A dedicated Communication Plan would underpin the implementation of the Strategy. A recruitment campaign for new involved tenants would start in Summer 2025 and would be aimed at generating as much intertest from the Council’s tenants as possible to ensure a representative group was established.

AGREED:

(1)        That the Draft Tenant Engagement Strategy and associated Action Plan, as contained in Appendix 1 to the report be approved.

(2)        That an annual update on the implementation of the Strategy and progress on delivery against the Action Plan be submitted to the Housing, Neighbourhood & Leisure Committee.