Tenant Scrutiny Panel - previous Meeting Minutes
Tenant Scrutiny Panel Meeting Minutes 5 November 2024.
Present:
- Julie Hood, Housing Equalities and Engagement Facilitator
- D. McLaren, tenant
- J. Wormald, tenant
- M. Flintoft, tenant
- E. Middleton, tenant
Apologies:
- none received
Julie Hood opened the meeting and welcomed everybody.
- Minutes and matters arising
- Feedback from Michael Jones regarding issues raised at the last meeting
- Property on Eboracum Way
- Mystery shopping
- Engagement Strategy Action Plan
- Tenant and Leasehold Annual Report
- HEIP update
- Action Plan
- Any Other Business
- Next meeting details
Minutes and matters arising
A typo was identified. With this corrected the minutes were agreed as a true record of the meeting.
Feedback from Michael Jones regarding issues raised at the last meeting
One of the questions raised was about the numbers of fully wheelchair accessible homes we are building on our new sites. Across Duncombe, Burnholme and Ordnance Lane we will be developing 39 fully wheelchair accessible homes. This is around 18% of the total homes. Of the homes that aren’t fully wheelchair accessible, most of them meet a standard called ‘accessible and adaptable dwellings. This means, amongst other things, that they have step free access, widened doorways, more space within kitchens and bathrooms, ground floor toilets that are suitable for wheelchair users, and raised sockets and switches.
Another issue raised was regarding a lost email to the repairs service. The email was sent but when no reply was received a follow up phone call was made with the operator being unable to find the original email. Paul Hester, Head of Building Services, has confirmed that there have been no other reports of lost emails that he or the repairs manager are aware of. We hope this was an isolated case but if anyone hears of something similar happening again, please let me us know so we can investigate further.
There was also a concern raised about a difficulty in reporting repairs in communal areas in terms of them not being logged correctly and dealt with quickly. This is certainly something we recognise and there has been specific communal block training undertaken by the customer service team in recent weeks to try and resolve this. We will continue to monitor this to see if further training is needed. If the tenant scrutiny panel continue to experience this issue or hear it from neighbours, please flag this up again. Any specific examples are always helpful in supporting dedicated training for staff. One option to try could be to more clearly label communal areas so it is easier for tenants to report issues. For example, signs in communal corridors saying something like ‘Please report any repairs or issues to this phone xxxx or email address xxx. Please quote Building xxx area xxxx when reporting your repair. This will help us identify the repair more easily when we visit’. Do Tenant Scrutiny Panel think this would help or that it is already clear the area they are reporting? It might help in buildings with more than one entrance door, more than one communal corridor per floor, etc. The Panel agreed this would be useful information for communal areas.
Property on Eboracum Way
City of York Council haven’t bought any properties on Eboracum Way.
Mystery shopping
The results of the recent mystery shopping exercise were shared with the panel.
The emails to Capital projects were not responded to within timeframes. This information was sent to the relevant Officers. Officers had identified this as an issue through more informal feedback from staff and tenants the Mystery Shopping data added to this data.
A member of staff has now been identified to monitor the inbox more regularly. Improvements have already been made to response times. Some of the Mystery Shoppers have recently received responses.
A further mystery shop of the response times for the Capital Projects email will be undertaken at the beginning of December.
The next mystery shop will take place in the new year. There were no other suggestions for a mystery shopping exercise before the last shop.
Action: All members to bring suggestions for the next shop to the next meeting.
Engagement Strategy Action Plan
This is with Senior Managers for comment.
Tenant and Leasehold Annual Report
This is now on the website. Discissions around content for the next report (2024/2025) will start over the next few weeks. If anyone has any suggestions for articles, please let Julie know.
HEIP update
The refocussed Housing Environment Improvement budget needs to be agreed by Cllr Pavlovic.
Action Plan
To be updated and put on the website.
Any Other Business
Building strong relationships with neighbours
The policy and factsheet for this new process were discussed. These were agreed.
Domestic Abuse Policy
The Domestic Abuse policy has been drafted. Tiana Brown, has asked if the Panel will feedback on the policy at the next meeting.
All agreed.
Action: Julie to send the draft policy with the papers for the next meeting.
Attracting more members to this panel and the Performance Panel
Unfortunately, there are very few active Panel members for these two groups. The Performance Panel now only has two members.
Ideas for encouraging new members was discussed. Most of the current Panel members joined because they had received poor service and wanted to be heard. They suggested changing the wording of articles and posts on social media to include text like:
- This is the place to be heard, we are listened to
- Come and work with us to change things
- Join us and be heard, make a difference
- Be the difference you want to see
Action: Julie to draft something for the next meeting.
Information on website
The papers for these meetings (agenda, minutes, and action plan) should be on the website to provide information about the work of the panel. The format of the documents will need to change to make sure they are accessible. Panel members asked that they are named by their initial and surname, with no assigned gender.
Action: Julie to ensure the documents are put on the website following each monthly meeting.
Age UK survey
One member told the meeting that a recent survey undertaken by Age UK was sent to 7,000 members by post and 7,000 digitally. The digital surveys received a 75% response rate, and the postal surveys received an 85% response rate.
Permission for a pet
2 residents requested permission to have a pet over six months ago and have not received a response. They are advised either to contact their Housing Management Officer or Julie who will chase it up for them.
Next meeting details
Date: Tuesday 3 December.
Agenda items:
- Domestic Abuse Policy
- Mystery Shopping
- Engagement Strategy Action Plan
- HEIP update
Previous meeting minutes are available by contacting the Housing Equalities and Engagement Officer