Tenant Scrutiny Panel - previous Meeting Minutes
Tenant Scrutiny Panel Meeting - 2 December 2025 Minutes
Present:
- Julie Hood, Housing Equalities and Engagement Facilitator
- D. McLaren, tenant
- E. Middleton, tenant
- S. Scott, tenant
- J. Wormald, tenant
- M. Flintoft, tenant
- Fiona Brown, Business Change Manager
Apologies:
- E. Booth, tenant
Stephen opened the meeting and welcomed everybody. Introductions were made.
- Minutes and matters arising
- Special agenda item
- Inspection
- Antisocial Behaviour Policy Feedback
- Satisfaction data
- Tenant and Leasehold Annual Report
- The Contractor Code of Conduct
- Registration letters
- Visual survey of Independent Living Community communal areas
- Government Innovation Fund
- Conference
- Action Plan
- Any other business
- Next meeting
Minutes and matters arising
The minutes were agreed as a true record of the meeting.
The following were actions at the last meeting:
- feedback from the Anti-Social Behaviour Policy consultation to be brought to a future meeting. The feedback sent with the papers for this meeting. Item on the
- agenda
- revised Tenant and Leasehold Annual Report to be sent with the papers for this meeting. Report sent with the papers. Item on the agenda
- Contractor Code of Conduct and Housing Officer Code of Conduct to be sent with the papers for this meeting. Both Codes of Conduct sent with the papers. Item on the agenda
Special agenda item
Stephen asked if a special item could be included at the beginning of the meeting. All agreed.
Inspection
The Regulatory Inspectors have told us that they will be inspecting us in the New Year.
Initial documents have been sent from which a scoping framework document will be produced. This will be sent approx. two weeks after the initial submission, which had to be sent by 19 November.
The inspection will cover all four Consumer Standards but not the Rent Standard focussing on:
- Safety and Quality Standard
- Transparency, Influence, and Accountability Standard
- Neighbourhood and Community Standard, the focus will be ASB
- Tenancy Standard, the focus will be Tenancy Sustainment and Allocation of Homes
We will need to send documents that demonstrate compliance with the standards and, importantly, demonstrate action and outcomes.
Normally two weeks would be given for this purpose but because of the Christmas period we have been given the draft dates of Monday 15 December 2025 to Monday 12 January 2026 to supply our documentary evidence.
The inspection team will then review the documents and either accept the assurance is there from the evidence or plan to undertake further investigation.
Fieldwork Stage
The inspectors want to meet with Officers, Councillors and Tenants. They want to observe a number of meetings, for example, Tenant Scrutiny and council meetings.
Specifically, they have asked to meet:
- Leader of the Council
- Portfolio Holder
- COO and senior leaders
- S151 (Finance Officer)
- Housing Teams
- group of involved tenants - 1 to 1.5 hrs
The on-site inspection is likely to be Tuesday 3 February 2026 to Thursday 5 February 2026.
The panel asked that the Inspectors are invited to their next meeting on Tuesday 6 January 2026.
Antisocial Behaviour Policy Framework
The feedback was sent with the papers for the November meeting.
Panel members noted that there was a lot of feedback received for this consultation. They thought this new feedback form was very clear and gave the reasons for not including feedback in the review.
They asked that all feedback be presented in this format.
Satisfaction data
Data sent with the papers for this meeting
Home Improvement Programme
Only one set of data means trends cannot be identified. No work has been completed since August.
A satisfaction of 66.67% for the contractor being respectful of you, your family and home is poor.
External Painting Programme
It was noted that these figures appear to be on a downward trend.
Window Replacement Programme
Satisfaction remains high for all areas except 02.06.25 (work completed in May) when one of the two tenants who completed the survey did not think the contractor communicated well and the operatives were not respectful.
Responsive Repairs
Although satisfaction with the overall repair is only in the 60% range, satisfaction that operatives are polite and respectful is consistently over 90%.
The Tenant Scrutiny Panel members noted the satisfaction and would like the full year date information brought to their meeting in April.
This will make trends more clear.
Action - Full year satisfaction information to be discussed at the meeting in April 2026
Tenant and Leasehold Annual Report
Revised report sent with the papers for the November meeting.
This was agreed.
Action - To be agreed by Senior Officers and put on the web.
The Contractor Code of Conduct
Both Codes of Conduct sent with the papers for the November meeting.
It was agreed to discuss these at the meeting in January 2026.
Registration letters
These were sent before the meeting. Panel members were asked to check the letters to make sure they are clear, fair, and transparent.
Panel members postponed this discussion until February 2026.
Visual survey of Independent Living Community communal areas
The communal areas of our Independent Living Communities have not been refurbished for several years. The Tenant Scrutiny Panel have been asked if they will visit and visually survey the communal areas, scoring them. These scores can then be used to produce a priority list for a refurbishment programme.
There are 11 Independent Living Communities with some being refurbished fairly recently:
| Independent Living Community | Refurbished (year) |
|---|---|
| Glen Lodge | 2017 and 2025 |
| Marjorie Waite Court | 2020 |
| Lincoln Court | 2018 |
| Honeysuckle House | 2025 |
| Alex Lyn House | 2025 |
| Delwood | Not known |
| Lovel House | Not known |
| Barstow House | Not known |
| City Mills | Not known |
| Gale Farm Court | Not known |
| The Glebe | Not known |
The following draft plan was brought to the meeting:
| Independent Living Community | Survey date and time |
|---|---|
| Delwood | Tuesday 20 January 2026, 10.30am |
| Barstow House | Thursday 22 January 2026, 10.30am |
| Gale Farm Court | Tuesday 27 January 2026, 10.30am |
| The Glebe | Thursday 29 January 2026, 10.30am |
| Lovel House | Tuesday 10 February 2026, 10.30am |
| City Mills | Wednesday 11 February 2026, 10.30am |
The plan was agreed.
A matrix has been drafted to make sure scoring is fair and transparent. All agreed.
Residents of the Independent Living Communities will receive a letter letting them know of the visit and inviting them to come and meet Panel members.
Transport will be provided. For those who wish to make their own way, full postal addresses will be sent in an email a few days before the visit.
Government Innovation Fund
The Government has announced an Innovation Fund to support projects which improve social housing tenants’ engagement with their landlord, and which give tenants more of a say about decisions affecting their homes. Projects must be ‘innovative’, meaning they introduce new or significantly improved approaches, technologies or partnerships and challenge conventional practices in social housing. Projects must also have been co-produced with tenants and have the potential to be replicated or rolled out on a wider scale.
The indicative amount of funding awarded per project will be between £60,000 and £100,000.
We would like to apply to this fund to improve the way we engage with our tenants. We would like to door-knock every home. This in itself is not innovative; however, we would like to include all Housing Officers. The Director, Deputy Director, Heads of Service through to our data collection and data inputting Officers.
Some responses to our surveys have been ‘I don’t know who any of the Housing Officers are’, ‘I never see anyone anymore’. This project will address this for tenants. We aim to have a gazebo in a space near the door-knocking where we can talk to people and give them information, for example, we would use this project to gather profiling information and gather tenants’ views/thoughts on our services.
Part of the funding (if we are successful) would be to employ a member of staff, on a fixed term basis, to plan and manage the project. They would also collate the data collected and follow up any queries not addressed at the time.
The Panel agreed this is the best way to gather information and feedback. This project would also mean that Housing staff are visible. Not knowing ‘who’s who’ is something they have heard many times from other tenants. Senior Officers would get a ‘feel’ for issues and as they are the decision makers, real change should follow.
The Panel would like to join the events to help promote being involved and giving feedback. They would also like to be involved with the planning of the project.
Conference
To be held on Tuesday 17 March 2026.
Draft programme:
| Time | Agenda |
|---|---|
| 9.30am | Arrival and refreshments |
| 10.05am |
Welcome and introductions Stephen Scott |
| 10.05am | Housing Service, focus for the coming year Katherine Proctor, Assistant Director Housing |
| 11.00am | Refreshments |
| 11.15am | Independent Living Community visual survey Emma Thorpe, Housing Management Team Leader |
| midday | Lunch |
| 1.00pm | Housing Management Officer training, support and back up |
| Denis Southall, Head of Housing Services John MacLean Housing Training Officer (Refreshment break at a convenient point) |
|
| 3.00pm | Round up and final thoughts Julie Hood, Housing Equalities and Engagement Facilitator |
Action plan
Julie will update this and send it with the papers for the next meeting.
Any other business
Rent Setting & Service Charges Policy
The panel were asked if they would review a draft Rent Setting & Service Charges Policy at the next meeting. This would be a fairly short, five or so page document summarising our existing approach to rent setting in line with the government guidance. We would like your views and feedback on how to approach this and how to draft a policy that is clear and easy to understand.
Fire Management Plan and Operational Guidance
Our Compliance Manager has asked if these can be reviewed by the Panel. They are long documents that are for internal teams including Compliance, Housing Management, Building Services and appointed contractors. Tenants will receive information through fire safety leaflets and communication from Housing Management Teams.
The documents contain example leaflets and signage (within the appendices).
The Compliance Manager would like the Tenant Scrutiny Panel’s views on:
- the leaflets being clear
- how we can improve awareness of fire safety responsibilities and the stay-put strategy
- does the guidance give confidence that risks are managed effectively and transparently?
Panel agreed to look at this plan and operational guidance at the meeting in February.
Apprentice
Julie told the Panel that there are plans to have a Tenant Engagement Apprentice in the New Year. It is hoped that the post will be advertised in February with a start date of May. Further information will be brought to future meetings.
Washing lines
A question was raised as to who should be replacing washing lines? Julie to address this outside of the meeting.
Next meeting
Tuesday 6 January 2026, 6.30pm via Microsoft Teams.
Agenda items:
- Rent Setting and Service Charge Policy
- Code of Conduct – Contractor
- Code of Conduct – Officer
- updates on:
- Independent Living Community visual survey
- Government Innovation Fund
- Conference
Previous meeting minutes are available by contacting the Housing Equalities and Engagement Facilitator.
Also see