Family Housing Association (Birkenhead & Wirral) Ltd, Marcus House, Marcus Street, Birkenhead, Telephone: 0151 647 5000

Together with Tenants Charter 

Family Housing Association is working towards adopting the Together with Tenants Charter.  This Charter is intended to strengthen the relationship between Family Housing Association and its tenants in six key areas.  Relationships, Communication, Voice & Influence, Accountability, Quality and ‘When things go wrong’.  This page explains our work to achieve compliance with the Charter.  Our work in this area will evolve in the coming months as we learn from the implementation process.  This page will be regularly updated to reflect how our approach has been refined over the course of the year. 

 

Relationships: Housing associations will treat all residents with respect in all of their interactions. Relationships between residents and housing associations will be based on openness, honesty and transparency.  Family Housing Association will:

•     Promote a culture and create an environment within the organisation of respect, openness, honesty and transparency.

•     Encourage Board, Staff and Tenant interaction through the Customer Panel, tenant membership on the Board and open consultation. 

•     Share complaints and compliments with Board Members.

•     Provide regular training opportunities for staff on Customer Service Skills.

 

Communication: Residents will receive clear, accessible and timely information from their housing association on the issues that matter to them, including important information about their homes and local community, how the organisation is working to address problems, how the organisation is run, and information about performance on key issues.  Family Housing Association will:

•     Consult tenants through letters, phone calls and face to face meetings on issues and changes that directly affect their home.

•     Provide topical news and information on our website and through Social Media, including information about how the organisation is working to address problems, how the organisation is run and information about performance on key issues.

•     Facilitate consultation through our website and Social Media so that all tenants can submit comments on our policies, performance and key issues.

•     Provide a twice-yearly newsletter to tenants.

•     Produce an Annual Report to tenants explaining our work and performance over the last year and our plans for the year ahead.

•     Give all tenants the opportunity to join our Customer Panel, where they can influence Association’s policies, procedures and issues that matter to them.    Panel Members don’t have to attend meetings but can be sent the paperwork and give feedback by whatever method they prefer.

 

Voice and influence: Housing associations will seek and value the views of residents and will use this information to inform decisions. Every individual resident will feel listened to by their housing association on the issues that matter to them and can speak without fear.  Family Housing Association will:

•     Encourage consultation through our website and social media, so that all tenants can submit comments on policies, performance and key issues.

•     Encourage tenants to join our Customer Panel where they can influence the Associations policies, procedures and issues that matter to them.  Panel Members don’t have to attend meetings but can be sent the paperwork and give feedback by whatever method they prefer.

•     Aim to have at least 2 tenants on the Board.

•     Consult tenants using letters, phone calls and face to face meetings on issues and changes that directly affect their home.

•     Take account of tenants’ opinions and will always explain why we can or can’t carry out their suggestions. 

•     Seek to create an environment and relationship where tenants can feel encouraged and confident to give their views on the things that matter without fear.

 

Accountability: Collectively, residents will work in partnership with their housing association to independently scrutinise and hold their housing association to account for the decisions that affect the quality of their homes and services.  Family Housing Association will: 

•     Ensure our Customer Panel can influence the Association’s policies, procedures and issues that matter to tenants.  Panel Members don’t have to attend meetings but can be sent the paperwork and give feedback by whatever method they prefer.

•     Report complaints and compliments to the Board so that Board Members understand the issues affecting individual tenants.

•     Publicise our performance on our website.

•     Aim to have a minimum of 2 Tenants on the Board.

•     Carry out an independently verified Tenant Satisfaction Survey every three years.

•     Provide a summary of the findings of the External and Internal Audit work carried out in the year.

 

Quality: Residents can expect their homes to be good quality, well maintained, safe and well managed.  Family Housing Association will:

•     Carry out Planned Maintenance Works on all properties every 5 years to ensure they meet they meet good quality and safety standards.

•     Inspect and carry out work on void ( empty) properties to ensure they meet good quality and safety standards.

•     Appoint suitably qualified contactors to carry out response repairs within specified timescales.

•     Monitor contractor performance.  Performance of individual contactors will be shared with the Board and Customer Panel.  Overall performance will be benchmarked against other small North West based Housing Association and shared with tenants on our website.

•     Maintain strict policies and procedures on Compliance issues such as Gas Servicing, Electrical Servicing, Fire Risk Assessments, Asbestos Awareness and Legionella.  Compliance closely monitored by Staff, Board & Customer Panel.

•     Send a Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire for every repair reported to ensure tenants are happy with how their repair has been handled.

 

When things go wrong: Residents will have simple and accessible routes for raising issues, making complaints and seeking redress. Residents will receive timely advice and support when things go wrong.  Family Housing Association will:

•     Have a complaints procedure that complies with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (July 2020).  This provides a high-level framework to support effective complaints handling and prevention, learning and development, whilst promoting the open and transparent use of information to assess complaints performance and risk.

•     Seek feedback from the Customer Panel when the Complaints Policy is reviewed every 3 years.

•     Review and update the Complaints policy every three years or more frequently if the Housing Ombudsman updates their guidance.

•     Communicate with tenants in a way that suits them.  The tenant will be kept updated throughout the process of the investigation.

•     Clearly explain the decision to the tenant and provide clear information on the next stage of the process if they are not satisfied.

•     Report all complaints, whether informal or formal, to Board on which there is tenant representation.  Each complaint will be reviewed to understand any lessons learned and changes than may be necessary.

 

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If you would like any more information please contact the office on 0151 647 5000