Landlord Panel - 11 February 2026

Location: North Tyneside Council offices, Quadrant, Cobalt Business Park

Attendees

Tenant members – Linda, Marie Christine, Kim

Cllr John Harrison, Cabinet Member Responsible for Housing; Cllr Sandra Graham, Cabinet Member responsible for Climate Emergency; Peter Mennell, Director of Housing and Property Services; Dave Foster, Head of Property Services; Toby Brown, Head of Housing Management; Angela Melvin, Housing Engagement Manager

Apologies 

Tenant members – Patricia, Clare

1. Minutes of the last meeting and action log 

Notes of the last meeting were agreed.  Regarding the comment in the notes about the new phone system making it easier for tenants to provide feedback, we will come back to panel once we have a clearer idea on the system’s capability.  

Action log:  The Pennington audit on quality and safety will shortly be ready to share with the panel, with an accompanying action plan.  

2. Complaints update

The quarterly report had been shared with the panel ahead of the meeting.  SC explained how his team manages corporate complaints, enquiries from elected members, the Elected Mayor’s office and local MPs.  

Recent work has been to start compiling meaningful information on trends and complaints about specific things, so we can learn and constantly improve services. 

Quarter 3 has seen a steady increase in complaints compared to same period last year (96 for 2025, compared to 77 in 2024).  All services across the Authority are seeing a similar increase in complaint volumes.  One reason for this could be that tenants and residents may feel more able to complain, which we don’t see as a bad thing.  It should be noted that the number of complaints upheld aren’t increasing by the same proportion.  

The number partially upheld has increased and SC explained this may be because many complaints coming in now cover several different issues.  Some elements may be upheld, while others in the same complaint will not be.  

The two highest reasons for upheld complaints were:

• Delays in service (21 upheld)
• Poor communication/customer service (16 upheld)

The team has done a full review of all upheld complaints last year relating to poor communication in repairs complaints (repairs was selected for the review as this team has most of the  interactions with our tenants) and more detailed work to understand where there are examples of poor communication within the repairs service will be taken forward with the Repairs and Investment Panel. 

A panel member gave an example of a lack of communication between different tradespeople at a recent repair.  DF responded that we recognise that multi-trade jobs can have this issue and this is the kind of thing we’re working on.  PM added that the system we currently have is not as well suited to multi-trade jobs as single issues.  We aren’t performing as well on those.  The incoming new IT system will allow us to make more proactive calls to our tenants to keep them up to date.  

We are aware that co-ordination of complex jobs requires more work and PM gave an example of how Repairs and Environment teams are working together to address pest control.

DF explained we are looking at what will have the biggest impact on customer care and are in the process of planning some drama-based learning for our teams, which will include demonstrating the potential impact of not keeping customers informed.  AM added that we will be asking tenant panel members and our teams for any of their real-life experiences that we could reflect in the training.

The complaints team will continue its work on addressing poor communication in other areas, as part of an ongoing service review.  Our tenant panels will be kept up to date on this.

3. Competence and Conduct Policy

Panel members had received a draft of this new policy in advance of the meeting.

The Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 introduced four consumer standards and now a fifth has been added following recent consultation.  The Competence and Conduct Standard introduces a mandatory framework to drive up standards among social landlords, increase professionalism, improve resident safety and make sure we have the right people with the right skills in the right jobs to deliver services to our tenants.

The standard identifies which roles will require a specialised housing qualification.  After an internal review, we have identified 54 roles across the Housing and Property Service.   Sixteen of those postholders have a qualification now, others will need to do an add-on.  

This comes into effect from October 2026.  Some officers have started training already, others will start in April and we will continue on a rolling basis after that.  PM explained that we started to put people through these courses ahead of the requirement.   This is helping to address some of the issues we have discussed at panels, for example around communication and addressing stigma.  DF said there has been good feedback from staff who have already started their qualification.  JH reiterated that a strong focus on skills, knowledge and behaviours was a good way forward. 

FR asked the Panel if the draft Competence and Conduct Policy was clear, they agreed that it was.   

The new Standard also requires providers to have a Code of Conduct, which also states how underperformance will be managed.  We are adopting the Authority’s version.  

Where appropriate, the compliance of our contractors will also be checked against the Standard and included in procurement documentation.  We are also required to demonstrate how resident and tenant influence has influenced our services – information is shared through our panels, one-off events and activities, social media and online.  

The Panel agreed to receive further updates as this work progresses.

4. Tenant Satisfaction Measures Survey 2025 results 

Panel members had received a report summarising the results ahead of the meeting.   

All social housing landlords must conduct an annual survey, with 12 of the 22 measures being based on tenant perception.  

For 2025, an external organisation was appointed to conduct the survey on our behalf, using a mix of online, postal and telephone returns.  We do acknowledge that telephone responses generally give better feedback than online or by post. 

The survey was conducted September-November 2025, going out to a random sample of 5,000 and we offered a prize draw as an incentive, however this didn’t prove effective.   A total of 992 responses were received (the minimum required for results to be significant)

• 563 postal returns (57%)
• 262 online returns (26%)
• 167 telephone interviews (17%)

Results are positive, with increased satisfaction in 11 of the 12 measures (satisfaction with complaint handling dropped, but is still higher than in 2023).

The top three improved response areas were: 

• Satisfaction with communal areas being clean and well maintained, this increased 12% to 69%
• Tenants feeling that their home is well maintained rose by 8% to 75%
• The landlord is making a positive contribution to the neighbourhood increased by 7% to 61%

Satisfaction levels remain higher amongst tenants aged 65+ and NTL tenants are more satisfied than general needs tenants.  Tenants aged 35-44 are the least satisfied.  No consistent pattern could be identified for satisfaction by ward.

Comparing our results with eight neighbouring social housing landlords places us mid-table for most measures.  

A tenant member asked about potholes and FR replied that this would not come under the remit of the Housing service, though we do appreciate that impacts someone’s impression of their neighbourhood.  As a local authority we can be judged on a tenant’s impression of our non-housing services too; a registered provider wouldn’t have that.  

The survey gave an opportunity for tenants to leave general comments, a lot of responses were around environmental issues such as bins, grass cutting and pest control.  What is our responsibility we will look at, if it’s not under our remit we will be passing on to relevant services.  

PM added that the service is pleased with scores and a lot of measures have seen increased satisfaction.  Work continues on improvements, for example the work around anti-social behaviour and a focus on complaints handling. 

FR explained that the results are being shared at all February tenant panels and will be published.  An action plan will be developed to focus on those measures with lower levels of satisfaction, taking tenant feedback into account.

5. Engagement and communications

The Panel had been sent ahead of the meeting:

• Draft TPAS engagement self-assessment 
• Draft Housing and Property Service Communication Plan 

TPAS self-assessment

As a service, we have carried out a short internal self-assessment using a template provided by TPAS (the national Tenant Participation Advisory Service) which is based around its National Tenant Engagement Standards. It involves a series of questions to consider which aspects of engagement work in our organisation meets its highest standards, and where there is room for improvement.

The self-assessment helps social housing providers to highlight areas of good engagement practice, and identify where more work could be done.  It comprises 47 measures and asks for a response of yes/no/unsure as to whether we feel we are compliant with each measure.  We have answered as follows:

• ‘Yes’ for 39 measures
• ‘Unsure’ for two measures
• ‘No’ for four measures
• Two measures are not applicable to us as a local authority provider

We are partly compliant with some of those measures where we have answered ‘unsure’ or ‘no’, for example around training for involved tenants, the Competence and Conduct Policy (discussed earlier) and providing information broken down by protected characteristics (the Panel has heard about work underway to improve this at previous meetings).

Actions to address gaps identified in the self-assessment will be included in the 2026-27 tenant engagement plan.

AM asked the Panel to provide any feedback by 18 February.  The draft self-assessment will then be refined and submitted to TPAS for their comments.  

Draft Housing and Property Service Communication Plan 

This sets out how the service will communicate with tenants, promote key programmes of work and support the delivery of housing priorities. The plan outlines core aims, key messages, major communications activity, and priority messages that will be delivered over the next 12 months.  It is being shared with the panel to gather their feedback and ensure that it covers the priorities that our tenants feel are important. The plan includes focused communications activity around: 

• Condensation, mould and damp 
• Disrepair awareness 
• No‑access visits 
• ‘Your Neighbourhood’ launch 
• You Said, We Did 
• Safety and compliance communications 
• Seasonal campaigns 
• Tenant Satisfaction Measures results 

TB explained that the new ‘Your Neighbourhood’ project is targeting priorities on a ward-by-ward basis, so what is done in one area could differ from what is done elsewhere.   This is not just for Housing, it will also include Highways and Environment, and the council will be working with partners in the voluntary and community sector and Police.  PM added that Your Neighbourhood has a clear link to the TSM survey measures and demonstrates that we are listening and acting on tenant priorities. 

Any further feedback on the draft plan should be sent to AM by 18 February, after which the plan will be finalised.

In terms of monitoring progress on the plan, the Panel requested an update in six months.

6. Matters arising from regular reports

Ahead of the meeting, the Panel had received:

• Quarterly Performance scorecard 
• Quarterly Quality and Safety report 
• Quarterly Engagement report 

Overall, performance has been strong over the last quarter, with 11 of the 12 Key Performance Indicators on target – including 100% of all statutory safety checks.   The panel raised some comments on the performance scorecard: 

• CN2 Average working days to close anti-social behaviour cases: This is at 15.4 days in the year to date, against a target of 42 days, which seems too high.   TB explained the target is to be reduced to 25 days, and that re-opening of cases will also be examined.
• TR1 New tenant contacts within 6-week target period is at 37.7% for the year to date, compared to 41.7% for the same period last year and a target of 100%.  A panel member raised the importance of this target and asked why it was consistently not being achieved.  TB replied that we know how important these visits are for setting up a successful tenancy.  The 6-week is a follow up afterwards (can be slightly longer timeframe).  Figures since January show that we are now at 59% within the 6-week period.  Of those due in January, 80% were done on time.  There have been some inconsistencies in how different officers have been recording these visits, which is being followed up.  Brand new tenants are being prioritised for visits, rather than those moving between properties.  We feel this measure is important and the target should remain as 100%.   
• TR2 Tenancy Home Visits is 43.47% on the scorecard, but more recent figures show this is currently at 53% and likely to be around 64% by end-of-year.  We are looking at consistency issues around these visits too, for example NTL tenants get two visits per year.   

There were no questions raised relating to the Quality and Safety report, or the Engagement report.  

The panel welcomed the progress being made.

7. Any Other Business

Tenants on the panel had been asked if they wanted to continue with a member of staff attending the panel pre-meeting, they agreed that this was helpful and should continue.

A tenant member is attending a regional Stop Social Housing Stigma online seminar next week, AM is also attending this.  

AM will be starting work on the annual tenants’ report for 2025-26 shortly and is inviting involved tenants to send through thoughts and comments for inclusion.