Landlord Panel - 12 May 2026

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

Attendees

Tenant members – Linda, Patricia, Clare

Cllr John Harrison, Cabinet Member Responsible for Housing

Peter Mennell, Director of Housing and Property Services; Toby Brown, Head of Housing Management; Fiona Robson, Service Improvement and Business Support Manager; Lee Nesbitt, Service Delivery Manager (Housing Asset & Investment); Ian Rice, Service Manager Financial Support; Angela Melvin, Housing Engagement Manager

Apologies

Kimberley, Marie Christine

Dave Foster, Head of Property Services

Cllr Sandra Graham was not re-elected at last week’s elections and therefore has stepped down from the Panel.

1. Notes of the last meeting and action log

These were agreed.

A question was asked about whether the panel could see the drama-based training that all Housing and Property Service staff are currently completing. FR outlined the positive feedback from those who had taken part so far. The sessions are not being recorded, however a summary of all feedback can be provided to the panel.

2. Draft Compensation Policy

The Housing Ombudsman encourages landlords to have a Compensation Policy, to ensure our approach is consistent, fair and transparent.

The draft Policy had been sent to the panel to review ahead of the meeting. It applies to tenants, leaseholders and any resident who may be affected when there has been an identified service failure. FR outlined what the policy will and will not cover, how a remedy will be determined and how financial offers will be calculated.

JH asked how we currently pick up whether there has been a breach of the Tenancy Agreement. FR explained we have clear policies and procedures to follow in the event of a suspected breach. PM clarified that the Housing Ombudsman can find against us simply for not following the set-out procedures. TB added that we have had issues around communication, which have been acknowledged.

A tenant member gave an example where a victim of anti-social behaviour (ASB) was moved out of their home, rather than the perpetrator, with no financial support for new floor coverings, blinds etc. TB assured them that would not be the case now as procedures and support for victims have been improved.

Another tenant member queried the proposed levels of financial compensation, which appear quite generous. FR clarified these are within the Ombudsman’s guidelines.

FR asked the panel for their views:

Is the draft policy clear?

It’s clear who it applies to, but could benefit from some additional detail
Include specific timeframes, eg what would be ‘reasonable’ for appointments not being kept
Limit the number of times someone can complain about the same thing
Clear guidelines are needed on what is meant by ‘poor complaint handling’ – perceptions of ‘poor’ vary
Include some examples of general terms such as ‘inconvenient’ to help manage expectations

Is there any information missing from the policy?

Clarity on what is a ‘policy’ and what is a ‘procedure’
Financial compensation is included, however this may encourage complaints. Non-monetary compensation, such as vouchers or providing an additional service without charging, could also be considered

If the panel would like to receive compensation payment information as part of the complaint data regularly shared?

The panel agreed that they would.

FR thanked the panel for their feedback, the draft will be updated to take those points into account and will be shared with the panel for any final comments before it is finalised.

Separately, FR is working on the annual complaint report, which the panel will receive. This shows that financial offers have increased. A question was asked about non-monetary compensation, replied that we also offer decoration vouchers, or carry out an additional service free of charge.

3. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) update

The panel had received a report at its September 2025 meeting to introduce our EDI work and it had been agreed to provide regular updates to this panel.

The report and briefing note circulated with the panel papers provides an update on progress against the three agreed objectives for 2025/26. IR clarified that the 94.9% of customer information being achieved covered registered tenants only, not additional household members. We need to take account of customer circumstances and household members who may have additional support needs.

A data cleanse of info held in IT systems helped with the customer information target and this was also vital work in preparation for the introduction of the new Unified IT system. We are aware that further work around that is required and will be working to continue to improve. IR added that while some protected characteristics will not change, others such as disability or religion can change so we need to be refreshing our information to ensure it remains accurate.

One of the objectives covered training to support staff to understand and respond appropriately to individual needs and customer vulnerabilities. IR outlined that we are currently delivering customer service training to all staff; and our complaints team and corporate equality team has developed training for front-line staff and managers which was delivered February-April. IR was asked how that training has been received and he replied that it was encouraging to see that the culture we have been working towards over recent years is now becoming embedded.

A question was asked on how progress is measured? IR replied that feedback is gathered from training, managers are encouraged to discuss these subjects at team meetings and staff are encouraged to identify barriers.

Over the last year, there have been improvements to our IT systems for recording and storing demographic data, staff training and our new tenant engagement strategy has been published which has a commitment to improve diversity of involved tenants.

In terms of learning from complaints, a tenant member commented that it would be interesting to break down complaints and see if they reduce as a result of the work being done, while appreciating it was still an early stage. PM explained that we understand the impact of some characteristics very well, but others such as neurodiversity will require more analysis. IR added that diversity analysis can also be done on the annual Tenant Satisfaction Measures survey question on complaints.

The panel agreed to the three proposed objectives for 2026-27 around:

Continuing to improve customer information, aiming for 96% by year-end
Completing the data cleanse ahead of the new Unified IT system being introduced later this year
Using every contact with our customers as an opportunity to check and update the information we hold about them

IR emphasised that we are looking to use every contact to keep our information up to date. We do acknowledge that tenants may not want to share information and there is a ‘prefer not to say’ option.

Tenants on the panel commented that the amount of work that’s been done is clear, which is good. A question was asked about the emphasis on the new IT system, PM suggested the panel receive a detailed update on this work at a future meeting, which was agreed.

4. Quality and Safety update

LN outlined that our Tenant Satisfaction Measures compliance measures were all at 100% by March 2026 and this will be reported that to the Regulator. Against regional benchmarks, we are performing well.

The Panel has previously been updated on the external audit carried out by Penningtons, an external surveying organisation. Their findings had been shared with the panel in advance, along with a draft of the new Compliance Policy.

Overall, it was a very valuable experience. Penningtons carried out a ‘mock inspection’ as the Regulator would. They focused on compliance, condensation, mould and damp, and stock condition. This resulted in 57 recommendations, 54 of which we are taking forward. A lead person from within the service has been identified for each recommendation, to be held to account on progress.

One recommendation is around compliance training. In line with Regulator expectations, this is being arranged for the Director of Housing and Heads of Service; with tenant members of this panel also invited to take part due to them being on our equivalent of a ‘governing board’. AM will share details with the tenants.

Another recommendation was around some of our policies, as a result we have:

Amended the council’s corporate Health and Safety Policy to make more direct reference to ‘tenants’ and our responsibilities as a social landlord. The policy also now highlights the Landlord Panel as our highest level of governance. Once the policy has been approved, it will be published.
Developed a new Housing Compliance Policy, which is being shared with the panel today, to ensure legal compliance and how we will keep tenants safe
Create a new suite of compliance procedures, separate to our policy
Proposed that PM will have ‘delegated authority’ to sign off the policy

A tenant member commented that many actions were on stock. LN explained we had to quickly produce data and initially used empty homes data, as a home would have been surveyed before a new tenant moved in. However, the report highlighted that was not a full survey, which we are addressing. PM clarified that we have done a lot on safety, aiming for 100% of electrical safety checks by November 2026 and 100% of stock condition surveys by March.

JH asked what decisions this panel will be expected to make? LN explained that this panel will be to hold the service to account on whether we are compliant in key areas. We are prioritising high risk elements, for example we have written to 360 leaseholders to clarify their responsibilities around fire safety and offering free fire door inspections. The compliance training will help the panel challenge us on performance.

It was agreed that the panel would send any additional feedback to AM by Sunday 7 June, which will allow for knowledge gained at the training session on 1 June to be used when reviewing the draft. Once finalised, the Compliance Policy will be published on our website.

5. Consumer Standards self-assessment review 2025-26 and next steps

We have committed that a self-assessment against the Consumer Standards is carried out annually. The Landlord Panel discussed and approved the 2024-25 self-assessment at its February 2025 meeting and the report shared today provides an update. The panel had received the 2025-26 self-assessment in advance, which is going to Cabinet on 18 May.

Fifteen actions identified as part of the 2024-25 self-assessment have been completed. Work is ongoing against two other actions that do not have time-bound target dates.

PM explained that the review highlights the importance of communication, of tenants being aware of what we can provide and the support available.

A tenant member commented that clear progress can be seen since the first meeting of the Landlord Panel. Things are improving, tenants’ suggestions have been listened to and taken on board, which makes it feel worthwhile.

The panel noted the report and agreed to continue to monitor progress against the action plan.

6. Matters arising from regular reports:

The following regular reports had been circulated with the meeting papers:

Quality and Safety quarterly report
Performance scorecard
Complaints annual review
Engagement quarterly report

Performance scorecard

TB highlighted figures for New Tenant Contacts (49.43% against a target of 100%) and Tenancy Home Visits (72.27% against a target of 100%). We have seen improvement recently, and TB will send an exceptions report to the panel within the next month, clarifying further details of a proposal to record ‘contact’ from any team within the service. The panel agreed with this approach
Rental collection is at 99.38%, given cost of living pressures we are aware of that is not likely to improve in near future. Assistance is being provided to tenant to sustain tenancies, leading to fewer evictions on grounds of rent. The increase in rent collection has allowed us to review bad debt provision.

The panel noted the reports for information, there were no further questions.

7. Any Other Business

The panel were reminded that they could request future agenda items, or topics to examined in more detail, at any time.

AM will share the draft annual report for 2025-26 with tenant members shortly, for their review and comments.