Landlord Panel meeting notes - February 2025
Landlord Panel – 12 February 2025
Location: North Tyneside Council offices, Quadrant, Cobalt Business Park
Attendees:
Tenant members – Linda, Kimberley, Patricia, Sav
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 Hartigan-Brown, Head of Housing Management
Angela Melvin, Engagement Manager
1. Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising
The minutes were agreed.
2. Action Log
- Budget 2025-26 consultation: the panel noted the involvement of tenants, but would like to see more tenant representation for the 2026-27 consultation. AM to follow up when planning for that begins later this year.
- Feedback from the January drop-in sessions was discussed. We intend to offer more in-person opportunities across the year and the panel offered ideas for additional promotion to increase awareness, eg including information in any letters going out and at communal buildings. AM will follow up.
3. Provisional self-assessment and next steps
Ahead of this meeting, the Panel had received
- A copy of the service’s provisional self-assessment
- A performance scorecard and Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) survey results
- A quarterly complaints report
- A quarterly service update
PM went through a presentation providing further information on the Social Housing Act, more information on the inspection regime, the key standards, our self-assessment and our most recent TSM results.
a) Self-assessment report
The self-assessment has been prepared in preparation for inspection by the Social Housing Regulator, which could take place at any point within a four-year period (by April 2028).
It considers our landlord services against the Regulator’s Code of Practice and the four Consumer Standards (Safety and Quality; Transparency, Influence and Accountability; Neighbourhood and Community; and Tenancy).
The self-assessment identifies where the service is performing well and recommends specific actions where improvement is needed. It had been presented at the council’s Secure Committee earlier in February.
JH stated that we need to ensure we are delivering a good service, to tenants’ satisfaction. The self-assessment is honest, showing the gaps and where we need to be better. The TSM results which are based on perception are variable and influenced by how people felt on the day and their last interaction with us.
Trish commented that the targets are ambitious and this should be applauded, but that expectation may need to be managed. DF commented that while the targets are challenging, we do feel they are achievable. PM added that while we would always aim for the top rating possible, we know we are not there yet but have plans in place to improve.
Sav asked if the improvements in satisfaction with our approach to handling anti-social behaviour is due to increased visibility of council officers, or have incidences reduced? THB it will have certainly helped and replied that our joint work with the police has helped, along with our Neat Streets programme to ensure neighbourhoods are clean and tidy.
SG added that people getting to know their neighbourhood officers would also improve satisfaction, to know that they are being listened to.
PM said that the full TSM results report will be shared with Landlord Panel members when it is available.
The new IT system being introduced later this year, Unified, will also help as tenants will be able to manage their tenancy more easily and see the current status of any issues they have reported to us.
The March 2025 meeting of Cabinet will consider the self-assessment and an action plan will then be published.
The Landlord Panel will receive updates on progress against that action plan.
b) Performance
THB went through the indicators on the performance scorecard. We are not achieving the number of Tenancy Reviews we would like to. The reviews are revealing tenants who have vulnerabilities and who require additional support.
Kim commented that she had received a letter about having a Tenancy Review which only gave three days’ notice, and this wasn’t long enough. Trish suggested that tenants be asked to think in advance about questions they may want to ask, or any support they may need for the visit.
Linda thought the Tenancy Review figure disappointing and asked about the letters sent to tenants as part of the process. These had been considered at an Estates and Communities Panel meeting last year, with panel members giving feedback. They had felt that the letters could be improved and some of the wording may be causing concern to tenants, eg referring to an ‘inspection’.
THB responded that we are doing these reviews to get to know our tenants better and build a relationship with them. JH said these help us have the information we need about the people who live in our homes, so we can provide a good service to them.
THB confirmed that the Estates and Communities Panel are going to look at the reviews process in more detail. He will follow up on the letter feedback provided previously by the Estates and Communities Panel and a report on Tenancy Reviews can be brought to the next Landlord Panel.
c) Complaints
TSM results show an improvement in satisfaction with our approach to handling complaints, at 42% now compared to 33% last year. This is also significantly better than the national local authority benchmark figure (29%).
A new Customer Relations Manager is now in post and more detailed recording of complaints information allows us to understand better any wider themes. Complaints information is also shared regularly with managers.
The complaints report shows an increase of 30 Stage 1 complaints for the period since April 2024 this year, compared to the same period in 2023.
This can partly be attributed to 17 complaints relating to anti-social behaviour, as the service that deals with that only transferred to be part of the Housing and Property Service in 2024.
Stage 2 complaints are not additional to Stage 1s, as a complaint goes through the Stage 1 process before it escalates to Stage 2.
Our other tenant panels also received a version of this complaint report at their January/February meetings, with the data tailored to be relevant to each panel’s remit.
Panels will continue to receive updated complaints reports for future meetings.
4. Any other business
Linda asked about the Working Roots apprenticeship programme and why this hadn’t been included in the service update shared ahead of the meeting. DF responded that it wasn’t included specifically as it is now well established as part of our service. However, it will be referenced once the programme approaches the end of the annual ‘cohort’ and when we look to recruit new trainees into future cohorts. DF also confirmed that the Working Roots programme is always mentioned at our Ward Briefing events.
AM will be developing a new tenant engagement strategy and will share this with the Panel for comment once a draft is available.