Customer Involvement Policy

We aim to involve, engage and empower all of our tenants, owners, customers, prospective tenants and those residents living in communities where we work.

We recognise the benefits to the business in involving and engaging tenants in the development and scrutiny of our services. Supporting effective tenant scrutiny enables us to improve organisational performance and check the standard of services they receive.

We endeavour to work with tenants and residents to transform lives and revitalise neighbourhoods. Engaging effectively with tenants and residents to enable them to be involved and empowered is central to this vision.  This policy aims to support that vision through keeping tenants and other customers as applicable, well informed and actively engaged in the decision making and quality of our services.

We understand that involving tenants and other customers in decision making and service improvement benefits tenants, the organisation and the wider communities where we work. The involvement of tenants in the formulation of policy, procedures and service delivery will contribute to the satisfaction of tenants and the creation of effective services.

We will make available a variety of ways for tenants and residents to engage with us and to have demonstrable influence on the organisation. We will do this in the following ways:

Communication and feedback

• We will provide tenants, and other customers as appropriate, with information to make them aware of the engagement and involvement options available to them.
• We will listen to tenant and customer views and recognise the knowledge and skills their experience brings.
• We will communicate with tenants and other customers as appropriate, to demonstrate how their input has influenced the organisation.
• We will offer different ways to get involved to suit individual needs.
• We will make it easy for tenants and other customers to provide feedback on our services.
• We will consult with tenants and other customers as appropriate, on any proposed changes to service delivery or service standards which are likely to significantly affect our customers, and inform them of key business decisions affecting services.

Understanding and checking performance

• We will provide opportunities for tenants and other customers as appropriate, to influence policies and how services are delivered.
• We will document and record our engagement and involvement activity with tenants and other customers, to help us understand their aspirations and expectations as well as to monitor the success of activities to enable the future development of customer involvement.
• We will review our tenant and customer involvement structures periodically to ensure that they remain fit for purpose and compliant with all legislative and regulatory requirements.

Support for tenant scrutiny

• We will provide the necessary training and support to those involved in scrutinising our services to ensure that we both get the very best from the experience.
• We will undertake and share analysis of our performance, and make available the data needed, subject to any statutory obligations or regulations, to enable tenants to scrutinise our performance openly and honestly.
• The findings of tenant scrutiny will be presented to our Board and recommendations for the improvement of our services will be considered and acted upon as agreed.

Including everyone

• We will ensure that there are tenants on our Board who are able to influence decisions and fully and actively participate in governing the organisation and shaping its direction, providing training as support as required.
• We will make sure our involvement work is representative of the communities where we work.
• We will actively encourage engagement and involvement from tenants and other customers from all backgrounds.  In doing this we will take account of the protected characteristics of tenants and other customers as well as any additional support needs that they may have to maximise involvement.
• We will support tenants who wish to form their own representative groups within our communities.
• This policy conforms to our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion policy and has been subject to an Equality Impact Analysis.