Resident Representative Team decisions

RRT questioned how Red Kite communicate on complex cases and manage expectations.

Red Kite’s Head of Communities delivered an interactive ASB policy workshop with RRT. The session covered in detail the policy and the proposed changes which needed to be made in line with the Consumer Standards and Housing Ombudsman spotlight reports. A comprehensive discussion was had, and changes were made to the policy as a direct result of feedback from RRT members.

RRT and Red Kite’s Home Safety Manager discussed the idea of forming a Health and Safety Tenant Champions group to tie in with how the Regulator of Social Housing was very much focusing on this area due to a number of high profile cases being brought to their attention.

RRT offered direction as to whether forming this strategic tenant group would be useful, ensuring a continuous tenant lens on this area of work.

RRT were also keen for there to be a link member from RRT on this group and Arthur Anderson agreed to take on this role. A workshop with tenant volunteers who expressed interest in this new group will be held in early 2024.

Candida, RRT Chair, spoke at the National Housing Federation Asset Management and Maintenance conference on 12th October in Coventry, alongside Red Kite’s Head of Resident & Community Engagement, highlighting the work RRT have done around damp, mould and condensation.

Candida, RRT Chair, and a member of the Resident and Community Engagement team attended the Tpas National Tenant Scrutiny Conference. The event was very informative, and Candida will be sharing what she had learned from the event and sharing good practice.

The RRT undertook their first Away Day with the focus very much on feeding back on the Consumer Standards for the Social Housing Regulator as well as looking again at core documentation related to the membership of the group such as the terms of reference and behaviour charter, as well as forward planning for next year.

The day was very productive and RRT members were keen to continue with having an annual away day. The Chair, Candida, commented:

"The whole day was informative and helpful. As a group we were able to provide constructive feedback on the Consumer Standards, and make our voices heard. I look forward to planning next year's away day and celebrating how we have influenced in improving services for all Red Kite's tenants."

Sarah Gulbransen (Complaints Investigation Manager) attended the meeting to discuss the Red Kite complaints policy, how the complaints were used to understand trends for areas of improvement and how the complaints were reported, evidenced, and recorded. The group were informed that there was work taking place with Ashley Porter (Relationship Team Leader), Kyle Oldershaw (Repairs & Voids Manager), and the Red Kite contractors to strengthen the process/make significant changes to help mitigate the level of complaints coming from repairs.

The group invited members of Fairhive Homes' resident forum to attend one of their meetings as an opportunity to share best practices, discuss shared challenges, and to forge a connection between the two local housing associations.

Three members of RRT attended the Tpas National Tenant Conference along with the Resident & Community Engagement team, which offered the opportunity to discuss the latest housing policies that affect all social housing landlords and what these mean for engagement and tenant influence. It also allowed the members to examine practical solutions being used across the sector to solve common tenant engagement challenges.

A scrutiny 'boot camp' took place at Windsor Court on 29th July 2023. 21 tenants attended the event and the session was led by Sam Goodwin, an independent Tpas consultant. The event was very interactive with good discussions taking place on each table amongst staff and tenants. The day resulted in an eight-point recommendation list of actions, and these will form part of an overall action plan. The action plan will be shared with all tenants who attended the workshop, and monitored by RRT in the coming year.

RRT offered feedback on the current stock condition survey letter which was distributed to all tenants. All feedback was passed to Mark Haines (Director of Property) who confirmed that the points raised would be considered for appointment letters going forward.

The group were asked to offer feedback and observations on two different types of tenancy breach graphics to be used by community teams, which included signposting information for other community organisations.

A member of RRT attended the annual Inside Housing Tenant & Resident Engagement Conference in London along with Jon Upchurch (Volunteering, Engagement and Events Manager). The aim of the conference was to help landlords and tenants achieve meaningful engagement that improves service, lives and communities.

RRT were invited by Jonathan Radcliffe (Head of Community) to review the safeguarding policy. Observational feedback was gathered and RRT suggested an additional paragraph relating to independent advocacy which was incorporated into the updated policy.

Dan Fox (Insight & Customer Experience Lead) attended a meeting to advise how the TSMs were currently being communicated with tenants. The group were encouraged to offer feedback and give suggestions on how to strengthen this approach, which included greater use of infographics as they were easy to understand along with headline figures.

RRT were invited to attend an in-house training session for effective questioning and challenging skills which was facilitated by Sam Goodwin, an independent Tpas consultant. This would equip group members with the skillset to hold Red Kite to account more effectively.

The group had requested that Ray Prior (Director of Resources) attend one of their meetings to update them on what Red Kite were doing for their tenants in the current cost of living crisis. Ray provided a strategic overview focussing on the Hardship Fund which had been introduced to help tenants at this difficult financial time. It was also confirmed that the Board had agreed to extend this funding for the next three years.

Martine Mills (Tenancy Management Team Leader) provided some operational updates as to how her team were working with tenants across a wide range of areas, from helping tenants with claiming the correct benefits to external energy support grants.

RRT agreed that they would hold a one-day 'boot camp' event to scrutinise DMC on 29th July 2023. It was confirmed that all tenants who had reported issues with DMC since January 2023 would be invited to attend and offer feedback on service levels, communication, and resolution satisfaction. The main brief would be ‘Understanding, preventing and overcoming DMC’.

Farheen Tahir (Head of Relationships) and Ashley Porter (Relationship Team Leader) spent some time with RRT members to discuss the importance of a new telephony system - which also formed part of the customer contact scrutiny action plan recommendations. The workshop session proved very interactive and enabled the RRT members to voice their preferences, ranging from information the telephony system would be able to store to how personal data is held and information passed onto our contractors. Farheen and Ashley agreed to come back to RRT later in the year to share the outcome of the work they were undertaking.

RRT agreed that the next focus for scrutiny would be damp, mould and condensation (DMC). It was agreed that due to the high profile of DMC in the sector and the approval of the new Red Kite policy (which was signed off by RRT in January 2023), the next scrutiny would be on this service area.

Members of the group were invited to put themselves forward for the role of Chair of RRT, and through this process it was agreed that Candida Dutiro would fulfil this role with immediate effect.

The group were joined by Mark Haines (Director of Property) who presented the proposed damp, mould and condensation policy. Following open discussion and questioning RRT signed off on the policy.

Ashley Porter (Relationship Team Leader) attended a meeting with the group to advise them on the upcoming changes to the current service provider for all of Red Kite’s contact centre. The group were invited to attend a testing workshop later in the year to highlight any potential snags/service improvements - the new telephony system should be in place later in the year.

RRT requested a meeting with our Compliance Manager to discuss the letters which are sent to tenants when their safety checks are due. The group used their direct experiences to raise concerns and influence a key improvement in the approach moving forward.

RRT are working closely with the ASB team to ensure relevant information is available in a digital and non-digital format.

On 19th October RRT reviewed the ASB content on the Red Kite website. On 2nd November, RRT reviewed the ASB policy and approved changes to the process, including adding references to our new Unacceptable Behaviour Policy and referencing the Community Trigger.

As one of the first Scrutiny actions, RRT reviewed the draft sheet prepared to ensure that all tenants receive information on how to reach Red Kite and how to give us feedback. The group considered quotes for printing and postage, and decided that tenants with email addresses would receive the information digitally and those without would receive a paper copy.

The Managing Director of Gilmartins joined our Head of Property in presenting a new system to improve communication for tenants receiving repairs. RRT were given a demo of the system to see how it worked in practice and to give their feedback. The group discussed the current methods of capturing satisfaction feedback from the tenant. Gilmartins took this feedback on board and gave assurances that moving forward the system would resolve this issue.

RRT discussed the frequency of board members attending their meetings and updated the RRT Terms of Reference to include the new approach.

RRT reviewed the questions proposed for an EDI survey for tenants and made changes to language used, to ensure questions are easy to understand.

RRT led and delivered Red Kite’s first formal scrutiny review. The team reviewed key performance data to chose an area to formally scrutinise. RRT members shadowed call centre staff to get a full overview of the service. The formal review brought 24 tenants together to identify and agree 10 recommendations to improve the customer experience when contacting Red Kite. Two RRT members have since attended a national Scrutiny conference.

RRT reviewed the storyboard for the Corporate Journey video report and requested additional detail be added. These changes were implemented and RRT viewed and approved of the video before it was published.

RRT met with staff to develop a new damp, mould and condensation process. RRT reviewed letters, kits and initial reporting surveys and requested an enhanced tenant focus. The staff team reported back to RRT with a ‘You said, we did’ report on the changes implemented.

The group reviewed the costs for external mentoring and felt that they would no longer require an external coach to attend meetings.

In early 2022, the group began to investigate what Red Kite could do to support tenants who could not afford to buy furniture or carpets. RRT members attended a webinar delivered by End Furniture Poverty, and a representative attended an RRT meeting to discuss the topic and options for collaboration.

By working closely with staff, RRT have changed the approach we take to ensure new tenants get the choice to accept carpets and other key items which have been left in the home. RRT have also helped to develop an enhanced partnership between Red Kite and local charities who can help to provide key items for tenants.

RRT decided to receive the Operational Performance Dashboard key performance indicators (KPIs) on a quarterly basis.

RRT were asked to review the options for Twenty11 following the conclusion of the two-year trial. The group vetoed one option and provided recommendations for the future of the project that were taken to Board.

RRT took a vote and approved the nomination of a new tenant board member.