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March 2010
> Cumbrian Landlords Prepare for Launch of Local Service Standards
Since October 2009, the four main registered social housing landlords with properties in the Workington and Seaton area: Derwent & Solway Housing Association, Impact, Westfield and Home Group have joined forces with their residents on an exciting new project, after being successfully chosen to take part in a pilot commissioned by the Tenants Services Authority (TSA), the national social housing regulator.
Derwent & Solway Housing Association, a member of Harvest Housing Group, led on the bid to become one of the 39 pilot areas in England and is the only one to focus on more than one standard – using funding from the TSA to work with customers on developing local standards of service.
A project group, made up of residents and officers from the four housing associations, have been considering the services on offer with regards to Customer Service & Choice, Repairs & Maintenance and Tackling Anti Social Behaviour. The aim was to identify and prioritise what the customers felt most important in their local area in terms of services, which should be provided by their landlord.
The group identified what they felt were the main priorities and have been consulting with customers, the landlords involved in the pilot, other external agencies and key stakeholders to make sure that the standards set reflect what is important to their residents in terms of accessing and experiencing the levels of service they expect.
From 1 April 2010, when the local standards have been agreed, the project group and customer scrutiny panels will monitor the landlords on the targets set and will be able to challenge poor performance.
Mary Walker, Head of Service Development for Harvest Housing Group said:
“We initially set out a series of objectives to ensure that the standards were developed with customers themselves, so that the services offered reflect real local priorities. We look forward to the launch of the local standards in April and to providing the same high standards to future residents, through the help of the scrutiny panels.”
In 2009 when the successful bidders were announced, Peter Marsh, Chief Executive of the Tenant Services Authority said:
“All the successful bidders, including Derwent & Solway Housing Association have shown real innovation and their plans are fantastic examples of good practice which can be shared across the sector."