Harvest is proud to have been involved in the TSA pilot project to investigate how landlords and tenants could successfully develop approaches to identifying and implementing “Local Offers”.

The TSA understands that “one size” doesn’t “fit all” and that Housing Providers should not be bound by a set of fixed national regulations that have no flexibility to take into account the local needs, priorities or diversity of their customers.

The aim of the TSA pilot or Trailblazer was to explore how Housing Providers and their customers could work together to identify what was important to tenants and potential tenants, in terms of the priorities of what customers felt was important to them accessing housing services to suit their needs.

D & S led on the project in the Workington area, working with staff from other Housing Providers and a customer panel (which included equal representation from all Providers). Together, we looked at the existing services on offer regarding Customer Service and Choice, Repairs and Maintenance and tackling Anti-Social Behaviour. We then discussed what was important to customers and what they expected Housing Providers to offer in the delivery of services in these areas.

The customer panel identified what they felt were the priorities to reflect the local needs and after wider consultation with current and potential customers, to make sure they had got them right, these “Local Offers” to residents in the Workington area were adopted.

These standards are being monitored through a variety of ways (using our current monitoring mechanisms and also mystery and reality checks etc) to make sure that the customers in this local area get the service they want and that “fits” the local priorities.

So what does this mean for me?

Ultimately, this will give you the peace of mind that your home will be kept in good repair (with planned re-investments or improvements to your home), with affordable rents and neighbourhoods will be places that you would want to live and choose to stay (Our Harvest Vision).

It also means that you have a say in how we provide our services, locally to ensure they reflect your requirements.

The TSA have not given a definition of what they mean by “local” – it could be a geographical area, housing for a particular demographic eg age, race, disability, support need. It is up to you and your provider to decide.