Following an open tendering process under EU rules, Tribal Group were appointed to provide the National Tenant and Training Programme and Information Service, from April 2007.
Funded through the Corporation's Tenant Empowerment Programme, the service will deliver training courses, conference events and information and advice services - including a telephone helpline - for social housing tenants in England.
The decision to award the contract to Tribal means Tenant Participation Advisory Service England (TPAS England) has lost 12% of its annual funding, worth about £430,000. The not-for-profit TPAS England had held the contract since 1998, but the renewal contract was put out to tender.
Matt Leach, Housing Corporation Director of Policy and Communications, said:
"We are delighted to make this announcement. This service will help tenants with their involvement in the management of their homes as well as developing their skills, knowledge and confidence to participate more effectively and to influence decisions on a range of issues affecting their homes and communities.
"Tribal has a strong foundation to build upon, and I would like to thank TPAS and PEP for the high quality service they have delivered for us to date. They remain key partners for the Corporation as we take forward our commitment to deepening resident involvement.
"Alongside the recommendations from the Elton Review and our new involvement policy, initiatives like this are about putting tenants and residents firmly at the heart of services."
David Levenson, Director in Consulting at Tribal Group, said:
"We are excited about the opportunity to deliver this important programme and committed to ensuring that the best possible service is provided for tenants and residents, and that new opportunities to access the training and information services are provided."
Mendip Housing tenants got the chance to tell their landlord how to spend annual efficiency savings in a special ballot.
During a consultation event, tenants gathered to hear about the savings the housing association has to make each year, and played their part in deciding how to reinvest those savings back into Mendip Housing.
Each tenant was handed £10,000 of vouchers from the Bank of Efficiency and given seven choices on what to spend the 'cash,' represented by seven ballot boxes. Residents could split the vouchers between all seven or spend them all in one go on one choice.
At the end of the event, the contents of each ballot box were counted to see which had racked up the most 'cash' votes, with the following choices coming out top:
A new survey suggests a high percentage of social landlords are failing to take tenant involvement seriously. The survey of customer involvement staff was carried out by the consultancy People Shape. The findings of the survey included: