TAROE, the national tenants and residents' representative body for England, has teamed up with the Housing e-Academy to promote and drive forward learning and best practice across the housing sector.
The e-Academy offers an alternative way of learning to traditional face-to-face methods by providing access to specially developed online resources.
This approach removes geographical barriers to learning by providing individual training records, e-learning modules, online assessment and evaluation tools that are accessed via the Internet - therefore enabling learners to study in ways and at times that suit them, while ensuring that the quality and consistency of training is maintained.
Commenting on the new partnership, Michael Gelling, Chair of TAROE, stated:
"We welcome this innovative partnership with the Housing e-Academy, which we believe can be used to drive up knowledge and skills across the sector for tenants and housing staff. The Tenant Plus package offers tenants a great opportunity to build their skills and put them ahead of the game when applying for employment.
"We are looking forward to working with the Housing e-Academy to develop similar products that will give tenants the skills and knowledge to play an active and empowered role in shaping their landlords' services and holding them to account.
"We are also pleased to announce that all TAROE members and Friends of TAROE organisations will benefit from a generous discount when purchasing products from the Housing e-Academy."
To find out more details about the services offered by the Housing e-Academy, please visit their website here via the link on the Home Page of this website.
The Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) has awarded the community regeneration specialist Frank Haslam Milan Ltd (FHM) its Contractor Re-accreditation award.
FHM works with housing associations and local authorities in the East Midlands, West Midlands, North East and Yorkshire. The award demonstrates the contractor's commitment to involving tenants in the projects undertaken and providing a customer focused service. ,p>TPAS only awards those contractors who support and encourage tenant involvement because it makes them more attuned to residents' views, making them more approachable and accountable and improves customer satisfaction.
Contractor Accreditation is the Quality Mark for contractors and assess the standard of resident involvement in responsive repairs, maintenance and capital works contracts, and is awarded for three years.
Marilyn Thornley, Special Projects Manager for TPAS, said:
"FHM was one of the original pilot schemes and once again they have provided a clear picture of resident involvement. They are one of four contractors to be re-accredited.
"FHM has a very clear set of service standards, not only for dealing with landlord clients but also for their tenants. FHM is a flagship contractor that is setting the standards for other contractors to follow."
FHM delivers a holistic package of housing services, including refurbishment, repairs, facilities and asset management, Extra Care residential schemes, maintenance and new build projects.
FHM received the award at the recent TPAS National Conference, following a close assessment of its work through a vigorous assessment process and onsite inspections and interviews.
In a first for The Wrekin Housing Trust, tenant representatives, board members and senior managers gathered together for a symposium to obtain their feedback on an important discussion paper that the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) has produced, as part of its National Conversation.
A couple of presentations set the scene on the Building a new regulatory framework discussion paper. Then the technique of "Speed Debating" was used, where participants got together in small groups to discuss specific topics for 15 minutes, before they moved onto the next table where they discussed the next topic. Topics included Repairs and Maintenance, Customer Service, Choice and Value for Money amongst others.
Chris Horton, Company Secretary, said:
"The technique of Speed Debating is something we have used before with board members to develop strategic objectives. It's been very effective to widen it out to include tenant representatives and senior managers. Feedback from participants in the morning was excellent.
"The aim of our speed debating was to draw on everyone's experiences to inspire some thought provoking discussions which it certainly did."
Feedback will form a considered response from the Trust, which will be sent to the TSA.