DAY ONE
9.00am Delegate registration and networking opportunities
10.30am Welcome from Tpas – Jenny Osbourne, Chief Executive – Tpas
11.00am Keynote speaker
12.00pm Lunch and networking – River Room Restaurant and The Grange
1.15pm Session A Workshops
A1 – Question Time: Will the Social Housing Green Paper deliver for tenants and landlords?
The Social Housing Green Paper was billed as the most wide- ranging, top-to-bottom review of the issues facing the sector and the most substantial report of its kind for a generation. So has it delivered? Put your questions to our expert panel of sector leaders as we unpick what the Green Paper truly offers teants and landlords.
A2 – Transforming Tomorrow’ for our customers. Strengthening links of involvement and the customer voice
Involvement is very much on the sector and political radar; as organisations move towards skills based boards. How can organisations give tenants the best possible opportunity to become board members whilst also ensuring meaningful engagement and input into governance. Hear about and contribute to Wellingborough Homes journey of ‘Transforming Tomorrow’ for their customers through involvement.
A3 – Regeneration, stock transfers or mergers: What do communities need to know?
How can communities get truly involved from the start in the big decisions that will affect them about their homes? Based on the principles of the Tpas Good Independent Tenant Advisor Guide Denise will take you through your key rights and what your expectations should be of your landlord in keeping you consulted and informed.
A4 – Better Groups: Better Outcomes
We all want the groups we are part of to work well. Sometimes though a refresh is needed to ensure the group is achieving its aims and can demonstrate its outcomes. In this session, learn practical skills such as how to devise an effective checklist as a tool to review your group, get top tips for chairing meetings yourself or see how to better support your chair to improve your group. Whatever type of group you are involved in take away ideas to reflect, review and improve.
A5 – A new approach to resident engagement
Aasia will share how their triangle of involvement is ensuring residents’ voices are truly cemented into Sovereign’s governance, scrutiny and community engagement. Hear how residents are helping to influence the new strategy, scrutinise services and retain local focus.
A6 – Hearing young voices: what works to get young people involved
It’s the question we all ask: how can we get more young people involved?. Come along to this sesion for examples of whats worked to ensure you get to hear the voice of young people in your community.
A7 – Housing and Disabled People: what more needs to be done?
In May EHRC launched a report into the availability of accessible and adaptable housing, the support services around it and the extent to which the rights of disabled people to live independently are being fulfilled. Come and discuss and hear more about the toolkits being launched in June to provide more support.
2.30pm Networking, refreshments and fringe activities
3.15pm Session B Workshops
B1 – Question Time: What do we really mean by Empowered Communities?
What do we mean by empowered communities? Who can make that happen? Do org’s really mean they want empowered communities or is it just something easy to say? Whats stopping communities taking more ownership? What could help? Put your question to our panel of experts.
B2 – Social Housing policy today: the facts, the fiction and the future
Social Housing policy has been in the spotlight like never before. Let Laura guide you through the details of the Social Housing Green Paper and the changes that affect us all. What do you need to know and consider as involved tenants, staff and board members for the future?. Discuss what the impacts will be to your organisations.
B3 – A new Perspective: critical thinking skills
When we have been involved with our landlord for a while, or with a particular group, we can often develop ‘group think’. We may lose our ability to analyse and look with unbiased eyes at problems, policies and proposals. Let’s take an honest and fresh look at the critical skills you need for the future to help improve services, homes and communities. This is a session for experienced tenants who need to take their critical thinking to the next level.
B4 – Scrutiny: New models, new techiques, new skills
Take a fresh look at scrutiny and how others are developing new ways of doing it across the sector. From holding “bootcamps” to scrutinise services ,conducting reviews and evidence gathering online, getting new people involved and finding new ways to report the outcomes, come and see where you could take scrutiny in your organisation next. And understand the skills you will need to do it.
B5 – Using Digital & Video as a Tenant & Community Engagement tool
You will be inspired. Learn how to widen and transform your engagement using simple digital techniques. Its fun, practical and contains clear usable examples from the housing sector and beyond.
B6 – Whats hot and whats not in Engagement?
Let Tpas guide you through some of the new (and updated) ideas for how to super charge and refresh your engagement. Gamification, pop up engagement, behavioural theory, strength based approaches and new ways to calculate social value….. take a whistle stop tour of what techniques or practices you could use in the future in your organisation.
B7 – Future Proofing Engagement
How do you make sure your engagement is future proof? At North Star their approach is to ensure it’s a process involving staff and tenants equally together to decide and shape future policies. A critical part of their success is the way board value and integrate scrutiny .Come and hear more and be inspired of what true partnership working looks like
06.30pm Evening Meal
Midnight Close
DAY TWO
9.00am Delegate registration, refreshments and fringe sessions
10.00am Keynote speaker
10.45am Networking , refreshments and fringe activities
11.15am Session C Workshops
C1 – Lets Discuss: A Voice for Tenants
Following the events at Grenfell a steering group came together to push for a new Voice for Tenants to had a mechanism to feed in to teh houoisng policies that affect them at an early stage. Come along to this interactive discussion session to hear more about what this group has achieved so far in trying to realise this aim and add your thoughts to where it could go next.
C2 – Regeneration, stock transfers or mergers: What do communities need to know?
How can communities get truly involved from the start in the big decisions that will affect them about their homes? Based on the principles of the Tpas Good Independent Tenant Advisor Guide Denise will take you through your key rights and what your expectations should be of your landlord in keeping you consulted and informed.
C3 – Better Groups: Better Outcomes
We all want the groups we are part of to work well. Sometimes though a refresh is needed to ensure the group is achieving its aims and can demonstrate its outcomes. In this session, learn practical skills such as how to devise an effective checklist as a tool to review your group, get top tips for chairing meetings yourself or see how to better support your chair to improve your group. Whatever type of group you are involved in take away ideas to reflect, review and improve.
C4 – Get the culture right:Get involvement right
A key comment heard at the recent Ministerial Tenant Roadshows was the importance of culture in a landlord organisation. Homes in Sedgemoor is on a journey of transformation focused on turning around the staff culture & the positivity to build a new basis for involvement. Discuss how to get staff behind involvement, why leadership is important & how tenants can influence Chief Executives, boards & senior managers constructively.
C5 – Hot trend: can behaviourial theory help us get more people involved?
What is behaviourial theory? what is “nudge” all about? How could it help us get more people involved? Let Anna guide you through the thinking behind it and explore how we can use what we know about how people behave and think to finds ways to encourage them to take a more engaged role in your organisation.
C6 – Regulator of Social Housing: Our role, our remit and our responses
Join this session to hear exactly what the role, reach and remit is of the Regulator of Social Housing. Share in the learning that comes from regulatory judgments and understand the regulatory framework and where tenants can have a role in it.
C7 – Fire safety in your home: what you need to know
A practical yet hugely informative session from Wates and West Midlands Fire Service on what we can all do to keep ourselves safe from fire in our homes. Let’s discuss issues such as access, maintenance and hoarding and what more we can all do in our communities together. WMFS will also discuss other types of services they offer and hold a Q and A session
12.30pm Lunch, networking and fringe activities
1.45pm Session D Workshops
D1 – Lets Discuss: Benefit to society:its time to be heard
Benefit to Society is a cross sector campagn to challenge the negative stereotypes of those living in social housing.The momentum for change is now. Come and here more of how tenants are leading this change and give your views on what more can be done to bust the negativity and untruths the media so often portrays.
D2 – Scrutiny: New models, new techiques, new skills
Take a fresh look at scrutiny and how others are developing new ways of doing it across the sector. From holding “bootcamps” to scrutinise services ,conducting reviews and evidence gathering online, getting new people involved and finding new ways to report the outcomes, come and see where you could take scrutiny in your organisation next. And understand the skills you will need to do it.
D3 – A new Perspective: critical thinking skills
When we have been involved with our landlord for a while, or with a particular group, we can often develop ‘group think’. We may lose our ability to analyse and look with unbiased eyes at problems, policies and proposals. Let’s take an honest and fresh look at the critical skills you need for the future to help improve services, homes and communities. This is a session for experienced tenants who need to take their critical thinking to the next level.
D4 – Involving tenants to improve services – learning from supported housing
Hear from award winning specialist housing provider Adullam Homes about how they involve service users, from local schemes to influencing their national strategy.
D5 – How can we resolve comlaints faster and smarter?
Learning from complaints is a key skill for any organisation. Discuss in this workshop how we can resolve complaints faster and smarter and what lessons can we learn from complaints across the sector.
D6 – Tenant Engagement- getting it embedded and valued
From challenging times, hear how Rotherham has transformed its tenant engagement to a place where it is embedded across the service, is valued by council staff, partners and councillors and is delivering real impact to different communities across Rotherham.
D7 – Social Housing policy today: the facts, the fiction and the future
Social Housing policy has been in the spotlight like never before. Let Laura guide you through the details of the Social Housing Green Paper and the changes that affect us all. What do you need to know and consider as involved tenants, staff and board members for the future?. Discuss what the impacts will be to your organisations.
3.15pm Closing session
4.00pm Conference Highlights
Please note timings and content are subject to change upon confirmation of the final conference programme.
