Acuity Benchmarking Conference – Thursday, 18 April 2024
Acuity’s Benchmarking Conference 2024 planning is progressing well with securing more speakers and an excellent delegate sign-up so far.
Taking place on Thursday, 18 April 2024 and at the NCVO (Kings Cross, London), the shared purpose of this year’s conference brings together, thought leaders, to discuss and debate current high priority issues facing the operating and strategic environment of smaller housing providers in 2024.
Complaints
We have now secured a speaker for the Making Friends with Complaints session. Verity Richards, Head of Service, will present and cover off critical items such as the newly launched statutory Complaint Handling Code and how the Ombudsman intends to monitor compliance. She will also share how the findings from this work will be used to support landlords to deliver effective complaint handling services and assure themselves (and their residents!) that they are doing this consistently.
Verity will also introduce the exciting training modules which will result in a certificate on completion. All this will help understand and professionalise the resolution process and enhance the relationship with residents.
An added bonus is that Verity will be bring along some of her colleagues who will be available during lunch and throughout the day to talk to individuals, who may have a specific challenge, or just generally get to know each other better and develop a partnership approach to complaints resolution.
It is not often you get to having face-to-face sessions with the Housing Ombudsman so don’t miss out and book your place today.
Consumer Standards
From 1 April 2024, the regulator will move from a reactive approach to consumer regulation, where it can only investigate consumer issues if there is ‘a serious detriment’ to tenants, to a proactive approach on the same ‘co-regulatory’ basis as it regulates economic standards.
The current standards will be replaced by four new standards:
the Safety and Quality Standard (replacing the Home Standard);
the Tenancy Standard (replacing the old Tenancy Standard);
the Neighbourhood and Community Standard (replacing the old Neighbourhood and Community Standard); and
the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard (replacing the Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard).
In addition, there will be two new consumer standards. The first new standard relates to the provision of information to tenants and the second new standard relates to competence and conduct.
To help you navigate this new environment are Caroline Leviss, Senior Associate and Hugo Stephens, Consultant from Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP, who will guide you through everything you need to know and be prepared for.
Programme
We have secured the following speakers:
Keynote Speaker: Peter Apps, author of Show Me the Bodies: How we let Grenfell Happen
Social Housing Regulation Act (professionalising the sector, General Elections and what this means to the housing agenda, 2025 Future Homes Standards and more) – Rachael Williamson, Head of Policy and External Affairs, CIH
Consumer Standards – Caroline Leviss, Senior Associate and Hugo Stephens, Consultant, Penningtons Manches Cooper
Complaints – Verity Richards, Head of Services, Housing Ombudsman
Small Housing Development Grant – Anne Taylor CEO Thorngate Churcher Trust, Carolyn Sims, Relationship Director Charity Bank and Alison Schur, Development Consultant
IT and system changes – Colin Sales, 3C Consulting
We are delighted to have Leonard Brown – Director of Housing Services at Westway HA, as this year’s conference chair.
Leonard has over 25 years’ experience in the social housing sector and is the Director of Housing at Westway Housing Association. His career started as a housing officer and has progressed to now being responsible for overseeing the Housing Management and Asset Management functions at Westway Housing Association. He has a deep understanding of managing different housing-related issues such as leasehold, supported accommodation, and temporary housing.
Our keynote, speaker Peter Apps author of ‘Show me the bodies: How we let Grenfell Happen’ will end the conference with his thoughts and reflections, followed by a book signing session (the first 60 delegates to book their place on the conference will receive a book)
Peter is a journalist who primarily writes about building safety and social housing. A career spanning over 10-years at the specialist magazine Inside Housing, he has won numerous awards for his news and analysis of the UK’s affordable housing sector. He was one of the few to raise concerns about dangerous cladding and high rise buildings before the Grenfell Tower fire, and provided revelatory reporting in its aftermath into the causes of the blaze. This reporting culminated in his acclaimed book, Show Me the Bodies, which won the 2023 Orwell Prize for Political Writing.
Who should attend?
This event is targeted at those who lead smaller housing associations: Board members, senior leadership and any colleagues who would benefit from the content and networking opportunity.
Cost
With VFM in mind we’re keeping costs down compared to similar events whilst not compromising on quality:
Acuity members £295 plus VAT (early bird £245 on bookings received before 10 March 2024)
Non-members £395 plus VAT (early bird £345 on bookings received before 10 March 2024)
Additional places from the same organisation £30 discount
We are running three data quality workshops to help you get your benchmarking data right for the year ending 31 March 2023 and to take a look at the TSMs which you need to start collecting from 1st April 2023.
Hosted by Steve Smedley, these sessions are aimed at staff tasked with submitting your 2022-23 benchmarking data and collecting TSM data in 2023. If it’s not for you, please pass this invite on to those who would benefit.
There will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions, and anything we can’t answer on the day will be followed up. To register, please use the links below. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Data Quality Workshop 1: getting it right – repairs, lettings, collection & arrears and satisfaction metrics – Tuesday 21 March 2023 10:30 AM
This 1.5-hour workshop will take you through the definitions of the main performance metrics to help ensure the quality and credibility of your data. You will have the opportunity to ask questions. If necessary, we’ll overshoot a bit to hoover up all questions. Anything we can’t answer on the day will be followed up. This session will be useful to those staff tasked with submitting the above data.
Data Quality Workshop 2: getting it right – financial & regulatory VFM metrics – Thursday 23 March 2023 10:30 AM
This 1-hour workshop will walk you through the four Acuity/HouseMark cost per unit definitions to help ensure the quality and credibility of your data. These metrics were designed to help you drill down beyond the RSH’s headline social housing cost metric and compare against the larger associations in HouseMark’s database. We’ll also take a look at the steps the RSH has taken to ensure you are able to calculate their mandatory VFM metrics. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and we’ll overshoot a bit if necessary. Anything we can’t answer on the day will be followed up. This session will be useful to those staff tasked with submitting the above data.
Data Quality Workshop 3: getting it right – the TSMs – Wednesday 29 March 2023 10:30 AM
This 1.5-hour workshop will take a whirlwind tour of the new TSMs to help ensure the quality and credibility of your data. Acuity will be collecting TSM data to enable you to compare and report your results as per RSH requirements. We’ll also explain how the TSMs fit with your existing metrics, notably satisfaction. You will have the opportunity to ask questions. If necessary, we’ll overshoot a bit to hoover up all questions. Anything we can’t answer on the day will be followed up. This session will be useful to those staff tasked with submitting the above data.
The Acuity Benchmarking conference will explore the horizon from a smaller housing association perspective so that you are in the best possible position to respond positively to the challenges.
All the sessions will seek to make sense of the operating environment and its implications from a smaller housing association perspective:
Chair: Martin Collett, CEO, English Rural HA
Plenaries:
Policy and operating environment update – James Prestwich, Director of Policy and External Affairs, CIH
Regulatory update – Will Perry, Director of Strategy, Regulator for Social Housing
Ombudsman update – Bill Gill, Director, BG Audit and Consultancy Limited
Breakout sessions:
TSM Satisfaction surveys: ensuring a compliant approach for smaller associations – Denise Raine, Director, Acuity
Reputation: changing the narrative and is there a special role for smaller associations? – Jo Allen, Head of Member Relations and Lead for Smaller Housing Associations, NHF
Cost of living crisis for tenants & staff: what can smaller associations do? – Nick Chambers, CEO, Lace Housing
Strategic asset management: from stock condition survey to a balanced strategy to credible costs in the business plan– – Rachel Pinchin, Deputy CEO, Elim Housing and Steve Warran, CEO, White Horse Housing
Exclusively for members, we’re delighted to announce our series of free webinars for spring 2022.
Acuity webinars provide you with the insight and knowledge you need to take control of a fast-changing and increasingly complex operating environment. Drawing on White Paper themes and other topical issues, our programme is as follows:
Managing risk: what good looks like
Samantha McGrady, Director, DTP
10:30 – 11:30 am, Tuesday 26 April 2022
Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen a bewildering array of risks conspire to compromise business plan ambitions, threaten viability and undermine reputations. Unsurprisingly, the regulator has been banging a drum for the highest standards of risk management for some time. So, what does good look like in 2022? Sam brings us up to speed with the latest good practice as well as how risk maps are changing.
Levelling-up; building quality, health & safety; decarbonisation; development of consumer regulation, sector reputation, etc. There’s a lot going on. John provides a round-up of where we are and where we may be going, including where he thinks the sector should position itself with the government.
Consumer standards: what does good assurance look like?
Bill Gill, Director, BG Audit & Consultancy Limited
10:30 – 11:30 am, Tuesday 3 May 2022
To help you prepare for active consumer regulation, this session focuses on what good assurance might look like. Why? Because the new approach to regulation will build on current co-regulation which places your assurance arrangements front and centre – if you get an IDA, the first question will be, ‘show us how you ensure you’re complying with the standards?’ And if you don’t get an IDA, you’re expected to have a robust approach to assurance anyway! Failure to do so amounts to poor governance. Assurance specialist Bill shows us the ropes.
Doing a better job: professionalising social housing
James Prestwich, Director of Policy & External Affairs, Chartered Institute of Housing
10:30 – 11:30 am, Thursday 5 May 2022
The Social Housing White Paper exposed fault lines in the sector’s narrative of being caring and responsive. In parts of the sector, it identified organisational indifference and attitudes that might promote rather than reduce the stigmatisation of social housing. The professionalisation of housing management aims to ensure the highest standards of service delivery whilst restoring the credibility and reputation of the sector. James will provide an update and set out how we can ensure staff are on message and equipped to deliver on our shared social mission.
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting is taking off in the sector thanks to the voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing (SRS). It aims to address the sector’s longstanding problem of evidencing its positive contribution to people, place and planet in a consistent and credible manner. John will bring us up to speed on the SRS, what it measures and HouseMark’s analysis of the results of the early adopters.
Exclusively for members, we’re delighted to announce our series of free webinars for autumn 2021. Acuity webinars provide you with the intel and challenge you need to take control of a fast-changing operating environment. Drawing on White Paper themes and other topical issues, our programme is as follows:
Complying with the Rent Standard
Angela Lomax, Director, DTP
10:30 – 11:30 am, Tuesday 23 November 2021
A common factor in regulatory downgrades over the past two years, compliance with the Rent Standard is still very much on the Regulator’s agenda. This session will set out: what the rent regulations are and associated legislation; what you need to know about your rents to be assured about compliance; and where the risks and tricky spots are.
TSMs Part 1: an update on the Tenant Satisfaction Metrics from the RSH
Robert Dryburgh, Assistant Director, Business Intelligence, RSH
10:30 – 11:30 am, Thursday 25 November 2021
Heralded by the White Paper, the Tenant Satisfaction Metrics (TSMs), aim to make social landlords more accountable through the transparency they will afford to all stakeholders. With the formal consultation on the TSMs due to start at the end of the year, Rob will update us on the likely direction of the proposals following the RSH’s extensive soft consultation over summer and autumn.
The White Paper topic that just won’t go away! Tenant engagement specialist, Michael, reflects on what the government and RSH are looking for and what you should be doing. He will also consider: the age-old puzzle of getting tenants engaged; what we mean by engagement in 2021; developing a culture where everybody feels engagement is their job; and the need to draw diverse intel streams together to reflect a coherent tenant’s voice.
TSMs Part 2: how tenant surveys are evolving in readiness for TSMs and Consumer Regulation
Denise Raine, Director, Acuity
10:30 – 11:30 am, Thursday 2 December 2021
Covid, environmental considerations and the changes heralded by the White Paper are making social landlords rethink their priorities, service offer and relationship with tenants – decisions that need excellent intel. Denise takes a practical look at getting your tenant surveys right: how they have evolved over the past year; what kind of questions and survey methods landlords are deploying; and what they should be asking.
Choosing to be a great landlord: can culture be the key to REVving up your resident/landlord relationship?
Anne Taylor, CEO, Thorngate Churcher Trust
10:30 – 11:30 am, Wednesday 8 December 2021
White Paper observations on the need for a more customer focused and responsive sector made for uncomfortable reading for some landlords. Could adopting a values-based organisational culture be the key to providing a consistently high service valued by residents? Reflecting on Thorngate’s ongoing cultural journey and featuring an appearance by Gareth Southgate, Anne assesses the White Paper’s key themes and how they relate to a values-based culture.
The regulator’s approach to VFM is three years old. It expects the sector to have got to grips with it by now. At the heart of the approach is the reporting of your own strategic VFM targets alongside mandatory regulatory metrics in the final accounts. It makes boards more accountable for VFM by requiring them to set, publish and then achieve their targets. Clearly this kind of transparency and accountability also chimes with the thrust of the White Paper.
You might know very little or simply need to brush up on VFM compliance – either way this workshop is designed to quickly bring you up to speed ahead of finalising your accounts.
Demystifying VFM: Aim
To provide delegates with the tools and information to understand and comply with regulatory VFM requirements. Coverage:
VFM – the basics
clarity on expectations and consideration of the implications
how the regulatory, Scorecard and Acuity metrics fit together
reporting VFM in the accounts: what might it look like? – a template
where might VFM be going?
Format
The online workshop will run for 2 to 2.5 hours from 10 am.
Both date are now fully booked. Please contact us if you would like to be informed when we next run it.
There will be the opportunity to ask questions
Who should attend?
Those responsible for reporting VFM in the accounts, regulatory compliance, appraising the board and ensuring VFM is embedded in the business.
Feedback from previous VFM workshops
Delegates gave an overall rating of more than 4.5 out of 5 for these workshops.
On average they gave a rating of 4.5 out of 5 for both the content and delivery of the workshops.
Steve Smedley has specialised in VFM since the noughties and has been running VFM workshops and projects with Acuity members since 2013. He has also written a number of publications for HouseMark, NHF, CIH and CHC on this subject over the past 15 years and has a close working relationship with the regulator.
Exclusively for members, we’re delighted to announce our series of free webinars for spring 2021. Acuity webinars provide you with the intel and challenge you need to take control of a fast-changing operating environment. Drawing on White Paper themes and other topical issues, our programme is as follows:
Recordings and resources from completed webinars in this series
Achieving net zero carbon targets: accessing funding and overcoming barriers for smaller housing organisations
Alexandra Gibson, Policy & Practice Officer, CIH and Jonathan Higgs, CEO, Raven HT
Smaller housing organisations must address specific challenges to make a real impact when working towards net zero carbon goals. This webinar will begin by picking apart the policy gaps and uncertainty that is halting progress and will also look at the funding opportunities and how they can be used in the most effective way to begin making a dent in reaching decarbonisation goals.
Social housing services are built on the effective and efficient execution of policies, processes and procedures at the end of which is a real person. Get the customer service right and you should have an antidote to complaints. Drawing on previous webinars and other White Paper themes, Nitin and James explored what customer service excellence looks like via timeless key principles and good practice examples that work first time, every time, as well as how you go about embedding a culture of customer service excellence.
Tenant Engagement: meeting the White Paper requirements
Darren Hartley, CEO, TAROE Trust
A recurring theme at our club meetings is about meeting the tenant engagement expectations in the White Paper. The sector has been struggling with the same issues for decades: how do we get tenants engaged and keep them engaged?; what methods work best?; what should tenants be involved in?; how do we know if we’re doing enough? Darren reflected on how smaller associations might practically address the challenge of embedding the tenant voice in how they plan and deliver services.
Once again, Jonathan lead us through his reflections on the present and future: what does the political & economic backdrop look like? What are the key risks and issues housing associations need to be considering? What is the latest on regulation, not least the development of consumer regulation?
Having previously been at Ernst and Young and in working in social housing consultancy, Jonathan has been at the Regulator since 2004. He has worked across the organisation and has extensive experience in dealing with funders, government and Registered Providers.
Building safety: what you need to know & how should you respond
Debbie Larner, Head of Practice, CIH
Are you clear about the implications of the Building Safety & Fire Safety Bills and Chapter 1 of the Social Housing White Paper (‘To be safe in your home’) for smaller housing associations? What should you be thinking about and what should you be doing? Whether you’re sense-checking your current approach or wanting to get up to speed with arguably the defining issue of the past 10 years, Debbie lead us through the issues.
Regulatory consumer metrics: what it might look like
Kirsty Wells, Head of Devolved Nations, HouseMark
Kirsty explained how the Regulator has used satisfaction and performance data, collected annually, to shape its engagement with the sector and to provide tenants with the tools they need to hold their landlords to account. She explored how the best social landlords transparently report data to facilitate tenant scrutiny.
Housing software: what we’ve learnt from Covid & what you need to think about from strategy to implementation
Colin Sales, CEO, 3C
Colin discussed how covid changed the role of IT in service provision and how quickly new approaches can be implemented, as well as how technology might assist us with strategic challenges such as the Social Housing White Paper and the Fire Safety Bill.
Acuity is delighted to welcome associate consultant Nitin Parmar who will steer us through the implications of the new NHF code to help executive teams and board members decide a way forward.
Free to Acuity customers, this one-hour webinar will consider what’s changed, how it reflects the recent Social Housing White Paper and post-Grenfell operating environment, pros and cons of adoption and the alternatives. This webinar aims to provide a short-cut through the various implications you need to consider. The session will include a Q&A.
Webinar details:
Date and time: 10:30 – 11:30 am, Thursday 21 January
Who’s it for: Senior staff, board members and anybody with an interest in governance issues, eg company secretaries
His mission is Personal, Business and Housing Management Excellence. He has held positions at every level from Chairman of the board to frontline welfare work.
At ease in all types of settings he has consistently ensured that he gets the best results. His training is based on achievements gained through first-hand experience.
With a formal qualification in Management, Nitin has over 20 years training experience gained in operations, open and bespoke programmes and consultancy. Innovative in various fields he constantly tries out new approaches.
Passion for his work is always evident. Work directly with a variety of organisations and groups has enabled him to be responsive to the end user’s needs, which will always remain the main focus of his training and consultancy projects.
See below for details of our autumn 2020 series of free webinars. Ever popular, our webinars provide you with the intel and challenge you need to take control of a fast-changing operating environment. Use the links below see details and recordings of all events.
Recordings and resources from completed webinars in this series
Resident Satisfaction masterclass: good practice tips for carrying out a survey
Denise Raine, Director, Acuity
Denise distils 30-years’ experience into an hour of good practice tips to help landlords and residents get the most out of your surveys. How do you maximise response rates? Should you go for a sample or census? What are the pros and cons of the various survey channels? What should you ask and how should you ask it? When should you survey and how often? How do you ensure consistency to enable benchmarking? How do you use the data: shaping services, tenant profiling and customer recovery?
Sarah Lewis, Partnership Manager, Department for Work and Pensions
Sarah provided a wealth of information and answered questions on DWP, UC roll-out, changes to the payment process and why it pays to be on the portal (and how to get on the portal). How is DWP preparing for expected high volumes of of new claims in the autumn and winter? Plus, everything you ever wanted to know about DWP payments but were too afraid to ask or didn’t know who to ask.
Jonathan Walters, Deputy Chief Executive, Regulator for Social Housing
In this interactive session Jonathan discussed the the political & economic climate and the latest thinking from the regulator, and what are the key risks and issues housing associations need to be considering?
Ian Wright, Managing Director, Disruptive Innovators Network
Ian Wright, CEO of Disruptive Innovators Network explores the drivers of disruption in social housing, how leaders are responding to the pandemic and what successful businesses outside the sector have been doing to take advantage of the opportunities the crisis has thrown up. In particular, we hear about emerging new ways of working, the deployment of new technologies and areas of collaboration. Covid19 has shown that housing providers are able to operate at coronaspeed, doing things in days that previously would have taken weeks and months. But what does the future hold for housing providers? What are the questions they need to be asking themselves as they adapt to a new operating environment for which there is no guidebook or reference points?
Effective governance – what does a great board look like and how does it behave?
Samantha McGrady, Director, DTP
Sam examines what effective governance really is, what it looks like and its characteristics. The session included a focus on diversity in boards, ‘what’s new’ in governance and the new NHF Code of Governance, plus a look at key current governance themes and challenges.
Community investment: the latest fundraising opportunities for smaller housing associations, how to succeed and the importance of evaluation
Luke Southall, MD and Rahul Bissoonauth, Director of Business Development, Oaks (part of the Aquila Group)
Luke Southall Rahul Bissoonauth from Oaks discuss the fundraising opportunities available to smaller associations, taking a specific look at grants from trusts, foundations and other institutions. They will focus on current opportunities in the sector, and provide an overview of the key requirements and steps required to be successful in this fundraising area. The session included the importance of evaluation, where to look for opportunities, and top tips for successful applications.
Emma Foxall, Deputy Ombudsman, Housing Ombudsman Service
Emma Foxall, Deputy Ombudsman at the Housing Ombudsman Service discusses the new complaint handling code. The new code overhauls the housing complaints system from how landlords manage complaints to the powers the Ombudsman has to take action on behalf of tenants. Emma covers the implications for the sector, the self-assessment requirement and what happens next.
James Prestwich, Director of Policy and External Affairs, Chartered Institute of Housing
There’s lots to reflect upon: where a scrapped autumn budget and paused spending review leaves housing policy and investment and the levelling up agenda; implications of planning reforms; the long-awaited White Paper and revamp of consumer regulation; a soon to be finalised Building Safety Bill and the challenge of hitting environmental targets. James helps us navigate the policy environment and consider the implications.
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