North Ayrshire Council Awarded TPAS Gold Accreditation

September 14, 2022

 

“Tenants are at the heart of our accreditation”

 

North Ayrshire Council, with a population of approx. 135,000 people, covers the northern portion of Ayrshire and the islands of Arran, Great Cumbrae and Little Cumbrae.

 

Tenant participation is at the heart of North Ayrshire Council’s tenant engagement strategy as they are continually focused on improving the standard of housing conditions and the service they offer.

 

They first received their TPAS accreditation in 2007 and have continued to maintain that accreditation every 3 years since then.  When they went for their first accreditation, they realised that they had a lot of work to do to catch up with other organisations and consulted with TPAS Scotland to carry out a Health Check via the TPAS Healthy Engagement Programme to assess where they were, and which focus areas needed improved.  Their strategy had been developed, they had a good framework and structure so were in a good place to get started.

 

TPAS spoke with tenants and staff and undertook a full assessment of North Ayrshire Councils tenant participation practices including their;

  • Strategy
  • Tenant participation structures
  • Tenant scrutiny
  • Resources, and
  • Ability to recognise and reward excellence in tenant participation

 

An independent panel were invited to look over the interim scores and agree the final score.

 

Winning the gold standard once again in 2022 recognises North Ayrshire’s focus on partnership working with tenants and strive to maintain a best practice approach.  Tenants were heavily involved in the accreditation processes and were continually consulted throughout the entire process to ensure their opinions and ideas were considered.

 

Tracey Wilson, Tenant Participation Manager at North Ayrshire Council said, “Tenants are at the heart of our accreditation.  We strongly believe in a co-partnering approach to tenant engagement, working together to build trust and upskilling individuals where required.  Working with TPAS Scotland to achieve gold standard once again emphasises our commitment to our tenants.  It recognises the work tenants do behind the scenes and demonstrates that, as an organisation, we listen to our tenants and always look for ways to ‘do better’. TPAS is an invaluable resource to both landlords and tenants as they provide that independent advice that ensures every voice is heard.”

 

Leza Lafferty, Lead Development and Learning Officer at TPAS Scotland said, “This was an impressive submission. North Ayrshire are doing terrific work on Tenant Participation ensuring they engage with everyone. It was a pleasure to award them the GOLD accreditation award’

 

 

Next steps for the team at North Ayrshire Council is to build on what they have achieved using a blended approach of digital and physical consultation with tenants to ensure that everyone is included, and processes and practices continually improve.