Guidance for Local TenantParticipation Strategies 2011

February 2011Copyright © TPAS Cymru 2011

Endorsed by

Contents

Page

1. Introduction

2. What the NTPS wanted

3. What was in the first round of LTPSs?

4. What has happened since the first round of LTPSs

- Tenant participation activities

- Impact and tenant influence

- Lessons from implementation of LTPSs

5. Developing the second round of LTPS

- Reviewing progress of existing LTPSs

- Structure of an LTPS

- Best practice tenant participation

- Customising to tenants’ preferences

6. References and resources

Appendix 1 - The basics of objectives and outcomes

Appendix 2 - Action plan formats

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TPAS Cymru is the leading tenant participation organisation in Wales, with over 300 tenant andlandlord members. TPAS Cymru exists to make effective participation a reality throughout Wales.

TPAS Cymru provides a range of services to Tenants and Landlords:-

Training, Seminars and Conferences accessible to all

Impartial Advice to Tenants & Landlords

Research, Surveys and Policy Development

Support to independent Tenant and Resident groups and their Landlords

For further information contact your nearest TPAS Cymru Office:-

South Wales Tel: 029 2023 7303 Fax: 029 2034 5597

North Wales Tel: 01492 593 046 Fax: 01492 593 182

e-mail: enquiries@tpascymru.org.uk Website: www.tpascymru.org.uk

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Guidance for Local Tenant Participation Strategies 2011

1 Introduction

The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) produced the National Tenant ParticipationStrategy (NTPS) in March 2007 1 and guidance for implementation followed in May 2008 2.TPAS Cymru published our own guidance and model action plan in November 2007 3

drawing on a draft of the WAG guidance. Since then all social landlords in Wales havesubmitted a Local Tenant Participation Strategy (LTPS) to WAG in 2008, and TPAS Cymruhave carried out an assessment of all LTPSs with an overview report 4 and individual reportsto landlords.

WAG expects a fundamental review of the LTPS by landlords with their tenants at leastevery third year but with the expectation that the action plan within each LTPS would bemonitored and revised at least annually by each landlord. The NTPS planned a three yearcycle of WAG assessment of LTPSs, and the date for submission of the second round ofLTPSs is October 2011. WAG has asked TPAS Cymru to carry out the assessment of thissecond round of LTPSs. Revised criteria will be produced for assessment of the secondround of LTPSs and landlords and tenants will be consulted about the criteria through TPASCymru and Welsh Tenants Federation networks and contacts.

This document is TPAS Cymru’s revised guidance about LTPSs drawing on the assessments ofthe first round of LTPSs, and experience of implementing the local strategies and theirimpact. Our intention is to reaffirm the requirements for LTPS, set out where the new ‘bar’is set for quality tenant participation, and suggest an effective structure and approach indeveloping LTPS.

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2 What the National Tenant Participation Strategy wanted

The primary aim of the National Strategy is ‘to develop quality tenant participation acrossWales’. This aim is a response to the last evaluation of tenant participation quality in Walesin 2005 which found that the quality of tenant participation was very varied and patchybetween different landlords. In the NTPS, WAG expects landlords:

to maximise tenants' rights to participate to promote equitable rights to participate across tenures, and to promote excellence in tenant participation generally.

Tenant participation ‘occurs when social landlords and other relevant bodies shareinformation, ideas and decision making with tenants’ working with them to agree:

how their homes and local environment should be managed what services and service improvements are needed priorities how they will work together to achieve these.

These points are what an LTPS should cover and should include consideration of widercommunity issues and involvement.

The NTPS requires that tenant participation should reflect a comprehensive approach to thewhole business of social landlords including wider community issues. The main purposebehind these tenant participation activities is to improve services but three purposes arelisted in the NTPS which were originally identified in an Audit Commission study:

to improve services or housing stock to enhance accountability to users to build social capital and community capacity (ie. to improve skills, confidence and

know how in communities).

A full list of the requirements for an LTPS are summarised in the TPAS Cymru document“LTPS Guidance and Summary Checklist” 5. This is a very comprehensive checklist that canbe used to test whether your LTPS matches all the expectations of the NTPS.

3 What was in the first round of LTPSs?

It must be emphasized that the assessment of the first round of LTPSs was only a desktopexercise. Some criteria assessed as weak in an LTPS were because there was no referenceto that particular requirement of the NTPS, but this may have been simply omission in thetext rather than in actual practice. It was clear that many landlords and groups of tenantshad struggled with the practicalities of producing a fairly complex document as well as withthinking through their strategy.

The most successful LTPSs told a story:- beginning with their current tenant participation activities and what tenants thought aboutthem;- identifying what improvements or expansion were wanted by tenants;- setting out the purposes of tenant participation and the outcomes/results intended;

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- and stating commitments about what actions would be taken to achieve the intendedresults.The strategic story was backed up by an action plan that kept clear links between thepurposes, intended results and planned actions, with stated timelines.

The most successful LTPSs and the best strategic explanations grew out of thoroughinvolvement of tenants in development of the LTPS. Tenants are in the best position todecide what tenant participation should be aiming to achieve and to assess what needs tochange and improve. However, only just over half of landlords had carried out significantconsultations and participation with tenants. The next round of LTPSs should all beproduced with thorough participation of tenants.

Frank analysis of weaknesses to be addressed

Some concerns remain in the following areas:

Key tenants have felt isolated and unsupported at times. Some estates suffer from a bad press and feel stigmatised. Individual groups find it hard working with some tenants who appear

uninterested. The Association is still failing to reach tenants in scattered properties in

any significant way. The bulk of the work falls on a few overworked volunteers. The Association has experienced problems getting tenants to engage in

training. Other barriers exist: jargon, childcare issues, lack of confidence, lack of

meeting places, lack of transport, and lack of fun!(Rhondda HA)

Setting out what the future holds

We have identified a number of issues we need to deal with, including:

Giving more feedback on surveys and questions in general Providing joint training where appropriate Making tenant participation more of a priority Providing a tenant resource centre for both the Amman and Gwendraeth

tenant networks Setting up a young persons group as the current tenant representatives

are mainly our older tenants Finding an alternative to traditional meetings such as fun days and music

events Making it clear what role your housing officers and sheltered scheme

officers have involving you

(Carmarthenshire CC)

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The most common weaknesses across the LTPSs were: Lack of strategic explanation to describe: what happens now; what will happen in the

future that is different or a development; and explanation about how changes will beachieved - linking purposes with actions and taking into account capacity and resourceconstraints.

Confusion about outcomes as a concept so that proper outcomes about change are notclearly identified; and often measures to assess outcomes were even weaker.

Funding resources not being stated explicitly with a breakdown, and lack ofconsideration that level of resources may need to be increased to meet a larger scaleand more ambitious practice of participation.

Feed back to tenants lacking in terms of feeding back to specific tenants or groups oftenants involved in specific activities about the influence of their contribution.Commitment to feed back to tenants was usually in a general way e.g. via thenewsletter.

Lack of opportunities for tenants to be involved in decision making with emphasisbeing on simply being consulted.

On the positive side, significant areas of development were common across many LTPSs: Services’ standards setting and monitoring by joint groups of staff and tenants Tenant inspection and scrutiny Training needs assessment Surveying tenant preferences for involvement and communication methods Reaching under-represented groups and areas Wider community participation Participation champions in staff structures Recording, monitoring and evaluation of activities and outcomes

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4 What has happened since the first round of LTPS?

WAG has recently asked TPAS Cymru to research the actual practice of tenant participationin Wales and the output from the research will not be available for some time. Theoverview that follows is based on the experiences and perspectives of TPAS Cymru staff andtheir work across the sector; inevitably this overview is only partial. Progress in tenantparticipation is due to a number of factors and not just as a result of LTPSs, in particular thetransfer landlords have generally strong commitment and development of tenantparticipation from the transfer process and ballot, and the promises in the offer document.

Tenant participation activitiesMost landlords have extended the range of activities that engage tenants but for somelandlords this is only a modest increase. From our own work we know that variouslandlords have initiated new activities such as tenant inspectors, mystery shoppers, qualityauditors for building work, service standards working groups, tenant forums, editorialgroups, training needs assessments, scrutiny committees, disability groups, timebankschemes and LTPS monitoring groups. These developments are not evenly spread across alllandlords. WHQS improvement programmes have had particularly strong involvement bytenants from deciding on specifications for work and equipment, through appointingcontractors, to monitoring and managing performance.

Most of these activities are higher level and it has tended to be existing tenant activists whohave gotten involved in them. We are aware of some landlords starting new activities aswell at lower levels of involvement and influence but TPAS Cymru usually has lessinvolvement with these activities which are often set up by in-house staff. However, wehave the feeling that existing active tenants in the main have taken on more, rather thanlarger numbers of different tenants getting involved. This is overall, the situation differs foreach individual landlord. Again, the transfer landlords are being conspicuously moresuccessful in widening the base of tenants involved.

Some landlords have made specific efforts to engage under-represented groups of tenantsand been modestly successful. However, for most landlords the tenants participating arestill a limited cross section of the whole profile of tenants.

Overcoming barriers

To help overcome barriers to effective involvement we promise to:

Avoid the use of jargon and keep language simple Help with child care, caring and travel arrangements Have flexible arrangements for meetings, varying times and locations Have accessible venues for meetings Have hearing loops at meeting venues Provide relevant information in a suitable format for inclusive involvement,

including different languages, Braille, large print or taped copy Avoid holding events on religious days

(Newport City Homes)

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Mainstreaming tenant participation was a commitment made by many landlords in theirLTPSs and a lot of landlords have taken action to achieve this. Some landlords haveprovided TP training for every member of staff; include an induction session on TP for everynew member of staff; included responsibility for TP in every job description; structured TPdiscussion and reports into department, senior management team and board meetings; anddesignated staff TP champions acting as a cross organisation team to drive tenantparticipation improvement. There have been remarkable successes where staff havebecome enthusiastic advocates and involved tenants very well in their area of work.However, we feel that in most landlords mainstreaming is making fairly slow progress andthat there are still barriers of culture (us and them) and defensiveness about involvingtenants more fully.

Another aspect of tenant involvement is the sharing of experience by tenants from differentlandlords at TPAS Cymru’s tenant partnership network meetings and other seminars andconferences. We feel that this has had a significant impact in building confidence oftenants and widening ambition and knowledge of what is possible. The Tenants AdvisoryPanel that is part of the regulatory framework for social landlords is another forum whichhas helped build tenant to tenant contact and confidence.

Impact and tenant influenceFor some landlords tenants are positive about the development of tenant participation andthat they have increased say and decision making influence as a result. There are a lotmore higher level tenant participation activities in place where tenants should play a part inmaking decisions though some tenants feel they are being marginalised to some extent.This is not surprising in any situation where decision making power is shifting. Overall thereis progress, if only modest: there is a greater and more wide spread expectation thattenants should be involved as partners in decision making; there are more activities andopportunities for tenants to be involved at higher levels; and probably there is increasedtenant influence in some landlords. It is difficult to know without there being a more indepth review of tenant participation in practice.

Mainstreaming - comprehensive corporate responsibility for TP

The chief executive officer will have overall responsibility for ensuringimplementation of this strategy and will ensure the empowerment principlesguide the decision making process

Working closely in partnership with the Members Forum, the housing directoris responsible for the management of the strategic direction of theempowerment strategy

Directors are responsible for ensuring that all employees in their directoratesare aware of and understand their role in the empowerment strategy

All employees will play a part in implementing this strategy, by the way theyconduct themselves at work and the way they provide services to tenants andresidents

(RCT Homes)

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It is even harder to track and know what impact tenant influence may have had in terms ofimproving services. It is clearer for WHQS improvement and other building work areas oftenant involvement that tenants are playing a significant role in design, planning andmonitoring of services. There may be evidence that tenant inspector reports have led tochanges and improvements to services – again it requires some systematic investigation todetermine if this is the case.

Lessons from implementation of LTPSs

Some landlords have found it difficult to use their LTPS as a working document to manageimplementation of TP improvement. Many landlords have reviewed and revised theiroriginal LTPS as required that they should. The difficulties in using the LTPS may have beento do with weaknesses identified by the assessment of the first LTPSs such as:

Lack of strategic clarity and outcome focus

Actions not being linked clearly enough to stated purposes and commitments

Over ambitious targets for development of TP activities

Lack of priorities when capacity is insufficient

Inadequate resources committed to support action plans.The lessons learned will be individual to each landlord.

One clear lesson across probably all landlords is how hard it is to record sufficientinformation, and the right information, to be able to measure outcomes. Most publicservices are in the same position and it will be a long term learning process to developeffective structures for monitoring and evaluation without being burdensome.

The bar of best practice in tenant participation has risen, certainly in terms of expectationsand examples of best practice, and to a modest extent in actual practice across the sector.It is still the case that the quality of tenant participation practice is variable betweenlandlords.

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5 Developing the second round of LTPS

Reviewing progress of existing LTPS

The original NTPS guidance proposed that:‘A fundamental review at least every 3 years .... should be conducted by a body whichincludes tenants, a range of staff, and Board or elected Committee members. Thereview should seek and take into account a wide range of tenants’ views, including thoseof hard to reach groups and people with support needs, about the effectiveness of the:a) organisation’s success at involving tenants and how they would like it to change or

improve it, andb) impact and cost of participation activities.’

The review should also try to secure the views of other stakeholders whomay have useful insights into the success of what the organisation istrying to achieve.”

Monmouthshire Housing’s approach to developing their LTPS first time:

A full customer satisfaction survey

Community roadshows

Consultation with tenants and residents associations

Consultation with tenants forum

Focus groups aimed at tenants not previously involved

LTPS working group of tenants and staff – including senior management

Board discussions of LTPS development updates and draft strategy, and

final approval

Consultation with tenants and staff on the draft strategy

Charter Housing Associations development of LTPS included:

Customer survey

One to one meetings with managers about tenant participation in theirservice area

Customer champions group input

Training for customer champions team about involving black and minorityethnic tenants

Tenant network day

Consultation sessions with disabled tenants group and older personsgroup

Meeting with supported housing managing partners about participation ofsupported housing tenants

Desk top review of other landlords’ tenant participation methods

Training about LTPS development for key staff, tenants and boardmembers

Input from reviews of maintenance and lettings

Group sessions with tenants forum

Consultation with tenants and staff on the draft strategy

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The review is about learning from experience in the past 2 years and is essential as thefoundation to develop the next LTPS. Views from a wide range of tenants are needed aboutwhat they want from their landlord and how they want to be involved in planning anddecision making.

Structure of an LTPS

TPAS Cymru’s advice for the first round of LTPSs was to structure the strategy document onthe headings of the NTPS itself: aims and objectives, scope of participation, participationoptions, delivery, monitoring and review. However, we found that using these as sectionheadings did not easily enable a strategic thread that explained what happens now, whatimprovements are needed, and what will be done to make the improvements. Learningfrom the LTPSs produced in the first round, we recommend as follows – a storyline ofstrategic explanation:

What we do now: Summary review of progress against the first LTPS plan: development of tenant

participation; impact; influence of tenants Current tenant participation activities Levels of tenant influence

What we need to develop or improve: Tenants’ views on services and current tenant participation Strengths to build on; weaknesses to address; barriers to participation; new areas of

development Commitments to improvement and change

What we will do: Objectives and outcomes Resources, capacity constraints and priorities Management and governance support for tenant participation Action plan – structured to link clearly the objectives, outcomes for each objective, and

the actions planned to achieve each outcome Monitoring and review arrangements

Landlords have to set their own local outcomes under the broad delivery outcomes set bythe regulatory framework. These local outcomes should be consistent with outcomesdefined in the LTPS.

Staff across the organisation also need to be involved in the LTPS process tobuild their understanding and commitment; and similarly Board membersneed to own the tenant participation strategy and action plan.

The new regulatory framework for housing associations 6 (and in part forlocal authority landlords in the future) requires tenants to be central tosetting local outcomes and standards and to validating self assessment. Thisis another aspect of tenant participation, not a separate strand of activity,and tenant participation in regulation should be included in the LTPS.

TThhee SSttoo

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oorryylliinnee

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Best practice tenant participation

The NTPS set out to improve the quality of tenant participation across all landlords to thelevel of the best of practice. The developments and plans for LTPS are not necessarilyabout new, innovative practice but about applying the best of existing practice in everylandlord.

Advice from TPAS Cymru for the first round of LTPSs still applies:

The NTPS requires LTPSs to include the following: The scope of involvements should be what tenants want and suited to their needs Participation should be integrated across all landlord staff and operations Methods of involving tenants should include direct mechanisms as well as traditional

representation of tenants through Associations All groups of tenants should be included through suitable methods and convenient

access Community issues are addressed as well as housing issues Participation should be maintained through regular review of LTPS and by linking with

mechanisms for continuous improvement.

Tenants’ needs and wishesLandlords should regularly survey tenants’ preferences about ways to be involved anddevelop structures and methods to accord with those preferences.

It is likely that if tenants’ experience to date of participation is a poor one, then tenantswon’t express much interest or preference for any methods of involvement. With positiveexperience of participation achieving things for the better and seeing benefit for theirinvolvement, then tenants’ preferences could change. So it’s worth keeping methods andstructures under review as participation practice improves.

Integrate/mainstream participationLandlords should ensure understanding of and commitment to good practice inparticipation throughout the organisation, with all staff and Board Members/Councillorstaking responsibility for involving tenants in services improvement and operation

Tenant participation can’t be a marginal thing that’s the responsibility of 1 or 2 staff – allstaff and the managers and Board/Committee members have to be committed andengaged. Participation is not about tenants and what tenants do, it’s about the wholeorganisation, all the staff, and default thinking that automatically asks: ‘how will tenants beinvolved in that’.

Independent voice for tenantsLandlords should support ways for tenants to organise themselves and express anindependent voice, alongside a range of direct methods to seek tenants’ views and toinvolve tenants in decision making.

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Involvement and access by all groups of tenantsAll groups of tenants should be engaged in services review and improvement, across theprofile of tenants and their geographic location. Appropriate methods and support toenable access should be provided to ensure a match between the profile of tenants andtheir distribution and the profile of those involved.

It is not acceptable or effective for the active, honourable few only to be involved.Landlords need to plan for how to include all elements of tenants and make participationopportunities accessible to them; and to evidence whether this is happening.

Community issuesLandlords should enable and support tenants to engage in wider issues concerning theircommunity and environment, including maintaining appropriate links and partnerships withother organisations.

NTPS acknowledges that residents who are not tenants will need to be involved in the widerscope of participation in community issues but states that tenants’ rents should not be usedto fund participation costs for non-tenants.

Mainstreaming:

Staff and Board/Elected Members Responsible for TP

To improve the staff’s commitment to resident involvement it is proposed that:

The same information given to tenants at sign up regarding involvementopportunities be given to staff at induction

Training be provided to all staff on customer involvement tailored to theneeds of their role

Competencies be reviewed to include a clear competency on customerinvolvement, recognising that all posts play a part in customer involvement

Appraisals be reviewed to ensure that the customer involvementcompetency is discussed at each appraisal

Ensure all staff attend at least one Tenant event per year Ensure all departments recognise and contribute to Resident & Tenant

Group meetings, Community Panels and all other forms of residentinvolvement

Community Involvement Officers to attend departmental staff meetings todiscuss current and future activities at least once per year

Customer Involvement will form part of one Group Briefing per year where areview of activities and proposals for further activities will be discussed

Appoint one Board Member to become “Involvement Champion” and workwith the Housing Director to ensure that the Resident Involvement Strategyis at the forefront of the Association’s services and strategies.

(Newydd HA)

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Sustainability in the futureTenants should be involved in regular review of the participation strategy and in themechanisms for continuous improvement for the organisation.

Customising to tenants’ preferences

The LTPS should aim to provide: Different levels of participation and influence A range of methods of involvement - but not a scattergun approach A range of formats and languages

Different levels of participationTenants should have opportunities across the full range of levels of tenant involvementincluding:- clear, high quality information to tenants on all relevant issues and developments in

services and the organisation;- opportunities to express views and be consulted on decisions and developments;- opportunities to influence priorities and developments from early in the process and to

contribute to decision making;- opportunities to take control of some landlord functions where tenants wish to.

It is not the aim of participation to shift every aspect of tenant involvement up to the levelof tenant control – this may not be appropriate and it depends on what influence tenantswant. All the different levels are valid for different aspects of landlord services. There canbe several different levels of participation happening for the same activity, perhaps withdifferent groups of tenants,. eg. a newsletter could involve: tenant editorial and planninggroup; a plain language check group; satisfaction survey with all tenants; and distribution ofinformation to all tenants.

Range of different methodsA wide range of methods of involvement should be used according to the preferences oftenants and the effectiveness of different methods for different purposes.

The NTPS cautions against a scattergun approach which chooses methods randomly from ageneral menu of methods. Methods to involve tenants need to be chosen according to thepurpose of the involvement. An extensive list of tenant participation activities can be foundon the TPAS Cymru website. 7

The assumption behind this requirement is that different tenants prefer different methodsto give their views and/or different groups of tenants prefer different methods – so a widerrange of methods is more effective. It is certainly true there are different preferences butall tenants prefer methods that come to them rather than asking to travel significantdistances, are convenient in time as well as place, and don’t involve wading through paperand complex information.(There is more advice on matching methods to level of tenants’ interest and type of activityin TPAS Cymru’s document: ‘Participation – the next generation’ 8.)

TPAS Cymru uses the visual model of a pyramid to illustrate how tenant partto be structured – with a wide base of activities involving different tenants on differentissues in different areas. Simpler, local involvements are where people start to becomeinvolved and can gain information and confidence to perhaps take on more demandingparticipation activities.

This pyramid lists many typical tenant participation activities (but it’stheir approximate order of influence and demand for skills and knowledge. The model canbe used as a tool in development of your LTPS to consider whether your participationactivities span different levels and have a good range of

Range of formats and languagesLandlords should provide information in formats and languages according to the needs oftenants, and enable involvement of tenantsor language needs. Tenants couldlanguage and appealing presentation.

TPAS Cymru uses the visual model of a pyramid to illustrate how tenant partwith a wide base of activities involving different tenants on different

. Simpler, local involvements are where people start to becomegain information and confidence to perhaps take on more demanding

This pyramid lists many typical tenant participation activities (but it’s not comprehensive) intheir approximate order of influence and demand for skills and knowledge. The model canbe used as a tool in development of your LTPS to consider whether your participationactivities span different levels and have a good range of different involvements.

Range of formats and languagesprovide information in formats and languages according to the needs of

enable involvement of tenants in activities through support to meet disabilityTenants could be involved in assessing information for relevance, plain

language and appealing presentation.

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TPAS Cymru uses the visual model of a pyramid to illustrate how tenant participation needswith a wide base of activities involving different tenants on different

. Simpler, local involvements are where people start to becomegain information and confidence to perhaps take on more demanding

not comprehensive) intheir approximate order of influence and demand for skills and knowledge. The model canbe used as a tool in development of your LTPS to consider whether your participation

different involvements.

provide information in formats and languages according to the needs ofin activities through support to meet disability

be involved in assessing information for relevance, plain

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6 References and Resources

All the following documents are available on TPAS Cymru’s website: www.tpascymru.org.uk

1 National Tenant Participation Strategy, WAG, March 2007

2 Developing Local Tenant Participation Strategies - Guidance for Implementation, WAG,May 2008

3 LTPS Guide and Illustrative Model Action Plan, TPAS Cymru, November 2007

4 Assessment of LTPSs of Social Landlords in Wales, TPAS Cymru/WAG, July 2009

5 LTPS WAG Guidance - Summary and Checklist, TPAS Cymru, 2009

6 The Regulatory Framework for Housing Associations, WAG, February 2011 – out forconsultation

7 Compendium of Tenant Participation Activities, TPAS Cymru, 2009

8 Participation – the Next Generation, TPAS Cymru, 2009

Good Practice Report from Assessment of LTPSs, TPAS Cymru/WAG, September 2009 Solutions 9 – The National Tenant Participation Strategy, TPAS Cymru Solutions 10 – Mainstreaming Tenant Participation, TPAS Cymru

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Appendix 1

The basics of objectives and outcomes

An Aim should be a single, very broad purpose stating the intended end point impact of thewhole initiative. For a LTPS it could be something like:“To improve the quality and delivery of services for housing management and widercommunity development by improving the participation of tenants (and residents) in theplanning and operation of services.”

There are 2 elements within this aim: ‘to improve quality and delivery of services’ which is about change in external

provision; ‘by improving the participation of tenants (and residents)’ which is about processes of

involvement rather than external change resulting from them.It is easier to monitor and evidence greater participation of tenants than it is to monitorchanges in external services and to attribute them as being a result of increasedparticipation.

For a Supported Housing Provider the aim of a LTPS could be:“To improve support services to foster independent living by improving the participation ofservice users in the planning and operation of services.”

Objectives are ‘sub-aims’ – a breakdown of the broad aim into more specific intentionswhich if achieved will all contribute to achieving the aim. Objectives of a LTPS could be:1. To improve housing management services through greater involvement by tenants.2. To develop a culture of participation so that all planning, decision making and review

processes are open to tenant input.3. To increase the involvement of all sections of tenants (and residents) by ensuring

appropriate opportunities for involvement, necessary skills and confidence, andadequate resources.

4. To improve the wider environment and community through collaboration with tenantsand residents, and other partners and agencies.

Monitoring and measurement of success in achieving these objectives must be byidentifying outcomes, ie. external changes that improve people’s lives. The focus must beon what is changed and achieved, not on what activities have been done. If tenants,landlords and communities only identify processes and levels of activity they will work hardwithout ever knowing whether they have achieved anything. Unless tenants and residentscan see how an activity made life better it will be difficult to motivate their involvement.

Actions in the action plan should be grouped under the appropriate objective so that thereis structure to the plan with actions linked to the purpose they are intended to achieve.This is a crucial purpose of the framework of the action plan that objectives are clearlyidentified with linked actions to achieve them so that it can be seen whether the actionslisted are sufficient and appropriate to achieve each objective.

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There is a huge number of detailed actions which a landlord, staff and tenants can take toachieve objectives; the strategy and action plan should not include all of them but focus onmain areas of action. The detail of actions will carry through to individual staff work plans. You will need to explore with tenants and staff first what their ideas and preferences are

before deciding on actions. You may need to select some of the possible actions on a priority basis because it isn’t

possible to do all of them starting from your current practice and expertise inparticipation (but timetable further development in the future).

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Appendix 2Action plan formats

TPAS Cymru modelThe outcomes intended under each objective are listed with measure(s) for each outcome. For each intended outcome, actions are listed inseparate rows which will work toward achieving that outcome; each action has a target or a milestone date. This simpler layout would beadequate for the action plan published in the LTPS but for more detailed planning additional columns could be added for who is responsibleand resources needed.

Objective 1: .......................

Intended Outcomes Measured By Actions Target/Milestone

1.1

1234

1.2

1234

1.3

1234

Many LTPS action plans had actions listed in the first column on the left, then target, then outcome – with 1 outcome for each action. Thisdoes not work well because many actions are usually needed to achieve a given outcome; this is why the model above starts with the intendedoutcome and lists a number of actions to achieve that outcome.

When it comes to reporting on progress against the action plan, the report will need to state ‘actual outcomes’ as opposed to ‘intendedoutcomes’ used in the starting plan.

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Some examples of outline action plan formats from the first round of LTPSs are below. To see examples of completed action plans see TPASCymru website for the 6 highest rated LTPSs in the first round – www.tpascymru.org.uk

Taff Housing Association

Objective Outcome Indicators Measured By1.

Actions Target/Milestone Responsible Person

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