This 1-hour workshop walks you through the Acuity benchmarking definitions and data-entry to help ensure the quality and credibility of your data.
These metrics are designed to help AHBs compare costs and performance with similar organisations in Ireland.
Hosted by Breege Dolan, this session is aimed at staff tasked with collecting and submitting your 2023 benchmarking data.
This workshop has now run. To view a recording click here >>
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:
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:
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:
Date & time: 9:30 – 16:15, Thursday 18 April 2024
Venue: National Council For Voluntary Organisations, 8 All Saints St, London N1 9RL (Kings Cross)
If you would like to secure your place on the conference, please follow the booking form link below:
Venue: National Council For Voluntary Organisations, 8 All Saints St, London N1 9RL (Kings Cross)
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.
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.
This workshop has now run. To view the slides and a recording click here >>
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.
This workshop has now run. To view the slides and a recording click here >>
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.
This workshop has now run. To view the slides and a recording click here >>
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:
Click here for the programme >>
There will be ample opportunity to network with colleagues at registration, over lunch and at the break.
In the interests of open exchange and transparency, the event will operate in accordance with the Chatham House rule.
This event is targeted at those who lead smaller housing associations: Board and executive officers.
With VFM in mind we’re keeping costs down compared to similar events whilst not compromising on quality:
Date & time: 9:30 – 15:45, Wednesday 19 April 2023
Venue: National Council For Voluntary Organisations, 8 All Saints St, London N1 9RL (Kings Cross)
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.
Book your place with Sam here
Policy update
John Bryant, Policy Leader, NHF
10:30 – 11:30 am, Thursday 28 April 2022
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.
Book your place with John here
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.
Book your place with Bill here
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.
Book your place with James here
ESG measurement
John Wickenden, Research Manager, HouseMark
10:30 – 11:30 am, Tuesday 10 May 2022
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.
Book your place with John here
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:
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.
Book your place with Angela here >>
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.
Book your place with Rob here >>
Michael Hill, Business Development Manager, TPAS
10:30 – 11:30 am, Tuesday 30 November 2021
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.
Book your place with Michael here >>
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.
Book your place with Denise here >>
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.
Book your place with Anne here >>
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.
To provide delegates with the tools and information to understand and comply with regulatory VFM requirements. Coverage:
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
Those responsible for reporting VFM in the accounts, regulatory compliance, appraising the board and ensuring VFM is embedded in the business.
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:
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.
This Webinar took place on Wednesday 19 May 2021. Click here to download the slides and watch the recording >>>
Nitin Parmar, Associate, Acuity
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.
This Webinar took place on Tuesday 18 May 2021. Click here to download the slides and watch the recording >>>
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.
This Webinar took place on Thursday 13 May 2021. Click here to download the slides and watch the recording >>>
Jonathan Walters, Deputy CEO, RSH
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.
This Webinar took place on Tuesday 11 May 2021. Click here to download the slides and watch the recording >>>
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.
This Webinar took place on Thursday 6 May 2021. Click here to download the slides and watch the recording >>>
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.
This Webinar took place on Tuesday 4 May 2021. Click here to download the slides and watch the recording >>>
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.
This Webinar took place on Tuesday 27 April 2021. Click here to download the slides and watch the recording >>>
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.
Nitin has a 30-year track record in housing.
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.
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?
This discussion took place on 6 October – click here to watch the recording >>
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.
This discussion took place on 8 October – click here for a digest of Sarah’s answers and the resources she mentioned >>
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?
The session took place on 12 October – click here to watch the recording >>
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?
The webinar was originally broadcast on Tuesday 13 October 2020. Click here to watch the recording >>
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.
The webinar was originally broadcast on Tuesday 12 October 2020. Click here to download the slides and watch the recording >>
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.
The webinar originally broadcast on 22 October 2020. Click here to download the slides and watch the recording >>
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.
The webinar originally broadcast on 26 October 2020. Click here to download the the slides, related links and watch a recording of the session >>
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.
The webinar originally broadcast on 29 October 2020. Click here to watch a recording of the session >>
