How to get involved

To ensure we continue to improve our services in a positive way for our residents and neighbourhoods, we invite you to get involved and have your say.

Your feedback helps us to understand what you expect from us, so we can shape and monitor our services to suit your needs.

The training and support we offer to help you get involved also gives you the chance to develop skills you can use in all areas of your life.

If you would like to get involved, please email scrutiny@sanctuary-housing.co.uk for more information or call 0800 131 3348 (landline) or 0300 123 3511 (mobile).

Resident associations

The Co-Regulation Team Officer provides advice and support to help you set up a residents' association. They can take you through the Residents' Association Start-Up Pack (PDF 233KB) which must be adopted to ensure your group is recognised by Sanctuary.

The Co-Regulation Team Officer will also provide on-going advice and logistical support once your group is set up, by helping you to:

Attract members to your group
Run your group openly
Apply for community initiative funding
Ensure your group is representative of your community

If you would like to join or start your own community-based residents' association, please contact the Co-Regulation Team Officer who covers the area in which you live.

	Sue Nutter Scrutiny and Co-Production Officer Sue is based in the Burnley area of Lancashire and manages resident involvement, scrutiny activities and co-production within the following areas: North – includes Sheffield, Leeds and Hull. North West – includes Liverpool and Wirral Sue.Nutter@sanctuary-housing.co.uk
	David Onions Head of Co-Regulation David takes a lead role in strategic decisions and direction of the team. He is also directly responsible for supporting resident involvement, scrutiny activities and co-production in the following areas: East – includes Rochford, Ely and Ipswich. London and South East – including Wood Green, Hackney and Canterbury. David.Onions@sanctuary-housing.co.uk
	David Moss Scrutiny and Co-Production Manager David is based in Telford and is responsible for the training and development of residents and the different panels. He is specifically responsible for resident involvement, scrutiny activities and co-production in the following areas: Midlands - includes: Telford, West Bromwich, Banbury and Cherwell. South West - includes: Exeter and Swindon David.Moss@sanctuary-housing.co.uk
	Tavesha Campbell Co-Regulation Co-Ordinator Tavesha is based in Worcester and is responsible for all of the administration work regarding resident involvement, scrutiny and co-production. This includes preparing performance data for meeting papers, facilitating meetings, resident expenses processing and all general enquiries. Tavesha.Campbell@sanctuary-housing.co.uk

Resident Scrutiny Panels

Sanctuary is committed to having an on-going conversation with all of its residents, (regardless of tenure). Residents have been at the heart of the shaping and scrutinising services within Sanctuary for many years; this has been confirmed both by the accreditation received from the external, independent housing consultants Housing Quality Network, and the improvements to the service that residents everywhere receive as a result of residents holding Sanctuary to account.

The scrutiny process takes many forms; principally there is a National Residents’ Scrutiny Panel (NRSP) which meets quarterly, with senior housing staff. This is a formal panel meeting where Sanctuary’s performance against specific regulatory expectations is monitored, for instance, levels of customer satisfaction or how quickly empty homes are re-let.

This way the panel provides a ‘critical friend’ relationship with senior staff and an effective customer based challenge to service design.

Opportunities

Another function of the panel is more practical, it might involve commissioning ‘Communities of interest’ which are small task/finish groups, made up of residents from around the country, to perform specific tasks. An example of this might be a small panel of suitably experienced residents to work with the Group Procurement Team to establish new service contracts; a recent one looked at selecting a new contractor for ‘lifts’ (elevators) in our flats and larger schemes.

Other opportunities commissioned by the NRSP are estate inspections, which provide a snapshot of the appearance and condition of neighbourhoods and schemes and are jointly undertaken with residents and housing staff working closely together. Communities of interest also involve a specific forum for ‘Home Owners’ including leaseholders and residents of shared ownership properties; there is the ‘family and friends’ group which review our supported housing schemes using a simple question to frame their visit – ‘would I want my family or friends to live here?’

It is important to attract people with the relevant skills to our panels, so members are recruited via a formal application and interview.

If you would like to know more or apply for any of the opportunities listed, please contact the Co-Regulation Team at scrutiny@sanctuary-housing.co.uk