Members only

The Residents’ Network is pleased to announce its latest best practice group on the recent Spotlight report by the Housing Ombudsman: Attitudes, respect, and rights – fostering a ‘relationship of equals’ among residents and housing providers. This session is critical for understanding the implications of the report’s findings and recommendations on vulnerability and residents’ rights, highlighting the need for a human-centric approach to service delivery and a statutory definition of vulnerability.

This will be facilitated by the Housing Ombudsman Service, who bring extensive experience in investigating social housing challenges and advocating for residents’ rights and better service standards.

Agenda bullet points:

• Overview of the Spotlight report’s key findings
• Discussion on the definition of vulnerability and its implications for residents
• Practical recommendations for social housing providers
• Roundtable discussion: Sharing experiences and strategies for improving resident services.

The guest speaker will be Polly Cox, Sector Learning and Development Manager at The Housing Ombudsman Service, who will start a discussion on the report’s implications for social housing and invite all attendees to share their experiences and strategies for improvement.

Best practice groups are free to members and are a fantastic opportunity to hear about what’s happening in the sector and network with fellow housing professionals.

Why you should come to the best practice group:

• Great way to find out what others are doing
• Good, honest, and open discussions
• Sharing best practice and ideas with others in similar roles
• Acts as a sense-check about what people are doing or thinking of doing.

Polly Cox, Sector Learning and Development Manager, The Housing Ombudsman Service

Polly Cox manages the Sector Learning & Development team at the Housing Ombudsman Service. She joined the Service in March 2023 having worked within the social housing sector for over 20 years. Polly’s experience includes leading on and delivering operational housing management, regulation, policy development, project management, training, resident influence, and complaints management.

Polly is part of the Quality, Engagement and Development department and is responsible for developing and managing the Housing Ombudsman Service Centre for Learning, where landlords will have easy access to a wide variety of learning resources to enhance their complaints management and drive a positive complaint handling culture.

Dr Eve Blezard, Networks Project Manager, HQN

Eve is a dedicated community practitioner with a decade of experience in the social housing sector, marked by a TPAS award in 2015. Her work, underpinned by a thesis from Salford University, combines community development and customer insight, focusing on using data and storytelling for actionable research.

Specialising in tenant satisfaction measures, Eve has significantly contributed to improving service delivery through her development of customer feedback frameworks, highlighted by her presentation at an international qualitative research conference. In her previous role, she had led resident insight strategy and frameworks, leading initiatives  in feedback, research and data for over seven years.

Currently at HQN as the Networks Project Manager, Eve is drawing on her expertise in enhancing resident engagement and involvement to focus on supporting members on resident engagement and involvement.

Cancellations must be made in writing, and will be acknowledged by HQN Limited. Delegates may be substituted at any time.