duration

Location
Virtual

Explore how resident-led scrutiny strengthens governance, drives improvement and enhances satisfaction, trust and accountability. Hear from councils and housing associations about how they have used scrutiny to deliver culture change and measurable outcomes. Plus receive a copy of HQN’s scrutiny guide.

  • Read more

    The consumer standards are now firmly in place. The Regulator of Social Housing’s (RSH) co-regulation approach places the accountability on boards and leadership teams to demonstrate how the organisation complies. Central to this is showing how boards hear the tenant voice and how they act on it.

    The RSH expects providers to provide assurance and evidence – not just that resident engagement structures exist, but that they lead to tangible improvements for tenants.

    Resident-led scrutiny is one of the most effective ways to do this well. Done properly, it:

    • Opens up involvement to residents who might not usually take part
    • Brings a fresh customer perspective to services
    • Strengthens collaboration between tenants and staff
    • Creates real examples of listening, learning and improving.

    Jane Eyles (The Residents’ Network lead and author of HQN’s 2025 scrutiny guide) will lead this practical session, sharing her many years’ experience of setting up and supporting scrutiny exercises. Jane will draw on the scrutiny guide. All delegates of this event will receive a copy.

    Practitioners and residents from Uttlesford District Council will talk about what they’ve done, what changed as a result and how they sustained momentum, including:

    • The scrutiny model they use and why
    • How they recruit/support residents and keep it inclusive
    • Examples of different topics (repairs, safety, estates etc) and what changed as a result
    • How recommendations are owned, delivered and reported
    • How they evidence impact internally and externally (boards/councillors/RSH).

    Who should attend and why?

    This is a practical session to help you strengthen your approach, build your evidence and create a clearer line of sight from tenant engagement to service improvement. You’ll come away with ideas you can apply immediately – whether you’re responsible for governance/assurance, resident involvement, or service improvement.

    Boards, governance teams, leadership teams:

    • Set the right culture from the top
    • Ensure you are focusing on the right things
    • Demonstrate tenant influence and outcomes
    • Strengthen governance, assurance and risk oversight
    • Provide clear examples of listening, acting and improving.

    Resident engagement teams, engaged tenants, operational managers, service improvement teams, find out about:

    • Practical ways to widen involvement (including attracting “new” residents)
    • Tools to run effective reviews of services through a customer lens
    • Approaches to turn findings into actions, track delivery and show impact.

    Get the year off to a good start – refresh and invigorate your approach.

    What will be covered

    • What the consumer standards and co-regulation mean in practice for scrutiny, assurance and culture
    • Choosing a scrutiny model that fits and setting clear terms of reference
    • How to scope a topic and build an evidence plan
    • Turning findings into recommendations that land – and getting ownership and follow-through
    • Tracking actions, reporting back to residents and demonstrating measurable outcomes and learning.
  • Our speakers

    Jane Eyles, HQN Associate
    Jane is an HQN Associate and has been a social housing resident, board member and consultant specialising in resident engagement since 1990. This means she is able to bring multiple perspectives into housing. She has held senior positions such as Head of Housing for Brighton Housing Trust, Head of Engagement for LB Camden, Genesis and Hexagon and Tpas SE Regional Manager as well as 20 years consultancy including the development of resident led scrutiny.

    Simone Russell CIHCM, Strategic Director, Housing, Environment and Communities, Uttlesford District Council
    Simone is an experienced Strategic Housing Director, Risk and Compliance/Service Transformation Consultant and Non-Executive Board Member with more than 30 years’ experience in the housing association, ALMO and local authority sectors. Simone’s specialist areas are strategic leadership, compliance, resident engagement, customer service, governance and performance management.

    Simone is currently the Strategic Director of Housing and Communities at Uttlesford District Council, which she combines with running her housing consultancy, Simone Russell Housing Solutions Ltd. Simone is also an associate consultant for Solace.

    Simone has supported many housing organisations and their boards work towards compliance with the regulatory standards for social housing including the statutory Complaints Handling Code. Simone is passionate is about delivering services which create positive outcomes for tenants, having supported numerous tenants’ panels through scrutiny activities and during her career has devised creative solutions for tenant engagement and feedback.

    Simone is a founding member of the Housing Diversity Network’s national mentoring scheme and has chaired the Chartered Institute of Housing’s Eastern Region Board.

    Oliur Rahman, Resident and Community Engagement Manager, London Borough of Hackney
    Oliur Rahman is Resident and Community Engagement Manager at the London Borough of Hackney, leading the council’s resident participation team. His role supports a range of involvement and accountability routes for residents, including resident training, engagement activity and opportunities for residents to shape and scrutinise services.

    Oliur works closely with residents and colleagues across the council to strengthen participation and ensure resident insight informs decision making and service improvement.

    Lewis Kinch, Housing Engagement Lead, HQN
    Lewis is a co-creation and engagement specialist driven by a belief that the people closest to challenges hold the answers to solving them. With 15 years experience across housing and community work, he champions power-sharing and genuine partnership between organisations and the communities they serve.

    Lewis has led the development of innovative frameworks and strategies that give residents meaningful influence in decision-making, always centring seldom-heard voices and challenging traditional top-down approaches.

    He combines systems thinking with participatory design methodologies to tackle complex challenges, committed to embedding person-centred cultures where residents, staff, and stakeholders work as equals.
  • Programme

    10:30am Welcome and introductions

    Jane Eyles, HQN Associate

     

    ​10:35am 15 years of mentoring – what have we learned?

    Jane Eyles, HQN Associate​
    • Common pitfalls that stop scrutiny delivering change – and how to avoid them
    • Practical ways to support residents and staff to work well together during reviews
    • What tends to make recommendations land, get owned and lead to visible outcomes.

    11:10am Uttlesford’s approach to scrutiny: What we changed and what it delivered

    Simone Russell, Strategic Director, Housing, Environment and Communities, Uttlesford District Council
    • How Uttlesford’s size and geography shaped involvement and why recruiting resident volunteers was challenging
    • Why they moved away from a standing scrutiny panel and now use task and finish scrutiny projects
    • A recent scrutiny topic, the kind of changes it led to and how impact is tracked and evidenced.

    11:45am Break

    11:55am From resident insight to service change: Hackney’s scrutiny in action

    Oliur Rahman, Resident and Community Engagement Manager, London Borough of Hackney
    • How Hackney’s scrutiny model works and the roles residents and staff play
    • Approaches to recruiting, supporting and sustaining resident involvement
    • Examples of scrutiny topics and how recommendations are followed through and evidenced.

    ​12:25pm View from the other side: the experience of being scrutinised

    Lewis Kinch, Housing Engagement Lead, HQN

    12:40pm Q&A and discussion

    1:00pm Close

  • Cancellations and substitutions

    If you are unable to attend an event or public training course, please let us know in writing (email is fine) at least 48 hours before. Please email [email protected]

    Otherwise, a cancellation fee of £60 plus VAT will be chargeable.

    If you are using a package place to attend and do not inform us within the agreed time frame, then a place will be taken to cover your non-attendance.

    Cancellations must be made in writing and will be acknowledged by HQN Limited.

  • Price and booking

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    If you experience any issues when submitting your booking, please email [email protected] with the name and date of the session along with the delegate name(s), email address(es) and job title(s) and we'll process the booking for you.

Dates



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