duration

Duration
Half-day

duration

Location
In-house

duration

Availability
Good

Suitable for:       I What does this mean?

Understanding vulnerability and responding to individual needs is essential to delivering fair, accessible and effective housing services. With increasing regulatory expectations around equality, transparency and resident engagement, this practical course helps frontline housing professionals recognise vulnerability, make reasonable adjustments and provide appropriate support to residents.

Vulnerability isn’t always immediately apparent, and residents’ circumstances, needs and ability to access services can change over time. Housing professionals must be able to recognise when someone may need additional support and adapt their approach accordingly.

This course explores how to identify potential barriers, communicate sensitively and make reasonable adjustments that help residents access the services they need. Using practical scenarios, delegates will develop greater confidence in responding to individual circumstances, managing challenging situations and delivering services that are fair, inclusive and responsive.

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    What will delegates learn?

    By the end of this course, delegates will be able to:

    • Understand how vulnerability and complex needs can affect residents’ experiences of housing services
    • Recognise potential indicators of vulnerability and identify when additional support may be required
    • Understand the legal and regulatory responsibilities of social landlords towards vulnerable residents
    • Identify reasonable adjustments that can improve access to housing services
    • Adapt communication approaches to meet individual needs and circumstances
    • Build positive relationships with residents who may be experiencing challenging circumstances
    • Apply appropriate reporting, recording and referral processes to ensure concerns are acted upon.

    This course will cover:

    • Understanding vulnerability: Recognising the different ways residents may experience vulnerability, including temporary, situational and longer-term circumstances
    • The regulatory framework: Exploring the Regulator of Social Housing’s Consumer Standards and expectations around fairness, accessibility and resident involvement
    • Housing Ombudsman expectations: Understanding the importance of treating residents with dignity, respect and empathy, drawing on the Spotlight report on attitudes, respect and rights
    • Relevant legislation: An overview of the Equality Act 2010, Care Act 2014, Children Act 1989 and relevant housing legislation
    • Identifying support needs: Recognising physical, emotional, practical and communication needs that may affect residents
    • Reasonable adjustments: Understanding when adjustments may be needed and how to make housing services more accessible
    • Inclusive communication: Adapting communication methods, building trust and overcoming barriers to engagement
    • Recognise, Report, Record: Applying a consistent approach to identifying concerns, escalating issues and maintaining accurate records
    • Managing complex situations: Approaching sensitive conversations and challenging interactions with professionalism and empathy
    • Practical scenarios: Using case studies and exercises to explore vulnerability, prioritise needs and identify appropriate responses.

    Who should attend?

    This course is designed for frontline housing professionals and customer-facing teams who regularly engage with residents, including:

    • Housing officers and neighbourhood teams
    • Customer service and contact centre staff
    • Tenancy management professionals
    • Income and rent collection teams
    • Repairs and maintenance customer service teams
    • Resident engagement and complaints teams
    • Supported housing staff
    • Housing managers and team leaders.

    It is particularly valuable for staff who need to recognise vulnerability, make reasonable adjustments and ensure residents receive fair, accessible and responsive services.

  • Our trainer

    Carrie Kus is an experienced housing, lettings and property training specialist with a strong background across the charity, private rented, social housing and property investment sectors.

    Carrie spent seven years as a Senior Trainer at Shelter, the homelessness charity, where she managed the training needs of both new and existing helpline housing advisers. Her work supported advisers in delivering high-quality housing guidance to people facing homelessness and housing insecurity.

    In 2010, Carrie founded Clarity Estates, a lettings agency operating in Sheffield and Chesterfield. She successfully led the agency for over a decade before its sale in 2022 to a local housing charity. Alongside this, Carrie has been a property investor for many years, bringing practical, hands-on experience of the rental market.

    Carrie has also held several non-executive and leadership roles. She served for five years as a Non-Executive Director of the Residential Landlords Association before its merger with the National Landlords Association to form the NRLA. She also spent three years as a Non-Executive Director for the trading arm of Nomad, a Sheffield charity providing housing for young people, and was Training Director for Property Training Solutions, a subsidiary of Allied Surveyors created to deliver specialist training for property surveyors and professionals.

    Carrie brings together deep knowledge of the housing, lettings, property investment and social housing sectors, alongside practical experience and a long-standing commitment to improving standards across housing and lettings.

We can bring this course to you.
If you have five or more staff interested our in-house training offers great value for money.

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