Details

Non-technical staff are increasingly being asked to undertake inspections of void and tenanted properties. This course will provide guidance on how to do them effectively, with a focus on the customer perspective.

Delegates will also learn how to conduct estate/area walkabout inspections in a knowledgeable and effective manner, with an emphasis on issues such as protecting the housing stock, identifying areas for future investment, health and safety, and compliance with legislative requirements.

What the course covers:

The morning session covers void management and is designed to help non-technical staff better understand and carry out pre- and post-inspections of both void and tenanted properties.

The afternoon session uses a wide range of learning techniques to help non-technical staff understand how to correctly identify and diagnose issues and potential problems when carrying out estate/area inspections.

Delegates will learn how to:

• Prepare for a property inspection
• Identify health and safety risks/issues
• Effectively document findings using standardised forms
• Diagnose defects, problems and potential problems
• Work with service users to drive up void standards
• Develop and apply re-let standards
• Monitor effectively
• Tackle an estate/area walk-about inspection
• Recognise minor and potentially serious problems.

Who should attend?

All non-technical staff who have a responsibility to manage and inspect estates, areas and properties, and everyone who wishes to improve their understanding of void and estate management.

Our trainer

Wayne Anderson is an expert lecturer, national conference speaker, chartered surveyor, arbitrator and consultant. His training sessions are lively, colourful and interactive and are based on extensive experience gained over 25 years with best practice organisations involved in the housing repairs and maintenance sector. Wayne has a reputation for simplifying complex issues and encouraging frontline staff to develop a deeper understanding of maintenance issues that can be applied confidently on a day-to-day basis.

This course will also be running in London.

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Details

Make sure you’re complying with the new Act, reducing disrepair claims and increasing customer satisfaction.

This course will de-mystify the legal haze of statutory obligations placed on landlords to repair properties, and the consequences of ignoring them. It will also examine the implications that tenancy agreements and handbooks have for disrepair claims and the difference between an ‘improvement’ and ‘disrepair’, which can often be crucial in disrepair claims. 

This course will cover: 

• The Landlord and Tenant Act section 11 
• The impact of tenancy terms 
• Disrepair vs improvements 
• The risk of ignoring complaints 
• Disrepair pre-action protocol 
• Relevant case law 
• Overview of other statutory obligations. 

You will learn: 

• The landlord’s legal responsibilities 
• How tenancy contracts enhance repair obligations 
• Minimising the risk of a claim 
• Potential defences 
• Case management 
• Notification of a repair. 

Who should attend? 

All staff who are involved in dealing with asset management or who manage those that are, including heads of service, asset managers, tenancy management officers, repairs managers, repairs officers, and team leaders. 

Our trainer

Mel Cant trained as a barrister and specialises in social housing law. After ten years in the legal profession, she spent a further ten working within local government, predominantly in the areas of homelessness, housing advice and allocations and lettings, as both a practitioner and consultant. She has been the Homelessness Review Officer for City of York Council for nearly ten years and undertakes the s202 reviews for all but one of the other North Yorkshire authorities. 

This course will also be running in London, Birmingham and Newcastle.

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Details

When people complain they want to be heard, understood and dealt with fairly. Responding to complaints is an important task often carried out by people who are not communication specialists.

This course will help people to think things through from the point of view of the person making the complaint, identify what needs to be included in the response, structure their letter well, and use clear and straightforward language with confidence.

It will guide participants through the process of writing a high quality plain language response that will meet the needs of the organisation and the customer. A plain language response uses words well, at a level the audience will appreciate, and its tone is human and direct. Overall it's easy to read and designed to deliver information effectively. This type of response can help to maintain a positive relationship with customers: it's a practical way to put your values (and policies) into action.

Before the course our trainer will get to know your complaints policies and procedures as well as your organisation's values and communication goals.

She will then read and analyse examples of current responses to complaints. This will enable her to tailor the course to your organisation's needs and clearly explain to participants how to apply the ideas in the course to their own documents.

Course content

The course contains many practical exercises and examples to build on participants skills, including how to:

• Use the active voice and strong verbs
• Write shorter sentences that deliver more
• Get rid of waffle and jargon
• Empathise and apologise well
• Develop a letter structure that works.

Who should attend?

Everyone who wants to improve the quality of their written responses to complaints including managers, team leaders and executives.

Our trainer

Caroline Oubridge started out making community programmes for BBC local radio before working in press and communications for national charities for over 15 years. She's a strong believer in straightforward communication and now specialises in training and advising organisations on how to explain who they are, what they do and why it matters. Caroline always delivers training that is informative, enjoyable and practical.

This course will also be running in Birmingham, London, Newcastle and Liverpool.

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Details

This revised and updated condensation, damp and mould workshop builds on the enthusiastically received format previously delivered both in-house and at public training events across the length and breadth of the UK.

Revisiting existing understanding, dispelling myths and questioning existing generic, outdated and inappropriate advice often given to interested parties in the light of recent improvements to housing stock, the course provides delegates with an effective understanding of the causes, symptoms and cures associated with condensation, damp and mould in the light of impacting legislation, etc.

What will you learn?

• An understanding of the causes, symptoms and cures associated with condensation, damp and mould
• Requisite impacting legislation and the implications of failure
• Rising damp – truth or myth?
• The diverse range of detection tools available such as moisture, carbide and capacitance meters, borescopes, hygrometer sticks and humidity boxes, etc
• Strategies for the effective removal/reduction of damp and mould problems
• How to communicate sound knowledge-based principles to affected parties
• How to protect parties’ interests and implement effective procedural guidance to combat failure.

The training is lively, practical and interactive and, most importantly, in tune with the increasing demands being placed on housing organisations and their technical and housing officers in meeting the challenges presented by this resource-draining aspect of their work.

Who will benefit?

Housing officers, maintenance and technical officers, property inspectors, home visitors, estate-based staff such as caretakers and neighbourhood officers, together with all customer-facing teams and their team leaders.

Our trainer

Wayne Anderson is an expert lecturer, national conference speaker, chartered surveyor, arbitrator and consultant. His training sessions are lively, colourful and interactive and are based on extensive experience gained over 25 years with best practice organisations involved in the housing repairs and maintenance sector. Wayne has a reputation for simplifying complex issues and encouraging frontline staff to develop a deeper understanding of maintenance issues that can be applied confidently on a day-to-day basis.

This course will also be running in Manchester, London and Leeds.

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Details

Most organisations run projects – but under 40% of those projects are delivered on time, on budget and achieve their objectives. 

A project has a much higher chance of success if the strategy is clear and everyone involved knows the principles of running a project. All members of the team need clarity on their roles and what is needed from others to ensure plans are effective. This training will give you the skills to ensure you plan all of this. 

This one day course will lead you through the essentials of project management, why it is needed and what makes a project run well. The focus will be on techniques and actions needed to deliver high quality projects on time and budget. Delegates will leave the day with a comprehensive overview of project management and practical skills and templates to help your organisation accomplish success. 

What will delegates learn? 

Everyone who wants to properly critique the way they are currently running projects and use practical project management tools and techniques that work. The course is suitable for people who are new to project management or those who are working as a part of a project team. The session content can be flexible and structured to consider the needs and experience level of those attending. 

Our trainer

Ruth Walker-Cotton is a qualified project manager (APM PMQ) and a member of the Association of Project Management. She is currently studying Strategic Project Management at MSc level.

Ruth has extensive experience of writing and implementing strategies and managing campaigns and projects within the Charity, NHS and Housing sectors. She has successfully improved performance in a variety of sectors, through setting and achieving targets in partnership with key stakeholders.

Ruth is experienced in people management and loves designing and implementing systems and processes to ensure clarity and efficiency. Her main focus is project management – whether training a team or guiding them through a project – supporting businesses to improve their strategic and resource planning, working with them as they go through organisational change.

This course will also be running in Manchester, Newcastle, Cardiff and London.

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Details

Mental health and hoarding are often major contributory factors in people being unable to maintain tenancies. Early identification and support are vital, delivered by housing staff with an awareness of these ever more common, and often difficult to manage conditions. 

Many people who suffer from mental illness or hoard have problems managing their tenancies. They may develop arrears, cause problems to neighbours or be at risk because of their own vulnerabilities. Properties may become unsafe or squalid; access can be difficult, whether for yearly gas checks or other routine inspections; tenants may refuse to maintain properties or allow improvements by the landlord. 

This course is for all staff working with people whose mental health may impact on managing their tenancies, including hoarders. It will provide an overview of common mental health issues and will focus on tenancy sustainment/enforcement options relating to mental health and hoarding. It will link this to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and explain how mental capacity is vital in modern day tenancy sustainment/enforcement. 

We will explore: 

• Common mental health issues, including hoarding, and how these can impact on tenancy management 
• The Mental Capacity Act 2005 and how capacity should be used when exploring either sustainment or enforcement options 
• The importance of early identification of mental health or hoarding issues via appropriate assessment 
• Practical ways to engage, develop a rapport with, and motivate tenants with mental health or hoarding issues 
• The need for an effective risk management system and common risks when working with mental health and hoarding cases 
• Using case studies, options for tenancy sustainment and enforcement 
• Relevant legislation including the Care Act 2014. 

Who should attend? 

All staff working with tenants with mental health issues including hoarding, or who offer tenancy sustainment/support as part of their role. 

Our trainer 

Danny McGowan BSC, MSC has been involved in supporting people with substance misuse, mental health and other complex needs for over 20 years. He has developed experience in many specialist areas, such as working with hoarders and those with a dual diagnosis and has delivered training in techniques such as motivational interviewing and CBT. He has been delivering training for the housing sector for over a decade and has many years’ experience of developing client/customer involvement and peer mentoring schemes.

Danny uses a combination of his years of experience, current good practice guidelines and research evidence to deliver the topics he trains. He uses a holistic interactive training style that provides delegates with real skills and information, which they are then able to apply back in the workplace and beyond. He has delivered training and provided consultancy to numerous organisations during his career. Notable clients include the Department of Health, Department of Work and Pensions and the Home Office as well as housing organisations across the UK.

This course will also be running in Southampton and Leeds.

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Details

Many HR functions are undertaken by line managers with little specialist HR input. This training gives managers a sound understanding of the law, rights and responsibilities of employees and managers and an appreciation of how to get the best from their staff.

Many organisations only have a small HR presence, so line managers are increasingly tasked with performing traditional HR functions, but without the professional skills and knowledge that usually accompany this. 

This course will help:

• Delegates to understand the basic rights and responsibilities that employers and employees have, and how to operate basic HR and line management processes effectively and efficiently
• Those with line management responsibilities to have greater confidence in performing basic HR functions and in keeping their team high performing whilst doing the basics of management right.

Delegates will learn

• To understand the basic rights and responsibilities of employees and employers and what this means on a practical level for line managers
• How to ensure the fundamental HR processes they are part of run effectively and efficiently
• How to motivate, communicate with and manage the performance of their teams using HR processes
• To feel confident managing processes such as: Recruitment and Selection; Induction; Absence Management; Disciplinary and Grievance; Termination of Employment; and others.

Workshop outline

• Basic employment rights and responsibilities
• Basic HR processes that line managers get involved in and how to manage these
• Motivational theory and practice
• Good practice in communicating with individuals and teams
• Performance Management processes and how to get the best from them
• Overview of and hints and tips to get the best from: Recruitment and Selection; Induction; Absence Management; Disciplinary and Grievance; Termination of Employment; and others.

Who should attend

Anyone who has responsibility for people management in an organisation and wants to do it better without relying on HR to do it for them. Equally, anyone new into an HR role who wishes to learn more about the role of HR and line managers.

Our trainer

Gary has held several senior HR roles in various sectors, including 12 years in housing. He has delivered CIPD, ILM and CIH programmes for many years. He speaks regularly at conferences about leadership and HR, and is active on social media. He also carries out training on a range of topics for HQN.

This course will also be running in London, Manchester and Cambridge.

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Details

Having good knowledge of mental health issues is vital for managers in these challenging economic times. Many of you will be asking staff to do ‘more’, with less resources at their disposal. What can you do to prevent the development of mental health issues or to manage staff with existing mental health conditions?

You will learn

• Explore the common types of mental illness including: depression (unipolar and bipolar), psychosis and schizophrenia, personality disorder, anxiety disorders including PTSD and phobias, eating disorders
• To be able to define the common indicators and symptoms of mental illness that may appear in staff members
• Understand how stress is different to mental health issues but how both interconnect
• Understand how to identify, limit and manage work based stress
• Understand what a mentally healthy workplace is and what you can do to ensure yours is as healthy as can be
• How to encourage disclosure and open discussion around mental health and how to overcome stigma
• Learn how to manage a staff member with a mental health problem while at work or on return to work
• Know how staff members can access support for their stress or mental health issues.

Who will benefit from this course?

• All housing and care and support managers and supervisors and human resource staff.

Our trainer

Danny McGowan BSC, MSC has been involved in working with substance misuse, mental health and complex needs for over 20 years. He specialises in translating science into common sense and has an interactive and engaging training style which provides you with practical skills, not just a lot of facts and figures.

This course will also be running in London and Milton Keynes.

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Details

Are you new to the field of housing and wondering what your job will involve? Have you been a housing officer for a while and would like to know that you are dealing with tenancy management issues effectively? If so, then this is the course for you! 

Housing officers have a challenging role, dealing with different issues every day. This course is your survival manual for making sure you are confident that you are supporting your tenants when you should and using enforcement when it is necessary.

What will delegates learn?

• How to effectively deal with tenancy management issues
• Practical skills to support tenants who need help in managing their tenancy
• Techniques to investigate tenancy issues
• Confidence that when enforcement is necessary, you will have done all you can.

This course will cover:

• Real issues faced by housing officers
• Provide real solutions to help you carry out your job
• Untidy gardens
• Abandoned vehicles
• How to tackle no access cases
• Succession
• Assignments
• Changes to the tenancy agreement – joint to sole and sole to joint
• How to deal with abandonment
• When to support and when to enforce
• Practical advice
• Case studies to practice real scenarios.

Who should attend?

Housing officers who are new to the role and those who want more confidence tackling tenancy management issues in a social housing context.

Our trainer

Mel Cant trained as a barrister and specialises in social housing law. After ten years in the legal profession, she spent a further ten working within local government, predominantly in the areas of homelessness, housing advice and allocations and lettings, as both a practitioner and consultant. She has been the Homelessness Review Officer for City of York Council for nearly ten years and undertakes the s202 reviews for all but one of the other North Yorkshire authorities. 

This course will also be running in Manchester, London and Birmingham.

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Details

Most organisations run projects – but under 40% of those projects are delivered on time, on budget and achieve their objectives. 

A project has a much higher chance of success if the strategy is clear and everyone involved knows the principles of running a project. All members of the team need clarity on their roles and what is needed from others to ensure plans are effective. This training will give you the skills to ensure you plan all of this. 

This one day course will lead you through the essentials of project management, why it is needed and what makes a project run well. The focus will be on techniques and actions needed to deliver high quality projects on time and budget. Delegates will leave the day with a comprehensive overview of project management and practical skills and templates to help your organisation accomplish success. 

What will delegates learn? 

Everyone who wants to properly critique the way they are currently running projects and use practical project management tools and techniques that work. The course is suitable for people who are new to project management or those who are working as a part of a project team. The session content can be flexible and structured to consider the needs and experience level of those attending. 

Our trainer

Ruth Walker-Cotton is a qualified project manager (APM PMQ) and a member of the Association of Project Management. She is currently studying Strategic Project Management at MSc level.

Ruth has extensive experience of writing and implementing strategies and managing campaigns and projects within the Charity, NHS and Housing sectors. She has successfully improved performance in a variety of sectors, through setting and achieving targets in partnership with key stakeholders.

Ruth is experienced in people management and loves designing and implementing systems and processes to ensure clarity and efficiency. Her main focus is project management – whether training a team or guiding them through a project – supporting businesses to improve their strategic and resource planning, working with them as they go through organisational change.

This course will also be running in Manchester, Newcastle, Wrexham and London.

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Details

Leasehold management can be complex and brings challenges that are not often encountered in more mainstream social housing provision. Delegates will learn the skills needed when dealing with a wide range of leasehold properties and understanding the challenges that they bring. 

This course will cover: 

• Core terms in a lease 
• Variable service charges statutory control 
• The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 
• Service charge enforcement options 
• Section 20 consultation 
• The role of the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). 

What will you learn? 

• Governing legislation and regulation 
• Dealing with service charge challenges 
• Service charge recovery methods 
• Effectively managing leasehold services 
• Importance of lease terms 
• The impact of recent case law. 

Who should attend? 

All staff who are involved in dealing with leasehold schemes, policy and procedure and recovering service charges, including housing officers, housing managers, leasehold managers, heads of housing, and property services. 

Our trainer

Jackie Dickins has been an HQN Associate since 2001 and is our lead consultant for HQN’s Leasehold Network. Prior to this she held positions at a London borough and two large housing associations based in London, where she was responsible for leasehold management and promoting work in the field of low-cost home ownership initiatives. Jackie undertakes many of HQN’s service reviews and service improvement work on leaseholder and home ownership. She has also worked in interim positions with a number of local authorities, arm’s length management organisations and housing associations as head of home ownership/home ownership manager.

Jackie also runs pre-exam workshops at associate and member level for the Institute of Residential Property Managers (IRPM) and is delivering training for apprentices seeking associate membership of the IRPM.

Jackie is responsible for developing, and is a lead assessor of HQN's leasehold accreditation scheme.

This course will also be running in London, Manchester and Birmingham.

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Details

With reductions in qualification periods, the levels of leasehold accommodation owned and managed by social housing providers is increasing, and will continue to do so.

The aim of this training is to give officers involved in the repairing, maintaining and improvement of your stock an overview of what’s required to ensure that the delivery of such works is as smooth as possible, and you also recover the full cost of such works from your leaseholders.

This one-day course will consider:

• The Right to Buy process and the need to ensure that sale prices include the cost of all works undertaken by you over the last 10, and sometimes 15 years
• The need to ensure an effective S.125 notice is served within the Right to Buy process, and the implications if the notice is ineffective or lacks relevant information
• The clauses of the lease in terms of maintaining the stock and the potential issues where the right to improve is not included within the lease
• The S.20 consultation in detail in respect of major works, long-term contracts and major works within long-term contracts
• Permission requirements for ‘improvements’ undertaken by leaseholders
• Responsive repair reporting to include what is your responsibility to undertake as well as the use of building insurance
• Right of access
• How to deal with breaches in terms of access and ‘improvements’ without permission.

The final element of the course will consider potential defenses and counterclaims that leaseholders may have available to them in respect of paying for the work you’ve undertaken, and tips on how to avoid effective challenges within the First-tier Tribunal.

Who should attend?

All officers whose responsibility is the development, planning and delivery of planned maintenance and improvement works, or are responsible for the delivery of the responsive repairs contract; procurement officers for long-term contracts and tenders for works; legal officers and leasehold officers.

Our trainer

Mel Cant became a Barrister in July 2000 and both prior to and since that time has worked within the housing sector to improve services to the public and providers by providing leadership, practical advice, training, support and guidance in the public, private and voluntary sectors. Mel’s “can do” attitude along with her passion for ensuring equality and fairness for all through outstanding customer service and providing practical solutions has made her a “go to” person within social housing.

This course will also be running in Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester and London.

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Details

Whilst rent arrears are always hitting the press, many organisations spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on providing services. But few recover the full costs from their tenants and leaseholders. Councils are raiding the HRA to balance the general fund.  Lets stop this by getting on top of your service charge setting and collection!

This practical workshop will assist you in maximising your income: we will provide working examples of how to calculate the real cost of providing services, how to identify where full recovery is not being made and how to bridge the gap. For developing organisations, we will highlight the critical path to ensuring full recovery of costs, including an exercise in how to calculate service charges when developing new schemes for rent and sale, to ensure that you have considered everything.

You will understand:

• The relationship between revenue, capital/revenue expenditure and value for money and why recovery of costs is critical to a successful business
• What remedies are in place to assist in maximising recovery
• What can and cannot be charged for in a service charge
• Why getting the terms of the lease and tenancy agreement right plays a big part in full recovery of costs
• Why the development, technical and management teams need to work closely together in the early stages of a new development to ensure full recovery
• Why policy decisions will have an impact on maximising recovery
• How the use of IT can assist in efficient recovery
• The relevant legislation you should be aware of that governs service charge accountability and your ability to charge.

Who should attend?

Housing Directors and Managers, Finance Managers, Service Charge Managers, Home Ownership Managers, Asset Managers, officers dealing with RTB, RTA and new developments, housing and repairs officers.

Our trainer

Jackie Dickins has been an HQN Associate since 2001 and is our lead consultant for HQN’s Leasehold Network. Prior to this she held positions at a London borough and two large housing associations based in London, where she was responsible for leasehold management and promoting work in the field of low-cost home ownership initiatives. Jackie undertakes many of HQN’s service reviews and service improvement work on leaseholder and home ownership. She has also worked in interim positions with a number of local authorities, arm’s length management organisations and housing associations as head of home ownership/home ownership manager.

Jackie also runs pre-exam workshops at associate and member level for the Institute of Residential Property Managers (IRPM) and is delivering training for apprentices seeking associate membership of the IRPM.

Jackie is responsible for developing, and is a lead assessor of HQN's leasehold accreditation scheme.

What previous delegates have said: 

• "Informative and interesting course. Very knowledgeable trainer" – Shepherds Bush Housing Association
• "Gave me good insight into service charges and lease holders" – Eldon Housing Association
• "Trainer was very knowledgeable and experienced" – Kettering Borough Council 

This course will also be running in Birmingham, London and Manchester.

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Details

How to engage and motivate to deliver a better project outcome – a one day workshop.

People are vital to the success of every project. Without their engagement and buy-in, even the best planned and managed project may not succeed. But the essential skills needed to inspire, motivate and manage the individuals involved are too often neglected and overlooked. Most project management training and literature provides little guidance on how to best work with and influence people involved in your project.

This course will draw on well researched and proven methods from the fields of project management and organisational development. It will cover the key people skills needed at different stages of the project lifecycle.

You will leave the day with practical tools and tips you can immediately apply to your project.

What will delegates learn?

• Current research on effective motivation and engagement in projects
• The vital link between strategy and projects
• The essential skillset of an excellent project manager
• How to build and motivate your project team
• Engaging and negotiating with stakeholders
• Influencing without authority – working with people you don't manage
• Getting the best out of limited resources and encouraging innovation
• Communication skills:
  • the importance of communicating across all levels
  • factors which effect communication
  • drawing up a communications plan and
  • creating feedback loops that work.

Who should attend

This course is ideal for everyone who already has an understanding of the essentials of project management and who wants to work more effectively with the people on their projects. It is an excellent follow up to the Project Management Bootcamp one day course.

Our trainer

Ruth Walker-Cotton is a qualified project manager (APM PMQ) and a member of the Association of Project Management. She is currently studying Strategic Project Management at MSc level.

Ruth has extensive experience of writing and implementing strategies and managing campaigns and projects within the Charity, NHS and Housing sectors. She has successfully improved performance in a variety of sectors, through setting and achieving targets in partnership with key stakeholders.

Ruth is experienced in people management and loves designing and implementing systems and processes to ensure clarity and efficiency. Her main focus is project management – whether training a team or guiding them through a project – supporting businesses to improve their strategic and resource planning, working with them as they go through organisational change.

This course will also be running in London and Newcastle.

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Details

Efficient collection and recovery of former tenant arrears (FTA) must be a key part of any successful income management strategy.

The practical course is fully updated with the latest tips and ideas that will help you to:

• Minimise debt and maximise FTA collection
• Develop a proactive service that delivers value for money
• Boost individual and team effectiveness and performance
• Measure success and plan for the future.

What will you learn?

Tony Newman, RIEN lead, will provide you with a toolkit of resources and best practice examples.

He’ll take you through the FTA process ensuring you …

• Understand the causes of FTA and the impact on the business and customers
• Know how to prevent and minimise FTA
• Drive collection rates up through dynamic case management, using the latest technology and techniques from the commercial sector
• Use low-cost tracing facilities
• Learn the secrets of working with debt collection and tracing agents
• Work effectively with the Courts as part of the FTA recovery process
• Measure success and building upon it.

Who should attend?

Everyone involved in the prevention and collection of former tenant rent arrears, those advising residents on money management and benefit: income and rent arrears officers, housing officers, contact centre staff, estate and neighbourhood management staff, support workers, welfare benefit and debt advisers, and financial inclusion officers.

Our trainer

Tony Newman is lead associate for HQN’s Rent Income Excellence Network, with extensive experience in industry, local government and social housing.

Having helped many organisations to achieve significant improvements in collection performance and customer focus, Tony brings an unrivalled, clear understanding of best practice in housing income management.

Tony developed HQN’s income management and former tenant arrears toolkits and accreditation service.

He is a member of the Chartered Institutes of Housing and Credit Management, regional representative for the Financial Health Exchange and a module leader and lecturer at the University of Salford.

This course will also be running in London, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool and Doncaster.

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Details

Safeguarding children and adults at risk is everyone’s business and the housing industry has an important role to play. 

The course will raise awareness of children and adults at risk, the systems to safeguard them, and the role and responsibilities of housing staff and partner agencies. 

It is a mandatory requirement that all staff, volunteers and contractors are trained to know what is meant by safeguarding, how to promote the welfare of adults and children, and what to do if they have concerns that a child or adult is at risk. 

Course content 

This one-day course is designed to give housing staff a comprehensive introduction to safeguarding children and adults covering: 

• What makes a child or adult at risk 
• The categories of abuse 
• Recognising the signs and indicators of abuse 
• The legal framework and guidance 
• The impact of abuse and neglect 
• Challenges to effective safeguarding 
• The Care Act 2014 
• Record-keeping 
• Confidentiality and information-sharing 
• Your responsibilities and how to report concerns 
• The process following referral for adults and children. 

Who should attend? 

ALL staff, contractors and volunteers across your organisation must be able to demonstrate they have completed mandatory safeguarding training. 

Our trainer

Tahira Hussain has extensive experience working in the statutory and voluntary sectors. She had a 16-year career in social work, mental health, community development, charity and the housing sector.

Tahira has a successful track record in consultancy, training and project management. As an experienced project manager Tahira has delivered a range of projects, these include equality and diversity, domestic abuse awareness and inclusion strategies. Tahira has worked across a range of customer groups, including young people foyers, care homes, sheltered schemes and refuges in a contractual and consultancy capacity delivering therapy support, engaging with service users and training staff.  Tahira delivers one to one and group coaching to young people and families to develop confidence, increase self-esteem, develop goals and manage wellbeing.

This course will also be running in Manchester, London, Birmingham and Newcastle.

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