Summer Skills Season 2026

Practical training for stronger services, safer homes and more confident teams

Make July and August count with HQN’s Summer Skills Season 2026, a focused programme of practical public training created specifically for UK social housing.

Summer is a good time to refresh knowledge, close skills gaps and prepare teams for the months ahead. Across July and August, our expert-led sessions will help staff respond with confidence to changing regulation, resident expectations, service pressures and the continuing focus on safe, well-managed homes.

From Awaab’s Law, damp and mould, repairs and housing standards to complaints, income, tenancy management, resident involvement, EDI, safeguarding and leadership, the programme gives housing professionals the knowledge and practical tools they need to make a real difference.

Explore the Summer Skills Season programme and book your places today.

Safe homes, repairs, damp, mould and housing standards

Regulation, standards and
assurance

Complaints, customer experience, scrutiny and resident voice

Income, tenancy management and legal essentials

Asset management, procurement, leaseholders and finance

Leadership, confidence and professional skills

Safeguarding, equality, vulnerability and complex support needs

Why book Summer Skills Season training?

Social housing teams are under pressure to deliver safer homes, better services, stronger resident relationships and clearer evidence of compliance. Staff need training that is practical, relevant and easy to apply in their day-to-day roles.

HQN’s Summer Skills Season will help your teams:

Build confidence before the busy autumn period
Keep up with regulation, standards and sector expectations
Strengthen practice in key areas such as damp, mould, repairs and complaints
Support residents more effectively, including those experiencing vulnerability
Improve consistency across teams, services and customer-facing roles
Give managers, officers and involved residents the tools to contribute with confidence.

Safe homes, repairs, damp, mould and housing standards

Help your teams respond confidently to some of the biggest operational and regulatory pressures in social housing, including Awaab’s Law, damp and mould, repairs diagnostics, voids, building defects and HHSRS.

Courses include:

Regulation, standards and assurance

Strengthen understanding of the regulatory environment and help staff, managers and involved residents respond to changing expectations with confidence.

Courses include:

Complaints, customer experience, scrutiny and resident voice

Support teams to handle complaints well, improve written responses, manage difficult behaviour, strengthen resident scrutiny and measure the value of involvement.

Courses include:

Income, tenancy management and legal essentials

Help teams manage tenancies, income, arrears, fraud risk, legal processes and complex housing issues with greater confidence and consistency.

Courses include:

Asset management, procurement, leaseholders and finance

Support colleagues working across asset management, leasehold, service charges, procurement, contract management, shared ownership and social housing finance.

Courses include:

Leadership, confidence and professional skills

Give staff and managers practical tools to communicate clearly, manage workloads, lead effectively, handle difficult conversations and stay confident under pressure.

Courses include:

Safeguarding, equality, vulnerability and complex support needs

Equip staff to work sensitively and effectively with residents experiencing vulnerability, inequality, mental health issues, hoarding, safeguarding concerns and complex support needs.

Courses include:

How it works

Flexible, expert-led virtual training – join live sessions from wherever you’re based.

Practical, housing-specific content – rooted in real cases, real challenges and current regulation.

For teams at every level – from frontline officers and team leaders to senior managers, board members and involved residents.

Further training

Click the links below to see the training available for each network area.

Asset Management

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Rent Income Excellence

Residents

Strategic

The competence and conduct toolkit. Click the image below to download.

Virtual training pass

Save money when you buy virtual event and training places in bulk. Click the image below to find out more.

Learn for less

Enjoy discounted rates on our comprehensive in-house training programme. Click the image below to find out more.

Bring the training to your organisation

All Summer Skills Season courses can also be delivered directly to your organisation as in-house training.

If you have a group of colleagues who need the same development, in-house training can be a practical and cost-effective way to build consistent knowledge across teams. It also gives you the opportunity to tailor the session around your organisation’s policies, local context, service challenges and resident priorities.

In-house training can work particularly well for:

Whole-team updates on Awaab’s Law, damp and mould, repairs and housing standards
Frontline refreshers on complaints, customer service, tenancy management and income
Manager development around performance, confidence, communication and difficult conversations
Board, committee and resident sessions on Consumer Standards, regulation, scrutiny and resident involvement
Organisation-wide learning on safeguarding, EDI, professional boundaries and working with vulnerability.

Whether you want to train a single team, bring several services together or roll out a wider programme across your organisation, HQN can help shape the content so it is relevant, practical and focused on the outcomes you need.

Contact us about delivering any Summer Skills Season course in-house

Make summer count

Use July and August to refresh knowledge, strengthen practice and get your teams ready for the months ahead.

With practical sessions across the biggest issues facing social housing, Summer Skills Season 2026 is a simple way to build confidence, improve consistency and support better outcomes for residents.

Explore the full Summer Skills Season 2026 programme and book your places now.

Members only

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