Inside Housing reported today that money to set up new tenant panels has been underspent amid allegations that the government is not doing enough to promote the programme.

The £8 million, four-year tenant empowerment programme is intended to fund panels of tenants who will hold landlords to account once the Tenant Services Authority is abolished in April.
It is promoted by the Communities and Local Government department but administered by the TSA.

TSA board papers published last week revealed that the regulator had only spent £163,000 of the £500,000 it was expected to have spent on TEP by 31 July.

TSA board members and tenant organisations believe the CLG has not done enough to promote the programme. Pauleen Lane, a TSA board member and university lecturer, said the performance
of the TSA and CLG in terms of empowerment has been ‘abysmal’.

She said: ‘We don’t want to get to the end of the year to find there’s money there that collectively has not been spent.’

Another board member, Jim Coulter, said: ‘The programme has been underpromoted and has been underspent. There must be a relationship.’

Any delay in setting up panels would concern tenants’ representatives who are angered by plans in the Localism Bill to prevent tenants from taking their complaints directly to the housing ombudsman.

Michael Gelling, chair of the Tenants’ and Residents’ Organisations of England, said the programme has not been promoted enough. He said: ‘Tenants cannot apply to set up panels if they
are not aware of the programme.’

The CLG has now said it will take over part of the programme, cutting the TSA’s TEP budget for the 2011/12 financial year from £2 million to £1.2 million.

Paul Haylock, head of finance at the TSA, speaking at the watchdog’s board meeting last Wednesday, said: ‘We are in discussions currently with the CLG about where the administrative responsibility lies with that programme.’

A CLG spokesperson said it had given £535,000 to the charity National Communities Resource Centre to train tenants.

He said: ‘We are working hard with our partners and the TSA to maximise the impact and benefit of the fund.’