One of his first actions as mayor was to pledge to donate 15% of his £110,000 salary to ending rough sleeping in the city by 2020.

He  launched the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Homelessness Fund with £1,375 of his own money. The fund will be managed by homelessness charity Crisis.

The fund will support frontline projects which offer specialised supported housing for young people, providing access to education, volunteering and possible employment.

It will also support projects that expand mental health and rehabilitation services and bring empty properties back into use for people threatened with homelessness.

The distribution of the fund will be decided by its trustees, who include homelessness experts. It will operate as a community foundation – an independent charity that gives funds to local organisations through a grant process.

60-second summary

The government should seek a new agreement on UK-EU migration as part of the forthcoming Brexit negotiations. This agreement should find a compromise between the UK and the EU by granting the UK greater control over EU migration while retaining elements of the current migration rules. This should operate through an agreement to continue free movement for certain categories of people – for instance, certain occupations or sectors – and not others. If this is not negotiable, then the UK should instead seek to negotiate an agreement to implement temporary controls on free movement during periods of high migration pressures.

A UK-EU agreement on migration would be in the national interest. First, it would significantly help support the government’s aims to secure an ambitious free trade agreement with the EU. Second, our research suggests that the impacts of stringent restrictions on the UK labour market could be substantial; a UK-EU agreement on migration could thereby ameliorate any negative post-Brexit effects on the labour market. Third, our analysis of public opinion suggests there is political scope for a deal on migration with the EU. A deal of the type we suggest could therefore help the EU negotiations, benefit the UK labour market, as well as secure public consent.

Key points

THE NEGOTIATIONS

• The UK government is seeking an ambitious free trade agreement with the EU, which will cover extensive integration in trade in both goods and services. The government is aiming to secure the same trade benefits the UK currently has by virtue of its EU membership. Most trade deals with the EU with this degree of scope include a provision on migration. Therefore, in order to secure this agreement, it is in the UK’s interest to negotiate an agreement on UK-EU movement of people.
• There are six main options for a UK-EU agreement on migration:
  • Option 1: temporary controls on free movement: The government would temporarily introduce limits on free movement for particular sectors or regions during periods of high EU inflows.
  • Option 2: free movement for those with a job offer: Free movement would continue as before for workers, students, family members and the self-sufficient, but jobseekers would no longer have the right to reside in the UK.
  • Option 3: free movement for certain flows: Free movement between the UK and the EU would continue for particular workers – for instance, certain professions and workers in particular sectors – as well as non-active groups.
  • Option 4: points-based system: EU nationals seeking the right to work in the UK would need to meet the requirements of a points-based system. Points could be allocated on the basis of criteria such as highest qualification level, age and language ability.
  • Option 5: ‘preferential’ system for EU nationals: EU nationals coming to the UK to work would face a more relaxed version of the rules non-EU nationals currently face.
  • Option 6: controls on EU labour migration; free movement for others: The UK would be at liberty to set its own rules for EU workers and the self-employed – in practice most likely applying the same system that currently operates for non-EU nationals – but would agree to facilitate continued free movement, as far as is feasible, for students, family members, and the self-sufficient.
• For each of these options, the government should negotiate scope for a regional dimension to future EU migration policy, to allow regions and nations to adapt their own immigration policies to meet local priorities.

THE LABOUR MARKET

• EU nationals are largely concentrated in lower-skilled occupations. While on average EU nationals make up 7 per cent of the UK workforce, in the two lowest occupational groups – machine operatives and elementary staff – just under 15 per cent of workers are EU nationals.
• Certain sectors – notably hotels and restaurants, and manufacturing – rely heavily on lower-skilled EU labour (10 per cent and 7 per cent of their workforce respectively are lower-skilled EU nationals). Particular subsectors such as food manufacturing (28 per cent) and domestic personnel (19 per cent) have even greater proportions of lower-skilled EU nationals in their workforce.
• The impacts of Brexit on the labour market vary radically depending on the type of system introduced. If the current visa rules for non-EU workers were also applied to EU workers, then the vast majority of recent EU workers would be ineligible. On the other hand, if free movement for people with key jobs in the economy and for highly skilled workers were admitted, the impacts would be considerably less severe.
• Applying the non-EU rules to EU workers would have a particularly significant impact on the hotels and restaurants sector (where 16 per cent of the entire workforce are ineligible EU nationals), the manufacturing sector (10 per cent), and the agriculture sector (9 per cent). The occupational groups most affected would be machine operatives and elementary staff.
• Many employers would face serious difficulties adapting to restrictions on lower-skilled EU nationals. The significant turnover in the workforce means that relying on EU nationals currently in the UK – who are expected to have their rights protected – will not be sufficient to fill the new vacancies. The pool of UK workers to recruit from domestically is small – the current UK unemployment rate is 4.7 per cent, at its joint lowest point since 1975, and the economic inactivity rate is at a near record low of 21.6 per cent.
• Moreover, employers already find many lower-skilled vacancies hard to fill. A total of 43 per cent of machine operative vacancies (where EU nationals are particularly concentrated) are hard to fill, far higher than the average of 33 per cent. More than half of hard-to-fill vacancies in machine operative roles are reported as causing loss of business to competitors or increased operating costs. This impact is larger than for any other occupational group.
• While some employers may be able to invest in new technologies to replace labour, a number of sectors reliant on EU nationals – such as domestic personnel, warehousing and support for transport, and services to buildings and landscape – have lower potential for automation. In other sectors, such as meat processing, the costs of investment in technology are prohibitively high for many businesses.
• Therefore, in order to prevent many employers reliant on EU labour from shrinking their operations or moving them abroad, the government will need to adopt a carefully managed approach to a new migration policy for EU nationals, with a transition period for employers to adapt to the new labour market conditions.

PUBLIC OPINION

• Concern about freedom of movement was a key (though by no means the sole) driver in the vote to leave the EU.
• However the UK public are more pragmatic on immigration than is often assumed. Only a small minority (11 per cent) expect full control over EU immigration post-Brexit and, excluding the ‘don’t knows’, a majority accept that there is a trade-off between restricting freedom of movement and accessing the single market. There is therefore more political scope for a compromise on UK-EU migration as part of the Brexit negotiations than many have thought possible.
• Even among those who want immigration to fall, there is no majority demand for a complete cut-off in EU inflows. A dramatic reduction in immigration would therefore not just be harmful to the negotiations and to the UK’s labour market; it would also not reflect the public’s priorities.
• Attitudes to EU immigration vary considerably by region and local area. Building regional flexibility into the immigration system for EU (and non-EU) nationals could therefore effectively reflect the divergent attitudes to EU immigration across the country.

A NEW AGREEMENT

• The most promising options for a future UK-EU agreement on migration are, first, a system that allows free movement for certain flows or, second, a system that implements temporary controls on free movement.
• These proposals are the most promising for three reasons:
  • they have the greatest likelihood of being negotiable with the EU in return for an advantageous deal on trade in goods and services, because they continue to respect the underlying principle of free movement in some form
  • they would have limited negative labour market impacts, because for the most part they would allow for flexible labour mobility in key sectors
  • they would help to address a number of the concerns the public has about the current system (such as the pressures of high levels of EU immigration on public services and infrastructure).

A system that allows free movement for certain flows is our preferred option, because this would guarantee greater labour market stability and would be more likely to secure public support; but if this fails to be agreed with the EU the government should seek a deal on temporary controls on free movement, given it is the most negotiable option.

• Either option could also include a regional component to allow for the different political priorities and labour market needs of the UK’s regions and nations.
• These two options therefore represent a sensible basis for an agreement on UK-EU migration in the negotiations, as a means of securing the government’s wider ambitions of a comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU post-Brexit, supporting the UK’s labour market, and addressing public concerns about free movement.

60-SECOND SUMMARY

Helping marginalised groups into stable, rewarding, productive jobs is a key priority for European governments, and work-based learning can and should be a significant element of any successful pursuit of this goal. To address skills shortages and reduce unemployment among groups such as young people (particularly NEETs), disabled people and immigrants, labour markets must become more inclusive, which means providing relevant training alongside support tailored to the specific needs of the target groups. Work-based learning initiatives, if they are focussed, flexible and in receipt of adequate public and private backing, can meet these requirements whilst also bringing tangible and intangible benefits to businesses and giving participants valuable real-world work experience.

We looked at seven case studies documenting initiatives in five European countries. These demonstrate the possibilities, practicalities, successes and struggles of various approaches to work-based learning as a means of achieving greater inclusivity in labour markets.

• Work-based learning can deliver increased labour market inclusionin the context of a pan-European agenda that stresses the importance of vocational skills, but the mechanisms currently in place do not provide sufficient opportunities for young people and other vulnerable groups to gain access to the training and work experience they need to progress.
• Work-based learning programmes are necessarily varied in their duration, composition and specific desired outcomes, as well as in terms of the groups they seek to benefit, but all are focussed on combining education and work in ways that allow newly acquired skills and knowledge to be applied in a real-world setting.
• The outcomes of work-based learning programmes are positiveboth for participants, who increase their employability and gain workplace experience, and for businesses, which acquire employees whose skills match existing needs. However, further development of standardised evaluation methods is necessary if the impact of these initiatives is to be truly measurable.

KEY THEMES

While the case studies describe initiatives which differ in many ways, close analysis reveals that certain common factors are crucial to the ongoing success of any programme seeking to enhance employment opportunities for disadvantaged sectors of society:

Work-based learning initiatives must foster commitment and motivationat all levels and stages. They must harness political will and serve the needs of society at large. By adopting, promoting and sharing best practice and empowering beneficiaries they enable them to take an active role in their learning and career development.

Employer engagement is vital and can take many forms. Initiatives should cultivate mutually beneficial relationships with businesses, involving them in such activities as project planning and selection of candidates and making use of their resources for mentoring, job shadowing and skills development.

A personalised and holistic approach focusses on the needs of the learner, encourages involvement among participants, and increases the probability of successfully matching candidates to vacancies. This requires individual analysis of beneficiaries’ needs to inform both curriculum design and pedagogic strategies, a dual focus on practical and soft skills and complementary support for cultural orientation and job-seeking activities.

An appreciation of the importance of career journeys and recognitionhelps to create an explicit connection between work-based learning and continuing progress in the labour market. This in turn increases a programme’s perceived value to its participants. This can be accomplished by linking initiatives to national qualifications frameworks and using labour market analysis to identify – and train for – high-demand sectors and occupations.

Sustainability and scalability are of increasing concern as a project matures. Funding models must be developed to incorporate public, private and third sector sources of support, and political commitment must be secured. At the same time, care must be taken to ensure that the personalised nature of a successful initiative is maintained as it grows.

CONCLUSION

Although the initiatives have certain aspects in common, it is important also to acknowledge their differences, as these are fundamental to understanding the complexity of the challenges inherent in making work-based learning successful. When designing a work-based learning programme, providers must consider circumstances and requirements which are markedly different depending on the target group, whether it be young people, the low-skilled, the long-term unemployed, people with disabilities, immigrants or refugees. This consideration, along with the social and political situation of the time and place, will have an effect on the methods and resources available to a project. Accommodating these differences, while working to demonstrate to stakeholders the overall value of these initiatives, must be central to the development of a practical, flexible and effective work-based learning strategy.

Congratulations everyone.

Here is the link to the pictures and below are the list of winners and runners up

Click here to view full gallery »

60-second summary

Women make up just 33 per cent of local councillors in England, 27 per cent in Wales and 24 per cent in Scotland. The picture is worse when we focus on local leadership: just 15 per cent of local authority leaders in England are women. These figures demonstrate significant under-representation of women in local government. This is important because women are disproportionately affected by services under local government control, such as social care and childcare, but also because local government is and should be a key talent pipeline for regional and national government. As the UK devolves power to the regions, it is vital that we ensure any new democratic institutions and systems set up promote gender equality rather than restrict it.

While many other countries are grappling with similar issues, there is a lack of evidence of what works in improving representation of women in local politics. This research addresses that gap by focusing on Germany – both how Germany performs in terms of women’s representation at the local and state level, and what initiatives and policies have been pursued to improve this performance.

Representation of women in local government

UK:

• Thirty-three per cent of councillors in England, 27 per cent in Wales and 24 per cent in Scotland are women.
• Fifteen per cent of local authority leaders in England are women.
• Of the 16 directly elected mayors currently in England and Wales, only four are women.
• Progress in improving women’s representation has stalled: the proportion of women councillors in England has increased from 27.8 per cent to 33 per cent in the past 20 years.

Germany:

• Women represent 32.5 per cent of members of state parliaments and 24 per cent of members of local parliaments representing large municipalities.
• Three out of 16 state prime ministers are women, and 10 per cent of mayors and district chief executives. Women make up 39.9 per cent of heads of state ministries and 23.6 per cent of heads of departments of local public administrations.
• Of top positions in administrative district and municipal councils, 10.6 per cent are women.
• Between the mid-80s and 90s, there was an increase in gender representation due to the introduction of quotas for women by several parties. Since then there have been no systematic or significant improvements.

Barriers to equal representation and initiatives to reduce them

• Supply side barriers – women are less likely to be members of political parties, are less likely to have the self-confidence and political efficacy to stand, and may be held back by greater caring responsibilities compared to men.

Initiatives include the Helene Weber Kolleg, which supports women interested in running for office as well as those looking to progress with training and cross-party mentoring.

• Demand side barriers – sexism, both direct, and indirect through political culture, can hold women back from reaching elected and leadership positions. Party recruitment and selection processes are key in determining representation of women.

Initiatives include voluntary quotas within parties. The party with the longest-standing and highest quota (the Green Party) has 40.1 per cent female councillors, which is twice as many as the party with no quotas (FDP), at 18.1 per cent female councillors.

• Systemic barriers – electoral systems, including plurality systems and single-member constituencies, can lead to lower representation of women.

Initiatives include electoral systems (which vary by state) that have been shown to lead to better representation of women – such as proportional representation with fixed-party lists and multi-member districts.

Lessons for the UK and Germany

Clear from our research is that parties are the gatekeepers of power in both the UK and Germany; their structures, selection procedures, programmes and cultures are key in determining and improving gender representation. Also clear is that while policies such as quotas can accelerate progress towards equal gender representation, they alone are not enough to reach full gender equality numerically and qualitatively. Both interventions that seek to broaden the pool of candidates and support them in their political journey, as well as interventions that seek to break down prejudiced structures and cultures, are necessary to achieve this.

Drawing lessons from the UK, German political parties may be interested in exploring voluntary all-women shortlists at the local and regional levels. The UK’s experience shows that while this can make sizeable changes, it must be implemented by parties with strong electoral support, and ideally in the most winnable or safe seats, in order for change to happen quickly.

There are several lessons the UK can learn from Germany, including the following.

Better data collection and comparison between areas

Mandatory reporting of gender representation in local and regional government would draw attention to the lack of representation of women at these levels, and focus activity in this space by parties. Rankings can help create competition between areas and parties to demonstrate that they reflect and represent the electorate in a low-cost way.

Greater use of quotas

The introduction of quotas by German parties in the 80s led to a large shift in female representation which has not been replicated with the use of empowerment programmes in later years. While the Labour Party in the UK uses a form of quotas, other parties have weak gender requirements and are lagging behind. Greater use of quotas could dramatically accelerate the representation of women at the local level. All parties, including Labour, should review their own quota rules and seek to improve and enforce how they are implemented.

Institutionalised support for gender representation in local politics

The German national government has demonstrated greater efforts than the UK government to prioritise gender equality in both policy-making and local representation, including publishing an annual ‘atlas’ profiling gender equality in Germany. There is a risk the UK will fall behind other European countries in institutional support for gender equality in local decision-making if steps are not taken.

Cross-party networks and comprehensive empowerment programmes

The UK has some programmes to encourage women into and support women in local politics, but they are either in the fledgling stage, or are not as comprehensive, open to all political denominations or institutionalised as the German equivalents. UK groups should observe the experience of German initiatives and transfer learning to improve their own programmes. Both interventions that seek to support candidates, as well as interventions that seek to break down prejudiced structures and cultures, are necessary to achieve equal representation.

Introduction

As the UK prepares to return to the polling stations on 8 June it is clear that Brexit will dominate much of the public debate over the next five weeks, as the negotiations and the aftermath will dominate British politics over the next five years.

But the UK faces serious challenges that whoever is elected in June must tackle alongside getting the best Brexit deal. Half of all UK households have seen no meaningful improvement in their incomes for more than a decade; our NHS faces unpreceded challenges from an aging population and the crisis in social care; and our housing system has consistently failed to build anywhere near the number of new homes we need.

How will our new government respond to these unprecedented challenges?

At IPPR, we are setting out a series of practical and progressive recommendations for change. We hope they will be useful to all political parties in setting out how they will deliver the kind of change Britain needs to deal with the mounting pressures it faces.

Many of these ideas will be controversial, but in policy terms more of the same from our political parties simply won’t be enough for the UK. Throughout this election and into the coming parliament IPPR will continue to find the evidence, and make the case for real progressive change. Here we set out some first steps towards achieving this change that all political parties could sign up to.

• Negotiate a ‘progressive Brexit’ that prioritises close UK-EU trade links in goods and services, maintains employment and consumer rights, and develops a new UK-EU agreement that gives the UK greater control over migration from the EU.
• Create a hypothecated ‘NHS tax’ by raising income tax and national insurance for the highest-paid to provide a further £3.9 billion a year to tackle the funding crisis in the NHS, and reforming pensions tax relief to deliver a £3 billion a year cash boost to social care.
• Guarantee a universal entitlement to free childcare for all those aged between two and four, and greater paternity rights for working dads;
• Introduce a new Skills Levy to boost employer investment in skills and lifelong learning, and a youth guarantee for 18–21-year-olds that offers education, training and intensive support to get into work.
• Develop an active, place-based industrial strategy with powers devolved to strong regional and sub-regional institutions.
• Introduce a five-year ‘family tenancy’ for renters, and give local areas the power to build more homes by devolving a share of stamp duty and freeing councils to borrow to build.

These are just some of the ideas we are putting forward: the following pages contain many more.

Any policy programme for the next parliament must seek to do five key things if we are to confront some of the challenges we face.

1. Negotiate a progressive Brexit.
2. Create an economy that works for all.
3. Tackle the crisis in health and care.
4. Respond to the housing crisis.
5. Protect our environment.

This publication addresses each of these objectives in turn.

IPPRs report on metro mayor outcomes is helpful.

Englands-new-leaders_Apr2017

Here is IPPR’s 60-second summary:

England will soon welcome prominent and powerful city leaders. Six mayors will be elected to govern almost 10 million people and economies worth £214 billion – more than Scotland and Wales put together.

If the powers they hold are used effectively, these mayors could start to transform their city regions, but there has been little policy development for this purpose. This paper aims to fill the gap.

First, this paper sets out the three ‘enabling policies’ that mayors need to introduce: cutting across local and national silos to deliver against clear objectives, raising finance to invest, and gathering intelligence in order to enable innovation.

This paper then sets out a ‘menu’ of 30 things that these mayors could do to change their city regions for the better. These 30 policy ideas are set out across five broad outcomes, as described below.

Download the full evidence base for this paper (England’s new leaders: Evidence base).

Mayors should deliver:

• inclusive growth – by using transport policy to prioritise poor neighbourhoods, using mayoral development corporations to provide quality jobs for local people, and championing the living wage and higher employment standards
• infrastructure, including planning, transport and housing – by integrating land use planning and working with central government to roll out financial innovations and housing investment
• a healthy environment – by embedding health in all public policy, introducing a clean air charter, and setting up an energy company
• effective public services – by setting up a new company to pilot ‘invest-to-save’ in employment support, collaborating with districts to end homelessness, and improving the quality of housing by investing in a social lettings agency and rolling out landlord licensing
• inclusive democracy – by empowering citizens and councillors to take part in collaborative governance, and enhancing local enterprise partnerships to include anchor institutions, and requiring new members to pay the living wage.

Finally, this paper sets out a range of things which government will need to do for the potential of mayors to be truly realised.

Recommendations to mayors

This report proposes 30 policies that mayors can roll out to transform their city regions (see the table below).

Five of these should be regarded as top priority.

• Become living wage champions, and set out a mayor’s employer charter on job quality (2).
• Set up a welfare earnback company to secure ‘job guarantees’ for the long-term unemployed (19).
• Implement bus franchising (8).
• Embed health in all policy (14).
• Spend a small share of their funds through participatory budgeting (29).

Finally, mayors should work together to drive further devolution, and by 2020 the government should strike a new series of devolution deals, prioritising fiscal devolution, and giving mayoral combined authorities across the country the powers to support their industrial strategy and public service reform.

TABLE A.1

Summary of this report’s recommendations and their outcomes; primary outcomes are highlighted in purple

The government is understood to have chosen the West Midlands as the area for its regional Right to Buy pilot prior to calling the snap election, according to reporting in Inside Housing.

The meeting was held at Great Places Housing group.

Thanks of your on going support.

I have sent out to those who attended, the presentations, as i have a glitch which should get fixed next week for posting them on this website.

if anyone else wants them, then by all means drop me an email.

Presentation and discussion

Leeds City Council – Approach to customer engagement

Ian Montgomery and Sarah Lockwood, Housing Manager(s) – Tenant Involvement at Leeds City Council

LCC Great Places Presentation

Discussion:

I will not repeat the really helpful information in the slides – Leeds CC have been on a journey to involve more tenants and increase the impact of involvement and took us through the changes and how they had been delivered.

They aim to hear strong voices from tenants in surveys and meetings. The existing groups and progress of LCC are in the slides.

Leeds CC engagement in its new approach s split into 3 – engagement, involvement and community development.

VITAL – Voice of Involvement of tenants in Leeds.

We discussed the role of TARAs and who supported them now. Very few Involvement officers do, this is generally now left to those working in neighbourhoods, with some audits/visits at AGM time and some training and support through the involvement staff.

Community engagement is still felt to be an important priority for landlords, but cuts have focused thoughts on VFM from involvement and the need to appeal and hear a wider audience.

It was agreed that we discuss the role of TARAs at the next S.Net, including constitutions and contact with them.

Leeds have set up a Housing Advisory Panel to allocate local budgets and to give advice on localities and to shape services.

a discussion was held on maximum budgets and Leeds plans to fast-track some small grants, to deliver VFM and make efficiency improvements

It has representatives from the TARAs which they aim to strengthen by giving them a role in inputting on this Panel,a s well as other representatives where there is no TARA.

We discussed data and surveys. 6 town housing agreed to share their anonymous survey used by text and e mail after meetings on involvement

The survey will appear here when i have it

Leeds CC are making more use of social media and films about tenancies and more visual information to tenants.

This is supplemented by an annual home visit received by all tenants, where engagement can be discussed and Estate Audits.

LCC Housing involvement links into the wider community offer of engagement from LCC, so as not to duplicate.

Recent success has been some work by the council to support parents which has produced a force of nature new tenants group who are growing in numbers and want to engage with LCC and LCC Housing.

LCC Housing are trailing ABCD (asset based community development)- a community approach to letting the community tell their story and to fix the priorities in neighbourhoods.

We discussed the difficulty of making the website of a LA more captivating for involvement and the difficulty in large organisations in getting the corporate centre to prioritise such work, this is experienced by small organisations too and holds back involvement.

 Presentation and Discussion

 Government support, research and grants available for community projects

 Paul Schofield, Senior Policy Adviser from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport

Tenant Involvement Network

Paul discussed:

• Youth Policy, grants and support for community initiatives
• Support for volunteering in our communities and especially innovative schemes around the public service agenda
• Supporting the growth of a healthy and vibrant social economy
• Delivering the Life Chances Fund
• Supporting the growth of the social value agenda
• Maximising the opportunities for voluntary organisations to deliver public services
• Supporting philanthropy and giving

A number of initiatives were discussed and questioned, here are my notes:

NCS

A very important service and high impact for volunteering amongst 11+ year olds by giving them social skills, self direction and social action learning.

The aim is to increase this by getting 60% of 10-20 year olds engaged in #Iwill fund

Power to Change

This investigates how community involvement can pay, linking social investors to community groups – great projects like Home Baked Anfield have gained from this.

Paul suggested that we may wish to look on the website for all the initiatives he mentioned.

Leeds Community Homes have been participating in an initiative to renovate Street properties under this initiative – buy or let, teaching people how to improve homes.

A code sustainable property is also being developed from this and sold under a community share offer.

The fund gives access to a social investment foundation – which matches skills or money to bids.

Centre for Social Action

6000 community organisations are being asked in 1 year what do you want to change.

This is open to landlords to work with too

Social Value Act, enables the department to work with all public organisations.

Procurement is being investigated – what could it look like over a period of time and how can we persuade people to buy more locally.

this has had some success in Germany and France.

Single Brokerage

There are initiatives with firms who want to do more than a community day for their social value added – a York insurance company and 70 other firms have given 3 days engagement to the community to pass on skills or undertake work.

Other examples include Cheshire Connect – now funded from lo=cal firm membership fees and Bradford perfect projects.

Local members work with good community organisations, tied in local communities and with an asset – using the ABCD approach.

Bury 6 Town housing uses signposting with community groups in a similar way, including support for transition to work programmes and 6 weeks arrears

Community Based Loan Models

Leeds paused rents during transition periods between benefits and employment.

Sheffield have offered soft bridging loans to fill the gap.

there are many charities offering suits for work in Leeds,Merseyside and Manchester for landlords to hook up to

Check out fundingcentral.org.uk for more info on access to grants for work

TimeBanks

Many firms are still using this to put more back into their local communities – some of this can be big lottery funded.

Keyfund -£30-50K may be available for 6 months direct support for projects, to second workers into the community – landlords can match with their staff time and resources, no money required.

Business connector

Business in the community – offering one year projects will connect business to community groups.

West Yorkshire Skills and the Ahead group is one example on the gov website

Fair4 You

this is offered to bright-house clients trying to get out of debt and offers alternatives with teeth to negotiate loans etc

S.Net Unconference

Warrington HA SP tenants have agreed to help as it will be at their offices.

The meeting requested it be moved to July to enable more time to round up their tenants to attend.

Watch the events page of this website – the date will be set on 8th May

On the couch

• Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard changes and impact

Yvonne gave a short presentation on the changes to the involvement standard proposed by the HCA and their potential impact.

Deregulation and tenant Involvement

Statutory_consultation_on_Tenant_Involvement_and_Empowerment_Standard

Letter_to_providers_on_deregulation_measures_and_TIE_consultation

We also discussed the plan by the HCA to change measurement and standards on VFM and the potential for increasing or decreasing expectations on tenant engagement within the current standard.

We now know that this standard cannot be publicised or consulted upon until after the general election, due to Purdah rules.

Watch this website for more news as we know it.

• Tenant access to the internet and Support from landlords to achieve this

This was requested by Leeds CC – officers have been asked to investigate where this was delivered by landlords to all households

LCC is embarking on a pilot using low cost devices and digital champions in the community to persuade tenants to use on line services.

They are offering access to college courses and skills to chose from restaurant delivery menus, medication ordering etc to show how the use of the internet can be useful as well as functional for more formal benefits and services.

A campaign is being monitored and is pushing out information by newsletter, jobs by newsletter and signposting on line to support why tenants may wish to learn to access this information.

We discussed the use of graphics and “read more Buttons” making the text and information more inviting and easier to digest by tenants. and the importance of using google analytics to assess pre and post initiatives. LCC have found most people now have a mobile phone and the majority are smartphones, so they have been further developing their self service and sending out a corporate text each month to remind how tenants can access more information.

Many landlords discussed their use and the usefulness of:

• You Tube
• texts
• survey monkey
• FB and twitter
• and asking just 3 short questions to gain customer insight and to prompt actions

Trafford HT

Have been incentive’s access by wifi by showing non housing actions that tenants could undertake in similar ways

Information governance

We discussed the opportunity to use this for tenant engagement.

Often involvement officer use of a corporate website is barred.

Yvonne to assess whether we can get the Information commissioner or other expert on governance to support this use of data by volunteers which is becoming even more restricted following more DPA laws.

Digital compliant panel

We discussed the use of this and lessons learnt. 6 Town in Bury is asking tenants:

• what difficulties they had
• what the expectations were when they put in a compliant
• what 6 Town can improve

 Future events

Planned future Events – NHC resident Involvement Conference – Manchester on 8^th June (one day, themed around changes in involvement, regulatory changes from the HCA on involvement and digital engagement)

 Future meeting dates of Scrutiny.Net:

• Thursday 13^th July – Sadeh Lok, Huddersfield
• Tuesday 3^rd October – PlusDane, Liverpool
• Thursday 18^th January 2018 – any offers of a venue much appreciated?