Scrutiny Working Group - Disability & Lettings Project Page

After discussing further details regarding Barbara’s response, I have updated the Scope & Plan document which you’ll find attached and provided some explanation below for next steps:

Essentially, the topic you want to scrutinise does not really work due to Riverside having very little control over the entirety of the re-housing procedure and policy. As housing associations work in close partnership with regional and local authorities, there are aspects to the lettings & allocations process that are determined by local government, not Riverside itself – the Choice-Based Lettings Scheme, for example, is run by the local councils and Riverside only have a policy for working alongside them.

The scope of scrutiny is limited to Riverside policy, procedure, and operations that are within Riverside’s power to change and control. As that is not the case with this particular topic, I have some ideas as to how we can move forward with this area of concern:

1. Discontinue Scrutiny Working Group meetings for now
2. Invite an officer from Lettings & Allocations to attend the next Disability Group Meeting
3. Lettings Officer presents the finer details of the allocations/re-housing process, including the difference between local government policy and Riverside policy. Customers can then ask questions and raise concerns for discussion.
4. Depending on what is learned from the session, you could decide to either:

• continue the Scrutiny Working Group if enough scope remains for an inspection
• OR
• Disability Group to suggest a future partnership with TRIP/Homes Panel for a wider DEI project to explore any possible recommendations for change

Now, I do want to make a disclaimer that this is my best interpretation of the Lettings & Allocations situation, and as I am not a Lettings Officer myself, I suggest the most important thing to do next is have a conversation with someone from Lettings to be sure we are all clear on what the process is and what you want to change. And also, what CAN change and why/why not.

Hi, all!

I'm back from leave today and just catching up on everything.

I've decided to shelve today's routine Monday meeting as there's not much to update from when I was away and most of us forgot anyway! No matter though as we can pick up as usual for next Monday, 16th at 11:30.

Scope & Plan Progress: We are still waiting for the Head of Service agreement to the Scrutiny Working Group Scope & Plan. Charlene reported that KWC has signed off on the form while I was away, but we haven't had a response from the Head of Lettings yet. I have chased up this morning to prompt for a quick response as the requested deadline was 2 weeks.

I'll update this page if/when there's any progress this week and we can discuss further in our next meeting.

See you Monday 16th!

I’ve gone through the Scope & Plan form with Charlene to make sure everything is clear and she’s made a number of suggestions to refine the scope before passing onto Heads of Service (as it’s likely they will request the same changes anyway, so we are saving a bit of time).

The updated copy is located to the right in the "Inspection Progress & Guidance" section, then under the "Planning Phase" folder.

Have a look at all the highlighted bits and respond with your thoughts and decision:
Please state clearly whether you ACCEPT these changes and you’re happy for it to progress to Heads of Service.
If you REJECT these changes, please make this clear and we can discuss further.

Thank you!

Brooke

1. One Community communications: The Scrutiny Panel (SP) are very pleased with the One Community Scrutiny Hub set up as it allows both their group and yours to see everything that’s going on at any one point in time. They are satisfied that this takes care of any communication needs going forward.
2. Meeting with Interim Scrutiny Panel: As far as meeting with them next week – as I had originally planned for you to do to “propose” your inspection topic – they collectively decided that this is no longer necessary but could be a part of the process in future on a case-by-case basis. They are happy for the SWG to carry on independently since they can already see the Inspection Proposal and the Scope & Plan document on OC.
3. NEXT MEETING Tuesday, 6^th May at 12:30: since we won’t be meeting with the SP next week, let’s move up our next session to continue the Scope & Plan document (and hopefully finish it!). I’ll keep the same time and try for Tuesday instead. As agreed, I will send you the Teams invite and copy-paste the link to the OC page.
4. FUTURE MEETINGS: I’m going to keep the Monday 12^th May at 12:30 slot in the calendar and I will make it recurring as long as everyone is happy for this to be our regular weekly meeting date for the time being?
5. ***TEAMS LINKS ARE LOCATED UNDER THE "UPCOMING MEETINGS" SECTION - CLICK ON THE RELEVANT DATE AND IT WILL OPEN A NEW PAGE WITH THE LINK***

Hello everyone,

Please see the right hand area of the page to see the new meeting dates that have been added and the minutes from our first Scoping & Planning meeting.

Once we've agreed a date for the session with the Interim Scrutiny Panel I'll add that date to the page as well.

Here the Riverside Team will post updates relating to the Inspection process and give answers to frequently asked questions. Watch this space to know when to look out for important info coming your way.