The Impact of the Equality Act on Social Housing

Transcription

1 The Impact of the Equality Act on Social Housing S3: Getting to know you better: finding simple answers to tenant profiling Speakers: Peter Brown Chief Executive Herefordshire Housing Samantha McGrady Deputy Chief Executive Housemark Chair: Bob Green Chief Executive Stonewall Housing

2 Getting to know you better: finding simple answers to tenant profiling Samantha McGrady Deputy Chief Executive

3 Session outline A bit about HouseMark Profiling and insight definitions Why they are important drivers and benefits Requirements of the Single Equality Act HouseMark s approach TSA toolkit on Tenant Insight Good practice examples

4 Jointly owned by two not for profit organisations trade body and professional body Committed to working for, and with, the social housing sector to improve performance and efficiency.

5 What is HouseMark? HouseMark is a membership-based organisation helping the social housing sector to improve performance and achieve value for money We provide: Benchmarking compare cost and performance with others Good practice thousands of online case studies and other good practice materials Consultancy value for money, tenant insight, meeting regulatory requirements (eg local offers), tenant powered performance etc. Accreditation ASB and Complaints Collective procurement via our subsidiary Procurement for Housing

6 Profiling and insight definitions (1) This is new territory for much of our sector Terms are easily confused so what s the difference? Profiling: Collecting, analysing and segmenting information about customers; includes demographics, needs & behaviours, attitudes, lifestyles and aspirations On its own it won t give you insight!

7 Profiling and insight definitions (2) Insight: Subsequent use of this information to understand how to communicate with customers, design services to meet their needs and expectations, mount early intervention campaigns around problem issues etc Not an end in itself but a trigger for action Helps you achieve your outcomes

8 Drivers for profiling and insight Reflects the shift from a rules/rights culture to a service culture Rising customer expectations adding value Targeting and maximising resources value for money Regulation customers at the heart of service design and delivery Registered providers must understand their tenants needs and use this information to: design and deliver housing services communicate with tenants

9 Benefits of insight Better customer experience You get closer to knowing your customers. Better understanding means you can focus on the things that really matter to people You can develop appropriate new products and services for particular groups The things people see or experience are relevant and appropriate for them Services are delivered in the right way at the right time Greater efficiency Limited resources can be targeted more effectively You can identify where to save money with minimal impact on the customer You can target research/communications at the groups you really need to understand You can forecast, analyse and track results better

10 Single Equality Act implications More diversity strands now protected characteristics Age Pregnancy and maternity Disability Race Sexual orientation Gender reassignment Religion or belief Marriage and civil partnership Sex Impact on what data you might collect in terms of profiling and insight HAs have to abide by public authority duties under this Act included as they exercise public functions Means HAs have to: eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation etc advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those with protected characteristics and without Impact on how you might use data

11 HouseMark s approach - strategy Start with a strategy Leadership Desired outcomes Link to corporate objectives Cross organisation or service focused? One-off or ongoing? Resources (but remember VFM) An action plan Communications internal Communications tenants Influencing

12 HouseMark s approach data (1) What data: basic tenant information survey/satisfaction information targeted focus groups customer journey maps rent arrears, repairs, ASB information, etc. other information (communication needs, vulnerability, diversity protected characteristics )

13 HouseMark s approach data (2) Capturing data: have you a co-ordinated approach to this? what info have you already got? what is it you need consult? are there any performance targets on the quantity and quality of the information you are collecting? using customer relationship management (CRM) software Storing data: is the data stored in one place? is it easily accessible? Can it be manipulated?

14 HouseMark s approach data (3) Updating data: is there a systematic approach to this? are staff and customers incentivised to collect and provide information is the information you are collecting still relevant? Using data: do staff understand how to use data to achieve your outcomes and objectives? are there sufficient analytical skills to do this? can reports be easily accessed and tailored for the needs of staff? are you monitoring whether you are achieving your outcomes?

15 HouseMark s approach data (4) External data: Use alone or with your own data External data, linked to individual property, is used to infer certain characteristics Gives us a much broader understanding of customers Data already in the public domain eg. national crime stats, hospital admissions stats, educational attainment stats, census, etc No Data Protection issues as none of it is personal data Accuracy ranges, but generally at least 90% accurate

16 HouseMark s approach - evaluation Continuous improvement cycle plan, act, check Did activity on profiling and insight help achieve desired outcomes? If not, why not? Blockages, what didn t work If yes, what can be learnt and applied elsewhere? What s the next project? Learn from others!

17 TSA Toolkit HouseMark and CIH commissioned in March to produce toolkit on tenant insight in the sector Considerable research and sector consultation Toolkit finally signed off by TSA and launched any time now Worth a good look! Covers all today s issues and more, in detail Loads of good practice examples

18 Good practice examples Data collection One Vision, Blackpool, Stonewall Using the data East Durham Homes, Helena Partnerships, Midland Heart Segmentation Bromsgrove Local offers Great Places TSA toolkit has many, many more!

19 Further information Tel