The Tenant Services Authority's (TSA) Regulatory Framework set out six national standards that Acis has to meet (these can be viewed on the TSA website at www.tenantservicesauthority.org or via the link on the Acis homepage).
In addition to meeting the national standards, there is a requirement that Acis consults with tenants on the desirability and scope of Local Offers for the following standards:
- Tenant Involvement and Empowerment
- Home
- Neighbourhood and Community
What are Local Offers?
Local Offers are service standards or promises agreed with tenants. They are additional to the national standards set out by the TSA that Acis is required to meet.
We are committed to developing our Local Offer in consultation with tenants and plan to do this in various ways.
What we have done
The Regulatory Framework for Social Housing in England, which became effective from 1 April 2010, required that we consult with tenants on the desirability and range of Local Offers. ‘Local’ is not defined but to us it means offers developed with our tenants, covering issues of importance to them. We began consulting on Local Offers via the summer 2010 edition of Home News, which set out our intended actions and a timetable.
At Stage 1, during July and August, we consulted on the continuing relevance of our current service standards and promises and the scope of potential Local Offers. We are grateful to everyone who gave us feedback by sending in the reply slip, participating in focus groups, attending road shows and through general contact with Acis staff.
Over the course of September and October, as Stage 2, we have worked to produce a draft set of Local Offers which reflected feedback. We also received some very good ideas and queries which were not applicable to Local Offers, but which have been considered and responded to.
At Stage 3 of the process, we posted the draft Local Offers on our website and included them with the winter 2010 edition of Home News.
In producing our Local Offers we have tried to make sure that:
- They are measurable so that we can assess and report on how we are performing
- Where possible, they can be compared (benchmarked) with similar offers made by other landlords
- They have an intended impact
At Stage 4 of the process, the Resident Advisory Panel was asked to endorse the Local Offers before approval is was sought from the Board in late January 2011. Now approved, the Local Offers will be delivered from 1 April 2011.
In future we will report on how we are performing in delivering our local offers to both the Board and Scrutiny Panel on a quarterly basis. We will also publish performance details for all tenants to view, via future editions of Home News and Annual Reports.
Click here to view our Local Offers.
