Tenant scrutiny

Tenant scrutiny offers a way for you to help us improve our housing services. By engaging in this process, you can identify what is not working well and suggest changes.

How it works

Our Resident Influence Panel picks a topic to look at, based on our performance data and what tenants tell us.

Then a small group of tenants and leaseholders meet up and decide how they will review the chosen topic. They might talk to our employees, review documents and webpages, send surveys, or even do 'mystery shopping' to see how we deliver that service. When they finish, they write a report about what they found and how we can improve.

Our Customer Involvement team helps the group throughout this process, making sure everyone can share their ideas.

Does this sound interesting?

Do you want to help make our housing services better? Join our Resident Voice pool. We'll let you know when it's time for the next review.

Scrutiny review - enhancing customer contact

After looking at results from surveys we'd conducted and complaints we'd received, our Resident Influence Panel decided to scrutinise how we deal with contact from tenants and leaseholders. They wanted to make sure you have a good experience whenever and however you contact us. Read their full report to see what they suggested.

Key recommendations and updates

Consistent customer experience

Suggestion: create one team to handle all enquiries and set clear service standards so you know what to expect when you get in touch.

What's happening: we are starting a customer contact project in 2024-25 to make this happen, using what we learned from tenants.

Customised contact preferences

Suggestion: ask tenants how they want to be contacted.

What's happening: we're making a video to show you how to update your contact details on My Housing Account (opens new window). It will be on our website soon.

Mental health awareness

Suggestion: train staff to understand more about mental health.

What's happening: all our employees have access to mental health training at work.

Community engagement

Suggestion: more interaction from staff within the community.

What's happening: our Customer Involvement team is starting to meet with you informally every six months. They visit different community groups across Gateshead to discuss what matters most to you. There are lots of other opportunities for you to meet with our staff, including estate walkabouts.

Access to translation services

Suggestion: we need to make sure all new staff know how to use translation services.

What's happening: we're training housing staff so they know why translation is important and how to access it.

Scrutiny review - stage 1 complaint responses

Our tenants have told us that they are dissatisfied with the Council's approach to complaint handling and that we need to improve the way we deal with Housing complaints. The Tenant Satisfaction Survey carried out in 2023/2024 showed that 26% of tenants were satisfied with how we handled their complaint.

In response, the Resident Influence Panel decided to commission a scrutiny review of our responses to stage 1 complaints.

A focus group made up of tenants and leaseholders volunteered to carry out the scrutiny review. After agreeing a set of criteria to assess the quality of letters against, they scrutinised a range of anonymous complaint responses from different housing services about various issues.    

Read the full report and find out more about their findings and recommendations.

Key recommendations and updates

• The main recommendation is to establish a specialist team to handle all complaints about Housing Services. This would ensure an accessible complaints service with one point of contact. The aim would be to deliver a more consistent customer experience.
• Review the letter template used in complaint replies and ensure that the language used in letters is clear and understandable and does not include jargon.
• Improve communications throughout the complaint handling process agreeing a communication strategy with the customer as to how and when any outstanding actions will be communicated.
• Deliver further training to officers responsible for investigating complaints with a focus on improving the quality of written complaint responses.

Update - August 2025

In response to the findings and recommendations from the scrutiny review, we have established a new Customer Feedback and Insights team to handle housing-related complaints.

Since the new team was introduced in January 2025, the number of complaints being formally registered has increased, which is a positive indication that our complaints process is accessible. In addition, the number of stage 1 complaints responded to within the 10 working day target has increased, from 29% in 2023 to 2024, to over 80%.

While this shows a positive outcome from implementing the review's recommendations, we are committed to continuous improvement. In April 2025, we worked with customers again to check and test the quality of complaint responses. Their feedback has provided further learning, which we have implemented.

Scrutiny review - how we communicate with our customers

Providing clear and accessible information is at the heart of an effective tenant-landlord relationship. In response to feedback from customers, the Resident Influence Panel commissioned a tenant scrutiny review of communications.

The aim of the review was to assess the effectiveness, accessibility and reach of published communications.

A focus group of tenants and leaseholders volunteered to conduct the scrutiny review. They first considered wider customer feedback and regulatory guidance. They then reviewed the digital literature we send to customers to assess how informative and accessible it is. The group also wanted to scrutinise information sent to residents in multi-storey blocks, particularly in relation to building safety. As part of their review, they visited multi-storey blocks to assess the information displayed in communal areas.

Some key recommendations from the review include:

• greater use of QR codes on printed literature to aid accessibility options
• put dates on printed literature so customers know how up to date it is
• use photographs of real people rather than stock images
• improve use of social media to enhance our online 'reach' with customers and stakeholders
• improve safety information and caretaker contact information in communal areas of multi-storey blocks

Read the full report and find out more about their findings and recommendations

What's happening next?

The recommendations in their report were fully accepted by the council's Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 12 May 2025. The relevant services are now working with customers to put in place the recommendations. The Resident Influence Panel and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee will receive regular progress updates.