Regulatory judgement improvement plan

7. Accessibility of some tenancy management policies

Regulatory standard	Tenancy
Area of weakness	Some tenancy management policies are not easily accessible
Intended outcome(s)	Tenancy management policies to be published on website and made available in other formats on request (such as, hard copies and different languages). Improved tenant understanding of services and processes. All tenants, including those with specific needs, can access key information and services. Easy read versions of policies on website.
Lead	Neil Bouch (Service Director - Neighbourhoods and Localities) Martin Poulter (Business Performance and Customer Services Manager)
Target completion	Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) and Hate Crime and Good Neighbourhood Policies to be accessible by December 2025. Updated Tenancy Agreement, Domestic Abuse and Housing Policy and Tenant Management Policy accessibly by 31 March 2026. Identify those policies that require Easy Read version and draft/develop versions - July 2026 (revised target).
Step targets (where possible)	Report to Cabinet, 18 Nov 2025 Publish on website by end Nov 2025.
Short/medium/long term plans	Short Term Tenancy management policies (ASB and Good Neighbourhood Polices) completed and on website by 31 December 2025 Updated Tenancy Agreement and Domestic Abuse and Tenancy Management Housing Policy - 31 March 2026. Medium Term Introduce easy read versions of policies from March 2026. Long Term: Deliver on programme of reviewing all policies and strategies.
Organisational risks	Capacity/skills -creating easy read.
Potential impact on customers if we do not achieve intended outcome	Confusion or miscommunication regarding tenancy rights and responsibilities. Reduced trust in housing provider due to lack of clarity.
Current position	The Policy Review and Approval Framework was agreed by Strategic Housing Board in July 2025 and includes tenancy management policies within its review timetable. Once policies are formally approved, they are uploaded to the Council's website to ensure they are publicly accessible. The ASB and Hate Crime Policy and Good Neighbourhood Policy were approved by Cabinet in November 2025. The ASB and Hate Crime Policy has been published on the website and includes a new online ASB reporting function, which is now live. The Good Neighbourhood Policy will be uploaded once the required IT development is complete, which is expected by the end of July. To support accessibility and understanding, a short animated video is being developed to accompany the ASB Policy. The script has been reviewed with a task and finish customer group and is now with the Communications team for production. Once complete, the video will be published on the website. Following tenant consultation, variations to the tenancy agreement and an updated Tenancy Management Policy were approved by Cabinet in March 2026. The updated tenancy agreement has been published on the website and the Tenancy Management Policy is currently being uploaded. In addition, the Domestic Abuse Policy and the Rent Arrears Prevention Policy were approved by Cabinet in March 2026. The Domestic Abuse Policy is now available on the website, and the Rent Arrears Prevention Policy is in the process of being uploaded. Further progress on improving accessibility, including the development of easy read versions, summary versions of policies and strategies, and a wider review of housing related website content, is set out in ID 10 - Strategies and Policies are not easily accessible.
RAG	Green- On target
Evidence	Reports to Cabinet, Strategy Housing Board and Housing Portfolio Links to website. Links to easy read versions on website. Availability of copies of documents in different formats (such as, hard copies and different languages).