QAS award

Quality Assured Scrutiny is a joint service developed by the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and Housemark and is an accreditation kite mark that demonstrates excellence in tenant led scrutiny and effective co-regulation. 

The Community Housing Group is one of only 12 Registered Providers to have achieved the award which involved a 12 month in depth assessment against a framework of challenging standards and included on site visits by independent assessors and interviews with residents, board members and staff

The award was presented to the Group at their Kidderminster headquarters by Jenny Osbourne Chief Executive Officer from TPAS who commented “‘Through the process The Community Housing Group has demonstrated that they have developed a robust process to facilitate effective tenant scrutiny and the Boards, Executive Team and staff recognise and are fully supportive of the role that tenants have in shaping and improving services.

What was particularly impressive is the excellent working relationship between the Scrutiny Committee and Central Tenants Forum. This example of close partnership working between the two tenants groups is commendable and key to effective co-regulation.

The assessment also highlighted how the Customer Inspectors work compliments and assists the Scrutiny Committee to meet its objectives. Another example of good practice embedded I the scrutiny process.”

Andy Ballard Chair of The Community Housing Group Board said “As Board members we value the important role that the Scrutiny Committee contributes particularly in providing third party assurance in relation to performance and the delivery of tenant services. 

Gill Mooney, Resident Involvement Manager supported the Tenant Scrutiny Committee through the assessment process. The Committee is made up of 6 residents who volunteer their time to carry out inspections, review performance and look at ways to drive forward efficiency targets. 

Ray Brookes, Group Chief Executive said ““We value all feedback from independent assessors as a way of ensuring that we are continually reviewing and improving our services. We were particularly pleased to see that within the feedback report, three areas of good practice were also identified including how the role of the Tenant Scrutiny Committee clearly fits into the overall structure of the organisation and how the channels of communication work between the different structures”

Monika Boehmer Chair of the Scrutiny Committee said “We are absolutely delighted with this achievement which recognises the role of the committee and what we have achieved with the support of staff and the Boards. It is very much a partnership approach which is extremely effective and delivers benefits for tenants the organisation”