Author: Emma-Jane Flynn 
Published by the Local Government Association, in partnership with Tpas, February 2019

Tpas partnered with the LGA to investigate, capture and report on good practice in tenant engagement delivered by councils across the country. Tpas carried out four roundtable discussions and promoted a survey to capture feedback from residents, staff and councillors. 

During this review, tenants, staff and councillors developed a set of key principles that would elevate an approach as an example of good practice so organisations can learn from each other.  Good practice principles for engagement:

• a clearly identified issue and a desired outcome as part of the activity set out at the start 
• engagement activity is clearly set out so it can be easily replicated by other organisations
• engagement activity demonstrates responsiveness to the issue, showing good design and practice
• barriers to successful engagement activity have been addressed after being identified at the start
• activity actually provides a solution to the issue identified demonstrating good planning.

“Overall a number of sector bodies, sources and evidence tells us that resident engagement brings a host of benefits to tenants, staff and organisations however what is unclear is why so many organisations do not value this and as a result are not enabling engagement. 

“Fundamental changes in the culture and local leadership of an organisation needs to occur before we see resulting improvements in practice and benefits to residents and organisations. We hope that this report helps you to understand the issues, helps you to reflect on them and positively address the barriers in your organisation.”