Involvement opportunities

Our Scrutiny Panel reviews services and makes recommendations to us about how to improve them. It is a powerful body which works with us to make things better for all residents. Come and join us. What are the benefits for you of joining the panel?

If you join the scrutiny panel you will:

• Increase your skills Gain experience of reviewing services
• Learn more about how services are delivered
• Receive training
• Reasonable expenses will be paid

Influence rating: High

Time rating: approximately equivalent to 5 days per annum
Invcentives – £10 per meeting

We already involve residents in recruiting staff and in appointing contractors to carry out services for us. WE will provide training for these residents. Whilst we have a few people who work with us, we want to expand this pool of residents who are trained and can be called upon help us get the best people and the best companies for the job.

Influence rating: high

Time rating: 3-6 hours (recruitment)
Incentives – £25 per halfday, £40 per full day

Resident Estate inspectors are trained residents, who carry out inspections on the estate services provided by Spitalfields on behalf of residents.

The role of the Resident Estate Inspectors is to assess the standards of the estate services and to provide a residents’ assessment on whether we are meeting our current service standards.

Influence rating: medium

Time rating: periodically 30 minutes per month
Incentives – £15 voucher per inspection

We can provide training for residents who want to be involved and would like to improve their skills to help them be involved. This could include training on chairing meetings, taking minutes, understanding financial information or learning how a housing association is run.

Influence rating: low/medium

Time rating: periodically 2-4 hours
Incentives – Paid training

We carry out a variety of satisfaction surveys throughout the year; these surveys identify current satisfaction levels and identify areas for improvement.

The key resident satisfaction survey is the annual star survey which is sent by an independent company to our residents to get an overall view of our services and how we are doing. Satisfaction ratings help the Scrutiny Panel decide which service they should review next and are reported to our Board.

Influence rating: medium

Time rating: periodically 30 minutes every 3 years
Incentives – Prize Draw, 1st Prize £50, 2nd Prize £30, 3rd Prize £20

We have a trained pool of mystery shoppers, who carry out mystery shops as and when required. This might be commissioned by the Scrutiny Panel to assist in reviewing a particular service or as part of a broader service improvement programme. They provide mystery shops by visiting the office, telephoning and email and these feed into how we can improve our services.

Mystery shoppers receive gift vouchers for taking part. We do not tell our staff who the mystery shoppers are. We need more people to become mystery shoppers.

Influence rating: medium

Time rating: 2-4 hours per shop
Incentives – £10 voucher per task

A Residents’ Association is a way for residents to get involved at a local level. A Residents’ Association often represents the interests of the local area and can help to bring communities closer together. Typically a Residents’ Association may choose to campaign around common issues, as well as organising fun days and social events. We provide support including providing grants.

Influence rating:medium

Time rating:1-2 hours every 2 months

We hold focus groups occasionally to look at specific areas of our service. People who come to these groups give their opinions on how we are performing and how we can improve our service. They could tell us what they think about our services to disabled residents, for example. We are currently working on improving our response to Anti Social Behaviour- if you have a view and want to be involved, get in touch.

Influence rating: medium

Time rating: periodically 1-2 hours (meeting), 2/3 meetings per year.
Incentives – £10 voucher per meeting