Mears wins the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) Outstanding Tenant Engagement Award — Contractor, for its Your Voice programme.
The role of TPAS is to promote, support and champion tenant involvement and empowerment in social housing across England. With a membership is made up of local tenants and landlord organisations, covering three million homes we are hugely proud to be awarded by an organisation with tenants at its heart.
Your Voice is a three-tiered programme including an independent tenant-led scrutiny board made up of 10 Mears tenants and chaired by former Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute for Housing, Terrie Alafat. The Board forms part of Mears’ formal governance, with a reporting line to the PLC Board and published an independent annual report.
The organisation’s Customer Forum holds bi-monthly policy meetings with tenants hearing and asking questions from the likes of Government, the Housing Ombudsman and our clients. Supplementing all of this is a regular conversation with customers through its online network — which now has nearly 2,000 membersthat they engage every month to check on Mears services.
Director of Customer Success, Gary Jackson said: “Given the recommendations from the Housing White paper, it is important that we can evidence the importance we place on proactively engaging with our residents.
“Over the last year we have found the input of our tenants, directly into our service delivery, has proven to be crucial to our business. Tenants on the Board can raise any concerns or questions directly with our PLC Board members, which ultimately allows us to design our services alongside residents.
“As Mears continues our ESG journey, this award proves that we have a firm bedrock in place to become the most socially responsible business in our sector.”
Terrie Alafat, the Chair of the Your Voice Board added: “I am delighted Your Voice has received such great recognition. From the start, I have been impressed by the innovation Mears has shown and the willingness they have to open themselves up to scrutiny from their residents. Already, the board has made a huge difference, as demonstrated in our first annual report, and I am look forward to making an even bigger impact over the coming years.”
