Our Top Takeaways on TSMs

Friday 16th of June 2023

This week Tpas hosted their second Housing Summit, with a focus on Tenant Satisfaction Measures and Regulation. 

Our Summits give our members the space and time to explore the big issues in the Housing and Engagement world, bringing you speakers, good practice exchanges, and lively debates.


We welcomed over 100 attendees at this week's Tpas Housing Summit: Focus on TSMs and Regulation.  Our attendees heard from Alex O'Callaghan, Data Business Partner at Housemark, Leigh Garbutt, Head of Customer Experience at Fortem, and Sarah Davis from CiH, on Tenant Satisfaction Measures, Consumer Regulation Standards, and the Better Social Housing Review. 

 

Watch the recording of the Summit here

 

We've pulled out our Top 10 Takeaways on the TSMs from what we heard from Alex at Housemark.


Ten Things to Takeaway on TSM’s 

  1. There are 22 TSM’s. 12 are perception measures, so the “what do tenants/Customers/ Residents think” measured by surveys. The rest are management ones, measured by the Housing Provider
  2. TSM’s cover 5 areas – Repairs, Building Safety, Engagement, Complaints and Neighbourhood management
  3. There is no mention of Electrical Safety in the TSMs, but it will be added at later date as work still on going on this
  4. Housing Providers should be informing tenants about the TSMs and the new regulatory framework too. What’s more they should be working with them on their practices too.
  5. Satisfaction Variables are important. So, these are the things that impact on satisfaction scores. For example, did you know face to face surveys deliver better satisfaction than online, up to 15% more! Also, tenant age is another variable, so the older you are the more satisfied you tend to be. So maybe providers with lots of younger tenants may find their scores are lower.  There’s loads more variables too – check out the recording for more info. But remember these variables cannot be used to excuse poor performance!
  6. The Regulator has told providers what information to collect but not how to collect it! But if they suspected some “gaming” of the system they may well require all providers to use the same method! So, it could be they decide everyone has to collect the information via a telephone surveys.
  7. Tenants need to challenge providers on what they are doing with the TSM data. They should be using it drive improvements and change. Are they? Ask them!
  8. Councils may have a tougher time of it because it can be tricky for folk to separate out the Housing function from all the other stuff Councils do. So, if you are hacked off about the bin collection you might reflect this in your scoring when asked about your Council housing.
  9. Every Provider has to ask the TSM questions exactly as they are written and in that order. No option for being “creative” here although you can add in open questions
  10. TSM’s are just one source of the hearing the Customer/Tenant/Resident Voice – make sure you are listening to all feedback and doing something with it  

 

What else did you miss at this Tpas Housing Summit?  Let Tpas Policy and Insight Manager, Caritas Charles, give you all the details: 

 

Our next Tpas Housing Summit will focus on Complaints. Find out more here.