Member Spotlight

It’s our members that make Tpas such a great organisation to be part of and what better way to show this than with our member spotlight feature.

Each month we will invite one of our members to share their engagement achievements, tips and ambitions, allowing you to keep bang up to date with what others are up to across the sector.

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Member Spotlight  - Colchester Borough Homes    

We asked Julie Pearsall, Customer Involvement Officer at Colchester Borough Homes, to share some of the work they are currently doing.

If you’d like to contact Julie about any of the below, click here

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Give us a little known fact about your organisation

At Colchester Borough Homes (CBH), tenant engagement is not just a box to tick—it is at the core of everything we do. Since being established in 2003 as an Arm’s Length Management Organisation (ALMO) by Colchester City Council, we have consistently evolved our services in partnership with our residents. Today, we manage over 7,000 homes, delivering not just housing services, but a platform for people to thrive.

We have twenty-two sheltered schemes offering independence security and piece of mind with supplying homes for over sixty’s as around 50% of our customers are over 60 years old. We have just completed a major project, a demolish and new build of Elfreda House over a four-year period now accommodating thirty-six self-contained flats.

One new tenant said, “It’s the best thing I have done and should have moved years ago – I’m so pleased we were offered a property, and we are so grateful.”

Tell us about a time that engagement has made a difference to your services or communities?

An excellent example of our meaningful engagement would be our Tenant led scrutiny Team who scrutinised our Lettings process from viewing to signing of a new Tenancy with CBH.

The scrutiny identified:

• A lack of completed satisfaction Surveys.
• Gaps in communication and accessibility during housing application stage
• No pre tenancy determinations or recharges

The outcomes from this tenant-led team resulted in

• Using an alternative platform for collecting Satisfaction Surveys using fewer manual resources, making this more value for money and increase returns for a better measure.
• Implementation of a new text messaging survey platform
• Fixed Term Tenancy Officer to complete pre tenancy determinations and recharges if property not to tenancy conditions
• Improve property listing on Gateway Homechoice better reflection on accessibility and other applicants’ needs for suitable shortlisting on properties.
• Shadowing of Gateway Homechoice Teams and Lettings Team to improve communication and provide a better customer experience.

The recommendation and update are monitored through our CBH Board and our Operations and Performance Committee and reviewed every three months.

What are you currently working on when it comes to engagement?

We have a lot on the go right now when it comes to Tenant Engagement, here are two examples.

Our new and exciting Recreation Activity Coordinator post funded by Sports England, to monitor programme outcomes and contribute towards continuous improvement and wellbeing for our tenants. Our customers will benefit from this recreation engagement to provide more opportunities and inclusive programmes for all age groups and abilities and resident will be empowered to lead healthy lifestyles, build strong community ties, and enjoy a greater sense of belonging and engagement across our neighbourhoods.

We have been proud to attend the Stop Social Housing Stigma parliament launch of a powerful report into Social Housing Stigma. As a committed Pioneer Traveller, we have been working with Stop Social Housing Stigma, Durham University, Sheffield Hallam University, and other partners including Tpas. We are proud to have been at the parliament launch of the report on the 19th May 2025, the framework offers practical steps for landlords to challenge stigma and strengthen engagement, aligning with new consumer regulations. We have an action Plan packed with workshop events with staff contractors and tenants, Raising awareness through E Learning Modules with staff, contractors, and councillors. We believe everyone deserves to feel safe, respected and valued and free from judgement labels or stereotyping and challenging stigma ongoing as part of our Customer Commitments.

Why did you decide to join Tpas?

At Colchester Borough Homes (CBH), we believe that the best services are shaped with our residents that is why, back in 2011, we made the decision to become a member of Tpas.

Our aim was simple but ambitious within our strategic plan consulted on with our customers of Colchester Borough Homes to deliver a positive customer experience across services. We plan to make residents voices heard and increase overall customer satisfaction by 5% by 2027, from our 2024 Tenant Satisfaction Measure this has now increased from 68% to 73%.

By joining Tpas, we became part of a national network of like-minded organisations which enhanced our tenant engagement opportunities, with support, training, and the excellent opportunity to obtain our Landlord Accreditation which helped us develop a strong culture of involvement across out organisation. I would highly recommend anyone thinking of the accreditation to take the leap, the support from Tpas is second to none.

The opportunity for free tenants’ membership is also a great benefit with various webinars, training courses, and updated information from The Regulator of Social Housing and Housing Ombudsman. We are happy to be a part of the Tpas family support and inspiration.

What is your top engagement tip?

Building trust with our customers, we believe everything else will follow, we have also learnt that being open, transparent, and accountable is key when advising outcomes of what can and cannot be changed. Also providing lots of informal opportunities for active listening to their voices, from the whole organisation.

What’s the one thing you are really proud of when it comes to engagement?

Cocreation with our customers, people feeling heard and respected from the beginning to the end, engaging more and bringing a fresh approach to drive lasting change.

Our Performance Dashboard –

We are proud of how we have turned resident feedback into real, lasting change when it comes to being open, honest, and accountable.

Cocreating, we identified the top ten performance matters that matter most to our residents.

This resulted in a live Performance Dashboard not only published on our website but also added as a standard agenda item at our bimonthly Resident Voice Meetings.

This journey has helped us build trust and have a culture where we are meeting the consumer standard Transparency, Influence and Accountability.

Customer Commitments

Our three-year customer commitments cocreated following a workshop facilitated by Tpas in January 2023

From this workshop our Tenants produced a new powerful Strapline for Resident Engagement of “together we are better” reminding us that when staff and tenants work closely together, we can also build and deliver a better service and trust building. This collaboration saw residents and CBH staff defining what our commitments should look like, giving the opportunity for open conversation, leading to a set of clear commitments that matter to our customers, communities, and Neighbourhoods.

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Previous Member Spotlights

May 2025 - Manningham HA

April 2025 - Leeds Federated HA

March 2025 - North Star Housing Group

February 2025 - Wigan Council

January 2025 - Worthing Homes

December 2024 - Lumensol

October / November 2024 - Orbit

September 2024 - Gentoo

August 2024 - Watford Community Housing

July 2024 - BFT Mastclimbing

May / June 2024 - Stonewater

April 2024 - Hull City Council

March 2024 - Partners Foundation

February 2024 - Red Kite Community Housing

January 2024 - St Leger Homes of Doncaster

December 2023 - settle

November 2023 - Flagship Group

Sept / Oct 2023 - Hinckley and Bosworth Council

August 2023 - Tenants Hub CIC

June / July 2023 - Dovecotes TMO

May 2023 - Stockport Homes

April 2023 - TPTracker

March 2023 - Metropolitan Thames Valley

February 2023 - West Kent

January 2023 - Fairhive

December 2022 - Platform Housing Group

November 2022 - Integrated Solutions - City Plumbing

September / October 2022 - Homes Plus

August 2022 - Aspire

May 2022 - Arches

April 2022 -  Acis Group

March 2022 - wdh

February 2022 - Michael Dyson Associates Ltd

January 2022 - South Yorkshire HA

December 2021 - Gateshead Council

November 2021  - LiveWest

October 2021 - YMCA Thames Gateway

September 2021 - Bernicia

August 2021 - Anglian Building Products

July 2021 - Warrington HA

June 2021 - Futr

May 2021 - Vale of Aylesbury HT

April 2021 - Aaron Services

March 2021 - Soha

February 2021 - North West Leicestershire DC

January 2021 - Vinci Facllities

December 2020 - Ongo

November 2020 - Places for People

October 2020 - Community Gateway Association

September 2020 - Dacorum BC

August 2020 - Eastend Homes

July 2020 - Connexus

June 2020 - Gridizen

May 2020 - Grand Union Housing Group

March / April 2020 - Onward Homes

January / February 2020 - Estuary HA

December 2019 - Muir Group

November 2019 - Blackpool Coastal Homes

October 2019 - Texthelp

September 2019 - Greatwell Homes

August 2019 - Selby DC

July 2019 - North Star Housing Group

June 2019  - Rotherham MBC

May 2019  - Homes for Haringey

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I'd like to be in the spotlight

If you'd like to be featured in our Member Spotlight and highlight the work you are doing, please get in touch by emailing lisa.holt@tpas.org.uk.