Tenant Involvement

We believe that you are the expert when it comes to living in a council home.

We want to:

• Listen to you
• Work with you
• Make sure our homes and services keep getting better

We want you to get involved

You should feel confident to:

• Ask questions
• Share your ideas
• Help us make decisions about housing

This helps us:

• Make better rules and services
• Understand what tenants really need
• Make homes and communities better
• Keep tenants happy

Our Tenant Involvement Policy

We have updated our policy to show:

• Why we involve tenants
• How we build trust and respect
• What our priorities are
• How tenants can help shape services
• How we check and share our progress
• That we follow the law and best practice
• That we want tenants to understand and feel good about our housing service

We have updated our Housing Tenant Involvement Policy

We would like to thank all the residents and members of our Tenant Panel, Subgroup and Reading Group who took the time to share their views. Your feedback has helped shape the revised policy.

You can view the updated policy here, as well as the feedback received and our responses, by following this link.

We also have a Customer Involvement Register to enable you to choose the way you want to be involved, for example taking part in the occasional survey or joining our Tenant Panel, as well as the topics you would like to be involved in.

Our Tenant Involvement Guide 2026 sets out all the ways you can get involved in shaping the housing services we provide. Tenants and leaseholders play a vital role in helping us understand what works well, where improvements can be made, and how we can make our homes and neighbourhoods better for everyone.

Understanding Diverse Needs of Tenants Report and Action Plan

To recognise and respond better to tenants’ diverse needs and those with protected characteristics we have reviewed our current approach within our ‘Understanding Diverse Needs of Tenants Report and Action Plan’ which outlines our commitment to continually learn, reflect and improve.

Driving Better Neighbourhoods

In an effort to drive improvements in our neighbourhoods we are currently collecting key data that will allow us to publish ‘Driving Better Neighbourhoods’ statistics at 6 monthly intervals from January 2027

Tenant Involvement Briefing Notes

This briefing note highlights the key achievements and activities delivered through Tenant Involvement during 2025.

During this period, tenants have helped shape services, influence decision-making and support improvements across our communities, this report shows what we have achieved January 2026 - June 2026.

If you require a physical copy of this guide, or need it in another format such as braille, large print, audio, or another language, please get in touch with us at:

📩 tenant.involvement@tendringdc.gov.uk
📞 01255 686690

Tenant Participation Impact Reports

From January 2027, we will publish six-monthly participation reports for each of our established Tenant Involvement groups, including the Tenant Panel, Tenant Reading Group, Diverse Needs Group, and Tenant Panel Sub-Groups.

These reports will highlight how tenants have been involved in shaping our housing services over the previous six months, the feedback they have provided, and the improvements and changes that have resulted from their involvement. They will also outline the activities planned for each group over the next six months.

Introduction to your new home

We are creating an ‘Introduction to your new home’ video for tenants and are currently working with our communications partner to have the final version available by the end of November 2026. In the meantime, we hope you find what we have created so far useful and we invite you to please send suggestions to our Tenant Involvement Team on how we can further improve the final version by e-mailing tenant.Involvement@tendringdc.gov.uk

Clacton Community Fun Day – Briefing Note

The community fun day was delivered as part of the Council’s commitment to strengthening tenant engagement, listening to the tenant unfiltered voice, and giving something meaningful back to a community experiencing high levels of deprivation.

The event formed a key part of the Housing Service’s wider approach to embedding tenant influence, improving accessibility, and ensuring tenants are at the centre of service improvement and delivery.

Fully funded by the Council, and delivered in partnership with local organisations, emergency services and community groups, the day provided a welcoming, inclusive and family-friendly environment where residents could engage directly with officers, partners and support services.

Click here to read the full briefing note.

Competence and Conduct Standard – What it means for you

We are preparing for the new Competence and Conduct Standard, which comes into effect in October 2026. The Standard aims to ensure that housing staff and contractors have the right skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours to provide professional, respectful and high-quality services to residents.

Resident feedback is an important part of this work. We want to understand the standards you expect from our housing service and the behaviours that matter most to you.

Thank you to everyone who shared their views on what they would like to see in the policy. We have now collated the feedback received, and your comments and suggestions will help shape the revised Housing Competence and Conduct Policy.

If you would like to read the feedback received and our responses, please follow this link. The updated policy will be published by the end of October 2026.

Help Us Improve Our Website

We are currently reviewing our website and would like your help to make it easier to use and more accessible for everyone.

Please take some time to browse our website and review the pages and features listed on the accompanying checklist.

We would welcome your feedback on:

• How easy the website is to use and navigate

• Whether information is clear and easy to understand

• Any accessibility issues you experience

• Suggestions for improvements

Your comments will help shape the changes and improvements we plan to make during 2027.

How to Return Your Feedback

Please download and complete the checklist, then return it to us by emailing it to Tenant Involvement at Tenant.Involvement@tendringdc.gov.uk .

Please return your completed checklist by Friday 30 October 2026.

Thank you again for your time and support. Your feedback plays an important role in helping us create a website that is accessible, user-friendly and meets the needs of our tenants.