Residents Panel Conduct and Terms

Purpose

Recognising the provisions of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council (WHBC) is committed to greater involvement of its tenants and leaseholders in the decision making and scrutiny of service delivery with the aim of providing greater customer satisfaction.

The Role of the Residents Panel

The Welwyn Hatfield Residents Panel provides an independent, customer-focused, advisory and consultative role to WHBC, and will robustly challenge policy, practice and performance as a ‘critical friend’, to ensure housing services are delivered to the highest standards.

The Residents Panel will be a tenant and leaseholder led, non-political, self-regulated group. It will carry out its scrutiny role by having access to council officers, Members of WHBC and external support as agreed, to request information on housing services and challenge performance where appropriate.

Aims of the Residents Panel

• To work in partnership with WHBC to influence housing policies and strategies and to scrutinise housing performance on behalf of all WHBC’s tenants and leaseholders.
• Improve communication between WHBC and its tenants and leaseholders
• Ensure the views and priorities of tenants and leaseholders are at the heart of WHBC’s performance and service improvement framework.
• Monitor and provide independent assurance on the quality of service delivery against agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s).
• To provide constructive feedback on specific areas or information as requested by or agreed with WHBC.
• Signpost tenants and leaseholders to the right path of enquiry with WHBC and its contractors
• Review the housing information available to tenants and leaseholders with the purpose of providing feedback to the council and informing future Resident Panel projects.
• Represent the voice of WHBC tenants and leaseholders to external organisations.

In doing the above, the Panel will ensure that due consideration is given to value for money, available resources and the corporate objectives of WHBC.

Responsibilities and Functions

To achieve these aims the Panel will:

• Evaluate and respectfully challenge the performance of WHBC Housing Service.
• Work with residents and officers to scrutinise and hold the Housing Service to account.
• Initiate and oversee ‘in-depth or light touch’ scrutiny reviews, based on tenant or leaseholder feedback received from a variety of sources, analysis of various data such as KPI’s, complaints, Tenant Satisfaction Measures and reports from the Housing Service.
• Ask for and receive reports from the Housing Service and other council departments as required.
• Monitor the implementation of action plans and recommendations arising from scrutiny reviews and follow up on whether positive outcomes are being achieved.
• Report the results of reviews to WHBC senior management and Cabinet Housing Panel where relevant.

The Residents Panel cannot address any personal complaints or service requests from a council tenant or leaseholder as these must be raised through the appropriate channels.

Membership

• There shall be a maximum of 15 Panel members, with the majority being WHBC tenants.
• For a valid vote on decisions at least 50% of the Panel members must have expressed a view.
• Members of the Residents Panel must be tenants or leaseholders of WHBC. There shall be no more than one representative from the same household.
• Panel members are expected to undertake the training provided by WHBC or their representatives.
• Panel members must sign their acceptance of and adhere to WHBC Residents Panel Code of Conduct, Terms of Reference and confidentiality agreement.
• A Chair and Vice-chair (from within the membership of the Panel) will be appointed to preside over all meetings.
• The Chair’s term of office shall be three years and the Vice-chair will be selected annually, following which they must seek re-election.
• The length of term for membership is usually five years but may be extended if that member is elected as Chair. After this, members may re-apply to the Panel. 
• Membership shall otherwise end when a Panel member ceases to be a council tenant or leaseholder.
• Members may resign at any time by writing to the Chair/Vice-chair or WHBC’s Resident Involvement Manager.
• WHBC’s senior management team may in their absolute discretion, terminate the membership of a Panel member for any action or failure to act, that in the view of WHBC, may bring the Panel or WHBC into disrepute.
• Members are expected, when possible, to send apologies if they are unable to attend a meeting.
• If a Resident Panel member fails to attend a meeting without giving their apologies for absence the Chair or Resident Involvement Manager will make reasonable attempts to contact that member to check they will be attending the next meeting.
• Continued absence from meetings without a valid reason may result in suspension or termination of Panel membership. Any suspension or termination will be decided by the Panel.
• A breach of a Panel member’s tenancy, lease or any other unacceptable behaviour or activity can result in their membership being suspended or terminated after investigation.

Restrictions on Membership

Membership is open to tenants and leaseholders of WHBC. The following are not eligible to be a member of the Residents Panel:

• Tenants of other landlords
• Those holding publicly elected office
• WHBC officers
• Any resident in breach of their WHBC tenancy or leasehold agreement
• Any resident whose behaviour falls within the provisions of WHBC’s Unreasonably Persistent & Abusive Behaviour Policy.

Selection Criteria

No set skills are needed to become a Resident Panel member. Interested parties, after discussion with the Chair or Vice-chair, will be invited to observe at least two meetings before applying to be a member.

Selection will be at the joint discretion of the Chair, Vice-chair and Resident Involvement Manager and may involve telephone and/or face to face discussions with potential members.

Meetings

The RP will meet monthly (except during August). The meetings will be offered both in-person and online to support attendance. From time to time, members may be invited to join a project group and will need to attend more frequent meetings for the duration. Meetings will be agreed with the majority of the Panel and/or project group taking account of work, family and other commitments.

Role of the Chair and Vice-chair

The Chair:

• Agree the agenda ahead of each meeting
• Welcome attendees to the meeting
• Ensure everyone has a fair opportunity to speak in debates
• Casting vote in event of tied decisions
• Keep speakers to the subject being discussed.

The Vice-chair:

• Will deputise for the Chair when necessary.

Those present can elect an acting chair for a meeting if both the Chair and Vice-chair are absent.

The Chair and Vice-chair can attend meetings with council officers on behalf of the Panel but must keep them informed of discussions.

Selection of Chair

• Members of the Panel will be asked to elect a Chair every three years to preside over the operation of the Panel.
• Nominations for the position of Chair need to be proposed and seconded by existing members of the Panel, having first obtained the agreement of the Panel member who is to be nominated.
• If the number of nominations for the position is greater than one, a secret ballot shall be held at the meeting administered by council staff – usually a member of the Resident Involvement team.
• All nominated candidates are expected to attend the meeting and any candidate that does not will be deemed to have withdrawn their nomination unless there are exceptional circumstances.
• All Panel members will be eligible to vote either in person or via the Resident Involvement team in writing.

Selection of Vice Chair

• Members of the Panel will be asked to elect a Vice-chair every year.
• The incumbent Vice-chair will be eligible to stand again for a maximum of three terms.
• The nominations and vote (if required) will follow the same procedure as for the Chair

In keeping with the Consumer Standards regulations requirement for tenant-led scrutiny, the Panel have decided that in the event a leaseholder is voted to serve as Chair the Vice-chair should be a tenant.

Resident Panel Work Programme

The Panel and WHBC will work together to develop an annual work programme. This will be agreed at the first meeting of the calendar year, although the programme may be subject to change.

The programme will take into consideration:

• Referral to the council’s current housing priorities
• Requests from WHBC’s senior leadership team
• Concerns raised locally.

The role of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council

WHBC’s Resident Involvement team shall notify members of forthcoming meetings, record minutes of all the Resident Panel-related meetings and be responsible for the general administration of the Panel.

Other designated WHBC officers shall attend meetings as requested by the Panel.

WHBC will provide training programmes for Residents Panel members so they can maximise their contribution and benefit from personal and professional development.

Membership of the Residents Panel is on a voluntary basis, however reasonable out-of-pocket expenses (e.g. mileage/bus fare) may be reimbursed via the Resident Involvement Manager.

WHBC will keep the Residents Panel informed and consulted on housing policy and performance, priorities for improvement and future plans, and will ensure that the Residents Panel is an important part of the consultation process between the council as landlord and its tenants and leaseholders.

Complaints procedure

Complaints within the Panel should first be raised with the Chair or Vice-chair for investigation.

If the complaint remains unresolved it will be escalated to the Service Manager/Director through the Resident Involvement Manager. Their decision will be final.

If a complaint is about a council officer in relation to Residents Panel activities, the council’s complaints procedure should be followed.

Terms of reference

WHBC and the Residents Panel will review the terms of reference every five years or sooner to reflect changes in regulation to ensure they remain suitable and appropriate to the duties of the Panel.

Changes to the terms of reference will be agreed by the Residents Panel and WHBC.

Updated: April 2025