Details of the Housing Scrutiny Panel and how to get involved.
About the Housing Scrutiny Panel
The Housing Scrutiny Panel lets council tenants and leaseholders have a say and influence services that relate to the management of their homes.
The panel are a small group of tenants and leaseholders who work as a team to help improve services for all council tenants and leaseholders.
We look at the issues affecting tenants and leaseholders and make recommendations for improvement.
The role of the panel is to:
- prioritise and oversee tenant led scrutiny activities
- review evidence and make recommendations for service improvements
- monitor and review agreed action plans
- tell other tenants what the panel is doing and encourage them to get involved
How we work
You can find out how we work in our pdf Bristol Housing Scrutiny Panel terms of reference (139 KB)
How you can join the Housing Scrutiny Panel
If you care about tenants having a voice and can work as part of a team we'd love to hear from you.
There are many benefits to joining the scrutiny panel, for example, you can:
- have a say about how the council could improve services to tenants and leaseholders
- learn new skills for your CV and increase your knowledge about housing issues
- share, learn and encourage others using your own experience
- meet new people and work as part of a team
Information, support and training are available to help get you started.
If you're interested in getting involved contact Tenant Participation via tpu@bristol.gov.uk or call 0117 352 1444
Number of places on the panel
There are a maximum of 12 places available on the panel.
If all of the places are taken, you can join a reserve list until a space becomes available. The Housing Scrutiny panel operates under the council's equality policy and welcomes members from all backgrounds.
How scrutiny works
The panel is supported by the councils Tenant Participation Officer.
The officer and the panel members identify information and training to help the panel get ready to carry out scrutiny projects.
Once a scrutiny topic is agreed, the panel can request relevant information about service performance, targets and plans. They can also request exploratory interviews with staff and look at best practice. This evidence is used to inform its findings and recommendations.
Scrutiny projects can be short task and finish projects or can take around three to six months to complete, depending on the nature and size of the project.
What will trigger scrutiny
A request for scrutiny can be triggered by different reasons such as evidence of poor performance or low satisfaction affecting a majority of tenants and leaseholders.
Scrutiny requests can also be submitted via tenants' groups, like Tenants' Associations and Service User Groups.
To make a request, fill in the
document
Housing Scrutiny Panel request for scrutiny for council tenants and leaseholder tenants
(2.17 MB)
form.
pdf Criteria for prioritising scrutiny projects (1.19 MB)
The scrutiny panel cannot deal with individual complaints.
Make a complaint or give feedback with our complaints team.
How will scrutiny be carried out
Scrutiny is done in different ways. You could be looking at documents and procedures, or helping the service as part of a larger project to develop its approach and how it communicates with tenants during the process.
Dates and venue of meetings
The panel normally meet on the second Tuesday of each month, between 10am and 1pm.
The panel may meet more frequently if they're undertaking a project or related activity.
Monthly meetings are online.
Our Scrutiny reports
We have completed a number of scrutiny reports which have recommendations and improvement action plans.
- pdf Housing Scrutiny Panel annual report 2022-23 (101 KB)
- pdf Housing Scrutiny Panel annual report 2021-22 (95 KB)
- pdf Housing Scrutiny Panel annual report 2020-21 (162 KB)
- pdf Housing Scrutiny Panel annual report 2019-20 (160 KB)
- pdf Housing Scrutiny Panel annual report 2018-19 (160 KB)
- pdf Housing Scrutiny Report Review of Tenant Participation (170 KB)
- pdf Housing Scrutiny Panel communications plan (131 KB)
- pdf Housing Scrutiny Panel self assessment report (454 KB)
- pdf New tenant six week visit review (157 KB)
- pdf Caretaking review (140 KB)
- pdf Customer Services Centre review (147 KB)