Agenda item
Professional Standards in Housing
Minutes:
The Committee were provided with a presentation on the professional standards in Housing.
The presentation has been published and can be accessed through the below link:
The Chair praised the presentation and advised that it was an important step in improving the Housing Service; the necessary officers of various Housing teams would be encouraged to complete the qualification.
The Chair reminded the Committee that there was a significant amount of Government legislation coming into effect in the future and it was prudent of the Council to get ahead of its release.
Following the presentation, a number of concerns were raised by the Committee:
· Was the overall cost of administering the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) professional qualification to an unknown amount of Housing Officers best value for money when it was not known how much value the qualification would bring to the organisation
· Officers spending time working on the qualification would affect the operational ability of the Housing Teams and impact the residents.
· Were the CIH’s code of conduct and principles aligned with the Council own existing policies
· Were Legal Services staying abreast of the new legislation changes coming into effect
· Were the changes proposed being proposed too early before the legislation had made it clear what was required and how would the Council ensure staff stayed within the organisation once they had completed the training
In response to Member concerns, the following points were made:
· The Head of Neighbourhood Services explained that it was not currently known what level of qualification the Regulator of Social Housing was going to set as a minimum requirement nor how senior the officer had to be to require the qualification in their role, although it was likely to be senior officers such as Heads of Service and Directors.
· The Director (Housing) explained that as the Council was an employer and landlord it was important to give staff access to the tools that allowed them to do their job to an excellent standard. The CIH were the nationally recognised professional body for Housing Officers, and it was important that that level of professionalism was implemented into Gravesham’s Housing Service and officers could be held accountable against those professional standards. The cost of the qualifications was minimal when compared to the professional standards that the qualification would incorporate into the service. To alleviate Members concerns, the Director (Housing) advised that he would bring a report back to committee to outline the benefits of the professional standards to both the Council and its tenants
· The Director (Housing) clarified that there was a difference between the qualifications and membership of the CIH. Membership of the CIH meant that officers would have access to a CIH portal which gave them resources and guidance in areas such as arrears, tenancy management and other Housing matters, which would benefit the residents. Whereas the qualification was a paid for course which only senior officers in Housing would undertake; a small portion of senior officer’s time would be required to be spent on the qualification, but the benefits outweighed the negatives as the qualification would make them a professional in Housing and that additional level of expertise would improve the Housing Service in Gravesham for all residents. The CIH was aligned with the Nolan Principles and the code of conduct for officers was very similar to Gravesham’s own code of conduct; if an officer breached the CIH’s code of conduct it would likely breach the Councils existing policy and trigger a disciplinary procedure.
· The Councils approach embedding the CIH profesisoanl standards in to the service was not unique; most local authorities and Housing Associations in Kent facilitated access to the CIH portal for their staff. In terms of prioritizing the investment put into Council officers, the Director (Housing) explained that any staff member that underwent a qualification paid for by the Council signed a training agreement which protected the investment for a certain number of years. If a staff member left the Council during the length of the agreement, then they would be expected to repay that original investment.
· The Director (Housing) confirmed that Legal undertook horizon scanning but the Housing Service also kept abreast of legislation changes as they were professionals in Housing, and it was a key responsibility. The Housing Service would still contact Legal Services for advice on changes in legislation
· The Head of Neighbourhood Services advised that the additional level of professional training should improve the delivery of the service and reduce the amount of money that had to be spent on complaint resolution litigation
The Chair thanked the Committee for the information discussion and agreed with the Director (Housing) that a report be brought back to committee once the standards had been embedded within the teams.
Supporting documents:
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Professional Standards, item 21.
PDF 1 MB
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0472-prof-standards-framework-v2, item 21.
PDF 182 KB
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CIH 0330-code-of-conduct-v3, item 21.
PDF 1 MB
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CIH 0330-code-of-ethics-v3, item 21.
PDF 1 MB