A focus group will be set up to discuss a specific topic or new idea with a small group of tenants to seek their views and comments and to inform how we develop a new service or area of work. The group will generally only meet once and the meeting aims to be friendly and informal to encourage discussion.

Mystery shoppers help us test the services the Council provide to our tenants.

You can test the service by telephone, e-mail, letter or personal visit.

Whatever suits you! If you’re interested in becoming a Mystery Shopper, we will train you to develop your market research skills and show you how to record your experiences. Its quite simple once you get the hang of it and can be good fun.

You can be a Mystery Shopper from the comfort of your own home although there will be an initial training and briefing session.

Please call the Tenant Partnership Team on 0800 716 987 or email tenantpartnership@winchester.gov.uk

Online surveys aim to engage with as wide a reaching representation of tenants across the Winchester district as possible. This gives all tenants the opportunity to put their views across, share ideas and help to shape the services that WCC housing residents receive, without the requirement to be part of a physical group. You can take part in online surveys as well as being part of any of the other methods outlined here. 

As a thank you for taking part in an online survey you will be offered the chance of winning a £50 Shopping voucher. 

Just tick ‘Yes’ to the question when asked if you would like to be entered into the prize draws’.

If the survey is open to all WCC tenants you will also be entered into the annual draw and be in with a chance of winning a prize to the value of a maximum of £200 to choose one or mix and match from the following; (Please note: if a survey is closed to only specific households groups – returns to this type of survey will not be included in the annual draw)

1. Family ticket Paulton’s Park
2. Netflix subscription
3. Dinner vouchers for local restaurant
4. Love2Shop Shopping vouchers

Or

1. Donation to Spare Change for real change

Or

1. Residents of a sheltered scheme a bespoke social event for them and their fellow residents – tea party, film afternoon, arts and crafts session, cake decorating. (Please note - this will be dependant on the scope of the event and the capacity of the team to facilitate.)

The latest WCC surveys can be found on the Consultation pages of the WCC website, or by following this link. 

The Terms and Conditions of the prize draw can be found here; T's & C's ^{(docx, 32kb)}

The TACT Board are a formal district-wide group made up of four tenants, leaseholders or shared owners from around the district and two independant members. The TACT Board meets at least four times a year. This group represents tenants’ and leaseholders’ interest in the provision and development of Housing Services. The Board will monitor the performance of the Housing Service against key performance indicators and be consulted on key issues that affect the service linked with new Customer Standards Groups (see below) and the council’s governance structure.

The TACT Board has formal representation on council committees and meetings that discuss, approve and scrutinise housing related issues. 

As well as recruiting to the new TACT Board we are also looking for interested tenants, leaseholders, and shared owners to join our new Consumer Standard Groups. These groups will be a discussion forum for housing staff to share things like changes to a service or policy and as members you can also raise queries.

The groups will centre around the Regulator for Social Housing’s new Consumer standards –

•            Safety & Quality – Requires landlords to provide safe and good-quality homes for their tenants, along with good-quality landlord services and includes building safety, repairs and maintenance.

•            Transparency, Influence & Accountability – Requires landlords to be open with tenants and treat them with fairness and respect so they can access services, raise concerns when necessary, influence decision making and hold their landlord to account and includes meeting diverse needs, hearing tenant views and complaints processing.

•            Neighbourhood and Community – Requires landlords to engage with other relevant parties so that tenants can live in safe and well-maintained neighbourhoods and feel safe in their homes and includes dealing with anti-social behaviour.

•            Tenancy – Sets requirements for the fair allocation and letting of homes, as well as requirements for how tenancies are managed.

More information about the Regulator and the Consumer Standards can be found on their website.

The groups are likely to meet in person four times a year. There may also be an opportunity to be involved through a virtual group. Please see the TACT page of the website for a list of future meeting dates and minutes from previous meetings. 

Please feel free to contact a member of the Tenant Partnership Team if you would like more information, 0800 716 987 or email tenantpartnership@winchester.gov.uk. 

Scrutiny is a specific housing sector engagement function. It’s where a small group of tenants are invited to undertake a specific and detailed examination of a particular service area to see if the service is performing to the benefit of tenants. All members of a scrutiny group are trained before they begin the exercise and are supported by both internal and if required external organisations to complete.

The Scrutiny Group, usually lasting between 3-6 months, will examine performance of the service over a period of time, look at any complaints received about the service and also look at how other housing providers go about providing the same service to see if we can learn anything new.

This is one of our highest forms of involvement and spaces are limited. Training is provided to tenants who join. 

If you have any questions, or would like to pass on any case studies to a group, please call the Tenant Partnership Team on 0800 716 987 or email tenantpartnership@winchester.gov.uk

Your views are really important to Winchester City Council. The survey is tenants chance to tell us what they think of the homes and services the council provides as their landlord.

We use this survey to find out what service improvements are important to tenants and compare our performance against other organisations. We are also interested to hear whether tenants think we have made any improvements since the last survey and which areas need attention in the future.

The Housing Service talk through the results with TACT and councillors and agree actions to tackle those areas highlighted as being in need of improvement. Progress is reported back in future editions of the tenants’ newsletter on actions being taken to improve satisfaction with these service areas.

For more information and reports of this most recent and previous surveys can be found on the main Tenant Satisfaction Pages of the website. 

The Panel look at all written material produced by Council Housing Services to make sure it is easy to read, can be understood and does not contain any unnecessary jargon.

The Panel comes together only occasionally, usually contact is made only by email or post so it is ideal for someone who has only limited time and does not want to attend meetings.

Please call the Tenant Partnership Team on 0800 716 987 or email tenantpartnership@winchester.gov.uk

Tenants and residents associations, represent their local community and work to improve their area, by consulting and involving local residents. Tenant representatives will:

• Give their views to the council on housing issues
• Campaign for improvements on estates
• Organise public meetings and estate walkabouts
• Listen to individual concerns
• Produce newsletters with information on local issues

These associations are democratic and represent a specific area or estate. They abide by a set of aims and rules (a constitution) and have a committee that is elected each year at an Annual General Meeting.

The council can support tenants and residents associations. If you are interested in setting up an association contact the Tenant Partnership team.

If you are interested in organising a local community event to involve and benefit tenants, we may be able to support you. Please get in touch to discuss your plans. 

We are aware that there are tenants and leaseholders who are active in their community; we’d like to hear from you so we get to know you and see how we can work together. 

Pop along to our Community Hubs!

Come along to one of our Community Hubs to gain informal advice, information and sign-posting to any support. Winchester City Council Officers will be joined by other supportive organisations to answer questions  on income maximisation, benefit entitlement, debt relief, sustaining your private council tenancy and much more! No need to book, just come along.

Wickham Community Centre, Mill Ln, Wickham, Fareham PO17 5AL

(Every First Monday of the Month between 14:30 and 16:30)

Unit 12, Valley Rd, Winnall, Winchester SO23 0LD

(Every Third Thursday of the Month between 10:30 – 12:30)

Coffee#1, 2-4 East St, Alresford SO24 9EE

(Every Fourth Friday of the Month between 10:00 – 12:00

Are you struggling with your Laptop, Smartphone or Tablet?

If you need some one-on-one IT Support we’d like to introduce our FREE Digital Drop-In sessions where you can access expert assistance for all your tech-related questions and challenges.

King Harold Court, Sheltered Housing Residents Lounge, Christchurch Street, Winchester SO23 9SA

(Every Second Tuesday of the Month between 10:00 and 12:00)

Makins Court, Windsor Road, Alresford, Winchester, Hampshire, SO24 9HX

From September – (Every First Friday of the Month 10:00 – 12:00)