The association has completed its first ever ‘Tenant Scrutiny Project’ which has examined the way the organisation conducts itself.

Scrutiny is an increasingly important part of the delivery of housing services with many housing providers now adopting so-called “scrutiny panels”.

These give an impartial and frank assessment of the work of the organisation and can recommend areas where improvement may be required.

Volunteer tenants focused on the association’s repairs service and the examination of this lasted three months.

Work shadowing, visits to the association’s repairs contractor City Building and analysis of customer feedback – all designed to give the scrutiny panel a greater understanding of how the repairs process works were used in this scrutiny review.

Tenant scrutiny is also considered an important aspect of tenant participation - something Maryhill Housing Association has been placing great emphasis on in recent years and remains strongly committed to.

Recommendations from the voluntary scrutiny group included a number of suggestions to help us improve communication and efficiency.

Jamie Ballantine, customer engagement manager, said: “Customer feedback is extremely important when looking at ways to improve service and deliver value for money. Tenant scrutiny allows us to further develop our approach to tenant participation which has already delivered tremendous results for local communities.

“The tenant scrutiny panel found the process interesting and informative, while also making a series of fair recommendations for us to take forward as a landlord.”

An effective and well managed repairs service is crucial to the smooth running of any housing association - particularly the speed and quality of repairs carried out to things which can go wrong such as burst pipes.

Paul Hughes, maintenance manager at the association, said: “We were delighted to begin our scrutiny journey with a focus on repairs. The scrutiny panel have made a series of worthwhile recommendations which we are now looking at taking forward. We were also fortunate to receive some really positive feedback about the professionalism of our front line staff which provided a welcomed boost for the team.”

Maryhill’s Tenant Scrutiny Panel has now embarked on their next project which is a scrutiny review of the association’s approach to the way housing is allocated.

@MaryhillHousing