National Panel of Tenants and Service Users 2021 to 2022

Published

26 August 2022

Updated

26 August 2022

Introduction

1.1

This report provides an overview of findings from the 2021/22 programme of National Panel engagement commissioned by the Scottish Housing Regulator.

Background

1.2

The National Panel was established in 2013 as a way for the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) to engage with tenants and other users of social landlord services. The Panel is used to gauge service user priorities and experiences, and findings help to shape SHR’s focus in its role as regulator of social landlords.

1.3

The Panel seeks to engage with a good cross-section of service users. Members include social tenants, people who have used homelessness services, tenants of social rented Gypsy/Traveller sites and owners using social landlord factoring services. Ongoing recruitment ensures that the membership continues to include a mix of members across key groups, with Panel membership reaching a peak of 469 members by March 2022. The Panel is also widely promoted to reach those who do not normally engage with social landlords; for example, more than three quarters of Panel members are not involved in RTOs.

The 2021/22 programme

1.4

The 2021/22 Panel programme was developed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to impact landlord services and service users. In terms of the main themes addressed, this year we asked Panel members about:

  • Their current financial circumstances, how these have been affected by the pandemic, and views whether their rent represents good value for money;
  • Their experience of heating their home;
  • Experience of accessing landlord services digitally, and their interest in making more use of digital contact options to get in touch with their landlord; and
  • How they felt the pandemic has affected their landlord’s services during 2021.

1.5

This year the Panel engagement approach returned to a combined quantitative and qualitative research after being limited to a survey-only approach in 2020/21. A survey was issued to all Panel members in January 2022, followed by in-depth qualitative engagement during February and March 2022 to explore the survey themes in more depth. The survey included questions across each of the five themes listed above, while qualitative engagement focused on views on how landlord services had recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, and about their current and likely future financial circumstances (including any difficulty heating their home).

1.6

This report combines quantitative survey results with qualitative findings, based on responses to the full Panel survey (45% response, 212 respondents) and qualitative engagement with 78 Panel members. We refer to those taking part as ‘respondents’ where this was via the survey, and ‘participants’ where this was via semi-structured qualitative interview. Direct quotes have been included from qualitative participants to illustrate key points. These comments have been lightly edited for brevity.

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