About this thematic review
This report presents the findings of our review to explore access to housing and homelessness services for British Sign Language (BSL) users.
The introduction of the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 (‘the 2015 Act’) placed legal obligations on a number of public bodies throughout Scotland, including the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR). In response to the Act, and in consultation with organisations who represent BSL users, we prepared and published our BSL plan for the period 2018-2024 and subsequently promoted it to the organisations we regulate. Our plan includes an undertaking to carry out thematic work to explore access to housing and homelessness services for BSL users. This report sets out how we went about assessing social landlords’ services for BSL users, what we found and recommendations for improvements based on our discussions with BDA Scotland.
What British Sign Language is and who uses it
BSL is the main form of sign language in the UK. In 2015 it was recognised as a language in its own right in Scotland following the introduction of the 2015 Act.
It is a visual language which involves a combination of hand gestures, facial expressions and body language. According to the 2022 census 117,300 people in Scotland can use BSL. BSL has its own grammar and syntax (word order) and is not simply a signed version of written or spoken English which means that for people whose first language is BSL, providing information in written English or subtitled format can be inadequate.
What we did
Review of landlords’ websites
We reviewed the websites of all social landlords in Scotland to assess the existing provision of BSL content to see what information was available for BSL users.
Our review showed a marked difference in the level of information and services offered by Local Authorities (LAs) and those offered by Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), with most LAs offering BSL content on their websites while only a small number of RSLs appeared to do so.
Consultation
We commissioned British Deaf Association (BDA) Scotland to get an insight into the BSL community’s experiences of accessing social housing services in Scotland. BDA Scotland was well placed to gather the views and concerns of Deaf tenants in Scotland for us as it has a network of Deaf Clubs throughout the country and engages with them regularly; it also liaises with the Scottish Ethnic Minority Deaf Charity (SEMDC) to understand the issues faced by minority ethnic Deaf people; and it is able to identify issues from the calls it receives from BSL users through its BSL Helpline.
BDA Scotland gave us feedback from two sources: anonymised examples of the housing enquiries it has received through its BSL Helpline, and anonymised feedback from a series of six face to face sessions and one Zoom session it held on our behalf with over 100 members of the BSL community (including minority ethnic members) around Scotland. These sessions were designed to explore participants’:
- actual experiences of contacting a social landlord;
- actual experiences of dealing with a social landlord;
- ways of contacting a social landlord; and
- good practice examples.
We discuss their findings in section 5 below.
The legal and regulatory background
We considered the legal obligations on social landlords to provide BSL content. There is more detail on the legal and regulatory framework which applies to social landlords in Appendix A, however, in short and in line with the requirements of the 2015 Act, LAs are obliged to produce a BSL Plan; RSLs are not covered by this act and are therefore not obliged to produce a plan.
However, under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010, both LAs and RSLs must promote equalities when discharging their functions. In addition the Equality Act 2010 prohibits social landlords from doing anything which constitutes discrimination, harassment or victimisation in respect of certain protected characteristics one of which is disability. We consider that BSL users will primarily be service users who are Deaf and they will be included under the protected characteristic of disability. As such, all social landlords in Scotland must make reasonable adjustments for BSL users. Failure to comply would be a breach of the Equality Act 2010 and could give rise to potential legal challenge and penalties.
It is a regulatory requirement for all social landlords to have assurance and evidence that they meet all of their legal obligations in relation to equality and human rights. In addition each social landlord must consider equality and human rights issues when making its decisions, when designing its policies and in its day-to-day service delivery.
Social landlords are also responsible for meeting the outcomes and standards in the Scottish Social Housing Charter (the Charter) which includes outcomes and standards in relation to equalities and communication.
There is further information about legal obligations, regulatory requirements and Charter standards in Appendix A.
Our findings
5.1 Our review of social landlords’ websites
We reviewed the websites of RSLs and LAs to see what BSL resources and content, including BSL video content, or links to an online BSL/English interpreting service were available.
LAs in Scotland are bound by the 2015 Act and our review found that most LAs promote BSL on their websites with links to online BSL/English interpretation services, mostly through Contact Scotland BSL.
At the time of our review, fewer than ten RSLs offered links to a BSL/English interpreting service or other content, such as links to useful websites or other helpline numbers, to further support BSL users. We discuss some of these landlords further in section 6 below.
Putting ‘BSL’ or ‘Deaf’ into landlords’ search engines did not produce many results, neither did a review of their ‘Contact Us’ pages. This is not to say that RSLs are not providing services for Deaf tenants, however the services are not immediately obvious to tenants or prospective tenants. Feedback from BDA Scotland’s sessions included praise for a few RSLs whose websites do not suggest that the RSLs provide specific services for BSL users.
While we found some social landlords’ websites with BSL content on them, it was often not easy to locate it on the websites. Anyone searching for this content may need to click on a number of pages to access it. Bearing in mind that English is not the first language of most BSL users, this could prove challenging for some people. BDA Scotland suggested that a one click link on a landlord’s homepage to BSL content would be one way of improving this.
5.2 What we learned from BDA Scotland’s BSL Helpline and face to face sessions
The feedback BDA Scotland collated for us from BSL users can be grouped into the four categories below.
5.2.1 Communication
Good, clear communication is essential to the efficient delivery of services and good customer service. BSL users told us about communication problems they had experienced accessing housing services from initially applying for a house, to repairs and improvements and complaining when things go wrong.
The following comments give some examples of the experiences many of the BSL users had when communicating with social landlords:
“The whole experience, from initial contact with my landlord, through lack of communication, to waiting for feedback for one or two years, was demoralising. It affected my mental wellbeing, as I was fed up with waiting and gave up.”
“When I was homeless I went to the council every day and communicated with staff by writing things down. There was no BSL/English interpreter available and I had to wait for two weeks for an interpreter to help with filling in forms because my English wasn’t good enough.”
“I feel I missed some information due to struggling to read inaccessible letters in English and having to rely on BSL/English interpreters.”
It is worth repeating that BSL is a language in its own right. Deaf BSL users may not be able to easily read letters, newsletters and leaflets written in English, or particularly complex documents such as tenancy agreements.
BSL users said they were often forced to rely on family and friends to contact their landlord on their behalf due to a lack of accessible contact methods and that this could affect family dynamics and relationships. Some BSL users also said they were asked to bring their own BSL/English interpreters with them to meetings with social landlords.
BSL users also told us about difficulties with some social landlords saying they could not deal with third party advocates who were providing support to them which we understand may be due to data protection and GDPR issues.
BSL users from minority ethnic groups experienced particular barriers due to a lack of awareness that different sign languages are used in each country in the world and so might need an interpreter for their native language.
BSL users also told us about things that worked well, for example, they spoke positively about their landlord offering a text to text service which they valued.
The Scottish Ethnic Minority Deaf Charity also spoke very highly about a particular social landlord who showed a good understanding of Deaf tenants’ needs.
Clearly, BSL users find it easiest to communicate in BSL. The Scottish Government funds an online BSL/English interpretation service (Contact Scotland BSL) which is available free of charge and operates 24/7. Our research showed that some landlords – mainly LAs – offer and publicise this service. Other online interpretation services are available. BDA Scotland explained that online interpretation is best for short, initial contact. Long meetings or meetings involving the exchange of detailed information work better in person with the BSL user and an interpreter. Bodies like the Scottish Register of Language Professionals with the Deaf Community (SRLPDC) and the National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind People (NRCPD) can help organisations locate BSL/English interpreters in their area.
For general information such as paying rent, repairs, exchanges, etc, BSL users told us that they prefer video format.
However, it may not be feasible for landlords to provide all of their general information in this way so when written correspondence is necessary, BDA Scotland recommend it be as jargon free and succinct as possible. Plain English principles should help but BDA Scotland suggested to us that landlords might also want to consider BSL videos or producing short, ‘easy read’ versions of long documents or ‘must know’ information, for example, tenancy agreements, tenants’ manuals, allocation procedures, how to complain leaflets and emergency repairs contacts. Short, easy read versions would benefit not only tenants who use BSL but perhaps also other tenants whose first language is not English or tenants who have learning difficulties.
Nowadays helplines, contact centres and online inquiry forms are standard ways of delivering services and customer service. However, the feedback we got from BDA Scotland suggests that these formats do not suit BSL users who rely on visual communication. BDA suggested that an alternative format for Deaf tenants for initial communication might be a dedicated text service where the tenant can give brief details of the issue they need to bring to their landlord’s attention with a follow-up face to face or online meeting with a BSL/English interpreter being arranged as necessary. BSL users gave good feedback about using text services to contact their landlord.
5.2.2 Repairs and the installation of specialist equipment
BSL users said they would like more information and clarity regarding the repairs process and what they should expect from their landlord.
The research carried out by BDA Scotland highlighted the importance of social landlords taking the necessary steps to raise awareness of BSL among staff, service providers and contractors about how to communicate with Deaf residents.
BDA Scotland told us many of the problems BSL users experience could be avoided if landlords‘ systems identified tenants who are Deaf and if staff and contractors are made aware of the tenant’s needs before any home visit is made.
BSL users told us of occasions when contractors did not know that they were visiting the home of a Deaf tenant, and this had caused problems even resulting in the repair not being able to be done. For example, several BSL users had experience of housing staff or contractors who had simply knocked on their door. Since the tenant did not hear the knock, the visit was abandoned leading to frustration for the tenant and wasted time for the housing officer or contractor. They told us that it is helpful when housing staff and contractors are reminded to ring the tenant’s bell as that should set off a flashing or vibrating alarm, alerting the tenant to someone at their door. BSL users also said they would find it useful to get a text message advising them that a housing officer or contractor is on their way.
Some BSL users who didn’t have access to doorbell alerts told us about their frustration of having to wait by the window for several hours for their landlord or contractor to visit because they had no way of being alerted to someone at their door. BSL users were unsure who was responsible for purchasing and installing specialist equipment such as flashing lights and vibration alerting devices.
BDA Scotland advised us that various specialist alarm accessories are available for Deaf tenants who may not hear a standard alarm, and that these are vital in ensuring that Deaf tenants have equal protection to hearing tenants in the event of a fire occurring. These include alarms with a variety of flashing lights, vibrating pads, pager alerts or mobile phone alerts. BDA Scotland also highlighted that landlords should be aware of the potential for alarms such as these to interfere with other technology already installed in a tenant’s home (for example, a video doorbell or entry system) and recommended that landlords discuss the pros and cons of the various options with Deaf tenants before any installation takes place.
5.2.3 Allocations
It was clear from the comments we received from BSL users that they struggle with the allocations process, especially Choice Based Lettings which requires applicants to be proactive in their approach.
These comments illustrate the experiences of BSL users when applying for a home:
“I applied for tenancy and found out I was allocated in the wrong group for three months/12 weeks. No-one was available from our Neighbourhood Office to discuss my application. If I’d had support in the first place, I would have been aware of the wrong allocation and applied for the homeless group category within the first 12 weeks of receiving priority status to support homeless households.”
“I struggled with the bidding process because I didn’t fully understand how it works. I felt like a failure and rejected because I didn’t have the necessary English skills to be able to find out whether I had won or lost my bid for one and half years.”
We were told of Deaf tenants whose names had been removed from housing lists because they had not given their landlord the confirmation they needed that the tenant wanted to remain on the list. They had to start the process all over again leading to stress and anxiety with some BSL users even giving up on the whole process because it was too difficult for them.
BSL users with lived experience of homelessness told us about difficulties they had experienced with poor quality temporary accommodation and lack of information about the process and timescales for receiving permanent accommodation.
BSL users spoke positively about one social landlord offering an ‘Assisted Bidding Service’ for all homeless applicants that are not actively bidding within the first 12 weeks of receiving priority, the service provides support to homeless households to secure a home.
Many Deaf tenants and prospective tenants would find an easy read guide to their landlord’s allocation process (including information on points and priority) useful with a follow up face to face or online meeting with a BSL/English interpreter to clear up any queries the Deaf person has.
5.2.4 Making a complaint/raising a concern about a landlord
Many BSL users highlighted the difficulties they had experienced when attempting to report or raise a complaint with their landlord. Some had given up trying to get their issues addressed or resolved after several attempts to contact their landlord. Others reported that they were not sure how to contact their landlord to raise a complaint and therefore never did.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for housing to install new paving slabs. I keep falling over because there are holes and roots. I don’t know how to complain.”
BSL users told us it would be helpful for landlords to consider making video content available on their website, for example, explaining to BSL users how they can raise concerns with their landlord.
BSL users told us that in their experience, the common methods for tenants to report concerns is either through contacting their landlord by telephone or by completing an online enquiry form. They told us of their difficulties with these options. Despite preferring to use BSL, some Deaf tenants may be forced to use their voice meaning that telephone calls can be extremely challenging or sometimes simply not feasible for them. Similarly, completing an online enquiry form can be problematic for Deaf tenants given that English is not their first language and digital literacy can also be more challenging for them.
BDA Scotland suggested that landlords should consider the suitability of the options they offer Deaf tenants to raise complaints or concerns. For example, as already mentioned, landlords may wish to offer a text service where tenants can give brief details of their complaint or issue with a follow-up face to face or online meeting with a BSL/English interpreter being arranged as necessary.
Good practice case studies
In reviewing the websites of social landlords in Scotland we found the following examples of good practice.
Ayrshire Housing offers a BSL/English interpretation service for Deaf customers through a direct link on its website’s homepage to Contact Scotland BSL. Contact Scotland BSL is an online interpreting service, funded nationally by the Scottish Government. It is free to use and available 24/7. It uses a video relay service (VRS) to connect BSL users with all participating public authorities and voluntary (third sector) organisations throughout Scotland.
Ayrshire Housing’s Equalities and Human Rights Annual Reports refer to BSL awareness sessions for staff including a session from Contact Scotland BSL. A further sign that Ayrshire Housing is alert to the needs of BSL users is that fluency in BSL was a desirable skill in the job specification pack for its receptionist post.
As part of its commitment to ensuring “equal access to information for everyone”, the Wheatley Group offers a BSL/English interpretation service to people who are Deaf. Access to the translation service is available through the accessibility page of its website.
This service offered is run by The Big Word, and allows organisations such as the Wheatley Group to ensure that they communicate effectively with Deaf customers by providing access to live, on-site BSL video interpreting. Additionally, Wheatley introduced guidance and training for all staff on accessing language translation and alternative format services, with the aim of improving access for customers.
North Ayrshire Council has a section of its website dedicated to British Sign Language, which includes a series of short videos in BSL describing how to access key services offered by the local authority, along with various other sources of support. These videos include information on school term dates, bin collection days, paying council tax, and how to contact North Ayrshire Council.
A number of the council’s housing staff are trained in BSL.
North Ayrshire Council also provides BSL/English interpretation services through Contact Scotland BSL.
Our recommendations
Based on our review of the feedback we got from BSL users and our discussions with BDA Scotland, we encourage landlords to consider the following recommendations.
We are conscious of the significant demands on landlords at this time and the resources available to deal with them, however many of these recommendations require relatively simple changes to processes and procedures. Others, such as the production of BSL videos or easy read and QR documents, offer opportunities for wider sector collaboration and the sharing of good practice as well as, importantly, consistency of information for Deaf social tenants in Scotland.
Landlords should consider:
- ensuring their systems allow them to identify tenants who are BSL users and tailor communications to meet the needs of the tenant, including advising contractors or other service providers who need to visit the tenant;
- how they can ensure effective arrangements to communicate with people or organisations acting as an advocate for a Deaf tenant;
- providing information in BSL and ensuring accessible content is easy to find, including information for those experiencing homelessness;
- arranging ongoing BSL awareness training for their staff (and guidance for other service providers and contractors) to help them interact with Deaf tenants in appropriate and helpful ways and know how to engage the services of a BSL interpreter when necessary. ContactScotlandBSL is a free, Scottish Government funded service which landlords are able to use. Alternatively, landlords may have their own list of available BSL/English interpreters which they should make sure their staff are familiar with. It is worth noting that ContactScotlandBSL also offers awareness sessions for staff on how to use the service;
- making important and/or complex documents (such as tenancy agreements, tenants’ manuals, allocations and complaints processes) available in formats that Deaf tenants can easily understand such as BSL videos or easy read documents;
- the best ways to make information available to BSL users potentially experiencing homelessness, such as in relation to the homelessness process, and time frames for receiving permanent accommodation;
- asking Deaf tenants for their preferences on communicating with their landlord such as a text to text service as an alternative to telephone helplines or call centres which Deaf tenants cannot use; and
- spending time with Deaf tenants if major repairs or health and safety improvements are being made so that the tenant clearly understands what is happening, why and when. This provides an opportunity for landlords to ensure that the improvements meet the tenants’ needs and get the right equipment for them first time.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the staff of BDA Scotland for sharing their insights into the Deaf community and for arranging focus groups and gathering the community’s experiences of dealing with social landlords in Scotland. Their input has been invaluable in producing this report.
We are also grateful to colleagues at the Equality and Human Rights Commission for Scotland.
Appendix A The legal and regulatory framework
In terms of equalities, the following legislation applies to social landlords in Scotland:
- section 39 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010: “Social landlords when performing housing services must act in a manner which encourages equal opportunities and in particular the observance of the requirements of the law for the time being relating to equal opportunities."
- section 20 of the Equality Act 2010 imposes a duty on service providers to make reasonable adjustments for disabled persons. Reasonable adjustments are changes that service providers have to make to prevent a persons’ disability putting them at a disadvantage compared with others who are not disabled. This duty comprises three requirements:
-
- "Where a provision, criterion or practice puts a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage in relation to a relevant matter in comparison with persons who are not disabled, to take such steps as it is reasonable to have to take to avoid the disadvantage;
- Where a physical feature puts a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage in relation to a relevant matter in comparison with persons who are not disabled, to take such steps as it is reasonable to have to take to avoid the disadvantage; and
- Where a disabled person would, but for the provision of an auxiliary aid, be put at a substantial disadvantage in relation to a relevant matter in comparison with persons who are not disabled, to take such steps as it is reasonable to have to take to provide the auxiliary aid."
Failure to comply with a duty to make reasonable adjustments will be a breach of the 2010 Act and could give rise to potential legal challenge and penalties.
- section 149(1) – the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) - of the Equality Act 2010 which places a duty on social landlords to prevent discrimination:
"A public authority must, in the exercise of its functions, have due regard to the need to –
(a) eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under this Act;
(b) advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it;
(c) foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it."
The PSED only applies to RSLs when they are exercising functions of a public nature. Local authorities, being public bodies, are required to comply with this duty including when they are discharging their housing functions.
As set out above, the PSED extends to RSLs when they are exercising functions of a public nature only, such as when they are providing social housing, carrying out repairs to properties, providing guidance and housing support services to tenants and providing homelessness services. It does not apply to RSLs when they are performing their other functions such as providing factoring services or the activities of their subsidiaries in respect of the provision of housing at mid-market rent.
The Regulatory Framework requires each social landlord to:
- have assurance and evidence that it is meeting all of its legal obligations associated with...equality and human rights...;
- have assurance and evidence that it considers equality and human rights issues properly when making all of its decisions, in the design and review of internal and external policies, and in its day-to-day service delivery; and
- to comply with these duties, landlords must collect data relating to each of the protected characteristics for their existing tenants, new tenants, people on waiting lists, governing body members and staff. Local authorities must also collect data on protected characteristics for people who apply to them as homeless. Landlords who provide Gypsy/Traveller sites must collect data on protected characteristics for these service users.
The Charter sets the standards social landlords should aim to achieve when performing their housing activities. In relation to equalities it says:
‘Social landlords perform all aspects of their housing services so that:
- they support the right to adequate housing
- every tenant and other customer has their individual needs and rights recognised, is treated fairly and with respect, and receives fair access to housing and housing services.
This outcome describes what social landlords, by meeting their statutory duties on equalities should achieve for all tenants and other customers regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. This includes the need to eliminate discrimination and advance equality of opportunity. It includes landlords' responsibility for finding ways of understanding the rights and needs of different customers, for example victims/survivors of domestic abuse and delivering services that recognise and meet these. This may include making reasonable adjustments.’
In relation to communication the Charter says:
‘Social landlords manage their businesses so that:
- tenants and other customers find it easy to communicate with their landlord and get the information they need about their landlord, how and why it makes decisions and the services it provides
This outcome covers all aspects of landlords' communication with tenants and other customers. This includes using a range of non-digital and digital communications in accessible formats that meet individual needs. It also covers making it easy for tenants and other customers to make complaints and provide feedback on services, using that information to improve services and performance, and letting people know what they have done in response to complaints and feedback. It does not require landlords to provide legally protected, personal or commercial information.