Most Inspiring Newcomers
Winners: Jephson H.A’s Scrutiny Panel
About the panel
Jephson HA’s Scrutiny Panel was set up in early 2013 and started training in June of
that year. Following a rigorous recruitment campaign, 12 successful candidates
were appointed; they were made up of a good mix of gender, age and ethnicity that
reflected Jephson HA’s customer profile
The panel chose its first review – customer involvement – during their induction
training.
Independence
Although very new, the panel has demonstrated a good level of independence from
the start. For example:

The panel chose the topics it has reviewed

The panel members worked together to develop their own approach to
scrutiny reviews and worked with very little support from officers

They write their own reports

They carry out their own assessments of training needs and identify training to
support their continued development

They made a business case for the provision of lap tops – this enables the
panel to communicate via video link and share information via Yammer,
thereby cutting down on meeting related expenses
Partnership working
An internal and external assessment of the panel’s effectiveness revealed that the
members have already been successful in building good relationships with Board,
officers and other tenants.
One senior officer said: ‘the panel has made a huge impact in the first year. Their
report following the review of customer involvement made sensible
recommendations for change, recommendations which influenced the direction of
our business, improved engagement and saved us money. They are a great bunch
of people who had not been heavily involved in the past, a refreshing mix of
generations and backgrounds. This has bought new thinking, new working and new
relationships that are really working for Jephson’
The panel communicates with other tenants about its role, activities and
achievements via the customer newsletter and Jephson HA’s website. As a result of
this, they managed to recruit 3 new members who were interested in the work of the
panel; these new members had no previous involvement with Jephson HA.
Positive outcomes
The panel’s first review resulted in significant changes to Jephson HA’s
resident involvement arrangements. They identified not only recommendations for
improvements but also cash savings for the organisation by changing the way they
work.
As a result of the Panel’s recommendations/review, Jephson HA has:
 Restructured how they involve customers. This was done by phasing out
tenant panels; which the panel found did not produce any outcomes and cost
the organisation a lot of money.
 Put in place a wider menu of opportunities for customers to get involved.
 Put in place dedicated Regional Leads for Involvement
 Come up with a set of performance indicators and set ourselves targets for
involvement within the organisation
 Provided extra resources to this area of the business from the savings made
from phasing out of tenant panels
The panel’s review of the contractor’s code of conduct resulted in a new code that
has been introduced across all of Jephson HA’s contractors – something that was
highlighted as good practice by one of the contractors.
The judges’ comments:
This group has achieved a significant amount in a really short space of time, having
completed its first review about this time last year. The group has demonstrated
independence at a very early stage. Significantly, as a result of the
recommendations made by this group in their first detailed review, their landlord has
refreshed its approach to customer involvement – a fantastic first review! They
subsequently carried out a lighter touch review which resulted in a contractor making
changes, not just for the landlord’s customers, but for other landlords’ customers the
contractor works with.