Ten years of innovation and diversity
Michelle Gavin reports on the TEG story so far
The Tenant Empowerment Grant
(TEG) programme has made available
over £1.3 million since 2003 to 172
groups from all parts of Wales. The
strength of the programme lies in how it
fast tracks resources to tenants groups
based on partnership with landlords
and resulting in improvements in
engagement and services.
Empowering local people to have real
say will underpin much of what we are
ambitious to achieve. TEGs continue to play
a major role in delivering real engagement
and have proved their worth over the past
nine years.
From the outset the programme has
been a major source of support for
innovation including projects which deliver:
- estate level and landlord wide
involvement in housing management - collaboration between tenants of a
number of landlords - increased engagement and involvement
of minority ethnic groups - improved participation by disabled
tenants - tenant driven inspection, review and
service design - options for involvement by young people.
For more information on the report
please go to this link: www.cih.org
How to apply for a TEG
All applications must be submitted by an Approved TEG Agent (ATEGA) on behalf of
the tenants and residents group, using the appropriate application form (TEG 2). The
following supporting documents should also be included with your application form:
- detailed proposal;
- work programme;
- budget breakdown; and
- letter of support from the landlord(s).
Your application and supporting documentation should be sent to:
CIH Cymru, 4 Purbeck House, Cardiff Business Park, Llanishen, Cardiff CF14 5GJ
or by email to ichelle.glavin@cih.org
Applications are considered quarterly and must be received by the following dates
to be considered in that quarter
Quarters
1 – 30th April
2 – 31st July
3 – 31st October
4 – 31st January
Full details of the application
process and criteria can be found at
www.whq.org.uk/teg
Approved TEG agents (ATEGAs)
For more information on the approved TEG agents go to www.whq.org.uk/teg
- Birmingham Cooperative
Housing
Services - CG Consultancy
- Community Training
Partnership - Consult Capital
- Gayna Jones Ltd
- Heart of England
Consultancy - Keep Wales Tidy
- Lottie Miller Training
and Consultancy - Marilyn Bryan Training
and Consultancy - n-ergy group ltd
- Open Communities
- Partners in Change
- Phil Toms
- Rowan Associates
- Sazani Associates
Limited - Shelter Cymru
- Skill Wales
- Sylfaen Cymunedol Cyf
- Tai Pawb
- The Improvement
Consultancy Ltd - Thomas, Jones and
Batten - TPAS Cymru
- Wavehill Consulting
- Welsh Tenants
TEGs to develop service user
involvement across the regions
The Supporting People programme
in Wales gives a clear message that
service users must be an integral part
of the collaboration process where
people who commission, deliver and use
services come together to share their
knowledge experience and expertise
to agree what services are needed and
how best they can be delivered.
Two TEGs have been used to support the
development of service user involvement:
the first in the consultation on the
Supporting People (SP) guidance and how
service users want to be involved in the
new structure; and the second to support
the development of user involvement
in the work of the regional collaborative
committees (RCCs) and at a local level.
The following methods were used in the
delivery of the first project:
Promotion and recruitment
TPAS Cymru promoted the project
widely through Cymorth Cymru and the
Supporting People Information Network
with the intention of identifying service
users who wanted to be involved in
facilitating the consultation ‘gathering’ and
taking part in the events.
The service users that got involved
mainly came from organisations that
actively promoted involvement. Some areas
of Wales were not represented at any of
the events and this was a key concern.
A training day was held in Cardiff to
train a group of service users in facilitating
the gatherings and planning the content.
They attended the gatherings in Swansea
and Cardiff and gave a presentation,
welcomed other service users, took
photographs and helped facilitate the
discussions.
The gatherings
Three regional gatherings in Cardiff,
Swansea and Llandudno enabled service
users to learn about the SP Framework
in Wales (via a quiz), the new structure
and, in particular, the role of the RCCs and
the opportunities for getting involved at
this level. They shared their experience
of receiving support and how they get
involved in their
organisations.
Members of the
Swansea Join
In Community
Group gave a
presentation of
their work and
many people were
very impressed
with the group and
the opportunities
given to service
users in Swansea
to make a real
difference. Key
messages from the
gatherings were:
- Information to be provided to service
user about the new guidance (and an
easy read version) - SP teams to set up service user groups
to be involved in developing, planning,
commissioning and reviewing support
services. To be monitored by RCCs - Providers and SP teams to allocate
funding for service user involvement - Support and training will be needed if
service users are to be involved with the
RCCs - Set up ways to share good practice in
service user involvement - If RCC user groups are established there
will be a need for training and funding to
support the groups - Older people need to be better informed
regarding proposed changes and fully
involved if further consultations take place.
All Wales event
Following the gatherings service users (and
staff) were keen to move things forward
and did not want to wait for guidance to
be published to begin to plan and agree
how service users could be involved at a
regional level. Although the draft guidance
said that ‘the RCC will put into place
consultation arrangements with… service
users’ the feedback from the gatherings
indicated that they wanted more robust
mechanisms to influence the work of the
RCC and ultimately the Supporting People
National Advisory Board (SPNAB). An event
was held in Mid Wales where all SP teams
were invited as well as ‘actively involved’
service users. Out of 22 local authorities
11 were represented with over 30 service
users from across Wales. The purpose of
the event was to begin discussions as to
how users’ involvement could be developed
regionally, what support might be needed
to make it happen and what the barriers
were and agree the next steps.
Key findings
Establishment of regional service user
groups
There was a tremendous enthusiasm
for the idea of setting up regional user
groups. Service user champions have been
established in each region and further
meetings have been held in all regions to
varying degrees of success of different
services. Key recommendations were:
- Each region in Wales to establish
mechanisms allowing service user to be
involved in influencing the development
and delivery of support services within
the region. Evidence of the impact of user
involvement on service improvement to
be measured and reported to the SPNAB. - SP teams to prioritise user involvement
by developing mechanism to involve
users in planning commissioning and
reviewing support services. Evidence of
the outcomes of user involvement to be
reported to RCCs. - RCCs to work with the regional
user groups to incorporate the
user perspective in all their
work.
Maximise the involvement of
all service users
Service users stated that they wanted to be
involved in finding out what others thought
about the services they receive. They also
felt that it is important to ensure that as
many service users as possible are given the
opportunity to be involved in improving SP
services and feeding into decision making
processes. Therefore opportunities must be
provided at a level that suits service users
and in a way that is accessible to many. The
recommendation was that providers and
commissioners should explore the use of
social media and new technologies as well
as promoting involving at a local authority
level and the regional groups.
Establishing regional groups
With a mandate to begin the process of
setting up the regional groups, a member
of staff from five out of the six regions
volunteered to become regional service
user co-ordinators and initial meetings
were organised.
Meeting with the housing minister
The minister and six members of the SPNAB
met six service users who asked a number
of questions about issues and topics that
were of concern. These included questions
about how the SPNAB was ensuring that
voices were heard, a question about high
rents in supported housing and changes to
housing benefit. The SPNAB says it wants to
continue to meet service users directly to
hear about their experiences and to respond
to any shared issues and concerns.
Issues identified during
the project
Funding and resources: Many SP
teams stated that they did not have any
allocated resources or funding to support
the development of user involvement.
However, if there are to be changes in the
way users are involved then SP teams/
regions will need to think creatively about
how they do this and they may need to find
some resources from their funding to do so.
Capacity building: There was a lack
of knowledge from commissioners and
service users as to how best to make user
involvement meaningful and effective. Service
user involvement champions and other staff
will need to develop their knowledge and
understanding in order to ensure effective
engagement with users who will also need to
developing their skills and knowledge
Recommendations
- SP teams to include staff training in the
budget for the development of user
involvement - Explore the possibility of funding
being provided by WG to support the
development of user involvement at a
regional level - Explore the possibility of developing an
accredited training course - Apply for a TEG to provide training for
service users involved at a regional level
– though funding is limited
Barriers to involvement: It was clear
from all events that there were a range
of perceived barriers to meaningful and
influential involvement and it will be
important for all SP teams and RCCs to
identify specific barriers and ways to
overcome them.
Outcomes
The significant outcomes of the project
were:
- Service users were able to influence the
SP guidance and in particular strengthen
the requirement for local authority SP
teams and RCCs to involve them in the
planning commissioning and reviewing of
support services - Increase in skills knowledge and
confidence of service users who were
involved in the project, some of whom
are now involved in the regional groups - Evidence that service users are willing
and able to commit to this level of
involvement - Establishment of five regional service
user groups.
There has been a real enthusiasm to be
genuinely involved in any new structure.
However, there was also consensus that
if this was going to be meaningful and
not ‘tokenistic’, service users would need
training and support. How they are engaged
may vary across areas and there was no
real appetite for a whole load of
prescriptive guidance. Despite this
there was still a feeling that all SP
teams and RCCs need to see the
involvement and genuine influence of
users of services as part of their core
business, rather simply an ‘add-on’.
Where are we now?
The opportunity for service users to influence
decisions about all aspect of support services
has been strengthened in the revised SP
programme guidance. The RCCs will be
expected to develop a framework to involve
service users in the planning, commissioning
and assessing of support services s as well
as evidencing how this has been achieved.
There is also an opportunity for service user
representation on the RCCs.
The guidance is also clear on
expectations for local authorities. It says
that: ‘SP teams must develop mechanisms
through which service users can be
involved in developing, commissioning and
reviewing support services.’
TPAS Cymru has been awarded a TEG
to support the RCCs in this work. It will be
used to develop the skills, knowledge and
confidence of a group of service users in each
region. Training will cover: the work of SP;
engagement methods and models; and good
practice in service user involvement, including
practical film making skills which they will
then use to engage other service users and
to feed back to providers commissioners.
Each RCC has identified an officer to
lead on user involvement and TPAS Cymru
(as part of its core work) will provide
support to the lead officers to enable them
to work with providers and service users
to identify how users want to get involved
in influencing decisions, what the focus of
the involvement will be and to help develop
and implement the framework.
The Welsh Government will carry out
a survey of all providers to evaluate the
progress and outcomes of this work and to
identify good practice. This information will
assist the RCCs in mapping user groups and
activities and TPAS Cymru will disseminate
good practice through publications, events
and network meetings.
For further information about the
TEG project or to find out how
service users can get involved
at a regional level contact Nina
Langrish at TPAS Cymru, email
nina.langrish@tpascymru.org.uk
Digartref Ynys Môn:
Clear Voices TEG
The Digartref Ynys Môn Clear
Voices project aimed to identify a range
of effective and appropriate ways for
young residents living in a supported
living scheme to be able to participate
in a meaningful way. Digartref Ynys
Môn provides supported accommodation
(on behalf of Tai Eryri) to young people
aged between 16 and 25.
Digartref Ynys Môn and TPAS Cymru,
North, submitted the bid for the TEG. The
Clear Voice is a method/’brand’ which
can be used by any tenant living in the
supported living hostels, Llys y Gwynt
and Y Gilfach, and will not need to be
dependent on certain individuals or specific
numbers of residents.
The intended outcomes of the project
were that the skills, knowledge, confidence
and interests of the young people would
be developed, enabling them to become
actively involved and have a greater say in
the way their hostel is managed. The learning
and personal development gained from
participating in such activities could then
be used by the young people to help them
undertake further training or find employment
and to support them to lead independent lives
when moving on from supported living.The
final aim was to help build links, and break
down barriers, with the wider community.
One of the objectives of the TEG was
to encourage communication with local
residents, (the majority of whom were
older people), who lived by the Digartref
homeless hostels. A facilitated session with
the young people focused on looking at who
lived in the community and the assumptions
made about older and younger people and
the resulting prejudices. Various exercises
were carried out during the session. In
one activity the young people were asked
to consider what worries and issues a
68-year-old person living in a bungalow
nearby may have about life in general.
A list of stereotype statements was also
discussed and the young people were asked
to comment on who the label related to (for
example, ‘they are a menace on the road’
and ‘why are they always so forgetful?’)
This exercise triggered discussions about
the assumptions we are all guilty of making
about young and older people and the
similarities between the two age groups.
The TEG also aimed to encourage the
young residents to reflect on the skills,
talents and knowledge they had and how
they could potentially use these in future
participation events. The findings of the
talent surveys were used as a means for
deciding which of the residents were most
suited to being responsible for arranging
different aspects of an afternoon tea event
for older local residents.
Lessons learned
The transient nature of the young client
group can stifle momentum in projects andduring this particular project there were
several changes in the residents of the
two hostels. However, the method/brand
of participation, Clear Voices, is something
that can be continued by Digartref despite
frequent changes in residents.
The timing and content of the sessions
had to be tailored to the preferences of the
young people to encourage them to attend,
for example short, afternoon meetings
which contained fun, practical exercises
that held their attention and interest.
At the beginning of the project the
young people generally didn’t value their
own experiences or interests but as time
went on it became apparent that their
confidence and self-belief in their skills
and knowledge increased. The residents
had valuable, considered and constructive
suggestions and knowledge to offer to the
landlord. They began to show an interest in
the prospect of being involved in decision
making and other participation activities:
the Clear Voices project achieved what it
set out to do. The residents appreciated
that there were benefits to them personally
and to the organisation as a result of
giving their opinions and getting involved.
Also, the first couple of sessions resulted
in some changes of practice/policy within
the hostel: therefore there were some
‘quick wins’ for the residents that showed
the outcomes of their suggestions and
involvement.
The young people’s understanding of
the issues facing the older residents who
lived in their community increased as a
result of the project. The stereotypical
opinions about a different generation were
explored and discussed and they showed
empathy towards the old people living in
nearby housing.
For more information please
contact: Helen Cook of TPAS
Cymru, email Helen.cook@
tpascymru.org.uk, tel 01492
593046 or Nia Hughes, email
nia@digartrefynysmon.co.uk