Self-evaluation is a routine part of our improvement cycle and a vital tool to improve service delivery. It’s firmly embedded into our activity all year round and is structured around our own expectations and those of our customers, as set out in our corporate plan, our local outcomes, plus the standards as set by Welsh Government within the regulatory framework.

Our self-evaluation is undertaken annually and reported to the board before submission to Welsh Government who consider this as part of our Regulatory Judgement. The current self-evaluation was approved by board in March 2025 and a summary of this is provided below.

Regulatory Standard 1: Strategic leadership and governance

Our corporate plan 2020-2025 sets out the organisation’s strategy and was developed collaboratively with board and endorsed by our tenants, partners and stakeholders. The plan was developed based on research conducted on the issues our tenants and communities face and has a strong focus on improving the lives of our tenants.

We have a skills-based board, including three Non-Executive Board Directors (NED) who are tenants. An induction training programme is in place for new board members, with an annual development programme. All board members have performance reviews, and a triennial independent appraisal is carried out on board as a collective.

A new equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) framework was developed in 2024, and we are working with Tai Pawb towards achieving the QED mark for the Welsh housing sector.

An independent review of governance, undertaken by Campbell Tickell in 2023 confirmed that “there is a strong collective commitment amongst the board and the executive to Tai Tarian’s social purpose and mission, and this commitment to social housing and improving services, homes and lives of tenants is reflected in the corporate strategy.”

Regulatory Standard 2: Robust risk management and assurance

Our Board Assurance Framework sets out how the organisation manages risk, and risk management policies and procedures are in place together with a comprehensive corporate risk register.  The risk register includes controls and internal/external assurances together with the inherent/residual score and the board appetite/target for the risk, independent internal and external auditors provide assurance over processes and controls to manage risk.

Board has oversight of risk, and all committees have oversight of risks relevant to their areas of responsibility.

An organisation wide Incident Management Plan is in place and in December 2024 the senior management team were involved in an incident response activity (training exercise), supported by external consultants.

Regulatory Standard 3: High quality services are delivered to tenants

All properties are subject to routine checks/assessments on all key areas of landlord health and safety which includes a dedicated Damp, Mould and Condensation team. Performance is monitored by our committees and board via routine performance reports as well as audits undertaken by our internal auditors, as part of the internal audit strategy.

We provide services to ensure that tenants are supported to remain in their homes through our Financial Inclusion and Universal Credit teams who undertake financial assessments to maximise benefits and income. Our Intensive Housing team support the most vulnerable contract holders around tenancy sustainment, and we work in partnership with many organisations.

We undertake the annual Welsh Government perception survey with the results being considered to understand the actions required to be taken forward. Where a tenant identifies an issue or concern, we follow this up where appropriate.

In addition to the perception survey, we also carry out tenant satisfaction surveys in connection with repairs throughout the year to help us understand how we’re performing and areas for improvement. Concerns raised during a survey conversation is dealt with immediately to resolve outstanding matters for the tenants.

Regulatory Standard 4: Tenants are empowered and supported to influence the design and delivery of services

Our Tenant Engagement Charter states we ‘give tenants a real voice, at an individual and community level, using their experience and knowledge to ensure that we make the right decisions’.  It was developed, taking a co-design approach with our tenants. It sets out the different ways tenants can get involved, from information and consultation through to partnership and influence.

We have three board members who are tenants of Tai Tarian, one of whom progressed through our Tenant Academy.

Our annual tenant satisfaction survey is offered to all tenants, and the results are analysed to identify areas for improvement. The results are presented to committee, board and Welsh Government.

In 2024, tenant engagement has undertaken a reset, and a Tenant Engagement Officer was appointed to deliver a co-ordinated approach to the delivery of tenant engagement throughout the organisation. A presentation was delivered to the Tai Tarian membership at the annual general meeting in July 2024 on the ‘Future Tenant Voice’. An action plan is ongoing which will drive the development of a tenant framework.

During Summer 2024 several roadshows were undertaken throughout the borough to speak with tenants and seek their views on engagement.

Regulatory Standard 5: Rents and service charges are affordable for current and future tenants

We ensure compliance with the Welsh Government’s expectations in relation to the Welsh Government Rent Standard and any additional requirements.

Each year we undertake an affordability review to ensure our annual rent and service charge is in line with the principles set out in our board approved Rent and Service Charge Affordability Policy. The policy was developed taking a co-design approach with tenants and at each annual review point, our tenants are consulted on any proposed changes for the coming financial year.

In 2024 this was undertaken through a range of methods of communication which included a survey to tenants, extensive face to face consultation events, summer community events across the borough and a rent workshop with tenants about the cost of living and feedback of survey findings. The results of the work undertaken was considered by the board when considering the rent uplift for 2025/26.

Regulatory Standard 6: Strategic approach to value for money

Our Value for Money Strategy sets out how we achieve the best from our resources and ensuring our tenants rent payments go further. Our annual Value for Money (VfM) statement provides an overview of the work being undertaken and financial planning, monitoring and reporting cycles assisting in ensuring value for money being achieved across the business.

Regulatory Standard 7: Financial planning and management

Our 30 Year Business Plan ensures that we have the finances in place to deliver our strategic objectives and meet key constraints and stress testing to the business plan is also undertaken annually.  Our 30 Year Business Plan shows we are a financially viable organisation with resources to deliver our objective.

Regulatory Standard 8 – Assets and liabilities are well managed

Our Asset Management Plan (AMP) provides a full overview of how the organisation’s assets are working to maximise their value and contribution to the organisation’s objectives and business plan and includes the framework in which we currently operate. We have an Assets and Liabilities Register and our Asset Management database has been used to assess financial, physical asset and housing related criteria of each property, street, and local area, we also have ongoing stock condition surveys, which help us understand the condition of each property.

Regulatory Standard 9: Providing high quality accommodation

Delivery of WHQS on our existing stock was achieved in 2017 and WHQS compliance has been maintained since 2017.

The Assets directorate has created a new service to develop an implementation strategy to comply with WHQS 2023. The service is made up of an asset management team who will manage the data and planning of future works and an Operational Surveying team responsible for the surveys required for the delivery of the programmes.

All new homes are delivered to the standards as set out in the Welsh Development Quality Requirements 2021 (WDQR ‘21) for new build, social housing grant funded properties. We also undertake routine surveys on our repairs services, and on our new homes, to assess whether tenants are satisfied with the quality of their home.

We offer a comprehensive in-house repairs service and a dedicated Damp, Mould and Condensation team which ensure that we keep our properties maintained to the required standard.

 

 

Our Compliance Improvement Plan

Regulatory Standard 1

• Achieve the QED (Quality in Equality and Diversity) mark during 2026.
• Develop EDI KPIs for routine monitoring by Nominations and People Committee.
• Work towards achieving the approved Tenant Engagement action plan to increase tenant engagement at a strategic level.

Regulatory Standard 2

• Review the top risks within the risk register, to ensure the risks are relevant and controls, assurances and actions are appropriate

Regulatory Standard 3

• Explore additional methods for making our performance information more available for tenants.

Regulatory Standard 4

• Further development of the Tenant Engagement Framework

Regulatory Standard 5

• Consider our own benchmarking/VFM metrics in the future and make our continuous improvement plan more visible.