The NHF’s Customer Experience and Resident Engagement Conference returns on 25 February at Senate House, London.

This conference is where we work with other providers and residents to improve service delivery in social housing. Years of challenge, progress in social housing and work like the Better Social Housing Review have laid the foundations of this event. If you work in customer experience, housing management, resident engagement or are a resident yourself, this event is for you.

At this conference, we'll explore the shifting culture in social housing and how staff and residents should work together. We’ll also explore new legislative responsibilities such as the results of the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) and the Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements (STAIRs).

This event ran for the first time in 2024 in the context of the Better Social Housing Review and significant change for our sector. Customer Experience and Resident Engagement is endorsed by Tpas and the Tenant Advisory Panel of Together with Tenants. No matter where you are on your journey with residents, this conference will ensure you take the right next step.

What happened at our 2024 conference?

In February this year, we hosted the first Customer Experience and Resident Engagement conference. This conferences off the back of several significant years in this area of social housing. As Kate Henderson said in her opening remarks "there has been a huge amount of change in the area of resident engagement and customer experience".

Culture change and consistency were themes throughout the day. Many speakers have emphasised the importance of strong leadership and the diversity of our sector, and how no one size fits all when it comes to resident engagement.

In the morning, we discussed what an inclusive customer-focused culture looks like. We then discussed the new consumer standards, which came into force from April. Kate Dodsworth spoke about how these have been shaped by resident and colleague feedback and other speakers spoke about underestimating the role of boards in shaping an inclusive, customer-focused culture.

In our breakout sessions, we covered a range of topics from skills in formal governance roles to safeguarding residents and staff. Delegates also took part in a unique workshop on reimagining resident empowerment.

The afternoon featured a session on challenging negative perceptions. Speakers made crucial points about tackling stigma and the power of treating everyone as a human being first and foremost. The day then ended with an outward-looking session on achieving excellent satisfaction, which highlighted the importance of getting the basics right every time, particularly with regards to managing complaints.

We want to thank the Together with Tenants: Tenant Advisory Panel and the members of our advisory board who helped us organise our 2024 event and of course everyone who attended on the day.