Torus is committed to supporting the annual National Social Housing Safety and Compliance Week. This year it takes place 6 – 10 November with the theme ‘Together for Safety’.

Now in its third year, National Social Housing Safety and Compliance Week launches a new movement ‘Together for Safety’, recognising that not one person or department, or organisation can deliver safe homes for residents – it involves everyone coming together.

Together for Safety will focus on four key strands:

1. Together with Residents – resident engagement; working with representatives and panels; recognising resident’s voices and supporting them to keep themselves, their families and communities safe – you can find out more about using your voice to improve services here.
2. Together as a Sector – coming together with peers, contractors, and suppliers to help tackle joint challenges, share best practice, and raise standards.
3. Together with Colleagues – working effectively and with joint purpose with other teams such as procurement, finance, and customer service; ensuring that the safety message is heard and prioritised throughout our organisations.
4. Together with the Authorities – responding to, and working effectively within, a new Regulatory landscape.

The week is also dedicated to shining a spotlight on safety and compliance at all levels within Social Housing. By working positively together, we can create a better future, with a focus on safety culture and raising safety and compliance standards in homes managed by social landlords. Since the Grenfell disaster, many lessons have been learned and progress is being made but, we feel collectively, more could be done, today.

Making sure our customers’ homes are safe is a top priority and we have always taken your safety seriously, but this week, and beyond, is about what more we can all do now, to ensure we all have an even safer future.

Safety is a key theme and shapes everything we do to build stronger communities, we take our responsibilities seriously and aim to go above and beyond the minimum legal and statutory requirements.

Margaret Goddard, Group Assets Director, said:

“This year, we worked together with our involved customers via Tenant Voice to review all our policies for the ‘Big 6’ areas of compliance - gas, fire, electrical, asbestos, water, lifts - to ensure consistency and ownership across the entire Torus Group.

“The new policies and plan have increased benefits for customers, they provide an even clear and transparent service, with ownership and effective ways of working to ensure that Torus not only keep our customers safe but there is a consistency to each service to ensure the best possible experience for our customers while providing reassurance.”

At Torus, there is nothing more important than safety and we want every home to be as safe as it can be and as a landlord, we are legally responsible for the safety of our tenants. We have a legal responsibility to conduct necessary compliance checks, services, and inspections, such as gas, electricity, domestic lifts, water, and asbestos.

Vicky Houghton, Torus Group Head of Asset Compliance, added:

“Safety is more than just a legal responsibility, it is about keeping our customers, their homes, and communities they live in safe. But do to this it is crucial that customers play their part by letting us in to carry out these checks and how we will do everything in our power to gain access to keep them safe.

“We often struggle accessing people’s homes to complete these important and legally required checks, but it is vital that all our customers let us in so that we can help keep them, their families, and their neighbours safe.

“If customers have genuine concerns about letting us in for any reason, we encourage them to speak to us so we can assist and support them. We also encourage speaking to neighbours, family, and friends about making sure their compliance services and inspections are up to date, and importantly, they are safe.

“We also have a Tenant’s safety guide available on our website which provides more information on all the compliance services we deliver, how often, what to expect during the appointment, along with top tips on keeping your home safe.”

We are working together for Safety!

To see what other social landlords and residents have pledged and to find out more, see here: www.safetyandcomplianceweek.co.uk. Follow the campaign on social media using:
#saferhomes
#strongertogether
#pledgeforsafety
#safetyandcomplianceweek