Housing professionals across the region are the first to benefit from a new tenant co-created qualification designed to raise standards, strengthen skills and put the tenant at the heart of housing services. 

Midland Heart and University College Birmingham have partnered with tenant engagement experts Tpas, to launch a new Social Housing Surveying HNC. 

In recent years, social housing providers have seen unprecedent changes in the laws and regulations governing them and fundamental changes in the expectations of tenants. This qualification is the sector’s response, an assurance that its professionals are equipped with the technical skills and behaviours needed to deliver safe, high-quality and tenant-focused services. 

Equivalent to a Level 4, the course is the first of its kind to be co-created with tenants, with real insight embedded throughout the curriculum. With modules focused on understanding tenants lived experiences, engagement and communication, to ensure tenants remain central to decision-making. 

As the first programme within a growing Regional Housing Skills Academy, the qualification lays the foundations for a long-term, sector-led approach to skills development, with progression to levels 5,6 and 7 planned as the offer expands. 

Backed by mayoral‑led skills investment, with match funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority available for all applicants, the programme provides a clear progression route for colleagues without requiring them to leave the sector.  

Chief Executive of Midland Heart, Glenn Harris, said:  

“We all want the best outcomes for our tenants and that starts with having the right people with the right skills and behaviours working in housing. This course is developed with tenants, employers and academic partners to make sure the people responsible for our homes have the technical expertise and real-world understanding needed to deliver safe, high-quality services.” 

Professor Rosa Wells, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at University College Birmingham, said: 

“At University College Birmingham, we are committed to delivering the kind of employer-codesigned, higher technical education the region needs. 

“Developed in collaboration with employers and tenants, this programme combines technical expertise with real-world insight to help shape a new generation of housing professionals who are equipped to deliver safe, high-quality and resident-focused services.  

“It also creates an important progression route for those already working in the sector to upskill and advance their careers.” 

West Midlands Mayor, Richard Parker, said:  

“I’m investing tens of millions of pounds in new social and affordable housing because too many families are waiting too long for the safe, secure and warm home they deserve. 

“We are also spending more than £70m giving people the constructions skills they need to build these new homes. But the work doesn’t stop after the last brick is laid.  This new gold-standard skills training will produce some of the best qualified housing professionals in the country to look after tenants once they have moved into their new homes.” 

Jenny Osbourne, Chief Executive of Tpas, added:  

“It is great to see innovation and creativity like this to the problems organisations face. There is a fundamental need within the sector for this sort of work. This course links closely with our tenant engagement standards and what we believe in at Tpas about working within communities and placing customer experience at the heart of services.  We’re excited to see where this can go next and what more can be developed.”  

If you’d like to discuss further, please contact media@midlandheart.org.uk.

WMHAP is proud to have helped shape the thinking behind the announcement of the Social Housing Accelerator Fund, a £40m investment that will ensure 1,000 homes currently under or about to start construction are converted to social rent.

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Trident Group have been awarded the G1 rating by the Regulator of Social Housing following their Inspection over the summer. 

Trident were initially downgraded to G2 in January 2024 and since then have strengthened their governance practices; board and executive team to improve decision making. The organisation has also improved its data practices and governance which has been recognised by the Regulator. 

Trident have also resolved the historic Rent Standard Compliance issue communicating with all residents impacted and repaying the overcharges to all affected. 

Trident have also been issued with V2 recognising that while financially robust, Trident’s commitment to investing in their properties and new developments. Trident also received a C2 rating which marks them as compliant and having a strong foundation of resident engagement but recognises continued improvement is needed. 

Trident will continue to work on these areas and hope to see a continued improvement in our services in the future. 

Nigel Wilson, Trident Group Chief Executive, commented: “As Chief Executive over the last 2 years I have witnessed first hand the energy and commitment of the Board and colleagues to deliver change. I am proud we have got here and know no one is under any illusion we will need to keep driving forward our improvements. Thanks to everyone who supported the inspection process especially our tenants who gave up their time.”

 Brian Carr, Chair of the Board, added: “This is a very welcome result following several months of intense improvement work, which are still ongoing. My thanks go to all my board colleagues, to Trident’s executive and wider staff teams, and the customers and tenants who gave up their time to contribute to the inspection. Our return to G1 is a testament to their hard work and commitment to Trident’s aims. I’m also grateful to the Regulator for Social Housing for the co-regulatory support they have provided throughout this journey.” 

For more information visit: www.tridentgroup.org.uk or contact Lucy Owen, Communications Manager on 0121 633 4633 (ext. 1093) or communications@tridentgroup.org.uk.

Trident Group are proud to support and sponsor the Parliamentary launch of Stop the Social Housing Stigma’s Journey Planner.

Social Housing Stigma affects nearly half of all social housing residents and has been raised as the most important issue to residents in Ministerial roadshows that took place post the Grenfell tragedy. It had previously been under researched until the Stop Social Housing Stigma launched their campaign working with the University of Durham, Sheffield Hallam University, Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), TPAS and YD Consultants.

Trident Group were one of 11 pioneering housing associations and councils involved in the pilot scheme which fed into this trailblazing research. We held meetings with residents in the Winter which created a series of actions designed by residents and colleagues with the help of the researchers.

As part of these actions, we changed our office layout to make a more friendly space; improved our transparency on how residents are involved in decisions and recruited a resident board member. 

The event held on Monday (19 May 2025) at Parliament was hosted by Ben Coleman MP and the Stop the Social Housing Stigma Group. Trident Group customers and colleagues attended the event where they met key partners including Richard Blakeway of the Housing Ombudsman.

Collette Eden, who works in the Justice System and a Trident resident of 13 years, said:

“It was really interesting to be part of this event. We met residents from other housing associations, that were there to discuss their experiences and why we are fighting for changing how people look at social housing and the stigma attached to it. For myself, I think it is really important for people to be treated with respect and dignity and to be treated as if it was your own house. I’m all for us all coming together to get things moving and very proud to be involved with Trident on this important campaign.”

Mike Crump, former Police Detective, Mental Health Campaigner, and resident Committee member, added:

“In a sector that will inevitably become more not less important over the coming years as the need for social housing grows, the stigma attached to people living in social housing needs to be tackled and addressed. The event was very well attended by a network of officers and residents from Housing Associations across the UK. It is important that this network continues to grow and build on the significant work already done to seek to tackle and address stigma and discrimination often directed at people living in social housing.”

Nigel Wilson, Trident Group Chief Executive, commented:

“We believe that it is vital that we as housing associations tackle social housing stigma. Our residents are at the heart of what we do and are valued members of our team making key decisions in our committees and resident groups. Trident are proud to support this campaign and we hope others join us in doing so.”

Trident Group are committed to continuing to support the campaign to tackle the Social Housing Stigma.

Members of the West Midlands’ Housing Association Partnership (WMHAP), a group of the region’s social housing providers, have been shown to have spent over £818 million in carrying out repairs, maintenance and improvements to their homes in the last year. An average of £2,920 per home.

Figures published this week by Inside Housing, show that the group has spent over £15m a week on improving their existing homes, representing an increase of some 27% over the previous year.

This money will have been used to provide social housing tenants with new bathrooms and kitchens but also to help retrofit some of the region’s oldest homes with technology to make them cheaper and easier to heat. Members of WMHAP have been busy fitting external wall insulation, solar panels, air source heat pumps and new, more efficient boilers to older homes that are harder and more expensive to keep warm compared with newer build homes.

Kevin Rodgers, WMHAP Chair and Chief Executive of Citizen said:

“The core job of a landlord is to make sure that tenants can keep a safe, warm and comfortable home. Over the course of the last year our members have increased the amount they spend on their existing homes by over a quarter and have not just installed new bathrooms and kitchens but improved the energy efficiency of their tenants’ homes.”