Purpose

Ipswich Borough Council has an obligation to
understand its tenants and any protected characteristics identified
as part of delivering an efficient Housing Management service which
places tenants needs at the heart of delivery.
 
Understanding these needs enables the Council
to take a sensible approach to shaping services according to any
specific needs whilst taking due regard for any Reasonable
Adjustments that may be required to ensure key messaging and
service delivery is in accordance with the requirements from the
Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and Equality Act 2010.
 
A key part of the requirements is set out
within the Housing Regulators Consumer Standards, specifically the
Transparency, Influence and Accountability standard.
 
The Council has, in 2023 procured a contract
in accordance with contract standing orders with
“Acuity”. This organisation is a recognised provider of
research services to the Social Housing Sector, specifically in
respect of gathering feedback from tenants as part of the Tenant
Satisfaction Measures (TSM’s) which they have been contracted
to do with Ipswich Borough Council.
 
Acuity is a leader in the sector for research
and data collection and has been recognised as an organisation that
can provide a full tenant census for Ipswich Borough Council
in order to enable efficiencies in our
service provision.

Decision

To waive requirements within the contract
standing orders to conduct a competitive purchasing process for
this requirement in accordance with the Council’s
Constitution, Part 4, Section 7, Contract Standing Orders, para
3.10 and Part 3, Section 5, Officer Delegation Scheme, para 9.1 to
appoint Acuity.
 
Reason:
To gather clear and factual understanding of
the Council Tenant profile in order to shape services according to
need and complying with the requirements from the Equality Act 2010
and Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023. The Council had only been
able to identify one supplier (Acuity) who can provide the service
required and is already in contract with the Council for delivery
of TSMs.