The requirement for local authorities (LAs) to produce TPCs was introduced in the National Framework for Tenant Participation Compacts published by the (then) Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, in June 1999. The National Framework stated that all local authority landlords would ‘be expected to agree and sign agreements – compacts – with their tenants’ and that they would be implemented from 1st April 2000. One of the clear intentions of TPCs was to ‘embed’ tenant participation into the core of the housing service and to increase tenants’ role beyond just being informed or consulted in a reactive way. The TPC was intended as the means to enable those tenants who wished to, become fully contributing partners, with the LA, on decision making in the housing service.

This guide assesses the impact of TPCs on decision making, particularly on the strategic work of the local authority and examines working relationships to see if there is genuine partnership between officers, members and tenants. It looks at the impact of TPCs on service delivery and identifies examples of innovative and practical examples of tenant participation. It also offers recommendations.

The guidelines set out in the original Framework envisaged two types of compact – council wide compacts that would focus on how tenants would be involved in strategic and policy decisions of the housing service, while locally based compacts would concentrate on local decision making at the neighbourhood level. It was left to LAs to decide how and in what order, they developed both kinds of compact.

All LAs have produced TPCs in one form or another. The introduction of TPCs has raised the profile of tenant participation in many authorities and there is evidence to show that in many cases this is creating more equal partnerships between officers, members and tenants.

Compacts are intended to benefit tenants who wish to participate in housing service provided to them by their local authority.

The Compacts relied on ongoing participatory involvement from tenant and the host LA. TPCs were funded from a Government funded Housing Revenue Account (HRA) established for the benefit of tenants.

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Phone: +44 207 944 4400
enquiryodpm@odpm.gsi.gov.uk

01/06/1999

01/03/2003

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Urban Policy > Housing > Housing management

Tenant management