My experience as a new Local Resident Panel Member

By Anita Dashwood, Local Panel Member

I’m a new member of the Network Homes Resident’s Local Panel. I made the decision to apply for a vacancy on the panel because I wanted to do some voluntary work where I could get involved in helping my local community, and this seemed like a really good place to start!

Anita Dashwood, local Panel Member

January panel meeting roundup

My first meeting was in January. It was great to meet the other residents on the panel as well as Network Homes staff. I was really made to feel comfortable. Everyone was friendly and I felt very welcomed.

We had an update about Network Homes’ complaints performance and their key performance indicators. One of the staff gave us an update about the new Customer Services Strategy Network is working on and asked us to give our feedback and comments. We had an update about resident engagement and the new Continuous Improvement Panel. This panel is a group of residents who will be scrutinising different areas across Network Homes. We also discussed a new Recognition Policy that the Resident Engagement team are working on. They want to make sure that residents who give up their time to volunteer with Network Homes are recognised for the time they commit and that any expenses residents incur are refunded back to them. They asked us for ideas on how they can do this.

It was so interesting to hear other panel members views on the different topics for discussion and we all had a chance to give our thoughts and opinions on a variety of topics.

I’m looking forward to the coming year, being involved in community support projects and helping Network Homes connect with their residents. If anyone is thinking of joining a local panel, or working with their community, go ahead and give it a try!

You can find out how to get involved by checking out the Get involved section on Network Homes’ website.