Decision details

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.

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.