Housing Matters - September 2025
Wednesday, 3 September 2025
Read the September 2025 edition of Housing Matters.
Come and see how we keep your home safe!
Open day for tenants in September
Come along and meet our team and contractors, explore our stands, and find out how we keep your home safe. Contractors and staff from our housing service will be on hand to answer your questions!
From fire safety checks to gas servicing, we’ll show you what 'housing compliance' means, why it matters, and how it protects you every day.
Join us: Thursday 11 September 2025 from 10am to 2pm at Houghton Regis Leisure Centre, Parkside Drive, LU5 5PX in The Training Room.
The free event will also include complimentary fish and chips and ice cream for participants and the chance to win a Lidl voucher.
Other opportunities to talk to us...
Meet our tenant involvement team
Speak to the tenant involvement team about how to become an involved tenant helping to shape the housing services you receive. The safer communities’ team will also be available to advise on staying safe in and around your home.
We would love to see you at one of the following events:
- 5 September from 10am to 1pm: The Tenant Involvement Team will be conducting an informal door knock in Leighton Buzzard to speak with our younger residents about how they can get involved in influencing the housing service they receive, by joining our Young Person’s Panel
- 9 September from 10am to midday: Housing Information Hub at Roam Café Bistro, Linmere, Houghton Regis LU5 5GX. Do you have a housing query? Come along to the hub and speak with one of the housing team who provide free advice and information
- 10 September from 1pm to 3pm: Housing Roadshow at The Recreation Rooms, Mentmore Road, Linslade, Leighton Buzzard. Do you have a housing query? Come along to the roadshow and speak with one of the housing team who provide free advice and information
- 15 September from 12:30pm to 2:30pm: The Tenant Involvement Team will be conducting an informal door knock in Dunstable to speak with our younger residents about how they can get involved in influencing the housing service they receive, by joining our Young Person’s Panel
- Saturday 20 September from 10am to 2pm: The team will be attending Heritage Day in Houghton Hall Park, Park Road North
- 26 September from midday to 2pm: Housing Information Hub at Dunstable Library. Do you have a housing query? Come along to the hub and speak with one of the housing team who provide free advice and information
- 29 September from midday to 2pm: Housing Information Hub at Priory House, Monks Walk, Chicksands, SG17 5TQ in the foyer space. Do you have a housing query? Come along to the hub and speak with one of the housing team who provide free advice and information
- 6 October from 11am to 1pm: Bedford Street Lounge, Bedford Street, Leighton Buzzard, Neighbourhood Housing/Tenant Involvement Drop-in – Come along and meet with your Neighbourhood Housing Officer to discuss any housing queries you have and to meet with our Tenant Involvement team and find out how important it is to have their voice heard by becoming an involved tenant
- 15 October from midday to 2pm: Housing Information Hub at Leighton Buzzard Library. Do you have a housing query? Come along to the hub and speak with one of the housing team who provide free advice and information
- 22 October from 3pm to 5pm: Housing Information Hub at Dunstable Library. Do you have a housing query? Come along to the hub and speak with one of the housing team who provide free advice and information
- 28 October from 10am to midday: Housing Information Hub at All Saints View, Sapphire Place, Houghton Regis, LU5 5LP foyer space. Do you have a housing query? Come along to the hub and speak with one of the housing team who provide free advice and information
- Friday 31 October 2025 10am to 3pm: The team will attend a Halloween Event at Houghton Hall Park, Park Road North
If you have any questions about any events and hubs, please email: tenant.involvement@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk or call the team on 0300 300 6880.
Share your views on how you contact us
Help us continue to improve our housing service
We want to make sure you can contact us in the way that works best for you, and your views are essential to this process.
Take our short survey and tell us how you prefer to communicate. Whether you're happy with how things are now, or you think we could do better, we want to hear from you. Take part in the survey.
We’re always looking for ways to improve, but we can’t fix what we don’t know about. Your feedback helps us make things better for everyone.
Safety policies: looking out for us all
The safety of both residents and officers is very important to us
As visiting members of staff, we sometimes find ourselves in volatile situations which can include threatening behaviour towards us and yourselves. To try to protect both residents and staff from unwanted behaviour, we are looking at introducing body cameras and improving the information we collect and store. This will help capture behaviour as it happens - which could be used as evidence in certain circumstances - and help prevent some incidents from occurring in the first instance.
Bodycam devices
The first policy concerns the use of bodycam devices, with the aim of de-escalating difficult situations, keeping officers safe and providing reassurance for residents.
Read the draft bodycam policy (PDF).
Information recording
The second policy is about how we update our system following an incident or the receipt of information which means our officers may need to take additional precautions when interacting with residents. The purpose is to ensure our information recording is objective, consistent, proportionate and only stored for as long as necessary.
Read the draft information recording policy (PDF).
You can comment on either policy by emailing neighbourhoodmanagement@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk.
Do you have the passion to make a difference in your community? Do you want to influence how we run our services?
If your answer is yes, you could be our next Tenant Board Member for the new Landlord Assurance Board
We’re looking for enthusiastic tenants to join our Landlord Assurance Board and help put tenants’ voices at the heart of everything we do.
What matters to us is that you have a passion to make a difference that benefits tenants and leaseholders. As a member of the Landlord Assurance Board, you will play a key part in shaping how we are run and how we plan for the future, whilst considering what is best for our tenants, leaseholders and communities.
We’re looking for someone who understands the communities we serve and who can use their lived experience to consider the interests of our communities and drive change.
Purpose of the Landlord Assurance Board
The objective of the board is to ensure tenant voices are central in overseeing our compliance with the Regulator of Social Housing’s Consumer Standards. The board will promote safety, service quality, and accountability through timely reporting, collaborative decision-making, and transparent governance.
As a board member you will be able to work as part of a team, sharing our vision, values and commitments, and able to share your views confidently and effectively contributing to service improvements.
Previous experience on a board is not essential, but you may have experience of meetings – perhaps in a community or voluntary setting. You will understand social housing and have a view of what great customer service looks like.
You will have the energy and commitment to be able to attend board meetings, either in person or virtually (access to Microsoft Teams) as well as occasional learning and development sessions.
If you live in a Central Bedfordshire Council home as a tenant or leaseholder, and you’re ready to put your hand up and be counted, make a genuine difference and develop your own skills, then get in touch!
The application process and timeline
To apply, please request an application form from tonia.punter-ojong@tpas.org.uk and tell us why you are applying for the role with examples about how you meet our requirements by the closing date of Monday 8 September 2025 at midday.
After the closing date applications will be shortlisted by independent organisation Tpas against the person specification for the role (PDF).
If this is something that you are interested in then please email tonia.punter-ojong@tpas.org.uk. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to an online interview on 30 September or 2 October. The interviews will include Tpas and someone representing us.
Time commitment: Meetings will take place every 2 months – so 6 times per year. There may also be training sessions for you to take part in.
We value your time, and each tenant board member will be provided with incentives and reasonable expenses as detailed in the Tenant Membership Policy (PDF).
Free support to help you quit smoking or lose weight
Choose You: a free service
Choose You is a free service, offering expert support to help you quit smoking, lose weight and improve your overall wellbeing.
Whether it’s walking up a hill without stopping for breath, keeping up with the children, or breaking the habit of a morning cigarette, Choose You can help you make lasting, healthy changes.
Stop smoking support
You are three times more likely to quit for good with the right help. Choose You offers:
- one to one support from stop smoking specialists, in person or by phone
- nicotine replacement therapy and expert guidance
- behavioural coaching to tackle smoking triggers
- access to Allen Carr’s Easyway programme, a proven method to help people stop smoking
Find out more about the support available to help you stop smoking.
Healthy weight programmes
Choose You’s programmes focus on small, lasting changes and are tailored for:
- adults – for healthy eating and wellbeing
- children and families – to help build lifelong healthy habits together
- pregnancy and beyond – for those who are pregnant or have had a baby in the last 2 years
Find out more about support to lose weight.
You can refer yourself easily and get started today. Find out more on the Choose You website.
The Social Housing Resident Panel
Find out more about government’s Social Housing Resident Panel
The government's Social Housing Resident Panel brings together up to 250 social housing residents from across the country so they can share their views with the government and ministers as policy on social housing is developed and reforms implemented.
The government is looking for new members to join the Social Housing Resident Panel. Members take part in regular meetings, focus groups, and online discussions, contributing to the development of social housing policy.
How to apply
Social housing residents from all areas, backgrounds and types of social housing across England can apply. All views and experiences are valuable.
Complete a short application form before 11pm on Sunday 7 September 2025.
New panel members will be selected and notified in September. New members will be invited to join Resident Panel activities from the autumn.
Applicants’ personal data will be handled according to the Social Housing Resident Panel privacy notice. If you have any questions about the process, you can contact: residentpanel@communities.gov.uk.
Find out more about the panel, including more about the activities they have taken part in to capture their views on a number of important issues affecting their experiences of living in social housing.
Reminder: you may get a call from Acuity who are carrying out a survey
The survey will gather feedback on your experience of our repairs service or ask about your satisfaction with our services
Acuity will contact a random sample of 85 tenants per month who have recently had a repair made to their home by Wates, our main contractor. This will be by phone, and they will undertake a survey that should last approximately 5 to 10 minutes.
Acuity will also be contacting tenants to seek views on satisfaction with our services. Acuity randomly select 180 tenants each quarter to participate. Tenants who are contacted will be asked to complete the survey either online (via an email link to the survey to be sent on 8 September) or by phone on 15 September (Acuity interviewers may call tenants for a 10-minute phone survey).
When will Acuity call?
Calls will be made between 9am to 8pm on weekdays, and 10am to 6pm on Saturdays. The number displayed will be 01582 323045. If you miss the call, you will hear a recorded message explaining that it was related to the survey.
The survey is confidential. Results can be shared anonymously with us if you prefer.
Data protection and quality standards
Acuity adheres to strict data protection rules and quality standards. All calls are recorded for training and quality assurance. They are members of the Market Research Society and comply with the Data Protection Act.
Questions?
If you have any queries about any of the survey, please email housinginfo@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk or call Acuity on 01273 287114. You can also find out more on Acuity's website.
Give us your feedback
Comments, compliments, complaints and service requests
Having your voice heard and providing your feedback is valuable to us. There are lots of ways that you can have your say about our housing service.
Comments
Often people want to suggest improvements to services. If you make a suggestion, we will record this as a comment.
Compliments
If you tell us about a service that has been good or a member of staff who has been helpful, we will record this as a compliment and share your praise with those involved.
Service requests
A service request is a request by you for us to take action to put something right. Service requests are not complaints, but we record them, monitor, and review them for learning and improvements. If we consider the issue raised to be a service request, we will ask the relevant team to reply to you directly.
Complaints
You can complain if you are affected by the way we provide services. Common examples of complaints are delay; poor record keeping; failure to act; failure to follow procedure or the law; poor communication; behaviour of our staff (also called officers); or giving out misleading information.
You can give us feedback online for any of the above, or email housing.feedback@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk.
Did you know?
We have many other opportunities for you to be involved and to have your say on how we shape our services. Find out how to register your involvement or see what events we have coming up.
Updating your details
Don't miss out on updates from us!
Do you receive a paper copy of Housing Matters? Are you receiving information from the housing team by letter when you have an email address in use?
If so, please let us know your email address so we can keep you up to date on the latest information about your rent, important changes to the service and useful information in the easiest and cheapest way possible.
Email us: housinginfo@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk, letting us know your name and email address.
Please let us know of any important changes, such as name changes, changes to contact information including telephone and email address or changes to your household composition. Please email these to: housingbusinessteam@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk. If you’re unsure what contact information we do hold for you, then please email us and we will check against our records and make changes where necessary.
The Angels of Central Bedfordshire
Supporting adults who need a bit of extra help in a home environment
After Kim and Gary tragically lost their son, they wanted to share the love they still had to give. They welcomed Josh, a young person with additional needs, into their home. “We had a lot of love to give,” they say. Shared moments, like enjoying hobbies or marking special occasions, made any challenges they faced worthwhile.
As Josh grew older, moving to Shared Lives felt like the natural next step. This way, Kim and Gary could continue supporting him into adulthood.
Ategi Shared Lives in Central Bedfordshire offers a unique way to earn upwards of £350 a week whilst making a real difference. Shared Lives is all about supporting adults who need a bit of extra help in a home environment. All you need is a spare room, a sense of humour and a caring nature. Shared Lives carers like Kim and Gary create a safe, supportive home that encourages independence.
They brush off praise like 'you’re angels'. “We’re ordinary people doing something that matters,” they say. Simple moments, quiet evenings, small achievements mean a lot to them and to Josh. Shared Lives has given them a way to keep giving - and given Josh a real sense of belonging.