The future of the Responsible Tenant Reward Scheme
We wrote to all tenants in 2022 to get your views on changes to the Responsible Tenant Reward. In the letter we told you that we may need to review this again in future years. We're now at the point where we need to do this.
The Responsible Tenant Reward began in 2014 to incentivise good tenant behaviour. It was originally planned to run for only three years and be reviewed, but has continued for ten years.
For the last two years, we've reduced the total amount we spend on the reward to £500,000, which has seen tenants who qualify receive around £28 each for the last two years.
Despite this reduction in the value of the reward, this is still a comparatively more expensive reward scheme than other councils, and there is no direct evidence that it influences tenant behaviour.
We want to use this money effectively by investing in areas that will have a positive impact on the lives of tenants both now and in the future.
We're considering, instead, to use this money to support tenants in a couple of different ways:
Freeing up larger homes
As people's circumstances change, their housing requirements change with them. As children grow up and move out from family homes, or people get older and find a larger home more difficult to maintain, finding a smaller home that's more suitable for their needs becomes more important.
Living in a home that's larger than needed can also be much more expensive - with larger bills and potential reductions in benefits due to having more bedrooms than you need.
We currently have many tenants who are living in homes that are too big for their needs, as well as many Nottingham families on the Housing Register in desperate housing need, waiting for a suitable home.
By using the funding that's currently allocated for the Responsible Tenant Reward, we'll be able to support people with moving and help to find and move them to homes that are the right size for them. This will help to free-up larger family homes as well as help tenants who want to move with the costs and the process of moving.
Extra funding to support the work of our Tenancy Sustainment team
Our Tenancy Sustainment Team help tenants who are struggling to manage their money as well as support tenants to make sure they're getting everything they're entitled to in terms of benefits and support.
The cost of living crisis has seen far more of our tenants struggling financially. By using the current Responsible Tenant Reward funding to put more funds into the work of our Tenancy Sustainment Team we can support more of our tenants in financial need.
This could include advice and support with money matters, debt advice and supporting with rent arrears, help to claim benefits - and challenging wrong decisions, taking action to avoid the danger of eviction from non-payment of rent, help with other costs, like the rising costs of energy, help with finding food or sourcing items for the home like furniture or white goods (fridges, freezers, cookers etc).
Supporting both of these options
It's possible that the Responsible Tenant Reward could be used to support both of these options.
We want your views
We'd like your views on these options or to hear if you have any other thoughts on how this money could be spent in the future.
You can do this by completing the short form below or to open this form in a separate browser, click here.
The deadline for getting your views is Sunday 5 January 2025.
Once the deadline has passed, we'll look at all the responses we've received and will let you know what the decision is and, if it is to stop, what the money will be used for in the future.
