Scrutiny Panels and Registered Tenant Organisations

Team Blackwood logo a t-shirt with Team Blackwood written on it.

Team Blackwood

Team Blackwood are our regional scrutiny panels.  These are groups of tenants from across Scotland who regularly get together to review Blackwood’s performance.  They are focused on making sure Blackwood measures up to our promises and help to set new service standards.

The panels discuss a wide range of issues that affect you as a tenant.  They can help shape things like the home upgrade programme and the selection of contractors carrying out services in your area.

We currently have three Team Blackwood groups, who are based in our East, West and North regions. If you wish to get involved in Team Blackwood please inform your Housing Officer.

If you would like to have an influence in decisions about the housing and care services that you receive then please do get involved!

Registered Tenant Organisations and Tenants Groups

A Registered Tenant Organisation (RTO) is an independent organisation set up mainly to represent tenants’ housing and related interests. We currently have one Registered Tenant’s Organisation based at Broom Court in Stirling. We also have more informal tenant’s groups across many of our developments. These groups allow customers to discuss local issues related to their development with their Housing Officers.

If you are interested in joining the Broom Court RTO, or would like to form either a Registered Tenant’s Organisation or informal tenant’s group in your development, please contact your Housing Officer.

Get Involved

Engaging with our customers is very important to Blackwood so we would love to hear from you if you want to help us improve services and plan for the future. 

We have many volunteer opportunities for you to get involved - it doesn’t matter if you can spare 5 minutes or 5 hours – we value your time. We can also provide you with digital skills, WiFi and a tablet if you would like to get invlolved from the comfort of your own home.

Check out the list below and see how you can make a difference.

Customer Engagement Plan

Our Customer Engagement Plan sets out how we will engage more with our customers and do this in new and fun ways. Have your say on things that matter to you like the Rent Consultation process and the large tenant survey. You can see what is coming up next and the plan for the next 3 years here.

Tenants Groups

Tenants groups get together to tackle issues and we have a number across Blackwood. If you are interested in joining a group or starting up a new one contact your local housing officer – you can find their contact details  here. We provide support and training for new and existing groups and it’s a great way to meet your neighbours and have some fun.

Scrutiny Panels

Set up in each of our 3 regions, Scrutiny Panels focus on making sure Blackwood’s performance measures up to our promises and undertake a range of different types of scrutiny activities acting as a critical friend to the organisation.  As part of this role tenants also have the opportunity to take part in other activities such as selection panels for recruitment of contractors carrying out services in that area.  Membership is open to any tenant in that region.  If you are interested in joining one of our Scrutiny Panels please contact your local Housing Officer.

Tenant Ambassadors

We are keen to encourage, train and equip local resident volunteers (Tenant Ambassadors) who really want to do something locally that might help others in the area.   For example it’s really helpful to have local tenants who can:

  •  Support new tenants to understand what’s available in the local community
  •  Distribute information - help spread the word on what we do
  •  Use their skills to help others (e.g. gardening/handyperson/benefits)
  •  Provide stories for the tenant newsletter, Messenger
  •  Promote the benefits of new media (IT champions – show people how)
  •  Establish circles of support (from people to people like you)
  •  Help plant flowering bulbs and tend to plants

If you’d like to sign up to become an ambassador then please contact your local housing officer using the contact details provided.

Blackwood Membership

Tenant members of Blackwood are encouraged to attend the Annual General Meeting and help shape the direction of the company. If you are interested in joining Blackwood as a member then go to our membership page.

In all our customer engagement activities we make every effort to use accessible venues and do everything we can to support tenants with particular needs, whether you need sign language interpreters, large print or audio information. Many of our activities can be done by post or phone so even if you cannot leave your house you can still participate!  We plan to do more engagement activities using the internet and video conferencing options to encourage customers to get involved.