Trident tenants training to execute the UK’s first social audit

Published by Dawn Prentice for Dawn Prentice Communications in Communities and also in Education, Environment, Health, Housing

The Trident Social Investment Group (TSIG) is providing training for ten of its tenants, who volunteered to play a greater role in the running of the organisation. These tenants are members of a panel which will oversee the group-wide social audit of all its activities, the first comprehensive social audit of a housing association in the UK.

The purpose of the audit is to measure community impact and the social return on investment.  The Trident Social Investment Group wants to involve more of its tenants in its governance and wants to create opportunities to build their personal and professional development skills.  This includes how to interpret 360 degree data which forms part of performance information, measure the social return on investment, and contrast the views of stakeholders (including tenants).

The tenants who are being trained to become members of the Social Audit Panel are working alongside Trident staff and a range of direct and indirect stakeholders.

TSIG incorporating housing associations, charities and social enterprise and which provides housing to 6,000 people across the Midlands, is celebrating 50 years of community achievement throughout 2012. Trident is marking its 50^th Anniversary and five decades of housing the most vulnerable and meeting community needs by embedding its social investment ethos throughout the group.

John Morris, Chief Executive, Trident Social Investment Group said: ‘By conducting a social audit of the Group’s activities, will help us to ensure that the social investment ethic permeates all of our policies, procedures and activities.  Supporting our tenants to give them the opportunity to attain the necessary skills and knowledge will enable them to play a much bigger part in the social audit.  The social audit panel will help us to measure the impact of our activities and ensure that the deployment of all our assets can generate social returns beyond the provision of homes and services’.

TSIG resident Gary Mills said: ‘The training is quite challenging, but it is really important for us as tenants, to be part of the social audit.  As well as understanding how to analyse the data, it is crucial that we can see how money is spent and measure the social return in terms of how much impact it has on communities including disadvantaged groups and individuals.

www.tridentsocialinvestmentgroup.com