The Social Housing Round Table

AI is already finding its way into social housing, but how much can we trust what it tells us? In this Social Housing Round Table session, Matt Goodwin-Baird was joined by George McFerran, Director at Wyser, to explore the truth about bias and hallucination in AI and what these risks mean when the technology is used in a tenant-first environment. The discussion looked at how automatic speech recognition and large language models work, why AI can inherit human biases and produce inaccurate information, and the importance of getting the foundations right before using AI at scale. From regional accents and speech recognition to data protection, consent, governance and increasingly demanding regulatory requirements, the conversation explored both the opportunities and the risks. A recurring theme was that AI should enable people rather than replace them, combining technology's ability to process information at scale with the judgement, empathy and experience that only people can provide. A practical and thought-provoking conversation for anyone working with data, technology, customer services, governance or digital transformation in social housing. Big thank you to REACT by CMSG for sponsoring the Data and Technology Stream and to Alertacall Ltd for sponsoring The Social Housing Round Table, without them, none of this would be possible.

Content warning: this session discusses suicide and suicide prevention. Please take care of yourself when listening. In episode 241 of the Social Housing Round Table, Matt Baird is joined by Andrea Newton, Founder of Confident Conversations and a qualified suicide intervention tutor, for one of the most important conversations the platform has hosted. Matt opens the session with a tribute to Paul Bridge, a friend of the Round Table who ran a suicide prevention session on this platform a couple of years ago, and who has since died by suicide. Today's session is dedicated to him. Andrea brings decades of experience training people from across sectors — from Samaritans volunteers to the Ministry of Justice — to have the sensitive conversations that can save lives. Her central argument is simple but challenging: less than half of the people who die by suicide in the UK would be classed as mentally ill. The majority are people who are simply overwhelmed by life. And housing professionals — going into people's homes, dealing with their finances, their neighbours, their behaviour — are uniquely placed to notice when something has changed. The session covers the three core principles of suicide prevention: spotting the signs, opening the conversation, and signposting to help. It tackles the fear of saying the wrong thing and why compassion and curiosity matter more than a perfect script. It explores Andrea's challenge to the sector to shift from asking people to reach out, to actively reaching in. And it addresses the intersection of suicide and domestic abuse — a connection that is more common than many people realise. Contributions from around the room brought the conversation to life, including a powerful account from a housing professional who had helped a tenant disclose suicidal thoughts during what had initially presented as a rent arrears issue, and supported her through it. As Andrea put it: it is the silence that kills. Andrea runs a free webinar on 15th September on the connection between suicide and domestic abuse. Find out more and access her training at confidentconversations.co.uk. Big thank you to Alertacall Ltd for sponsoring The Social Housing Round Table, without them, none of this would be possible.

The Competency and Conduct Standard arrives in October 2026. Around 30,000 people will need a Level 4 or Level 5 qualification. Many organisations are still figuring out who is in scope. And if you came back in 12 months, according to this week's guest, not much will have changed. In episode 240 of the Social Housing Round Table, Matt Goodwin-Baird is joined by John Williams, Head of Sales for Housing and Property at Learning Curve Group, for a frank and wide-ranging conversation about what the standard really means for the future of housing professionals — and whether the sector is approaching it in the right way. John brings three and a half years of living and breathing the Competency and Conduct Standard from a training and qualification perspective, and he does not shy away from the more uncomfortable questions. He makes a pointed comparison with health and social care — a sector where the vast majority of staff hold a recognised qualification — and asks why housing, which deals with equally complex and consequential situations, has historically been the opposite. His view is direct: the standard should have started with frontline staff, the people who have the most contact with tenants, rather than senior management. And while he understands why the decision went the other way, he believes that gap will need to be closed. The conversation covers the difference between CIH standalone qualifications and apprenticeships, the skills gap being created by focusing only at senior levels, the question of what happens when qualifications become dated, and the cultural shift that needs to accompany any compliance-driven change. The open discussion that followed was honest and engaged, with contributions from practitioners at every level of the sector. John's prediction for 12 months' time: not much will have changed. His prediction for 24 months: that is where the real shift begins. Big thank you to Alertacall Ltd for sponsoring The Social Housing Round Table, without them, none of this would be possible.

Please note that this session experienced some technical difficulties with connectivity. The content and conversation are well worth your time and we appreciate the patience of everyone who joined us on the day. Devolution is reshaping how power is distributed across England. New combined authorities are taking on responsibilities for housing, planning, transport, regeneration, and public services. And TPAS believes this moment represents one of the biggest opportunities for tenants to influence housing strategy since social housing began. In episode 239 of the Social Housing Round Table, guest hosted by Elaine Middleton, Caritas Charles, Head of Policy at TPAS, shares the thinking behind a new paper launching on 3rd September — a proposal for how devolution can be used to embed tenant voices into regional decision-making in a meaningful and lasting way. The proposal centres on a pilot model: starting with one region, focusing on two or three live housing decisions, building a shared regional evidence base, recruiting beyond existing representatives, and connecting tenants directly to the regional decision-makers who hold real power over their lives. Social housing is the natural starting point, Caritas argues, because the infrastructure already exists — consumer standards, Tenant Satisfaction Measure evidence, and established resident networks. But the ambition is broader. A regional housing voice that excludes private renters, shared owners, or people in temporary accommodation cannot credibly claim to represent the communities it speaks for. The open discussion that followed brought in two particularly powerful voices. Alicia Mortlock described the work already underway through Independent East, where a tenant-led panel is setting its own agenda across five housing associations and preparing to present to the Norfolk and Suffolk Housing Partnership — and expressed genuine shock at how much power tenants have when they organise regionally. Daisy, chair of the G15 Residents Group, shared how that group has been actively feeding into the Mayor of London's housing strategy consultations, in some cases as the only resident voice responding to GLA proposals. The paper launches on 3rd September. Caritas's ask is simple: read it, share it, and help build the public enthusiasm that will make this move from proposal to reality. Big thank you to ASB App by CMSG Ltd for sponsoring the Customer and Community stream and of course, to Alertacall Ltd for sponsoring The Social Housing Round Table, without them, none of this would be possible.

Around 15 to 20 percent of people are estimated to be neurodivergent in some way. That means a significant proportion of both the housing workforce and the residents it serves are experiencing the world differently - and in many cases, working within systems and environments that were simply not designed with them in mind. In this episode of the Social Housing Round Table, Matt Baird is joined by Chloe Tilford, Head of Training and Consultancy at the Housing Diversity Network, for a warm and genuinely accessible introduction to neurodiversity in the workplace — what it means, what it looks like in practice, and what housing organisations can do to better support neurodiverse colleagues and residents alike. Chloe walks through the breadth of what sits under the neurodiversity umbrella, the difference between the medical and social models of disability and why it matters, and the important reality that conditions overlap, co-occur, and present very differently from person to person. She also addresses some of the harder truths — the significant underdiagnosis of neurodivergent conditions in women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds, the eight-year waiting lists for ADHD assessments in some areas, and the persistent media narratives that run directly counter to what the scientific research actually says. The conversation moves into practical territory too — what reasonable adjustments actually mean, how organisations can shift from a place of fear and uncertainty to one of genuine curiosity, and why getting communication right for neurodiverse residents is increasingly something the Housing Ombudsman is paying attention to. HDN's neurodiversity training programme, developed in partnership with Professor Amanda Kirby — one of the country's leading experts in the field — is available to housing organisations, and a comprehensive toolkit will be available via the HDN website. Details on how to access both are shared at the end of the session. Big thank you to REACT App by CMSG Ltd for sponsoring the Data and Technology stream and of course, to Alertacall Ltd for sponsoring The Social Housing Round Table, without them, none of this would be possible.