Interim Residents Panel

As part of the planned building safety reforms, HSE will be the new Building Safety Regulator (BSR) in England. Under the Bill, which is currently going through Parliament, BSR must set up a Residents' Panel. This will give residents an ongoing voice to help shape the work of BSR in England.

Meanwhile, we're setting up an Interim Residents' Panel that will help us

• prepare for the new regulatory framework
• set up the Residents' Panel

The interim panel will be a small group of about 15 people. It will be made up of a mix of residents and representatives from organisations. We will make sure that members represent people with different experiences.

What we need you to do

Members of the interim panel will need to work quickly to provide advice on a lot of important and complex projects. This will include:

• helping to design the future Residents' Panel and how it will operate
• helping us to set future policies - such as:
  • guidance on residents' rights and duties
  • how dutyholders should provide information to residents
  • complaints procedures
• helping BSR to understand how to communicate with residents of high-rise buildings:
  • through guidance, our website and campaign materials
  • assessing how well we're communicating
• informing BSR processes and procedures
• helping to meet HSE's interests and priorities

Members of the panel will not be asked to:

• handle or investigate individual resident complaints
• advise on matters that sit outside BSR's area of responsibility

Who we're looking for

Panel members will need to:

• work as part of a team of volunteers
• work flexibly and often quickly
• contribute to different types of work
• quickly establish credibility with both HSE colleagues and other panel members
• develop and share your views on the current areas of work - based on:
  • your personal experience
  • other evidence
  • your understanding of the policy and new regulatory frameworks
• draw on your communication and analytical skills
• act decisively in offering opinion and making recommendations
• keep projects moving forward

We may invite the panel to take part in wider working groups across government.

Some training and guidance will be provided to help panel members do this work, however the demands of this work and the rapid pace of activity coupled with its complex nature may mean you feel this is not the right volunteering opportunity for you.

If not, you may be more interested in joining our Residents Research Group. It will be a bigger group of residents designed for responsive information gathering on specific topics eg. through short questionnaires. The larger membership is intended to provide a more inclusive and representative mix of residents.

If you subscribe to the BSR newsletter, we'll let you know when we're ready to invite people to join that group.

Roles in the Interim Residents' Panel

Resident members

To be a resident member, we need you to:

• live in a high-rise building (or have recently lived in one) in England
• be willing to make a time commitment to the work of the panel:
  • volunteer about 30 hours of your time in total between December 2021 and December 2022
  • attend meetings (about 2 hours each) every 2 months
  • spend about 2 hours preparation or follow up time between meetings
• be comfortable considering and sharing views on a range of information and issues
• give feedback and provide views on proposals
• be able to work as part of a team
• consider issues in a forward-thinking manner

We would also welcome residents who have experience of seeking views or representing views of their fellow residents.

Members from organisations

We need representatives from organisations that represent residents and non-resident leaseholder owners. Representatives from these organisations must have the following skills and experience:

• experience and knowledge in resident engagement and resident representation
• experience of engaging with, and resolving, issues within high-rise building environments
• able to consider issues holistically
• able to consider issues in a forward-thinking manner

Chair

The Chair will be an HSE representative. They will:

• help panel members to bring relevant issues to our attention
• make sure members concentrate on matters that sit within BSR's area of responsibility

Join the interim panel

To tell us you're interested in joining the Interim Residents' Panel, you need to apply by 5pm on Monday 1 November.

What you need to do

For individuals

Tell us:

• Why you want to be a member of the panel (up to 200 words)
• Why you think you are a good candidate (up to 200 words)
• How you have shared your opinions about living in a high-rise building (up to 200 words)
• What you hope to gain personally from being on the panel (up to 200 words)

For organisations

Tell us:

• What your organisation brings to the role and how your representative meets the person requirements (up to 500 words)
• How your organisation has represented or supported residents (3 examples of up to 200 words)
• Who your representative is, what they do and any relevant experience they have (up to 500 words)

Apply online

Tell us you're interested in joining the interim panel

Apply by email

If you cannot use our online form, you can apply by email.

Email [email protected] with the following information:

• your name
• whether you're applying to be a resident member or to represent an organisation

We'll send you an application form to complete and return to us.

Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role. We look forward to receiving your application

What happens next

We will read the applications.  We will consider who meets the criteria for the roles We also need to make sure that members have a good balance of expertise and experience.

We will inform you of the outcome as soon as we can after the closing date. We are currently planning the first meeting of the panel for 16 December 2021.

If you're not successful, we may ask if you want to be part of our Residents' Research Group. If you opt-in, we'll email you when we start inviting people to join the group.  You can also subscribe to the BSR newsletter. When we're ready to invite people to join the research group, we'll include details in the newsletter.

What else you need to know

You'll be free to leave the panel at any time. But we may also ask you to leave if you cannot fully take part or cannot give us the time commitment we need.

We'll ask members to agree to a code of conduct. We'll expect you to follow this as a condition of being a member.

We'll pay reasonable travel expenses for attending meetings, working groups and other panel business. We'll give you full details in our travel policy.

We expect to hold most of the meetings online. In some circumstances, we may be able to lend you the equipment you need to attend these meetings.

You will need to declare any conflict of interest you or your organisation may have. This may be financial or other personal interest that may, or may be perceived to, influence your performance on the IRP.

As a member of the panel, you will be expected to demonstrate a commitment to the Seven Principles of Public Life.

Openness and confidentiality

Where possible the documents about meetings will be open. But you may have access to confidential information during your work with the panel. We will make it clear which information is confidential. You must not share confidential information with anyone outside the panel.

Proposed work

We are doing a lot of work to set up the permanent Residents' Panel and BSR. This will make sure the safety of residents is at the heart of the new framework. Work of the panel may include:

The Building Safety Regulator

• the strategic plan
• the annual statement of resident engagement
• establishing the Residents' Panel
• the types of activity that needs reporting (mandatory occurrence reporting)
• regulator's complaints system

The new regulatory framework

• registration and certification/assessment of high-rise buildings
• information provided for residents by the regulator
• accountable person's (the person or organisation in charge of the building) resident engagement strategy
• information requests, provision and exchanges between accountable person and residents
• control and management of building safety risks by accountable person
• building safety manager competence and interaction with residents

Residents' duties and responsibilities

• provision of information and guidance to explain residents' and owners' duties and responsibilities
• understanding and addressing barriers to communicating and delivering messages

Communication activities

• developing BSR brand and identity
• awareness raising and information sharing on building safety
• building safety web presence and website as source of information for industry and residents
• industry engagement activities