Scrutiny Involvement for Tenants (SIFT)
The Scrutiny Involvement for Tenants (SIFT) group scrutinises the Council’s housing services.
The group of tenants and leaseholders are all volunteers. Together they look into the issues affecting the management of their homes.
The group can:
- choose which services to scrutinize, and prioritise key areas to look at
- involve tenants and leaseholders in their activities
- collect and analyse evidence
- make recommendations to senior management at Newcastle City Council to improve services
- agree action plans, then track and review their progress
- tell other tenants what the panel is doing and encourage them to get involved
Join the SIFT group
If you would like to volunteer:
Hear from one of the members of the group
Want to know more about what being a part of SIFT involves? Hear from one of the members below:
“Being part of SIFT is an interesting and varied role, it involves scrutinizing a variety of different areas within the Council. We first do this by collecting a wide range of evidence on the given area for scrutiny, we then make recommendations on how we think the subject area in question could be improved, and then we track and monitor any progress that we have made through our suggested recommendations with the relevant heads of service at the council every six months. Many of the recommendations that we have made throughout the years have been warmly welcomed and implemented by the Council. I'm really proud of this because I know I played a part and it also improves the lives of others.
“I joined SIFT 7 years ago. Being an unemployed mum-of-two for nearly ten years, I wanted to become more involved in my local community because I am really passionate about where I live. It is an area that has served me and my family very well over the years and it is also an area that has so much potential. Most of the members of my local community are Newcastle City Council tenants, hence, being part of SIFT is really important for me. Not only does it allow me to increase my knowledge and understanding about the ‘ins and outs’ of social housing, but I also believe that being involved in helping to shape and improve the delivery of services by the council will ultimately have a positive impact on some of the housing challenges that people in my local community face on a daily basis.
“Moreover, by being a member of SIFT, I have also gained transferable skills such as how to prepare reports, feeding back information in a structured way to an audience of senior management, and how to provide informed recommendations based on research and investigations. These transferrable skills can be applied to a number of settings.
“So, If you're looking for a new challenge, perhaps simply wanting to get out of the house and meet new people, perhaps wanting to update or gain new skills to add to your CV, or even if you want to enhance your future employment prospects, I would say to anyone thinking of joining SIFT that not only would you be warmly welcomed, but you would also receive a whole range of support along your journey with us. Some of the support you could receive ranges from IT training, employability skills and general support towards your everyday expenses such as childcare or travel.
“One thing that’s for sure is that being a part of SIFT is extremely rewarding and satisfying.”