Mears and TAROE, the Tenants' and Residents' Organisations of England, welcome today's launch of ASERT - a pioneering joint venture between the private and public sectors which will provide a range of services developed by tenants for tenants.
Mears has taken a leading role and invested in the formation of ASERT further delivering on its commitment to excellent corporate citizenship. This is an exciting example of the private sector delivering the Big Society agenda by listening to what communities want and enabling them to deliver it for themselves. As the first provider to be assessed by ASERT, Mears will use the outcomes from benchmarks to continuously improve its' customer service.
Mears and TAROE believe that ASERT will deliver important changes within local communities, empowering them to get the best from their service providers. ASERT's broad range of bespoke service offerings includes an innovative approach to service; tenants will be trained to externally assess and independently verify the services they receive from providers such as Mears. Individuals will be placed at the heart of all service delivery, whilst receiving skills and training, paid employment and the opportunity to develop tenant-led services and products.
The ethos of ASERT lies at the heart of the Big Society agenda and provides an important means of delivering it. The role of tenant led community change has been fully endorsed by the recent CLG pledge of funding for Tenant Panels, with Housing Minister Grant Shapps MP stating that: "England's council housing tenants hold the key to improving their own neighbourhoods". We agree and believe that ASERT has the potential to make sustainable change, building positive futures for communities across the UK.