How we develop policy

Working together to secure change

Our mission is to support you to be brilliant. We work to secure change and to influence your operating environment.

We don’t do this alone. We do it with you.

Why?

• When housing associations in Wales speak with one voice it is a powerful force to secure change.
• As a trade body, working on your behalf, our credibility comes from strong representation.
• Close and continuous engagement ensures that we are responsive to changing issues and the impact of change. This helps us spot opportunities and risks and adapt to meet your needs.

How do we set our advocacy priorities?

• By speaking to housing association leaders about risks and opportunities facing their organisation and their priorities for CHC. For example, biannual survey and phone interviews with Chief Executives.
• Through ongoing engagement with our members. For example, through our Strategic Delivery Groups or one off engagement exercises such as our Influencing for a Better Future programme.
• Our own assessment of risk and horizon scanning. For example, perceptions audit, our external affairs strategy, horizon scanning activity internally.
• Through constructive challenge from our CHC Board who ensure that we are making progress against our vision and corporate plan and are representing members effectively.

How can you get involved?

• Join our Strategic Delivery Groups: These groups help us shape and deliver our key advocacy priorities and test emerging policy ideas. They also provide a space for you to engage with other colleagues and share insight and learning.
• Get involved in a Task and Finish Group: Our task and finish groups are often commissioned directly by CHC staff or act as sub groups to the Strategic Delivery Groups above. They provide a space for detailed work to develop policy solutions or products.
• Put yourself forward as a sector representative: Sector representatives sit on a myriad of different groups within Welsh Government. They are supported by CHC leads to provide their experience and insight and play an important role to take soundings from and report back to the wider membership through relevant Strategic Delivery Groups. The existing groups can be found here.
• Respond to requests for feedback: we will often send out requests for views on consultations, emerging issues or for data. We really welcome your input.

How do we come to a sector positon?

• We work with you to understand your views and the impact that an idea or policy has on your business, relationships with partners and your ambitions.
• We will try to identify consensus, where this exists to form a sector view.
• However, where views are disparate we will form a view based on your feedback, our own analysis of the risk (reputational, political and financial) and the materiality of impact on some or all of our members. Where there is significant divergence of views, we will recognise this in any CHC position.

What can you expect from CHC?

• We will provide opportunities for you to get involved in a transparent way.
• We will feedback how we have used your views and insight.
• We will seek views from a wide range of members to ensure we understand the impact and potential of policy change across housing associations.
• We will ensure that we engage a variety of members across our established delivery groups and other opportunities.
• Where circumstances mean that decisions need to be made very quickly we will engage with Chief Executives in the first instance.
• Our Board holds us to account to ensure that we appropriately represent the diversity of our members.