Line managers
A three-hour course for housing line managers on taking over abusive calls, enforcing behaviour policy, recording evidence and reporting the risk.
Discuss this course
Why the course matters
This course is for line managers, team leaders and service supervisors in housing associations whose teams handle hostile calls about repairs, rent, anti-social behaviour and safeguarding. It complements Dealing with Challenging Phone Calls, which is for the staff who take those calls. The Safety Hub page on managing challenging calls sets out the staff-side structure.
Who it is for
Housing association line managers, team leaders and service supervisors who manage staff taking calls on repairs, rent arrears, anti-social behaviour and safeguarding.
It is for teams based in the office, at home, or working in an agile way. It is a strong fit where those teams have attended, or will attend, Dealing with Challenging Phone Calls.
Practical outcomes
Managers leave able to tell a difficult complaint from unacceptable abuse, step in on the call, and record what happened so the organisation can act.
Course content
Scenarios and practical application
The session uses housing scenarios and group activities. Managers practise takeover, a safe call-back, ending a call, crisis calls, and the follow-up with the tenant.
Home-based and agile staff are included. Managers look at how to support someone who has no colleague beside them, including a simple digital alert that brings a manager in.
Allow up to five weeks from confirmation to the first session. That depends on trainer availability and your own staff availability. The window is used to review your policies, build your reporting routes into the material, and give teams time to attend. Where a programme runs across several sessions, the full schedule is agreed up front so you can plan cover.
In-house at your premises, or live online with a trainer. Both formats are tutor-led and cover the same content, discussion and scenario work.
In person across England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Live online sessions can be delivered to teams anywhere in the world. Training is delivered in English, with live subtitles through Microsoft Teams or PowerPoint, which can translate captions into the delegate's own language. Where legislation differs across the UK and Ireland, we research the law that applies to you and build it into the material rather than delivering the England and Wales position by default.
Larger workforces are trained as a planned programme, not a single booking. The schedule is agreed at the start and worked around shift patterns and cover. Where travel is involved we will look at consecutive days. Half-day courses often run back to back, morning and afternoon on the same day, with a saving on the half-day rate. Sessions are delivered by associate trainers. We keep the same trainer where we can.
We do not publish prices. Cost depends on group numbers, delivery format, travel, overnight accommodation where the location requires it, and how much bespoke design a programme needs. Any figure published here would be misleading.
It is for housing association line managers, team leaders and service supervisors. Their teams may take calls on responsive repairs, rent arrears, anti-social behaviour or safeguarding, in the office, at home, or while working in an agile way.
Dealing with Challenging Phone Calls is for the staff who take the calls. This course is for the managers they turn to. It covers stepping in, enforcing the behaviour policy, capturing evidence, supporting the team afterwards and reporting the risk to senior leaders.
Managers work through housing scenarios in groups. They practise sorting a call, using an amber-zone approach (acknowledge, state the limit, redirect and warn), taking over, arranging a safe call-back, ending a call, and responding when a caller talks about suicide. Vulnerability can explain distress. It does not excuse abuse.
It covers the employer duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and risk assessment under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. It covers the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, which is a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. That Act is not a general duty to prevent all harassment by callers. The session also explains Employment Rights Act 2025 harassment changes, and keeps them distinct from duties that are already in force.
Yes. The session can use your behaviour policy, your escalation routes, your call recording rules and the way you mark risk on a customer record. The aim is that managers leave with thresholds and protocols they can use on the next shift.
Every delegate receives a certificate of attendance, a PDF copy of the certificate and PDF course handouts. Managers also take away a pocket card and a personal action plan.
Free, maintained guidance from our Safety Hub on the subjects this course covers.
Tell us what you need and we will quote for it.
Discuss this coursePractical insight and resources built from thirty years at the frontline.
Practical controls for violence, aggression, conflict, reporting and review.
Guidance for staff who work alone, visit, travel, or need check-in and escalation.
Abusive calls, repeated contact, boundary setting, records and escalation.
What non-specialist staff should notice, record in fact, and refer.
Gifts, over-familiarity, unofficial contact and pressure to bend the rules.
What to check before a visit, and what to do if a dog is present.
How scenario practice tests real workplace decisions without theatrical conflict.
Travel, walking and public transport. Written for employers to share with staff.
Tell us about your staff roles, working environment and the situations your staff face. We will recommend the right training approach for your organisation.
Trusted by organisations across the UK for practical, scenario-led staff safety training.
