The Housing Ombudsman has launched a consultation for social housing landlords on its proposed approach for issuing good practice and potential topics.
The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 gives the ombudsman the power to issue guidance to scheme members on good practice in housing activities. The overarching aim is to drive improvements in housing provision through learning from complaints.
The ombudsman proposes an approach that encourages all landlords to self-assess at the point of issue, rather than wait for a complaint about the topic area, and an order from the ombudsman to do so.
“Good practice is not best practice,” the ombudsman service says, adding that “there may be entirely justifiable reasons a landlord feels unable to implement it”. The purpose of the self-assessment is to record those reasons, and for them to be scrutinised by the governing body, the organisation explains.
Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, said: “Almost every day we are asked: What does good look like? This is a brilliant question to be asked because it recognises the role that complaints play to support the development of effective policy and practice. This is where good practice comes in.
“The ability to issue good practice is a new power for the ombudsman contained in the Social Housing (Regulation) Act, but it has perhaps had less focus to date. This consultation sets out what it is and how we will approach it. It is an opportunity for you to help shape it, to maximise the benefits for landlords and residents.
“While Spotlight reports often recommend areas for landlords to develop policy, the role of good practice will help us be more focused and specific based on our casework and feedback through the consultation that will take place before we issue the guidance. This good practice will also be accompanied by a self-assessment tool to help landlords apply it.”
The consultation seeks feedback on the ombudsman’s principles of good practice and proposed approach to delivering good practice. The ombudsman is also seeking feedback on potential topics for the first good practice, which includes: Making an effective apology; deciding on appropriate levels of compensation; effective complaint handling during merger or stock transfer; effective root cause analysis of complaints; and knowledge and information management
Blakeway added: “This consultation proposes areas where we might issue good practice – ranging from effective apologies to rebuild trust with a resident through to the effective handling of complaints during merger or organisational change. We would welcome your ideas and suggestions too.”
The consultation will run from 26 March 2024 until 21 May 2024.
Complaint handling lessons
Last week, meanwhile, the ombudsman released is latest Complaint Handling Failure Order report.
This shows there was a “significant reduction” in the number of orders issued in this quarter compared to the previous one, with 25 landlords that had an order in the last period not receiving any this time.
According to the ombudsman, this shows how the orders can be effective to help landlords target areas for improvement.
However, eight landlords did receive orders in both periods, and the report includes case examples to support improvement, including compliance with the orders.
The Complaint Handling Code becomes statutory on 1 April 2024. As of then, all landlords will have to adhere to the new provisions in the code. Whilst there are minimal changes for the landlords who are already compliant, the ombudsman is urging all landlords to be ready.
Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, said: “These orders help landlords to identify where action is necessary to improve complaint handling, and with most landlords this appears to be successful. Ultimately, this helps complaints to be resolved earlier by the landlord itself, which is essential given the continued rise in complaints.
“As the Complaint Handling Code becomes statutory in less than two weeks’ time, we are urging landlords to read this report, and its predecessors, to ensure that complaint handling compliance is seen in practice as well as policy.
“This will form a key part of our duty to monitor work, where we will not just take the landlord’s word in their self-assessment if our casework is saying otherwise.”
The report provides insights into how landlords can ensure that not only is their policy compliant with the code, but it is consistently delivered in practice.
On the back of this report, the ombudsman has written to the landlords with more than one non-complaint CHFO. The landlords that did not comply with its orders are: Adullam Homes; Barking and Dagenham Council; Ealing Council; Lambeth Council; Lewisham Council; Luton Community Housing; Metropolitan Thames Valley; Sandwell Council; and Westminster City Council
Furthermore, the ombudsman also engaged with 27 landlords to help ensure their complaints policy was compliant with the code, following issues seen in complaints. This is the most in any quarter, the ombudsman says.
Blakeway added: “It is vital landlords assess their complaints procedure as the code becomes statutory. This also means ensuring its complaints team has the resources and leverage within the landlord to do its job and to ensure there is fairness for residents when making a complaint.”
Image credit: Housing Ombudsman
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