Housing Ombudsman makes performance data for social landlords public with new database

The Housing Ombudsman has - for the first time - published performance data on all landlords in its scheme with complaints recorded in 2019-20, as part of an effort to increase openness and transparency.

The public database lists complaints lodged against social landlords and categorises the kinds of complaints made. It also lists whether the Ombudsman ordered a response to the complaint and records the time taken for landlords to put things right.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said that publishing the data marked a step towards greater transparency of the watchdog's work and its impact.

Blakeway added: "Complaints data offers a rich source of learning to support landlord service improvement.

"We hope that both residents and landlords will find them useful and I would encourage landlords to review their annual report at a senior level to support a positive complaint handling culture across their organisation."

Users can compare a landlord's performance against the average of similar landlords with the tool. For instance, performance reports for councils on the database show how an individual authority compares against all local authorities and Arm's-length management organisations (ALMOs).

In addition, the Ombudsman has provided some geographical analysis of its determinations in 2019-20. The analysis shows that the highest number of complaints brought to the Ombudsman for formal investigation was in Greater London while the North East had the lowest.

For the 2020-21 data, the Ombudsman plans to present the data on an interactive map for a geographical breakdown of performance. A search bar for landlords and residents to be able to search the data by postcode area is also in the works.

The database can be found on the Housing Ombudsman's website.

Adam Carey