Housing Ombudsman launches wider investigation into London borough after “ongoing failures”
The Housing Ombudsman is to conduct an investigation into the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham to see if shortcomings in its handling of complaints, as well as its handling of repair reports, are indicative of wider failure.
Using powers within the Ombudsman’s Scheme, it will produce a learning report for the landlord based on investigations into individual complaints and wider engagement and make recommendations for service improvement.
The Ombudsman has 13 open cases involving the council that have been assessed as high or medium risk, as well as making 12 findings of severe maladministration across five cases since 1 April 2022.
It has been monitoring incoming complaints and is concerned about reports of delays to repairs and poor communication.
Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “After repeated failures in the past year by this landlord, we’ve seen a high number of cases concerning the landlord identified as high or medium risk.
“Under the circumstances, I have asked my team to expedite these investigations.”
Blakeway said other cases with the Ombudsman concerned similar issues and might indicate a repeated failing. Conducting a further investigation, using the systemic powers under paragraph 49 of the Scheme to identify areas for the landlord to learn and improve, was therefore required, he added.
The Ombudsman will publish a learning report after the investigation highlighting any issues identified in the cases investigated and make recommendations to the landlord where appropriate.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s Strategic Director of Economy, Jon Pickstone, said: “We fully recognise the historic failings in our handling of complaints and repairs in our ageing housing stock.
“The severe maladministration findings referenced by the Ombudsman relate to a period when one of our three major contractors exited abruptly, the impact of which was exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.”
Pickstone added that Hammersmith and Fulham apologised unreservedly to those affected. “We have failed to provide them with services that reflect the high standards that we expect and they deserve. We have learned lessons from every case and implemented changes as a result. Our residents’ homes should be safe, secure and fit for purpose.”
He also said that the local authority was continuing to upgrade its housing repairs service, including successfully exiting an underfunded 10-year maintenance contract in 2019.
“We have now increased funding for repairs to £30m annually, established a dedicated repairs taskforce, appointed a new council housing senior management team and hired additional contractors to undertake works more quickly and effectively in a ‘right first time’ approach,” he sad.
“We are also investing more than £600m to radically improve our council homes over the next 12 years.”
Harry Rodd
