Ombudsman sees highest level yet of non-compliance in complaint handling failure orders

The Housing Ombudsman has recorded the highest level of non-compliance with its complaint handling failure orders (CHFOs) since it began its quarterly reporting.

From April to June 2023, the Ombudsman issued 43 CHFOs with 18 of those not being complied with, which was “the most non-compliance in one quarter”.

The report notes that the purpose of CHFOs is to ensure a landlord’s complaint handling process is “accessible, consistent and enables the timely progression of complaints”.

CHFOs are issued to support residents to raise or escalate a complaint within their landlord’s procedure, gather evidence to progress a formal investigation or address outstanding compliance with the Ombudsman’s remedies.

The Ombudsman revealed that it has written to the organisations who did not comply with more than one order: Alpha Housing Co-operative, Southwark Council (x3), L&Q, Arneway Housing Co-operative, Haringey Council (x2), Reliance Social Housing C.I.C, Barking and Dagenham Council (x3), Aves Housing, Ash-Shahada Housing Association, Polish Retired Persons Housing Association, A2Dominion Group, Havering Council and My Space Housing Solutions.

For the landlords who received more than one CHFO, the Ombudsman has shared the learning from these cases “in more detail, so that other landlords do not repeat the same failings”, it revealed.

In the same quarter (April – June 2023), the Ombudsman sent out 4,087 notices to landlords requiring them to act in response to a resident’s complaint, of which 2,937 were first notices, 755 second and 395 final notices.

The Ombudsman intervened in 6,110 cases, with 66% requiring “escalation” into its formal process to issue a CHFO. The Ombudsman noted that this figure “demonstrates the prevalence of failure to comply with the timescales for responding to complaints”.

Three landlords were highlighted by the regulator for taking “effective action to strengthen complaint handling” during the quarter. These were: Waltham Forest Council, Stonewater and Livv Housing.

The report went on to highlight the ‘key lessons’ which landlords can take from the orders this quarter, including:

• Landlords must ensure they have robust processes in place to raise and respond to complaints effectively. They should identify at the earliest opportunity if an extension is required and provide clear reasons for this as well as when the response will be provided.
• Landlords should co-operate with requests from the Ombudsman for evidence and information whilst the complaint is within their internal complaints procedure, otherwise we are unable to determine whether responses for delays are reasonable or not.
• Landlords should also not block requests for information because they think they know our jurisdiction, that is up to the Ombudsman to decide and can sometimes be discretionary depending on the case and context.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “It is exceptional for us to issue a failure order and every one comes after several attempts to engage the landlord. For a landlord to receive several and not comply, indicates its complaints procedure is not working as it should.

“The result is residents continually waiting for redress and landlords missing opportunities to put something right sooner."

Blakeway added: “It is vital landlords assess their complaints procedure as the Complaint Handling Code becomes statutory. This means ensuring its complaints team has the resources and leverage within the landlord to do its job.

“This report provides valuable insight into current complaint handling approaches and highlights where there may be weaknesses in culture, policy, procedure or challenges relating to resource. I would encourage all landlords be proactive in making the changes needed ahead of the statutory Code to ensure there is fairness for residents when making a complaint.”

Lottie Winson