Housing Ombudsman reports improved compliance but issues record levels of complaint handling failure orders

The Housing Ombudsman issued 52 complaint handling failure orders (CHFOs) between July and September this year – the most since the reports began being published in 2021.

These orders are intended to help landlords deliver the Complaint Handling Code and carry out effective resolution of complaints, helping them identify any issues that could prevent residents experiencing a positive complaints process.

The orders are issued for non-compliance with the Code or Scheme, typically where landlords have not progressed a resident’s complaint through their own procedure or provided evidence to the Ombudsman to support an investigation.

According to the Ombudsman’s latest CHFO report, although the number of orders has increased overall, there was a decrease in the percentage of those that were non-compliant, moving from 42% in the previous quarter down to 27%.

The Ombudsman described the progress in this statistic as “encouraging”.

The Ombudsman added that whilst it was still getting 100% compliance with the orders that it sets out to landlords after an investigation, there was an increase in the number of CHFOs it had to issue to force the landlord to provide evidence things had been put right for the resident following an investigation.

In some cases, orders have been issued on new complaints to landlords where the Ombudsman has already had to do intervention work. On the back of this, the Ombudsman has written to the landlords with more than one non-complaint CHFO.

The Ombudsman listed the landlords that did not comply with its orders as: Falcon Housing Association C.I.C, Southward Housing Cooperative, Oxford City Council, Housing for Women (four CHFOs), Wilfrid East London Housing Cooperative, Poplar HARCA, Warwick District Council, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Metropolitan Thames Valley, RHP, and the Polish Retired Persons Housing Association.

For those landlords who have received more than one CHFO, the Ombudsman has added a new section to the report, sharing the learning from these cases in more detail with the aim of ensuring that other landlords do not repeat the same failings.

The report contains key lessons from all of the cases involved within the report and shares information and guidance around the Ombudsman’s intervention work, which limits the need for formal action.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “These orders help landlords resolve complaints themselves, so that residents trust the process and social landlords deliver the most positive and effective complaints experience of any sector.

“It is exceptional for us to issue a failure order and every one comes after several attempts to engage the landlord. The increase in the number we are issuing will be a key focus of ours as we receive our Duty to Monitor powers when the Complaint Handling Code becomes statutory next year.”

Blakeway said he was encouraged to see the level of non-compliance with orders reduce.

“This shows that although a landlord has not initially responded, the weight of the order brings them into an effective response,” he suggested.

“However, there are two clear themes from this report. Firstly, orders have been issued to landlords where concerns have been raised following our formal investigations and we’ve been assured changes are being made. Yet these orders relate to new complaints they were handling within the last three months. This indicates there may be more work for them to do.

“Secondly, where orders have not been complied with, landlords have often mentioned staff shortages. I have long made the case that the executive needs to ensure that complaints teams are adequately resourced, as there is no evidence complaint volumes are going to reduce in the short-term.”

The Ombudsman called on landlords to assess their complaints procedure as the Complaint Handling Code becomes statutory. This means ensuring their complaints teams have the resources and leverage within the landlord to do their job and to ensure there is fairness for residents when making a complaint.

Harry Rodd