CPD module: complaint-handling with the Housing Ombudsman

Effective complaint-handling is a growing concern for social landlords due to a significant rise in the volume of complaints – up 55% since April 2023, according to Housemark data published in May. This is combined with tightening response timelines that will come into effect with the introduction of Awaab’s Law in October.

The Housing Ombudsman is an impartial service, set up by law to investigate and resolve residents’ complaints to their social landlords. Its services are free to all social housing residents, and range from advising tenants on how to make a complaint, to ordering landlords to respond to complaints and investigating them for complaint-handling failures and service failures. 

The ombudsman is seeing demand for its services grow year on year as a result of the economic environment, changing regulations and high-profile cases in the media, including Grenfell and Awaab Ishak, which raise awareness and cause spikes in demand. 

This CPD article will explain the Housing Ombudsman’s role and powers in complaint-handling, the different stages of the complaints process, the most common complaints and reasons for escalation, and best practice for handling complaints. 

What are the ombudsman’s powers when it comes to complaint-handling?

The Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code became statutory in April 2024, meaning all social landlords are now required by law to comply with the requirements of this code. They also have demonstrate their compliance by submitting self-assessments to the ombudsman.

The ombudsman has a legal duty to ensure that all landlords comply with the code, regardless of their size or operating model. 

Therefore the ombudsman has powers to make orders to landlords, including ordering a landlord to apologise, carry out works, or pay financial compensation to a resident. 

What are the different stages of the complaints process?

The ombudsman requires social landlords to have a two-stage complaints process: 

Stage 1

The landlord must acknowledge the complaint within five working days and provide a written response within 10 working days of the acknowledgement.

Stage 2

If a resident is not satisfied with the Stage 1 response, they can escalate to Stage 2. In Stage 2, the landlord must acknowledge the complaint within five working days and provide a written response within 20 working days of the acknowledgement. 

If the resident remains dissatisfied after Stage 2, they can escalate the complaint to the ombudsman. 

What happens when a resident complains to the ombudsman? 

When a resident contacts the ombudsman with a complaint, they are advised to first lodge the complaint with their landlord, if they have not already done so.

The ombudsman can support residents through their landlord’s complaints process to ensure the response is in line with the landlord’s complaints policy. This most commonly happens if they are not receiving a response to their complaint within the correct timescales.

Once a resident receives a final response letter from their landlord regarding a complaint and if they are happy, the ombudsman will close the case. If the resident is unhappy with the final response, they can progress the complaint to be investigated by the ombudsman. 

When investigating a complaint, the ombudsman will use relevant information such as the tenancy agreement, the original complaints and any relevant letters and policy documents to assess a case. The ombudsman will then make a determination, writing to the landlord and resident with its findings and orders from the investigation. It can then ask both the landlord and resident for evidence of compliance with its orders.

Residents can also escalate their case to the ombudsman at different points throughout their landlord’s complaints process, and can request a review if they are dissatisfied even after the ombudsman’s involvement.

When can landlords be served a complaint-handling failure order?

A complaint-handling failure order (CHFO) is issued if a landlord’s failings on an individual case mean that a resident is unable to progress their complaint. Most CHFOs are issued because landlords are: not progressing a complaint, not complying with an evidence request from the ombudsman, or not complying with orders determined by the ombudsman in its casework.

Multiple CHFOs against the same landlord are often a significant indicator that there is a systemic problem with the landlord’s complaint-handling, and the ombudsman can order landlords to look into and resolve this.

The ombudsman publishes details of all the CHFOs that it issues quarterly, including type, landlord name (individual staff members are not named) and whether the order was complied with. 

What issues cause the highest level of complaints from residents?

In 2023-24, these were the issues which caused the highest number of complaints to the Housing Ombudsman:

• Property condition (4,368 complaints)
• Complaint-handling (3,710)
• Anti-social behaviour (1,252)
• Estate management (715)
• Moving to a property (616)
• Charges (479)

Why do complaints escalate to the ombudsman, and how can landlords stop this from happening? 

Not responding to all points of a complaint. This is the number one reason for complaints escalating. If landlords respond to every single point of a complaint very clearly, it is often resolved without escalation. 

Not managing reasonable adjustments. Landlords failing to manage reasonable adjustments (for example, a resident’s communication needs) is a key driver of complaints escalating. Leveraging technology is helpful for preventing this.

Failing to meet agreed timescales. Landlords failing to deal with complaints or deliver resolutions within agreed timescales is a major cause of escalations. The code allows for extensions, but encourages landlords to extend deadlines at the earliest opportunity and only when absolutely necessary (extensions on deadline day are common) – so unreasonable extensions could mean non-compliancy. 

Failing to follow through on a resolution. Landlords often find the correct resolution during Stage 2, but do not fulfil it until the case has been escalated to the ombudsman. Sometimes, they offer a subsequent resolution after escalation. Landlords should find a good resolution and complete their commitments at Stage 2, not as an afterthought. 

Failing to recognise a complaint. Landlords sometimes fail to recognise when a complaint is a complaint – as opposed to a service request – as defined by the code, resulting in a disparity between the number of official complaints compared with the number of residents who believe they have complained. 

The rise of ‘hidden stage zeros’

The ombudsman is seeing increasing evidence of ‘hidden stage zeros’, ie complaints that do not make it to Stage 1 or Stage 2 because landlords will make an ‘off-record’ commitment for a quick fix instead of recording an official complaint. 

How should front-facing staff improve complaint-handling procedures?

Every member of staff, regardless of their role, is part of supporting an effective complaint handling culture. 

• Familiarity with the complaints process. Staff should familiarise themselves with their landlord’s complaints process and policy, and their own role and responsibility within that to ensure they can adhere to it.
• Member responsible for complaints. Staff should make sure they know who is the member responsible for complaints within their governing body. This person is responsible for ensuring that complaint-handling is working in the way that a company’s policies have intended it to – having one is a requirement of the code.
• Record-keeping and documentation. Staff should ensure that they record complaints on the correct system, alert the correct people within their organisation and follow up to make sure action has been taken. A complaint raised in a casual conversation is still a complaint.
• Taking ownership. Individual staff members should take ownership over a complaint on their patch and take responsibility for taking actions which will resolve it.
• Managing caseloads. When managing workload and time pressures, complaints should be prioritised, not marginalised. Staff should make time to review documents and deal with cases thoroughly, so it is not a rushed process as the deadline to respond looms.
• Communication with residents. Staff should communicate with residents in an open and transparent way in complaints cases, making sure to communicate the decisions they make and the rationale behind them. Kindness, respect and empathy go a long way.
• Communication with colleagues. Staff should be open and transparent with colleagues about the information they have used to make a decision on a complaint – especially if it was difficult to reach a decision due to gaps in evidence.
• Policy vs practice. Resident-facing staff are often best placed to spot a disconnect between policy and practice, based on what is not working well within their patch, and should communicate any disparity to managers.
• Noticing patterns. Through complaints, housing officers will often become aware of a wider issue – such as widespread damp and mould across an estate – before it appears in a company’s data. Reporting these insights can help staff to manage risks early and to see complaints as an opportunity to improve service across the board.
• Training and resources. To ensure best practice, staff should make use of all of the complaint-handling training and resources available to them.

Summary 

Complaint-handling is a growing concern for social landlords, but all social housing staff can support an effective complaint-handling culture. Putting into practice the advice in this article can ensure complaint-handling procedures and outcomes are improved for tenants.

While the code is prescriptive in its expectations, ultimately the ombudsman is trying to embed a complaint-handling culture that is open, transparent, accessible, fair, puts things right and learns from outcomes – building on the dispute-resolution principles which pre-existed the code. 

Next, answer the questions below. Get all the questions correct and you will receive a certificate confirming your award of 30 CPD minutes within 10 working days via email. Get any questions wrong and you can retake the test by refreshing your web browser.

• The Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code
• The Housing Ombudsman Service’s Centre for Learning (includes case studies)
• Attend a ‘Meet the Ombudsman’ event

CPD module: understanding and dealing with domestic abuse
Nicki Clarke, head of housing at Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse, explains the red flags to look out for when it comes to domestic abuse and best practice for dealing with such cases

CPD module: understanding and addressing hoarding
Lynsey Grundy, tenancy support manager and hoarding specialist at Southway Housing Trust, explains how to identify and support those struggling with hoarding

CPD module: data protection – supporting residents while also safeguarding their private information
Data protection is about more than compliance – it is about keeping customers safe and providing the best possible services. Rich Brameld, group head of data protection, nominated data protection officer and Caldicott Guardian at Riverside Group, explains more

CPD module: tenancy fraud – how to spot it and how to fight it
Stephanie Toghill, head of housing investigations at Islington Council and vice-chair of the Tenancy Fraud Forum, explains what tenancy fraud is, how it occurs and how to tackle it

CPD module: building reciprocal relationships with residents
Reciprocity is essential for social landlords to build successful relationships with residents. Anna de Souza, head of resident engagement at Peabody, and Ingrid Smith, communication lead and member of Peabody’s resident-led panel, explain how to go about it

Subscribe to Inside Housing Management and sign up to the newsletter

Inside Housing Management is the go-to source for learning, information and ideas for housing managers.

Subscribe here to read the articles.

Already have an account? Click here to manage your newsletters.