Ombudsman Corner
By Richard Blakeway, the Housing Ombudsman
It’s just over a year since we started issuing complaint handling failure orders (CHFOs). We issue more than a thousand orders each year on individual cases to put things right, and even though CHFOs are a very small proportion of these they’re subject to significant commentary. Why? In one sense it’s because they’re novel – most have been issued whilst the complaint is within the landlord’s procedure and prior to a formal investigation by us. CHFOs are also one of the indicators we use when we decide whether to do further work. Further investigation is something we did recently with one landlord which had received multiple CHFOs. To do so we used our powers under paragraph 50 of our scheme and this involved nine formal investigations. While we considered what was fair in all the circumstances of each individual complaint, the investigations were progressed together to ensure we were able to identify any systemic failing in service provision and several cases shared the same complaint categories. This led to some exceptional adjudication work by my team. We made 30 findings across the cases, with most involving some level of maladministration. The cases provided several lessons that could improve services and prevent complaints. Given the cases I see, these lessons are pertinent to many landlords. What are they? A lack of recordkeeping had significantly contributed to six complaints. These failings in recordkeeping weren’t confined to one team and we therefore made orders on all of those cases for the landlord to review its recordkeeping
practices, including whether a specific policy was needed with associated staff training. On three cases, we ordered the landlord to review the redesign of its repair and maintenance services to ensure it applied to planned works and works that fell outside day-to-day repairs. This should include reference to monitoring of and adhering to agreed timescales, completing work to appropriate standards and keeping residents informed. We also recommended the landlord reviews its internal policies and procedures on repairs, the information on repairs on its website and customer pamphlets, and the Tenants Handbook/ Repairs Manual, to ensure that all documents are up to date and provide consistent information on the categorisation of and timeframes for repairs. Finally, we ordered the landlord to consider its complaint handling procedures in five cases to assure itself these cases couldn’t happen again. In particular, I want to highlight the issue of recordkeeping. This isn’t a new issue – it occurs consistently across our casework and we’re repeatedly raising it as a risk for landlords. I appreciate that recordkeeping can sound dry, but the impact of poor recordkeeping on effective services and, moreover, residents themselves can be dramatic. Overall, the themes identified in these cases align with the principles of effective dispute resolution: recognising what has gone wrong; seeking to put things right; and learning from outcomes. These principles are central to the Complaint Handling Code, which we’re in the process of strengthening, and I’d strongly encourage all landlords to reflect on.
HOUSING QUALITY MAGAZINE MARCH 2022
39
