Housing secretary criticises Peabody after four findings of severe maladministration

Across the four cases, the ombudsman ordered Peabody to pay £11,071 in compensation to the affected residents.

“Your handling of these cases fell significantly below the standard your residents should expect to receive,” Mr Gove said in the letter.

“When your residents raise an issue, especially when vulnerable people are involved, it should be acted upon swiftly, effectively and with the appropriate level of care. 

“Social housing residents must be able to put their trust in their landlords to provide a decent home and deal with complaints swiftly and effectively.

“I expect the changes you are making, which include formulation of specialist, centralised complaint and record-handling teams and review of your vulnerabilities policy, to improve the quality of service you deliver to your residents.”

Mr Gove said that his officials will be in contact to arrange a meeting with Baroness Scott to discuss the findings of the ombudsman’s report and the steps Peabody is taking to improve its services.

Peabody declined to comment on Mr Gove’s letter.

However, commenting at the time of the Housing Ombudsman’s four severe maladministration findings, Peabody said: “We are very sorry we let our residents down. The overall handling of these complaints fell below the standard residents should expect from us. In all these cases, we have apologised and paid compensation.

“We have completed the adaptations and repairs in these homes where they needed to be done.

“Since these complaints were made, learning from the specific cases and ombudsman best practice, we have made considerable and wide-ranging improvements to our complaint-handling and record-keeping as well as the way we do adaptations and repairs for residents.”

Peabody said it has formed “specialist, centralised complaints and record-handling teams” which ensure that any issues are handled “promptly”.

It has also established a separate group that specifically monitors and manages damp and mould cases to give them “the specialist focus they need”.

All colleagues in complaints have completed the ombudsman’s complaint-handling code training. Peabody said that it “thoroughly” reviews the ombudsman’s Spotlight reports and conducts self-assessments against them.

The landlord said it has also reviewed its vulnerabilities policy and is looking at how it can adapt the way it works to provide the right support when someone may need adjustments or has additional needs.

The housing association added that expert colleagues from the landlord’s well-being teams have run sessions with its complaints team to help them understand what practical support is already available to help residents and meet their individual needs.

Peabody said: “We remain committed to using every opportunity to continue to learn from our mistakes and improve. It’s clear we needed to do better in all these cases.”