Ombudsman sets out plans to reduce investigation times

Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, said: “We want to see the housing sector thrive – for our work to support it during challenging and changing times, to grasp new opportunities, and to champion healthier homes and fairer services.

“I also want to see residents know their rights and be treated fairly and respectfully, whether their complaint comes to us or not, helping to make relationships between residents and landlords stronger and more trusting.

“Our Corporate Strategy 2025-30 consolidates the considerable changes over the last three years which have made our service become more relevant to residents and landlords. This strategy continues to be driven by the devastating events at Grenfell Tower and Awaab Ishak’s inquest which have seen our role, powers, and approach evolve.”

‘Resilient in the face of volatile casework volume’

The ombudsman said it has been “resilient in the face of volatile casework volumes”. Demand for the service has more than doubled in the past two years.

Making an impact in these areas will be “crucial”, the ombudsman said, as it is forecast to handle more than 43,000 cases this year.

This follows another record year of complaints in 2023-24, including 40,876 enquiries and complaints, a 60 per cent rise from the previous year. In addition, 5,465 determinations were issued, an increase of 107 per cent from 2022-23. 

Reducing investigation times

The ombudsman said it has introduced triaging of cases and prioritised investigating high-risk cases, which it said has been successful, with all such investigations completed within six months.

The consultation document said: “We determine on average 600 formal investigations every month, but we want to do much better and reduce the time we take to investigate all cases, high-risk or not. Our corporate strategy sets out the ambition to reduce investigation times over the next five years.

“This will be done in stages to ensure improvements are sustained, customer satisfaction remains high, and quality is maintained. We want to avoid creating new pressures that divert resources elsewhere.”

The ombudsman said it has responded to surges in casework volumes so far by recruiting more caseworkers.

In 2025-26 it will focus on trialling new approaches to case investigations and increasing its efficiency.

These include the completion and evaluation of a pilot on faster and earlier resolution techniques. And at the start of the third quarter in 2025-26, it will introduce a target for the proportion of all cases to be investigated within six months.

The ombudsman said: “The impact of our own timeliness improvements will be enhanced by further work to help strengthen landlords’ own complaint-handling and address the causes of complaints through our Centre for Learning. The cumulative effect will improve residents’ experiences of living in their home.”

Underpinning this work will be the body’s transformation programme, launching at the start of 2025-26.

“This will drive further efficiencies and greater effectiveness from our processes and our systems, ensuring that these are future-proofed,” the body said.

“It will also ensure we support our people to drive an organisation that is innovative and continuously improving.”

Championing ‘healthier homes and fairer services’

Mr Blakeway said that the ombudsman wants to see the housing sector “thrive during these challenging and changing times, to grasp new opportunities, and to champion healthier homes and fairer services”.  

He said: “The strategy looks to reimagine our relationship with residents, creating simpler and easier access to housing redress. Doing so in a way that is person-centred, with faster decisions – offering a genuine alternative to legal action. This builds on our work to meet to the unprecedented volumes of casework we have seen. 

“And we look to do the same for landlords, where we will continue to provide accountability, redress and transparency. We want to do more to strengthen local resolution, build trust, and move from transactional engagement, based on individual complaints, to strategic support through our Centre for Learning. 

“I want residents to know their rights and be treated fairly and respectfully, whether their complaint comes to us or not, helping to make relationships between residents and landlords stronger and more trusting. 

“Finally, it deepens our relationship with the wider regulatory system, given the unique and independent perspective we offer, by providing insight, open data and alerting it to emerging concerns for enforcement and regulatory bodies, as well as policymakers.”