Ombudsman severe maladministration findings more than quadruple

The ombudsman said it also received more than 5,000 complaints for the first time last year, a 28 per cent increase on the previous year.

Property condition was once again the leading category of complaints, with almost 2,000 maladministration findings. The maladministration rate in property condition rose from 39 per cent to 54 per cent this year.

Complaint-handling was the second-largest category of complaint and had a 76 per cent maladministration rate. The ombudsman also found a 52 per cent maladministration rate for health and safety complaints, which includes building safety.

The review revealed an increase in maladministration findings where service requests were not handled reasonably and a drop in findings of no fault. Taken together, this means more than half of findings were upheld for the first time, the ombudsman said.

The ombudsman issued 146 complaint-handling failure orders last year, mostly for failing to progress complaints in line with its complaint-handling code, with 73 per cent of those being for landlords with more than 10,000 homes.

Following the investigations it undertook in 2022-23, the ombudsman made 6,590 orders and recommendations to make things right for residents. This included ordering or recommending £1.1m in compensation.

The ombudsman said its data painted a “challenging picture of social housing complaints, which has seen a huge spike due to poor property conditions, legislative changes, media attention and the inquest into the death of Awaab Ishak”.

Ninety-one landlords had a maladministration rate of over 50 per cent, with 25 of these having a maladministration rate of over 75 per cent.

The ombudsman said it had again written to chief executives of landlords which have a maladministration rate of over 50 per cent to bring “urgent attention” to the figures.

However, this year the ombudsman said it was also writing to five landlords which had had no findings upheld, recognising their positive complaint-handling approach.

Mr Blakeway said: “Our Annual Complaints Review provides a unique and sobering overview into social housing complaints in this country.

“While the statistics reflect a picture of poor practice, they also reflect the increased pressures we know that social landlords are facing with a combined housing and cost of living crisis.

“However, despite some notable efforts, what our data shows is a fundamental gap between some of the services landlords deliver and the reasonable expectations of their residents.

“Too often, residents with disabilities or mental health needs are falling between those gaps. Too often the basics are not being done properly, with straightforward communication or record-keeping being missed, leading to problems becoming more severe. This is leading to residents being treated unfairly and experiencing financial detriment or losing the enjoyment of their home.”

Mr Blakeway said the ombudsman’s powers had increased as part of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act and it would soon be issuing wider orders. This is to improve policy and practice in key areas where it sees potential for repeated failings.

He added: “Next year, we will also be looking at developing good practice under our centre for learning and strongly encourage governing bodies to consider the review and what further action they can take to improve the outcomes for their residents.”

The ombudsman’s data showed the South West had the lowest overall maladministration rate, at 45 per cent, as well as a significantly lower maladministration rate on health and safety complaints, at 29 per cent.

The North East and Yorkshire had the lowest number of determinations per 10,000 homes and the lowest severe maladministration rate for property condition, with 47 per cent.

The ombudsman added that its landlord and resident surveys found an “encouraging trend” towards promotion of the complaints process, signposting to the ombudsman and sharing learning from complaints.

Residents were also more likely to believe that complaints would make a difference, compared with last year.