The Housing Ombudsman & Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code Consultation

The Social Housing Regulation Act is now law, enabling crucial reforms to bolster the Regulator of Social Housing. These reforms aim to improve transparency for tenants and raise housing quality standards.

A significant aspect of this Act makes the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code legally binding. It also grants the Ombudsman formal authority to oversee landlord adherence to the Code.

To implement this change, the Housing Ombudsman has initiated a joint consultation with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to create a unified Complaint Handling Code.

Given that the Housing Ombudsman already enforces a Complaint Handling Code, this consultation constitutes the formal integration of the Code into the Act's legal requirements. For the majority of social landlords already in compliance, the impact will be minimal.

The consultation seeks input on specific areas, including potential Code enhancements, fairness and transparency in monitoring compliance, and efficient fulfilment of responsibilities.

Under the Act, social landlords must clearly demonstrate their adherence to the Code's stipulations. The Ombudsman's authority to hold landlords accountable for compliance will be strengthened.

The collaborative Complaint Handling Code is noteworthy as it marks the inaugural instance of two Ombudsman schemes collaborating to create a single, unified Code. This initiative aims to elevate the quality of complaint handling in both housing and local government services. Local authorities and social housing providers are urged to provide feedback, as their insights will shape the sector's response.

Paul Najsarek, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said:

“The new Code will become the single gold standard for complaint handling in the local government sector. It will allow local councils to be confident they are employing best practice, while making it easier for local people to hold councils and social landlords to account. It will also align complaints about housing management, which are already subject to the Code through the Housing Ombudsman, with other local authority services.

“The quality of complaint handling within an organisation and the willingness to learn from complaints is an essential measure of corporate health. The Code puts complaint handling at the heart of corporate governance in councils, requiring regular reporting of performance allowing for effective scrutiny of service delivery.

“While we are committed to introducing a Complaint Handling Code, we very much want the views of the local government sector to steer its implementation. We have written to Chief Executives of all local councils in England inviting them to respond to the consultations and are also providing a route for the public to comment through our website.”

The consultation response can be submitted online via the following link.

The survey consists of nine questions. Questions 1 - 8 require a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. If the answer is ‘no’, a small comment box is available for further suggestions. Question 9 is a comment box only answer.

The questions are as follows:

1. Are the provisions of the code sufficient to increase awareness and improve access to landlords' complaints processes?

2. Are the provisions of the Code sufficient to extend fairness through consistent complaint handling?

3. Do the provisions of the Code increase landlords’ transparency and accountability to their residents?

4. Do the provisions of the Code help to embed a positive complaint handling culture?
5. Does the Annual Complaints Review provide a sufficient framework for landlords' governing bodies, residents and other stakeholders to have oversight of complaints handling policy, practice and learning?

6. Are our plans to align annual self-assessment submissions with Tenant Satisfaction Measure returns a reasonable approach? 

7. Do our plans to use the self-assessment against the Code and relevant Tenant Satisfaction Measures provide a suitable baseline for HOS to monitor compliance across the sector? 

8. Is our decision to notify landlords of any findings of non-compliance prior to using our powers fair and reasonable?

9. Do you have any further relevant suggestions or comments you would like to share?

The Joint Complaint Handling Code can be seen here.

If you wish to collaborate with LLG on a joint response, kindly reach out to us via email at helen@llg.org.uk. The consultation period is scheduled to take place from September 28, 2023, to November 23, 2023. If your local authority intends to submit a response, we would greatly appreciate it if you could share your input with us before the deadline. Your assistance in this matter is highly valued.