Housing Ombudsman Consultation - Tpas Response
Friday 11th of April 2025
Tpas recently responded to the Housing Ombudsman’s consultation on its business plan and 5-year strategy. We were overall satisfied with the direction of travel contained withing these plans but with some concerns over resourcing available and the sectors capacity to meet the demands faced by an increased regulatory focus. Here below is a summary of the main points of our submission.
Strategic Objectives Driving Progress
- Creating Balance with a Resolution-Centred Approach The foundation of the strategy lies in supporting residents and empowering landlords to learn from complaints. By integrating these lessons into service design and delivery, the Ombudsman is fostering a balanced approach that benefits both tenants and landlords.
- Learning from Complaints to Drive Improvement Complaints are not just issues to resolve; they are opportunities to learn. The Ombudsman’s Spotlight Series and webinar programme disseminate best practices across the sector, ensuring landlords understand what excellent service looks like. For residents, these initiatives provide the knowledge needed to hold landlords accountable effectively.
- Ensuring Equal Access to Redress Equity in housing redress is critical, and tools such as Freedom of Information (FOI) requests for local authorities pave the way for greater transparency. The STAIRS initiative will extend similar accountability tools to housing association tenants, achieving parity with council tenants and promoting fairness.
- Improving Ombudsman Efficiency For many residents, unresolved complaints exacerbate service failures and lead to prolonged distress. Addressing the Ombudsman’s backlog and enhancing case management through innovative service design and technology is crucial to restoring trust and delivering timely resolutions.
- Operationalizing a Tenant-Focused Strategy While the Corporate Strategy sets a strong framework, its true success lies in its implementation. Timely and independent investigations must prioritize tenants, holding landlords accountable and ensuring that lessons are shared to promote continuous improvement.
Tackling the Challenges
Our members have raised concerns about lengthy casework timescales and insufficient emergency response rates. Recommendations include handling emergency cases within three months and resolving all cases within 12 months. Such improvements will alleviate the fatigue experienced by complainants and enhance satisfaction levels across the board.
Moreover, the focus on professionalizing the complaint-handling sector through learning dissemination and highlighting effective practices is welcomed. The identification of exemplary organizations will inspire a transformation across the sector, fostering a resident-centric approach to complaints.
Final Thoughts
The Housing Ombudsman’s Corporate Strategy demonstrates its dedication to tenants and social landlords. By addressing inefficiencies, promoting transparency, and embedding learning, the strategy aims to build trust and improve relationships between residents and landlords. With sufficient resources and effective operationalization, the Ombudsman is well-positioned to become an invaluable ally for social housing tenants, ensuring their voices are heard and their issues resolved