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Complaints could be used to test culture, ombudsman says
Delegates have heard from the Housing Ombudsman about how complaints could test a landlord’s culture and the impact of converging compensation across the sector.
Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, told attendees at the Housing Community Summit in Liverpool that the nature of complaints means that they could be used to provide an association with a “culture scorecard”.
He was also asked his views on compensation convergence across the sector.
He said: “If you break a complaint down there are different areas where you can really test culture.”
It is important that the complaints process “does not lose sight of people”, Mr Blakeway said.
“I think that’s particularly important given the need by a landlord to often make adjustments to deliver a service. This is something we spoke about in our Spotlight report back in January. There needs to be agility in the way in which services are delivered by landlords, which isn’t always apparent,” he added.
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The ombudsman was asked a question by an audience member about how he feels about aligning compensation across the sector to ensure that only real escalations are managed, rather than those fuelled by extra compensation.
Mr Blakeway said: “The first thing to recognise is that financial awards are only part of providing redress to a resident. It could well be that there are other actions that you need to do as well, not just doing a repair, for example, but an apology could be an appropriate remedy for compensation itself.”
In a recent comment piece for Inside Housing, the boss of the watchdog set out seven lessons for how landlords can handle compensation better.
His article explains how the ombudsman awarded £6m last year, partly because of a doubling in the volume of decisions, with almost 2,000 determinations issued in the past three months alone.
The number of cases where it has awarded more than £10,000 is still in single figures, and the most awarded is about £20,000.
“That a small number of providers, both council and housing association, have been involved in those higher awards is a point of reflection for them,” he added.
Continuing his response to the question at the conference in Liverpool, the ombudsman said: “Fundamentally, a really important consideration for landlords who perhaps find that their awards are lower than the awards being made by the ombudsman is: is there absolute clarity and an explanation about what is being compensated for?
“Sometimes what we find is that there is a sum, but it’s unclear what the sum is for, and that sum may only relate to one aspect of the detriment that was caused through the complaint.”
However, he said: “I think in terms of convergence across the sector, that would be really positive. And I think there’s probably a role for an ombudsman working with the sector and with residents to identify what a compensation calculator looks like for social housing.”
His comments were met with nods of approval from across the panel.
Attendees also heard from a senior figure at the English regulator about how housing associations in London that are under more financial pressure than elsewhere in the country are looking to merge with providers outside the capital.
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