Ombudsman’s special report into Southern Housing highlights merger risk after failing to take ownership of complaints procedure

One of the cases was about lengthy delays in dealing with a leaking waste pipe, which resulted in environmental health issuing an improvement notice.

There was also a lack of appropriate action following a risk assessment that was made after a resident was wielding a machete and threatening to set fire to the building.

The report found the association had identified that complaints and the associated issues were a risk pre-merger and it was evident that one of the landlords was struggling with a huge backlog in repairs complaints. However, the new entity did not act sufficiently or swiftly enough to mitigate this.

The report identified seven key themes and made recommendations to improve in these areas. For complaint-handling, the ombudsman suggested implementing a clear, single system for complaints, escalation and response.

Another key area was reasonable adjustments. Although the report found that the landlord often had records of the resident’s vulnerabilities, it found it did not have appropriate records in all cases and did not always act on this information accordingly.

Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, said: “The leadership of the landlord has been open and reflective during our investigation, and the proactive steps it is taking should make a difference for residents in what is a challenging operating environment. 

“The pressures on the sector means it is highly likely that more mergers will happen. This report exposes the challenges mergers can present to service areas and effective complaint-handling. It therefore provides vital learning for the sector as well as the landlord itself.”

He added: “Mergers do not immediately solve problems with service provision or any problems with organisational culture unless consumer focus is also part of the merger process.”

In its learning statement to the report, Southern Housing said: “We’re truly sorry to all residents who’ve experienced service failures, including the 67 residents that this report shows we let down.

“Throughout this investigation process, we’ve worked proactively and collaboratively with the ombudsman and his team, and we welcome the learning from this report.”

Southern pointed out that most of the determinations review pre-date its merger with Optivo, while the combined rate for the two organisations was a third lower than the London average.

The landlord added: “We endorse the ombudsman’s call for a long-term plan for housing in their Relationship of Equals Spotlight report – and their recognition that parts of the sector are at breaking point. 

“The social landlord cost model was never designed to eliminate service failures. There’s little chance of this changing given unprecedented financial pressures on the sector. The important thing is that we acknowledge failures promptly, apologise, put things right, and learn lessons.

“Since the merger we’ve introduced a number of changes, including a customer service training programme for all colleagues and we’re introducing improvements in repairs and maintenance. We’ll complete the integration of our systems by April 2025 enabling us to realise further merger benefits and deliver services to a consistently higher standard.”

In November 2023, Mr Blakeway wrote in Inside Housing explaining how understanding complaints is key to the success of a merger.