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Staff at landlord given ‘empathy training’ after treatment of disabled woman revealed
Staff at a large housing association have received “empathy training” after a leak forced a disabled woman to sleep in her living room for more than 18 months.
PA Housing confirmed that it introduced the training in response to a case in which it failed to do necessary works in disabled tenant Samantha Burrell’s bedroom, which left it uninhabitable for a total of 84 weeks. The problems were due to leaks from the flat above that started in 2018.
The details of PA’s response were revealed today (Tuesday) in a judgement from the Housing Ombudsman, which saw it serve the association with a severe maladministration finding.
Ms Burrell’s case was previously highlighted by ITV News in June as part of its long-running investigation into social housing conditions. ITV reported that she was forced to sleep on an airbed, which led to her spinal injury and mobility issues worsening.
PA apologised to Ms Burrell after her case was exposed.
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Ms Burrell first raised a complaint after a leak started in 2018. The leaks persisted, ripped through the ceiling and left her unable to sleep in her bedroom. PA failed to resolve the situation.
In the judgement today, the Housing Ombudsman made the severe maladministration finding due to repeated failures in dealing with the issues Ms Burrell faced.
The landlord also repeatedly failed to provide her with updates, causing her “considerable distress”.
Other findings from the watchdog included PA failing to respond to Ms Burrell’s concerns about compensation for damage.
The ombudsman said the association was aware that Ms Burrell had a disability and initially failed to offer any support.
When the landlord said it could offer support by adapting the spare bedroom to her needs, it never did, despite further queries from Ms Burrell.
The watchdog ordered PA to apologise to Ms Burrell and pay her nearly £3,000 in compensation.
Part of the response from the 23,000-home landlord has been introducing training of its staff to be more empathetic.
In a statement, PA said: “Some staff have already received empathy training for dealing with customers and we have commissioned more training to take place in 2023.”
Ian Watts, executive director of customer services at PA, told Inside Housing that the training is being delivered by Tpas, the group that advises social landlords on tenant engagement.
The staff involved are those across the association who are the first point of contact for residents dealing with housing, repairs and income enquiries.
“Further training across the wider organisation is scheduled to take place in the coming months,” Mr Watts said.
He added that PA is “deeply sorry” for the errors made throughout this case and the distress it caused Ms Burrell.
“Our aim is always to provide the best possible service to our customers, and while it’s clear this did not happen in this instance, we’re continuing to work with our resident and accept that we have a lot to do to re-establish a relationship of trust with them.
“Their feedback to date has been hard to hear at times, but proved valuable in helping us to improve services for all,” he said.
Along with the empathy training, the association is reviewing its policy and procedures for managing complex cases to ensure there is the “correct ownership and management throughout to completion”.
Its oldest cases are now reported daily to agree action plans and monitor their progress. Leaks are now specifically highlighted in those reports.
Housing ombudsman Richard Blakeway said: “The landlord’s failure to acknowledge the resident’s reports of leaks, having previously advised that it would keep her up to date, would have caused considerable distress for the resident, who remained unsure about how and when the leak would be resolved and continued to leave her without the use of her bedroom.”
He welcomed PA’s response and the changes being made to improve its service.
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