Agenda item

The Housing Act 1996 was amended by the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 which meant that from September 2023 the Housing Ombudsman (HO) was empowered to issue a code of practice about procedures for handling housing complaints to members of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. As a social landlord the Authority is by law a member of the HO Scheme. A further amendment to the Housing Act placed a duty on the HO to monitor landlord compliance with the code of practice.

The HO will monitor compliance in three ways to ensure that the landlord:

·        Has scrutinised and challenged the compliance with the Code, complaints handling performance and learning from complaints at its governing body and published the outcome on its website.

·        Complies with the Code in policy, and that any deviations are explained and reasonable.

·        Complies with the Code in practice.

Cabinet is requested to Agree the Housing and Property Services Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report 2023-24.

Cabinet considered a report seeking approval for the Housing and Property Services Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report 2023 -2024 appended to this report.

There was a statutory requirement for the Housing Ombudsman (HO) to consult with the Regulator of Social Housing, members of the HO Scheme, and individuals who may make complaints under the Scheme before the publication of the Code.

In partnership with the Local Government Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO), a national, joint consultation on their respective codes of practice took place late 2023, with the intention, at that time, to produce one joint complaint handling code of practice.

On 8 February 2024, both Ombudsmen announced that there would be two separate codes of practice, that would be aligned to each other.  The Code was a statutory code which must be followed, whereas the LGSCO Code of practice was guidance only.

The revised HO Complaint Handling Code was launched on 1 April 2024. Amongst other things, the Code placed a requirement on the Authority as a landlord to produce an annual complaints performance and service improvement report for scrutiny and challenge.  The report must include:

• The annual self-assessment against the Code to ensure complaint handling policy, remains in line with its requirements.
• Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the landlord’s complaint handling performance.  This must include a summary of the types of complaints the landlord has refused to accept.
• Any findings of non-compliance with the Code by the Ombudsman.
• The service improvements made because of the learning from complaints.
• Any annual report about the landlord’s performance from the Ombudsman.
• Any other relevant reports or publications produced by the Ombudsman in relation to the work of the landlord.

The annual complaints performance and service improvement report must 

be reported to the landlord’s “governing body” and published on the section of their website relating to complaints.  The governing body’s response must be published alongside this.  In the case of a local authority which was a social landlord, and which operated with executive arrangements, such as this Authority, the “governing body” was Cabinet.

In addition to the HO annual self-assessment being published on the landlord’s website, it must now be submitted to the HO by 30 June 2024.  The self-assessment must also be completed following any change in service procedures and/or an Ombudsman investigation.  The completed self-assessment included as an Appendix to the report demonstrated the Authority’s compliance with the HO Complaint Handling Code.

Landlords would be expected to use complaints as a source of intelligence to identify issues and themes and introduce positive change to service delivery.  Landlords must also report back on wider learning and service improvements from complaints to stakeholders, including resident panels, staff, and relevant committees.

A member of the governing body (or equivalent) must be appointed to have lead responsibility for complaints to support a positive complaint handling culture.  This person was referred to as the Member Responsible for Complaints (the MRC).  For Housing and Property Services this was the Lead Member with responsibility for Housing.

Cabinet considered the following decision options: To approve the recommendations set out in paragraph 1.2 of the report, or alternatively, to not agree the recommendations.

Resolved that the Housing and Property Services Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report 2023 -2024 appended to the report and its publication on the Authority’s website, be approved.

(Reasons for Decision: The statutory HO Complaint Handling Code states that:‘Landlords must produce an annual complaints performance and service improvement report for scrutiny and challenge.  The report must be reported to the landlord’s governing body (or equivalent) and published on its website, alongside the governing body’s response to the report. ‘

The response to the report will be the minutes of the Cabinet meeting.

 For this year the report must be published by 30 June 2024.

Failure to comply with the Code may be seen as non-compliance by the landlord and could result in a Complaint Handling Failure Order (CHFO) being issued to the Authority.)