Agenda item

Item was taken in conjunction with B2

Meeting received a synopsis of Housing Ombudsman Annual Complaints Review 2022/23, details of which are the following:

·         The Annual Complaints Review has revealed a sharp increase of severe maladministration findings, as individual performance reports were published for 163 landlords where the Ombudsman made most findings.

·         The figures revealed a challenging picture of social housing complaints, which has seen a huge spike due to poor property conditions, legislative changes, media attention and the inquest into the death of Awaab Ishak a child who sadly died in Rochdale due to Damp and Mould.

·         The Annual Complaints Review provides a unique and comprehensive assessment of complaints in social housing, that the Ombudsman received over 5,000 complaints for the first-time last year, a 28% increase on the previous year.

·         Ombudsman has written to Chief Executives of landlords who have a maladministration rate of over 50% to bring urgent attention to the figures, that there are 91 landlords with a maladministration rate above 50%, with 25 landlords being above 75%.

·         Islington Council received letter from Housing Ombudsman on the 11^th October 2023. Review looked at Complaints Handling Failure Orders (CHFOs) and a number of key issues for the first time.

·         The Ombudsman issued 146 CHFOs last year, mostly for failing to progress complaints in line with its Complaint Handling Code, with 73% of those being for landlords with over 10,000 homes. Islington Council received two complaint handling failures.

·         In terms of what residents were complaining about, property condition was once again the leading category, with the Ombudsman making almost 2,000 findings where the failure rate has increased dramatically from 39% to 54% this year.

·         The Ombudsman also found a 52% maladministration rate for health and safety complaints.

·         Another key element of the Annual Complaints Review is the regional data which indicates Southwest as having the lowest overall maladministration rate, as well as having a significantly lower maladministration rate on health and safety complaints and the Northeast and Yorkshire having the lowest severe maladministration rate.

·         London continues to be where the Ombudsman makes most of its determinations, even accounting for the quantity of social homes in the region. It had the highest maladministration rate and accounted for 77 of the 130 severe maladministration findings last year.

·         The rate of maladministration for local authorities was slightly higher than housing associations, 62% compared to 50%. The Housing Ombudsman have found that due to less resources, it is harder for local authorities to offer reasonable redress, therefore ending up with more maladministration findings.

·         The Annual Complaints Review shows that London has the highest number of determinations, even accounting for quantity of housing stock in region.

·         The London region also has the highest maladministration rate at 58% and the highest maladministration rate for property condition at 58%.

·         It was noted that of the 131 severe maladministration findings last year, 77 of these were for London landlords.

·         Meeting was advised that Islington Council had a 56.8% of maladministration findings, with 74 landlords having a higher percentage maladministration finding compared to Islington.

·         Committee will receive annual reports in the future to hold the Homes and Neighbourhood service to account which will help drive service improvements for residents. Also the strategic action/improvement plan which addresses most of the issues highlighted by the Housing Ombudsman.

·         On whether any of the works carried out could be attributed to contractors, the Director advised that housing ombudsman’s findings does not distinguish contractors from social landlords and that, all contractors and inhouse staff are provided mandatory training.

·         Meeting was advised that properties managed by Partners Improvement falls within the same regulatory regime as social landlords.

·         In response to a finding for Islington’s Chief Executive to personally apologise to tenants for its maladministration, the meeting was advised that due to changes in leadership in the last few months this had not occurred, but will be actioned when the new Chief Executive is in post.

·         The Executive Member for Homes and Neighbourhood reiterated that when these issues have arisen and brought to her attention either via case work or at committee she has apologised, reminding residents to contact the council directly first than wait to be approached by ‘ambulance’ chasing lawyers.

·         On the question about first time repairs and slippage and its monitoring, the Chair requested that this issue be considered by committee in the next few months.

·         With regards to the 21 recommendations and the associated 20 actions, the Interim Corporate Director Homes and Neighbourhood advised that Committee will receive a detailed report which will link the recommendations to the respective actions so that members will be able to monitor its progress.

·         On the issue of scaffolding, meeting was reminded that a review was carried out years ago with Partners Improvement nothing the misconception that contractors leave scaffolding up on estates due to lack of storage so prefer to leave it up until they move onto another site.

·         In response to the above, the Director of Property Services acknowledged that there is room for improvement especially in the area of how it communicates with its residents, that residents need to be kept informed at all the various stages and works being carried out or ongoing when scaffolding is erected on estate buildings.

·         The Chair requested officers provide an update on scaffolding and first-time repairs ahead of the next meeting as it needs more clarity.

·         On whether the implementation of the recommendations were realistic, the Corporate Director acknowledged that the Council aims to keep to the timelines, that officers will be clear and transparent if there are any slippages, noting that all lead/contact officers had an input to each recommendation.

·          Meeting was advised that there is ongoing cross over work with other services in areas, one of which is addressing anti-social behaviour.

·         Member queried the culture within the ASB team especially in light of the recent Clarion resident who committed suicide, that there is a view that enforcement is not taken seriously, that tenants are not being held to account especially as some of these activities are likely to be a breach of their tenancy agreement.

·         In response to the above, the Director of Housing Needs acknowledged that historically this issue had not been robustly addressed however there have been some improvements for example where previously there was one housing officer responsible for managing 1250 homes, now it is one officer to 500 homes, noting also that more enforcement  such as evictions have been carried out in the last 6 months in comparison to the last 6 years.

·         On the issue of funding, meeting was advised that officers are working with Executive Members to articulate a response to central government on this issue.

RESOLVED:

·         That the annual report be noted

·         That the action/improvement plan be noted