Housing Ombudsman’s Insight report published at first regional ‘Meet the Ombudsman’ event

We have published our latest quarterly Insight report on data and learning from casework, together with a new regional focus that starts with the north of England. It will be launched at the first in a new series of Meet the Ombudsman events to be hosted by landlords in different regions across the country, opening with Gentoo.

Read the report 

The data from the three regions of North West, North East and Yorkshire and Humber shows the most frequent topics of complaints as repairs, complaint handling and tenant behaviour. The case studies provide examples of these topics from the three regions with one highlighting where a landlord did not accept an anti-social behaviour matter as a complaint, contrary to its policy. Another case shows where we found the landlord had acted reasonably in resolving a complaint about repairs following a leak. It had acknowledged its failures and provided the appropriate redress.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “I am delighted that Gentoo are hosting our first Meet the Ombudsman event and look forward to meeting some of their residents and answering their questions. Raising awareness and understanding of our service is an important part of our work which we are increasing through a range of activities including webinars and our new Resident Panel.

“This is the first of our reports with a regional focus and I am keen for feedback to help us develop them further and provide a useful information source and learning tool.”

The regular data for the quarter, October to December 2020, shows an increase of 14% in the number of enquiries and complaints received, compared to the same quarter in 2019-20. It is the first time the number has increased since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic which initially saw a significant reduction in the number of complaints we received.

This is the fifth in our series of quarterly Insight reports. It is part of our continuing progress towards being a more open and transparent service and promoting positive change by sharing knowledge and learning from our casework.

Landlords can register an interest in hosting a Meet the Ombudsman event by email to Insightreport@housing-ombudsman.org.uk