Industry News
decision-making at the same time as increasing the speed of making determinations. To achieve this he requires more resources – to
be paid for by an increase in the subscription fee to £2.16 per home for the next two years – and for landlords to respond to information requests from the ombudsman more quickly and more fully than they do at present.
TRIGGER FOR WIDER INVESTIGATIONS As individual complaints and how they are dealt with by a service provider can sometimes point to wider problems within a social landlord, Mr Blakeway says that his staff should be able to use the information gathered from their investigations, to probe more deeply and assess whether a failure is indicative of a systemic issue. Where this does highlight a bigger failing within
Ombudsman consults on faster service with tougher powers
spark big changes in customer service for tenants. It would be fair to say that Richard Blakeway was
T
a controversial choice for the Housing Ombudsman post earlier in the year, but he has quickly set about delivering a step change in how it operates and can stimulate service improvements in landlords. At the forefront of his proposals are three
major principles: • decision-making is speeded up; • complaints can be used to initiate wider investigations of a landlord, into such issues as systemic failures; and
• the ombudsman service needs to be more
he new ombudsman has been consulting the social housing sector on plans to improve his organisation’s service and to
accessible, open and transparent so that it can promote more sector-wide learning.
From April 2020 he will introduce a new
operating model designed to speed up the handling of complaints. The average processing time was 8 months in 2017/18, this was cut to 6.7 months last year and has a new target of achieving 3-4 months in 2021/22. If successful, the service will have halved processing times within five years, while also dealing with much higher numbers of complaint referrals. Mr Blakeway says despite improvements in
processing timescales in recent years, this is still the single issue they are challenged on the most. He emphasised the need to maintain the quality of
the landlord, than the ombudsman should refer the matter to the Regulator of Social Housing, in order to maintain a clear distinction between the two bodies and their respective roles. In order to share the learning from their work
with social landlords and tenants, the ombudsman is also planning to publish more data on the complaints they are receiving, their processing performance, the decisions being made and any actual or emerging trends. The proposals include a quicker 15 working day
response time for social landlords to reply to inquiries from the ombudsman and for a new findings category of ‘severe maladministration’, where something worse than a normal service failure or maladministration had happened. Consultation on the ombudsman's proposals are
due to close this month, with the new Business Plan 2020/21 exercise closing on 6 December and consultation on the new ombudsman scheme running until 20 December. Mr Blakeway said: “Together these documents
mark an important stage in developing our service to provide faster, effective redress for the five million households who can benefit from our service. Our role has never been more important and I believe our plans will deliver a step change in the service and bring benefits to residents and landlords. We value feedback and would very much welcome comments on these two consultations.”
Government adviser to new Building Safety Regulator named
Dame Judith Hackitt will provide independent advice to the Government on how best to establish the powerful new Building Safety Regulator and avoid a similar disaster as the Grenfell Tower fire. The appointment follows Dame Judith’s
Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, in which the Government committed to take forward all of her recommendations and go further, by forming a new national Building Safety Regulator. The regulator will oversee the design and
management of buildings, with a strong focus on ensuring the new regime for higher-risk buildings is enforced effectively and robustly. It will also have
the power to apply criminal sanctions to building owners who do not obey the new regime. Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “I am
grateful that Dame Judith has agreed to advise my department on the new Building Safety Regulator. Her expertise will be essential to forming a strong regulator with teeth to ensure all residents are safe, and feel safe, in their homes both now and in the future.” The Government published the consultation on
its reforms, Building a Safer Future, in June 2019 and is currently analysing the responses. The proposed new legislation will ensure building owners and developers prioritise residents’ safety
12 | HMM December/January 2020 |
www.housingmmonline.co.uk
over profit and will: • provide clearer accountability for, and stronger duties on, those responsible for the safety of high-rise buildings throughout design, construction and occupation;
• give residents a stronger voice in the system, ensuring their concerns are never ignored and they fully understand how they can contribute to maintaining safety in their buildings;
• strengthen enforcement and sanctions to deter non-compliance with the new regime in order to hold the right people to account; and
• require that developers of new build homes must belong to a New Homes Ombudsman.
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