Housing Ombudsman hails major social landlord for response to independent review

At the end of 2023 the Ombudsman ordered an independent review following a trio of cases where residents were "exposed to leaks for years, which damaged possessions and ruined the enjoyment of their home".

In one case, the resident first raised the issues with the landlord in 2016 but the issues were not resolved until ordered by the Ombudsman.

The review is a wider order and was made using new powers that require landlords to take steps to prevent future service failure by improving their policy or practice.

The Ombudsman outlined the steps A2Dominion has taken to address a number of areas:

• Defects: One of the main areas the report identified for improvement involved latent defects, with the landlord needing better control of the progression of cases and communication between residents, developers, and the contractor. Previously, a third-party contractor carried out this work and the team managing them needed more resources to ensure agreed standards were met, the Ombudsman said. “The landlord has now made sweeping changes to the way it manages third party contractors, adding new monitoring processes to keep check on their performance for customers.”
• Repairs: A2Dominion is implementing an improvement plan, as well as introducing practical measures to allow for greater communication. “This was due to limitations in the previous repairs system, which needed upgrading, and how non-urgent works were prioritised. Inconsistencies in record keeping contributed towards the failings, with repairs logs or schedules unable to be produced and the onus placed on the resident to follow up.”
• Leasehold management: A2Dominion has reduced manager caseloads. “This change has seen widespread improvements across dissatisfaction, volume of complaints being received and improved compliance with complaint response times.”
• Vulnerabilities: A new system is being introduced to provide a more accessible way to record information, which will also include steps to improve resident data overall. “Shortcomings in the organisation’s previous response to vulnerabilities were identified in the report, including a lack of clear data and too many systems in use.”
• Complaints: The landlord has brought in new posts and there is now greater scrutiny at executive level of the organisation on a weekly basis. In addition to complaint handling training, the landlord has also identified through this report that it needs to strengthen three other areas: effective use of the repairs system; case management of planned and packaged works; and contractor management.

The Ombudsman highlighted a number of recommendations from the report including:

• conducting a root and branch review of latent defect management to include colleagues from every team with a touch point on the process
• setting standards for all repairs staff on resident communication, including when it is appropriate (or not) for residents to engage directly with our contractors or sub-contractors
• setting expectations across the organisation on record keeping – managers will be trained and equipped to be able to gain their own assurance that their teams are complying with standards, and performance managing staff where appropriate
• reporting measures to highlight cases raised against a household with an identified vulnerability or support need to allow for quality checking of cases
• updating letter templates to encourage more empathetic language and a more compassionate approach to responses. Prompts should be provided to ensure that, where there is a delay in responding at either stage, that an apology is provided together with a reasonable explanation for the delay
• establishing ownership of both Spotlight report self-assessments and accountability for the implementation of the findings, to ensure they are embedded within existing or planned programmes of work

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “This is a frank, forensic and far-reaching assessment by the landlord to identify the root causes for repeated service failings. It is a powerful report which should be read by other landlords of all sizes who may be facing similar challenges handling repairs and complaints

“That its review was conducted by its own staff but independent of the services involved both demonstrates the strong ownership that landlord is taking  and that these steps will be more than fine words and  residents should experience better services.

“In particular the report focuses on some key areas where even modest changes can effect positive change.”

Blakeway added: “I strongly welcome the landlord’s focus on culture and behaviours alongside process and systems. This can be the missing piece of the jigsaw when learning from complaints and turn a new policy into effective practice.”

In a learning statement A2Dominion apologised to the customers who had been inmpacted.

The landlord said: “In this instance there were significant delays in our response in terms of repairs carried out, communications with our customers and in the way we escalated issues.  We have since complied with all the orders in this case.

“Full repair work has since been completed at this development and further investigation will take place to ensure that other customers have not been negatively impacted by the issues raised in this review…

“Building on our existing improvement programs within repairs and complaints handling, we continue to invest in our structure, and promoting positive outcomes for customers.  This includes a new approach to housing management, targeted at transforming customer experience in our tallest and most complex buildings.”

A2Dominion added: “We know there are still issues we are working to address to improve our services for customers, and that’s why we are moving quickly to make wide-scale improvements.”

Harry Rodd