Annual report 2017-18 published

The Housing Ombudsman’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2017-18, shows improvements in the service and progress against targets. The report highlights that customer satisfaction with our service continues to increase with all targets exceeded.

In 2017-18 we received 14,445 complaints and enquiries and closed 14,863. The number of complaints – where a complaint has been made to the landlord but not completed the landlord’s complaints procedure – increased by 16% from the previous year. Enquiries fell by 17%.

We have continued to promote the benefits of local and early resolution. Supporting both landlords and residents to resolve more cases locally. This prevents issues from escalating and allows local knowledge and learning to develop. In 2017-18, 79% of the complaints we dealt with were closed at this stage.

The number of complaints that went forward into our formal remit for investigation after completing the landlord’s complaints procedure increased by 7%. We issued determinations on all cases in our formal remit. The number of determinations increased by 4% to 1,712 cases in 2017-18 compared to the previous year.

Interim Housing Ombudsman David Connolly said: “Over the year we have successfully completed a range of activities to further develop our service for the benefit of our customers and made real progress against our targets. We carry forward a strong desire to improve further the service we provide. And to use our experience and unique perspective of housing complaints to help shape better systems of redress for the future.”

Other highlights from the report include:

• Responsive repairs have continued to be the largest category of complaint received at 37% of the overall number.
• A reduction in the average case time for complaints in our formal remit from nine to eight months. We continue to work towards achieving our six-month target. 100% of cases were determined within 12 months.
• We have high levels of compliance with our orders – 99% are implemented within three months and 100% within six months.

The annual report 2017-18 is available here.