The housing association has changed how it manages third-party contractors and reduced leasehold manager caseloads
A2Dominion has implemented an improvement plan for its repairs system and added new monitoring processes to manage third-party contractors after the Housing Ombudsman ordered an independent review of its handling of leaks, damp and mould.
The review follows three cases where residents experienced leaks for several years. In one case, the resident first raised the issues with the landlord in 2016, leaving her in temporary accommodation for years, and in that and other cases the issues were not resolved until ordered by the Ombudsman.
The review was undertaken earlier this year by the landlord, following the Ombudsman’s order at the end of 2023.
The repairs improvement plan included the introduction of a new live-tracking system to get appointment reminders and track the progress of an operative on a map.
A2Dominion also appointed its first director of repairs and maintenance, Jo Evans.
The 38,000-home landlord changed the way it manages third-party contractors after residents experienced long delays, cancellations of works and a lack of clear communications.
Due to these case management issues, some residents experienced problems with damp and mould for years.
The Ombudsman’s report also identified issues with leaseholder management, which has resulted in A2Dominion reducing its manager caseloads, or patch sizes.
In addition, A2Dominion is introducing a new system to improve its recording of resident data. This is due to shortcomings identified in the organisation’s response to vulnerabilities, including “a lack of clear data and too many systems in use”.
In January this year, the Regulator of Social Housing downgraded A2Dominion’s governance grading from a G1 to non-compliant G3, due to concerns about the company’s data and risk management, and business planning.
A2Dominion has also been reviewing its complaint handling process, bringing in a new chief customer officer on a permanent basis, and “greater scrutiny at executive level of the organisation on a weekly basis”.
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.
>> See also: In search of a magic patch size: How social landlords are rethinking their housing management approaches
>> See also: A2Dominion governance status downgraded due to ‘serious regulatory concerns’
“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.
“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.”
Ian Wardle, chief executive at A2Dominion, said: “We would like to offer our sincere apologies to the customers who were impacted in 2017 by the issues outlined in this report, and to offer reassurance that our number one priority is to vastly improve our services for them.
“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.”
Wardle continued: “We know that some of our services have not met the standards that we or our customers expect. Many improvements are already underway as a result of our new strategy, as we continue to work closely with the Housing Ombudsman.
He added that A2Dominion is also adopting a new approach to housing management, targeted at transforming customer experience in its tallest and most complex buildings.
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