The Housing Ombudsman has told the housing association it needs to address the ‘root causes’ of complaints
The Housing Ombudsman has urged GreenSquareAccord to continue to strengthen its complaint handling processes and address the root causes of complaints, such as property conditions.
A new special report into GreenSquareAccord (GSA) found that the housing association had a 93% maladministration rate for complaint handling in the cases reviewed, against a national average of 76% for housing associations.
The Ombudsman’s investigation revealed that the housing association had a maladministration rate of 79% for property condition, compared to a national average of 54%.
The Ombudsman noted that GSA has acknowledged many of its failings and carried out several improvements, including creating a new business strategy, revising policies and making governance changes. It has also recruited more staff and worked to change its complaints culture.
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The special paragraph 49 investigation was triggered by six findings of severe maladministration between January and July 2023, relating to cases involving complaints from 2018 to 2021.
The Ombudsman said that an assessment of the severe maladministration findings “led to our concern that the landlord, possibly because of the recent merger, had impacted the service being offered to residents”.
GreenSquare and Accord Housing Association merged to form GreenSquareAccord on 1 April 2021.
Following the work between the Ombudsman and the landlord, no severe maladministration findings have been reported since August 2023.
However, the Ombudsman has said the landlord needs to take further steps to ensure these changes are effective and embedded, during a monitoring period which follows the report.
The Housing Ombudsman noted “significant deficiencies” in GSA’s complaint handling process prior to April 2024. This lead to informal complaint handling and delays and barriers to lodging complaints, practices which do not meet the Complaint Handling Code.
In one complaint featured in the report, a resident communicated a number of issues at the property including damp, mould and no hot water over a period of two and a half years. In another case, a resident waited more than two years for the landlord to complete plastering repairs.
As part of the investigation, the Ombudsman surveyed residents to gauge the difference recent changes by the landlord are making and examined GSA’s Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs), particularly on repairs.
The Ombudsman said the landlord’s own figures show an 88% satisfaction rate over the past few years for repairs, but its TSMs have it at 51.8%.
Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said that GSA’s proactive engagement during the investigation shows its commitment to continuous improvement and addressing the root causes of the service failures identified.
He said: “The landlord’s merger was a significant factor in the deficiencies handling complaints, which the landlord has been open about, and it is clear more could have been done to prevent residents having this experience.
Blakeway added that “the sector continues to consolidate at pace, and therefore landlords doing so must learn from the experience of this landlord and prioritise complaint handling.”
He also said that the report “should act as catalyst for sector-wide change, promoting a culture of accountability and proactive service improvements, to the benefit of residents and improving the satisfaction with landlords”.
In its learning statement, GSA said “we recognise and accept the findings of this report and will fully comply with its recommendations”.
It added that getting things right for customers “is our top priority and we will use the learning from this process to drive further improvements and ensure the service our customers receive reflects this fundamental commitment”.
GSA said its complaints handling process is now more robust and that learning from complaints is now central to its work. GSA said it is also improving information management and how it addresses vulnerabilities, as well as enhancing our approach to compensation.
The statement noted that: “Many of the cases included in this investigation were more than two years old and many reflected the ongoing challenges we faced following our merger in April 2021, when we were prioritising improvements to building safety and bringing together our operational services.
“However, we accept the finding that we could, and should, have made some of these changes more quickly.”
The statement concluded: “We recognise we still need to improve, and our refreshed five-year strategy will see us deliver transformational projects to ensure we simplify and strengthen our organisation, invest in our homes and our people and, crucially, improve our customer offer.”
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