Watchdog says the figures, the first it has published for social housing, are under review and will be republished
The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales has taken down statistics published on its website yesterday showing the number of complaints made by residents to individual housing associations.
The figures, which had been reported by some news outlets, have been withdrawn temporarily after some landlords queried the data’s accuracy.
The withdrawn figures were for complaints received by the 22 social landlords who operate the ombudsman’s model complaint policy.
The ombudsman said it is working hard to review the accuracy of the data and will republish it on its website as soon as possible. It is the first time it has published figures on social housing.
With the data being checked for accuracy, Housing Today will not report on the figures relating to individual organisations until the Ombudsman reissues them.
However, the aggregated data, which has not been withdrawn, shows more than 3,500 complaints were logged by these bodies in the first six months of the 2024-25 financial year, equating to roughly 32 complaints for every 1,000 tenants.
While 71% of grievances were related to repairs and maintenance, including damp and mould, no other specific category received more than a 5% share.
Landlords reported closing around 80% of their complaints within the timescales set under their policies, which can be a maximum of 20 working days. The figures also show that housing associations upheld almost 60% of complaints themselves.
Meanwhile, only 168 complaints about landlords were referred to the ombudsman in the first six months of the year, which represents under 5% of all complaints closed in the same period. The ombudsman concluded 155 of these complaints, with a 22% intervention rate where it recommended early resolution, voluntary settlement or upheld a complaint after an investigation.
The ombudsman also published complaints data from health boards, trusts and local authorities in Wales, where 18% of complaints to local authorities were about housing.
>>See also: Camden Council has ‘defensive complaints culture’, says Ombudsman
Michelle Morris, the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales said: “This is the first time was have published data on social housing in Wales, and this is especially to ensure tenants have access to good housing and that issues are promptly and properly resolved.
“We are proud that our work on complaints standards means that nearly 250,000 social tenants now benefit from improved complaint handling. This data, alongside information which public bodies hold themselves, should be an important tool in improving services for people across Wales”.
The reports of inaccuracies come after housing figures raised concerns to the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) about the English Housing Ombudsman’s maladministration rate data in November 2023.
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