Lambeth Council fails tenants with its complaint handling, says Ombudsman

Lambeth Council fails tenants with its complaint handling, says Ombudsman

0:03 AM, 12th January 2024, About 10 months ago

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Lambeth Council has been criticised by the Housing Ombudsman for its inconsistent and inadequate complaint handling from its tenants, despite making some improvements.

The Ombudsman launched an inspection into the council after it was not satisfied with the information provided by the council in response to its orders about complaint handling.

The inspection gave the Ombudsman a chance to listen to the council’s complaint handling staff directly and understand the challenges they are facing when dealing with complaints.

‘Residents had to seek the Ombudsman’s intervention’

Richard Blakeway, the Housing Ombudsman, said: “This inspection happened because two residents had to seek the Ombudsman’s intervention more than once to resolve complaints that we had previously upheld.

“The landlord must ensure this is not repeated.

“There are still too many residents receiving an unacceptable service.

“Effective complaint handling is a core component of rebuilding trust with residents.”

He added: “By improving its learning from complaints and channelling its efforts into truly understanding the driving factors behind its complaints, the landlord will give itself every chance of improving.”

Lack of consistency in Lambeth’s complaint handling

The inspection revealed a lack of consistency in Lambeth’s complaint handling, such as how it recorded complaints, with deadlines being beyond compliance with the Complaint Handling Code, and some complaints being processed by a separate ‘members enquiries’ system.

Also, different members of staff gave the Ombudsman conflicting information about the same procedures of closing complaints.

While the council has made some progress in parts of the complaint handling, for instance, lowering overdue complaints from 2,283 in April 2022 to 154 in November 2023, the council is currently not equipped to deal with the complaints it is receiving through its existing system.

This means the council’s attempts to deal with complaints properly will always be limited.

Unless this is resolved, residents will keep having to contact the council multiple times to be listened to and face long delays to complaints.

Refocus on the repeated issues that cause complaints

The inspection also identified a need for the council to refocus on the repeated issues that cause complaints to come to the Ombudsman.

The council was not meeting its promises made at stage two and not acknowledging the full impact of its errors and offering suitable compensation.

The council’s emphasis on the number of outstanding complaints also means its method of learning from complaints and root causes is underdeveloped.

Lambeth Council said: “We have apologised for the failings identified in the complaints that led to this inspection and have fixed the issues that impacted residents as well as paying compensation to them.”


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