Improved access to Ombudsman from October

Changes to the Ombudsman’s service are set to take effect from 1 October 2022, making it easier for residents to access our service if they remain unhappy with their landlord’s final response on their complaint. The ‘democratic filter’ is being removed after a change in the law so residents will no longer have to refer their complaint to a designated person or wait eight weeks before the Ombudsman can consider their complaint.

Under the current process, if residents are unable to resolve their complaint through their landlord’s complaints procedure they can contact a designated person who can help find a solution or refer it direct to our service. This is known as the democratic filter. The designated person can be an MP, a local councillor or a designated Tenant Panel. If residents decide not to contact a designated person, the current legislation requires eight weeks to have passed before the complaint can be sent to us.

From 1 October residents will not have to contact a designated person or wait eight weeks before referring their complaint to us if they remain dissatisfied at the end of their landlord’s complaint process. Removing this barrier will ensure that social housing residents are not disadvantaged and have direct access to an Ombudsman, as well as helping to speed up the overall complaints process.

Over the next eight weeks up to 1 October, residents can still refer complaints to a designated person after completing the landlord’s process, but they can also bring it direct to the Ombudsman. If residents remain dissatisfied with their landlord’s final response on 1 October, the complaints within our jurisdiction will come into our formal process for assessment.

As there will be an initial influx of complaints and demand is expected to increase, it will not be possible to assess all of the cases immediately but we will keep residents informed about our timescales.

We are updating our policies and guidance to reflect the changes which will be updated on our website for 1 October.

As a reminder, residents can also contact us if they are having issues accessing their landlord’s complaints process or if they have complained to their landlord and it has not responded in line with its complaints policy. We do not investigate complaints before they have completed the complaints process, but we can take steps to encourage landlords and residents to work together to resolve a complaint.

Our website features a webchat facility and see our Contact us page for other ways to get in touch.

After 1 October, residents can still contact their MP, local councillor or tenant panel about a complaint, but the designated person role will not be part of the Ombudsman’s formal process