The Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code
The Complaint Handling Code became statutory on 1 April 2024, meaning that landlords are obliged by law to follow its requirements.
The Complaint Handling Code
The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code sets out best practice for landlord’s complaint handling procedures, to enable a positive complaints culture across the social housing sector, regardless of the size or type of landlord. The Code encourages landlord-tenant relationships so that residents can raise a complaint if things go wrong.
The Complaint Handling Code (‘the Code’) became statutory on 1 April 2024, meaning that all members of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme are obliged by law to follow its requirements.
The Housing Ombudsman also has a legal duty to ensure landlords complaint procedures and responses are compliant with the Code.
Sections of the Code
There are 9 sections of the Code:
- Definition – what is a complaint?
- Exclusions – what will not be treated as a complaint
- Accessibility – making it easy to make a complaint- meeting the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and offering reasonable adjustments where appropriate
- Staff – landlords should have a designated person or team to respond to complaints
- Process – sets out a clear 2 stage complaints process
- Stages – sets out the timescales to provide a response at both stages including the use of extensions
- Putting things right – considering the impact on the resident and setting out what will be done to put things right
- Self-assessment – landlords must complete an annual self-assessment of their compliance against the Code
- Scrutiny – appointing a Member Responsible for Complaints to have responsibility and accountability for complaints
The Code in practice
The Code sets out best practice for landlords to effectively handle complaints, including:
- the stages a process should have
- the timescales to provide a response
- what information must be provided in a complaint response
Compliance with the Code is most effective when landlords operate within established dispute resolution principles: to be fair, puts things right, and learn from outcomes.
This Code aims to support the earliest resolution of complaints while the matters are still within the landlord’s own procedure. This can avoid issues escalating with further detriment to the resident, requiring more time and resource by the landlord to remedy.
The Code should empower complaint handling teams and encourage involvement in complaint resolution, develop staff ownership, decision-making and engagement, and ensure the appropriate resources and tools are provided to handle complaints.
It provides senior staff with essential insight into day-to-day operations, allowing them to assess effectiveness and identify organisational risks or issues. The data collected about complaints should be analysed and used to inform key business decisions to drive improvement in service provision.
The Code also acts as a guide to residents of what to expect if they make a complaint and improve access and awareness of the procedure when they need it.
Duty to Monitor
The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 placed a duty on the Housing Ombudsman to monitor compliance with the statutory Complaint Handling Code. This means the Housing Ombudsman is required to ensure all landlords meet the standards set out in the Code for complaint handling, regardless of their size and operating model.
The duty allows the Ombudsman to assess a landlord even if there has not been a complaint referred to us by a resident. This extends fairness across the sector ensuring residents receive a quality complaint handling service, regardless of who their landlord is, or what they are complaining about.
We also use our work to monitor compliance with the Code to identify and share examples of good practice in complaints handling through our Centre for Learning. We have lots of resources available including CPD accredited courses, e-learning modules, webinars, podcasts and case studies.
Compliance with the Code
If you are a landlord and have any queries about compliance with the Code, annual self-assessments or any other Code related topics, please email compliance@housing-ombudsman.org.uk.
Complaint Handling Code Annual Submissions
Landlords must complete an annual submission
Part of the statutory nature of the Code means landlords are required to submit an annual submission of their performance against the Code. This will help measure performance and help us ensure they are compliant.
The Complaint Handling Code annual submissions form is available on our engagement platform. To complete the form, landlords are required to create a login. Once registered, landlords can access the form multiple times before submitting.
Self-assessment
Landlords must assess against the Complaint Handling Code and assure policies and practices comply with the Code at least annually.
Self-assessment guidance
The purpose of the self-assessment is to set out how landlords demonstrate their complaint handling service complies with the provisions of the Code. In addition, the self-assessment supports landlords to inform residents about service provision.
Self-assessment form
This self-assessment form should be completed by the complaints officer and it must be reviewed and approved by the landlord’s governing body at least annually.
Centre for Learning
What happens if a landlord does not comply with the Code?
If concerns with a landlord’s compliance with the Code are identified, we will engage with them to bring them back into compliance promptly.
If there is evidence of ongoing or repeated failures, we will consider using our powers including our ability to issue a landlord with a Complaint Handling Failure Order which are shared with the relevant regulatory bodies. If a landlord continued to not comply at this stage, we would take all reasonable steps to ensure that this was resolved.
The evolution of the Code
When the Code was launched and why it has changed
The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code was first introduced in April 2022. All member landlords were asked to comply with the requirements set out in the Code as part of their membership obligations set out in the Housing Ombudsman Scheme.
Members were given until 1 October 2022 to self-assess against the Code on a ‘comply or explain’ basis, to review its own internal processes and take on the Code as ‘best-practice’ approach to achieve more consistent complaint handling across the sector.
Code changes reference guide
Easy reference guide
This document sets out the changes made to the Code 2022 through consultation in autumn 2023.
For ease of reference, each provision of the Code 2022 has been included, along with the updated provision number and wording (where applicable). We have included our reasons for the change where required.
This easy reference guide does not detail the full Statutory Code, rather it sets out how Code 2022 has been amended.
Resident information
How to complain to your landlord
The Complaint Handling Code sets out that landlords must have a 2-stage complaints process.
A landlord must acknowledge a complaint at stage 1 of its process within 5 working days and supply a written response within 10 working days from the date of acknowledgment.
If you are still dissatisfied after you receive a stage 1 response, you can request to progress your complaint to the final stage (stage 2). A landlord must acknowledge a stage 2 complaint within 5 working days and supply a written response within 20 working days.
In some cases, the landlord can extend the timescale to provide a response by 10 working days at stage 1 and 20 working days at stage 2, however, it must let you know and explain the reason for extending the timescale for providing a response.