Agenda item

This report will follow in a supplementary pack after it has been published for the meeting of Executive Committee (due for publication on Friday 22 August).

The Assistant Director of Environmental and Housing Property Services presented the Housing Ombudsman’s Findings Report in respect of case 202417927. This related to a complaint that had been submitted to the Housing Ombudsman by a local resident.

The Assistant Director of Environmental and Housing Property Services apologised on behalf of the Housing department to the residents affected and the Committee for the maladministration found in the two Ombudsman cases presented before the Committee this evening.

The purpose of the report was to learn lessons from the Housing Ombudsman’s findings when investigating this complaint. This had concluded that there had been maladministration at the Council in respect of the following areas:

·       The resident’s reports of damp and mould in the property.

·       The installation and maintenance of aids and adaptations.

·       The resident’s reports of structural problems with the balcony wall.

·       The resident’s reports of a leak to the communal entrance.

The Housing Ombudsman had identified issues with poor record keeping at the Council as well as in respect of how staff worked with people who had vulnerabilities.  Staff required training in order to provide appropriate support to residents with different vulnerabilities.  Issues had also been identified with complaint handling at the Council, with an emphasis having been placed on the need for staff to have empathy when working with residents.  Officers were working through the Housing Ombudsman’s findings with a view to identifying the most appropriate action to be taken to prevent similar issues from occurring in the future.

Following the presentation, a Member commented that when any concerns with tenant’s property or vulnerabilities were identified, it should be the responsibility and due diligence of every employee who comes into contact with that tenant to escalate any concerns urgently with the Housing department. There needed to be a similar principle to safeguarding, that it is everyone’s responsibility, to be adopted by all employees/contractors coming in contact with a tenant. A Member commented that the detail described within the Housing Ombudsman Findings Report appeared to indicate that there were cultural issues amongst staff in the Housing department that needed to be addressed.

Some Members suggested it might be helpful for the Council to have a case worker, or multiple case workers, who could be someone ‘entrenched’ within the system and be a central point of contact in relation to a tenant. This would enable problems, such as special support needs, repairs or damp and mould, to be raised with management at an early stage.

It was suggested that this could involve recruiting family liaison case workers. In addition, the potential to work in partnership with other organisations to recruit these case workers as multi-agency staff was also highlighted for consideration. It was commented that the Council’s Neighbourhood and Tenancy Officers were also well placed to spot concerns with a tenant’s property at an early stage, however, the team’s capacity remained limited.

Members commented that residents should be the Council’s focus, as the authority’s customers but unfortunately in this case, the customer had been failed. To address cultural issues, Members commented that there needed to be greater engagement with and empowerment of Council tenants.

It was highlighted that in cases where access to the property was difficult or where tenants were refusing access, there was a need to involve tenancy officers at an early stage and for more junior officers to be proactive in raising and addressing concerns.

RECOMMENDED that

1)    The findings, orders and recommendation from the Housing Ombudsman be noted.

2)    Compliance with those matters by the Council and the wider learning points be noted.