The Housing Ombudsman has released its Annual Complaints Review for 2022-23, providing key insights into the social housing complaints landscape. The review reveals a sharp increase of severe maladministration findings, with individual performance reports published for 163 landlords where the Ombudsman made most findings. The report highlights that social housing complaints have seen a huge spike due to poor property conditions, legislative changes, media attention, and the inquest into the death of Awaab Ishak.

The Annual Complaints Review provides a comprehensive assessment of complaints in social housing, including that the Ombudsman received over 5,000 complaints for the first time last year, a 28% increase on the previous year. The report also shows that more than half of the findings were upheld for the first time, with an increase in maladministration findings where service requests were not handled reasonably.

In many of these cases, landlords are making the same mistakes over and over again. This shows that with just a little bit of sharp focus on the important issues the Ombudsman highlights, the sector can get to grips with the problem.

The Ombudsman has again written to Chief Executives of landlords who have a maladministration rate of over 50% to bring urgent attention to the figures. However, this year the Ombudsman is also writing to five landlords who had no findings upheld, recognising their positive complaint handling approach. The review also looks at Complaint Handling Failure Orders (CHFOs) and key issues for the first time, with the Ombudsman issuing 146 CHFOs last year.

The Annual Complaints Review provides key insights and information into the performance of landlords managing complaints. Alongside this publication the Ombudsman are also hosting training and events to keep up to date with the latest policies and best practice.

Read the full review here

Read the resident-facing review here.

To access the Housing Ombudsman Training and Events click here

The conferences of both main parties took place in October. With this possibly being the final conference season before the next general election, both parties are beginning to flesh out their offer to the electorate, and both made important announcements in the areas of housing, rebalancing and net zero.  

Conservative Party Conference 

This year’s Conference Season saw the Conservatives go first, and any focus the Prime Minister may have wished to put on his government’s approach to rebalancing during his trip to the North West was ultimately overshadowed by his decision to scrap the Manchester leg of HS2.  

Rishi Sunak used his speech as an opportunity to present himself as the candidate for change in a future general election and announced new education reforms and an age-related ban on smoking. Housing was notable by its absence in the prime minister’s speech to his party conference, with Sunak only making a brief reference to housebuilding. But while he may not have given much focus to housing in his own address, members of his Cabinet did announce new policies relevant for housing providers over the Conference period and the fringe events had very active discussions on a range housing issues.  

Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2.2  

One significant housing announcement came from newly appointed Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Claire Coutinho. In her speech, Coutinho announced that £80 million would be made available “to insulate thousands of social homes”, through Wave 2.2 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.  

An important condition of this new funding is that housing providers who previously received funding through Wave 2.1 will not be eligible for this wave. Applications for funding are expected to open from 20th November 2023, and further information is available here. 

Long-Term Plan for Towns 

The major housing-related announcement was Michael Gove’s ‘Long-Term Plan for Towns’. Fifty-five towns are set to benefit from the plan in total, which will see £1.1 billion collectively spent over 10 years with the aim of regenerating towns and attracting further private and philanthropic investment. 

Each town will receive £20 million in endowment-style funding and support, to be spent on local priorities such as regenerating high streets and ensuring public safety. Each of the towns named in the Plan will also be required to establish a Long-Term Plan for the town, to be consulted on with residents, and to set up a ‘Towns Board’ to bring together community leaders, employers, local authorities and the local MP to oversee the delivery of the Plan.  

Of the 55 listed towns, 25 are in the North: with ten in the North West, six in the North East and nine in Yorkshire & Humber. A full list of the towns, arranged by region, can be found in the table below: 

Labour Party Conference  

The Labour Party’s Conference in Liverpool saw housing take centre stage. Keir Starmer pledged in his leader’s speech that a Labour government would oversee the construction of 1.5 million new homes within the first five years of power, through a range of new policies to boost housebuilding. The self-professed “YIMBY” (Yes In My Back Yard) Leader of the Opposition pledged that Labour would reform the planning system to accelerate the approval process, and accepted that Labour would need to overcome local opposition if it were to meet its housebuilding goals. The housing policy proposals in the leader’s speech included:  

• A new generation of ‘new towns’ with homes built in Georgian design  
• Release of greenbelt land of low natural or environmental value, termed “the greybelt”, for housebuilding  

• A package of devolution measures to hand more power over planning and control over housing investment to regional mayors  
• A ‘planning passport’ to accelerate approval of high-density proposals on urban brownfield sites  
• New development corporations with power to remove ‘blockages’  

Affordable Housing 

Angela Rayner also vowed that a Labour government would oversee “the biggest boost to affordable housing for a generation”. The Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities pledged to strengthen the rules around Section 106 agreements and “prevent developers wriggling out of their responsibilities” to deliver affordable housing. Rayner said Labour would upskill local authorities on Section 106 negotiations, increase transparency around the viability process used to determine whether developers can provide their obligated social homes and “ensure developers could only challenge cases where there are genuine barriers to delivering these new homes”.  

Rayner also pledged to increase the flexibility of the Homes England Affordable Homes Programme, by increasing the proportion of funds that can be used to acquire existing homes. This follows the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) handing £1.9 billion back to the Treasury in July following departmental underspends, including a £600 million underspend on the Affordable Homes Programme.  

Labour and Net Zero 

There were no new major announcements in the area of domestic energy efficiency at Labour Conference. Ed Miliband did use his speech to re-commit to Labour’s Warm Homes Plan, which aims to insulate 19 million homes across the country, including 4 million in the North. Labour reconfirmed its pledge to invest £6 billion a year in home energy in the second half of the parliament, something the NHC called for in our Real Homes, Real Change showcase [link]. More information about the Warm Homes Plan is available here.  

Earlier this month the Northern Housing Consortium and partners were in Manchester and Liverpool, hosting breakfast roundtables previewing the findings of Pride in Place to political stakeholders. As Rishi Sunak unveiled his ‘Long Term Plan for Towns’, with an emphasis on community-led vision and collaborative working, and Keir Starmer announced a new generation of New Towns, built around prosperity, parks, and public services, the sessions proved timely for both political parties in outlining what northern residents look for in a great place to live.

Each session began with an overview of findings provided by Thinks Insight & Strategy, the research agency established by Deborah Mattinson, the Leader of the Opposition’s Director of Strategy. Although already rich in insights, a testament to the social and private rented sector residents who contributed, this was only a preview, with the full report being published on 9^th November at the Northern Housing Summit. Drawn from workshops held across the North, in Blackpool, Benwell, Skipton, Moss Side, and Knowsley, attendees discussed what residents had to say about Levelling Up, what contributes to local pride, and the role of both individuals and in agencies in building pride across areas.

Key themes included access to basic services, transparency and engagement, and the local environment. In Manchester at Conservative Party Conference, attendees including Local Trust, Centre for Cities, and the University of Manchester discussed the importance of social capital; centring around comfort and community, this was the way residents felt at ease in their neighbourhood, and the pride they feel in the connection they have with neighbourhoods and near-by friends. During Labour Party Conference, attendees in Liverpool, which included representatives from across local politics, honed in on the importance of green spaces for health, wellbeing, and sociability. Although universally popular, many neighbourhoods were unsure their green spaces were reaching their full potential, and more could be done to scope out community involvement in reaching that potential.

The Party Conferences were the last stop on the road to publishing Pride in Place at the Northern Housing Summit on the 9^th November. There attendees will be joined by Thinks Insight and Strategy, partners involved in the work, and participant residents sharing their views. We look forward to seeing you there.

Updates on the Pride in Place project can be found on the Northern Housing Consortium’s dedicated Rebalancing Webpage:

Eighteen social housing providers are testing a communications toolkit which will support them to engage with residents about having Net Zero work completed in their homes.

The Heartwarming Homes toolkit will help providers change the way they engage and communicate with residents about energy efficiency improvements.  It will be a useful guide for both communications and sustainability and asset management teams.

The toolkit uses behaviour change principles and includes research and practical advice about how to make energy efficiency an easy choice for residents.

There is advice  about which channels to use to engage with residents successfully. Face-to-face communication and resident ambassadors have both been identified as key to building trust, as well as educating colleagues so everyone a resident has contact with is on-message.

There is a step-by-step communication process for energy efficiency projects, and a range of resources you can download and share with residents including  FAQs, sample letters and case study videos. The ‘using the right language’ section will help you communicate in a clear and accessible way.

There is also a section which looks at how you can communicate with the wider customer group about energy efficiency, including those who are not yet due to have work done on their home.

Kathy Thomas, the project’s Communications Project Manager (Net Zero) said:

“One of the biggest takeaways for me from our tenant advisory group and communications advisory group has been the need to create trust between tenants and landlords. Both groups have played a big part in making sure what we produce is relevant to tenants and the housing sector.

“Social landlords are leading the way with making the UK’s homes greener – and they’re facing similar challenges. Heartwarming Homes is about offering a better resident experience and helping your sustainability programme run smoothly. To make this happen, communication and engagement need to be an integral part of net zero project plans.”

Heartwarming Homes has been developed in partnership with Northern Housing Consortium, Placeshapers and Tpas. It takes forward recommendations from the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury and Residents’ Voices in the Net Zero journey.

Heartwarming Homes is about the sector working together – it’s time to collaborate not duplicate. Get in touch if you’d like to find out more or share your learning.

The Unlocking Success Bursary Scheme, funded through the Northern Housing Consortium Charitable Trust, awards bursaries of £500 to help tenants develop learning and skills to support future employment. Since its launch in 2019, we have awarded 88 bursaries to successful applicants to help them with various forms of learning and development including IT courses, books for A-Levels, a British Sign Language course and travel costs for getting to college.

The 2023 edition of the scheme launched in April and we had 33 brilliant applicants from 14 of our members. Of these 33 applications, 13 were successful and were awarded £500 to help support their future employment. The bursaries will go towards a range of different training and skills development, including towards the training costs and purchasing a laptop to complete online training in helping young people and young offenders in the community. Another successful applicant will use the bursary to fund a First Response Emergency Care Level 3 course, with an expectation of eventually joining the Ambulance Service.

The successful applicants will use the bursary for a variety of forms of education, such as HGV driver training and training in food safety and hygiene to work in a school kitchen. One bursary winner will use the grant for a laptop to help support their whole family with English courses, along with starting a Level 1 Plumbing course.

Simone, a tenant who was awarded the £500 bursary for a First Response Emergency Care (FREC) course said:

“Thank you so much! For all the support with helping me apply for this bursary, as well as the FREC which has given me such a good start to my new path !!!

I have applied for the C1 on my license now, and I can’t wait to start my driver training, which wouldn’t have been possible any time soon without this bursary! I am so happy and grateful to have people supporting and believing in me, and to be chosen for it…

I am definitely on the right path now and come September I will either be working and training with North West Ambulance Service as an EMT or training to be a paramedic at Warrington Vale!!”

Another tenant awarded the £500 bursary was Peter, who is putting the money towards a Security Industry Authority (SIA) license, Peter said:

“I would like to start off by saying thank you so much for accepting my application and for being successful this had made a huge impact on my mental health already as I know that once the payment comes through for the training things will start improving for me in terms of financial stability, more work, better mental health and I can eventually start reducing my rent arrears.

More work and being full time also means I will be able to earn a wage and not rely on universal credits and the uncertainty of shifts I was able to claim without my SIA license. I would have never of been able to save up for this training myself and everything alongside it i.e. travel expenses etc.”

To read more of the success stories from past successful bursary applications, see here.

Congratulations to this year’s 13 successful applicants! Look out for updates on the next round of the bursary in 2024, further information on the scheme is available on our website.