The NFA has responded to the Housing Ombudsman’s consultation on changes to the Complaint Handling Code.

Our members are committed to developing positive complaint handling cultures where tenants feel listened to, and where things go wrong, they are quickly put right. They have welcomed the work that the Housing Ombudsman has done over the past few years to support the sector to deliver good services for tenants. However, our members have raised a number of concerns with the Housing Ombudsman’s proposed revisions to the Complaint Handling Code, particularly around the risk of overly bureaucratising the complaints process and reducing the ability for tenants to get their issues resolved quickly. This will lead to further pressure on housing organisations without a real benefit to tenants.

We also have concerns about the proposals for monitoring compliance and the risk of confused roles between the Housing Ombudsman and the Regulator of Social Housing that we outline in our response.