The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales has signed up to a project run by the Housing Ombudsman Service, Local Government Ombudsman and HouseMark to help housing providers perform better when their tenants complain. The ‘Ombudsman Says’ service, which launched in April 2009, has already made a ide range of English housing association and local authority housing case digests available online to show landlords what to do - and what not to do - when things go wrong.

Now, under the new agreement, landlords will also have fast and easy access to cases involving Welsh housing providers.
Reacting properly when a tenant complains is crucial, particularly given the increased focus on tenants at the heart of the regulatory regime.
HouseMark deputy chief executive Samantha McGrady said:

“We are delighted that the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales has agreed to join us in providing this important improvement service to landlords. Complaints is a hot topic in Wales – the regulation of housing associations is being overhauled and the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009 is placing a spotlight on local authority corporate arrangements which includes complaints handling. The outcome of both initiatives will include an expectation of improved complaints handling on the part of social landlords. Landlords need to make sure they are one step ahead and start thinking now about how they measure up to the challenge.”

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales Peter Tyndall said:
“I consider it an important part of my role to support continued improvement in the standards of public services in Wales. I strive to reduce complaints by elping service providers to improve their initial decision making. I am, therefore, very pleased to join the Ombudsman Says partnership as this offers an important esource for sharing the lessons that can be learnt from my investigations with social housing providers.”

HouseMark has also recently launched a new complaints benchmarking service for its subscribers. Social landlords are now able to compare their performance n a range of performance indicators to better understand their strengths and weaknesses, thereby complementing ‘Ombudsman Says’ as an additional sectoral improvement tool in this critical service area.

The website can be searched by keyword, topic and tenure and is regularly updated with new cases and information. The website is available at
www.ombudsmansays.info