Lambeth Council faces persistent issues with housing services, as flagged by the Housing Ombudsman, with performance remaining below expected standards.
The General Purposes Committee of Lambeth Council reviewed a report detailing a significant increase in Housing Ombudsman enquiries and adverse determinations between April and September 2026. These issues are largely attributed to long-standing challenges in repairs, complaint handling, and information management.
Janet Sharpe, Director of Housing Operations, acknowledged that performance is not yet at the desired level but stressed the council's commitment to learning from Ombudsman findings. She confirmed that while the complaints inbox had not been closed, a review was underway during the transition of services.
Councillor Seraphina Spicer had raised concerns that residents were reporting the complaints inbox was not taking complaints and that stage one complaints were not always progressing to stage two. Ms Sharpe stated, I will check the system issues to in case something is happening, but we are not stopping taking complaints and we will be allocating any complaints that receive to officers at the earliest opportunity.
She further committed to investigating the process herself the following morning to ensure there were no issues with complaints coming in and how they were being allocated.
Councillor David Ford also noted receiving an email on October 6th stating the inbox was temporarily closed and is not being monitored
and that residents were receiving the same response through the portal. He also mentioned putting in an inquiry on October 13th that had not yet been responded to. Ms Sharpe stated she would check the members' inbox and test the system the following day, asking Councillor Ford to forward the email he received.
Councillor Elliot, Cabinet Member for Housing, emphasised the value of complaints in service improvement and expressed confidence that the ongoing transformation programme would yield significant results within the next six to twelve months. The council will measure the delivery of the Housing Transformation Programme through improvements in:
- Number of Stage 1 complaints raised
- Number of complaints that escalate to Stage 2
- Timeliness of responses to Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints
- Complaint responses issued within Housing Ombudsman timescales.
- Reduction in Housing Ombudsman enquiries and maladministration findings.
- Compliance with Ombudsman orders and recommendations.
- Resident satisfaction with complaint handling.
He also addressed concerns about recurring issues like damp and mould, stating the council is working to ensure residents' concerns are heard and root causes are addressed.
Councillor Elliot explained the council's strategy for addressing damp and mould by stating, the damp process, as I understand it within Lambeth Council and because of AWAP's law, is that one, a resident phones up to say, I've got damp, I've got mould, which is now a legal responsibility of us as the landlords to get out, to carry out a mould wash, to paint over with, with your mould deterrent paint. And then, if this then comes back, then what should happen and, you know, I need to test this and, and but what should happen then is if it comes back again, there is a root cause that has been missed.
He further elaborated that historically, the council may not have listened to residents about leaks and instead only addressed the superficial mould issue, leading to recurrence. The strategy now involves making sure that we're listening to residents much more, listening to their problems and make sure that we then play that back in terms of the repairs that are done.
Additionally, Janet Sharpe mentioned that a predictive model for damp and mould has been developed, using repairs and stock condition data to provide a risk rating for properties. This model will inform the specification of works for empty homes and proactively target investment in estates with a high proportion of at-risk properties.
Between April and September 2026, the Housing Ombudsman received 140 cases, with 22 classified as maladministration and three as severe maladministration. The total compensation paid out during this period amounted to £56,846. Key themes leading to adverse findings included damp/mould and bathroom repairs.
The council is implementing a Housing Transformation Programme, which includes redesigning front-door processes, transferring the Housing Complaints Case Management Team back into the Housing Directorate, and establishing weekly governance meetings. A significant organisational change was implemented on October 12, 2026, with the transfer of the Housing Complaints Case Management Team back into the Housing Directorate. This change is expected to create clearer accountability for complaint performance within Housing Services, strengthens ownership of complaint outcomes, improves data quality and supports faster implementation of learning. It also enables complaints performance to be managed alongside operational service performance, ensuring greater alignment between identified issues and service improvements.
An SMS-based survey for residents using the Wates repairs service has been rolled out, with initial results indicating a significant number of dissatisfied responses that the council aims to address. As of October 7th, 2,862 SMS-based survey responses had been received from residents using the Wates repairs service, with 1,346 indicating dissatisfaction. To address these dissatisfied responses, the council has implemented a process where there is a free text field option with the survey allowing the contractor to understand the issue before contacting the resident and arranging a resolution, including re-raising the job.
The council aims to deal with these issues early before residents raise a formal complaint to help reduce complaint volumes. After three months of data collection, the council will assess the types of responses, potential improvements, and whether the project has reduced the number of formal complaints.
The Housing Ombudsman had previously written to Lambeth Council in December 2025 regarding persistent themes in casework concerning complaints handling, repairs, and knowledge management. In December 2025, the Housing Ombudsman wrote to Lambeth Council as part of a formal paragraph 49 investigation, raising concerns over persistent themes in recent casework in areas around complaints handling, repairs, and knowledge and information management.
The council has developed a response plan and is in dialogue with the Ombudsman, who has indicated they will share their concerns with the Regulator of Social Housing. The report indicates that repairs, damp and mould, complaint handling, and record keeping continue to account for the majority of adverse findings, aligning with the themes identified in the December 2025 investigation.
Public reports pack Thursday 22-Oct-2026 20.30 General Purposes Committee