Lambeth Council has the highest rate of Housing Ombudsman determinations in London, with 92% of cases resulting in maladministration in 2024/25. This figure was revealed during a General Purposes Committee meeting on Thursday, July 23, 2026.
Between October 2025 and March 2026, Lambeth received 108 housing ombudsman cases, with 19 resulting in severe maladministration. The primary causes cited were issues related to the management of damp, mould, leaks, property damage, and repairs. The council's performance places it at the top of a list of comparable London boroughs, with 121 determinations and a 92% maladministration rate in 2024/25, significantly higher than other boroughs such as Croydon (88%) and Hackney (75%).
In response to these findings, Lambeth Council has commissioned an independent review of its complaints handling by Campbell Tickell, with a specific focus on repairs. This review investigated the key drivers of complaints handling performance across landlord services, particularly repairs; the end-to-end complaints operating model, including workflows, governance, controls, escalation routes, systems, learning loops, and resident experience; compliance with the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code and the Regulator of Social Housing consumer standards; structural, operational, cultural and systems-related factors contributing to delayed or inadequate complaint responses; the relationship between improving operational repairs metrics and continuing high complaint volumes; and the effectiveness of current arrangements for learning from complaints and embedding service improvement. The findings are being used to establish a formal Complaints Improvement Programme.
A significant challenge highlighted is a backlog of 2,600 disrepair cases. The root causes of this backlog are attributed to disrepair 'not being tackled effectively for a number of years by the council'. Specific strategies to clear this backlog by 2027/28 include a review that has been undertaken and an improvement plan put in place, supported by appropriate governance arrangements. The plan also involves the introduction of additional contractor capacity, a process jointly owned by key teams across the council, and a refocusing of attention with repairs contractors to avoid people having to lodge a disrepair case. Significant governance and oversight of disrepair is a stated priority.
Furthermore, Lambeth is currently subject to a formal Paragraph 49 investigation
by the Housing Ombudsman due to persistent themes in recent casework concerning complaint handling, repairs, and knowledge management. The council has set out a plan in response to these concerns, which includes the Campbell-Tickell review, the introduction of resident text-message sign-off of repairs, the use of technology, procurement of remote diagnostic technology and AI-supported inspection reporting, a robustly resourced plan to address disrepair with strong senior leadership oversight, and more auditing of repairs and complaint cases.
The text messaging service for repair sign-off has been rolled out in three of Lambeth's six boroughs and is being introduced to a further borough each month, with the aim of full rollout by the autumn. This service is expected to provide invaluable information to be able to see how satisfied our customers are and to be able to look and to see it from their perspective and whether they feel that the repair has been undertaken.
The use of technology for diagnostics and reporting is also part of the plan, though specific timelines and impacts are not detailed.
During the reporting period, the council paid out a total of £133,339 in compensation related to ombudsman determinations. Councillor Sacha Takyi-Berko, Chair of the committee, questioned the measurable improvements expected. Ms. Sharpe responded that the committee would see more detailed data on the scale of improvements in the next report. Specific metrics mentioned include reaching out to customers for engagement and feedback through pulse surveys on repairs, significant training for staff to reduce complaint escalation, improvements in both complaints handling and a reduction in housing ombudsman cases, and robust governance within housing. Weekly performance information, including the number and quality of complaints and response times, is being tracked. The council has set robust performance metrics to track progress over the next three months, six months, and two years, with a particular focus on disrepair, damp, mould, and condensation, and improving decency in homes.
For more details on the meeting, refer to the Agenda frontsheet and the Public reports pack.