Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to improve the standards and tackle delays in the Housing Ombudsman Service.

The Housing Ombudsman Service is an independent and impartial body responsible for investigating complaints about social landlords.

The Ombudsman is taking steps to improve timeliness and performance, including increasing capacity, strengthening its processes, and introducing more proportionate approaches to investigations.

Through its Business Plan 2026/27, which can be found here, the Ombudsman has set out a programme of work to reduce the number of older cases and improve the speed of case resolution. This includes increasing its workforce and introducing a multi‑year caseload reduction strategy focused on delivering faster outcomes for residents.

The Ombudsman has also increased its membership fees, paid by landlords, to support these improvements and ensure it has the resources needed to respond to rising demand.