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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the longest recorded time is for a complaint currently being handled by the Housing Ombudsman.

The average waiting time for cases handled by the Housing Ombudsman in each of the last five financial years is:

Determined Cases Average Months to Determine

2021/22 2,238 5

2022/23 2,371 6

2023/24 4,908 11

2024/25 6,115 7

2025/26 8,791 8

The current oldest case is 22 months since it formally entered the Ombudsman's jurisdiction for investigation. The Service expects no case to be older than 18 months by 31st March 2027.

The caseworker-to-complaint ratio within the Housing Ombudsman service is 39:1.

The backlog of cases that exceed 12 months since they formally entered the Ombudsman's jurisdiction for investigation is set out below.

Backlog of Unresolved Cases

2023/24 283

2024/25 0

2025/26 2,458

Current 2,235

The proportion of complaints which were resolved within target timeframes in each of the last five is below.

Determined Within: 6 Months 12 Months

2022/23 N/A 100%

2023/24 54% 87%

2023/24 18% 62%

2024/25 46% 89%

2025/26 53% 78%