Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the average time taken by the Independent Housing Ombudsman was to determine case complaints in 2018-19; and how many complaints took longer than the six-month target to determine.

The Housing Ombudsman Service’s 2018-19 annual report and accounts, when published, will confirm the average case determination time. The average time taken in 2018-19 to determine cases entering the Housing Ombudsman Service’s formal remit is expected to be less than 7 months as of the end of March 2019.

For the year to date, 67 per cent of complaints entering the formal remit have taken longer than six months to determine. Performance is improving with 50 per cent of complaints in February determined within 6 months. This is in the context of a 24 per cent increase in cases entering the Housing Ombudsman’s formal remit for determination in the year to date.