The Housing Ombudsman has used its powers to launch a special investigation into a housing association after its complaint handling maladministration rate rose from 56% to 81% in the past year.

Using powers within the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the ombudsman will produce a learning report for Southern Housing based on investigations into individual complaints and wider engagement and make recommendations for service improvement.

The investigation is also prompted by reviewing Southern Housing’s and Optivo’s complaints handling in light of a Complaint Handling Failure Order and severe maladministration findings made last financial year.

The ombudsman has upheld over 70% of the landlord’s complaints handling complaints since 1 April 2021. There are also 50 open cases that have been assessed as high or medium risk.

The ombudsman met with Southern Housing Group and Optivo in the months leading up to the merger given the impact mergers can have on complaints handling performance. The further investigation uses the ombudsman’s systemic powers under paragraph 49 of its Scheme.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “The sharp increase in maladministration rate, combined with number of high or medium risks cases we’re seeing from this landlord, is of concern. Other cases with us relate to similar issues and may indicate a repeated failing.

“Following our investigation, we will publish a learning report highlighting any issues we have identified in the cases investigated and make recommendations to the landlord to support learning and improvement.”

In a statement, Southern Housing said: “Improving complaint handling is a top priority for Southern Housing following our recent merger.

“We’ve already taken measures to improve both complaint handling and the causes of complaints. This includes creating additional posts in our Complaints team and expanding our Repairs and Maintenance teams to ensure we resolve problems more rapidly.

“Southern Housing’s complaint handling maladministration rate rose from 18 complaint handling determinations out of 32 cases in 2021/22, to 22 out of 27 cases in 2022/23. The increase in the percentage determinations between 2021/22 and 2022/23 represents an increase from 56% to 81% in the context of a reduced number of cases. These are historic cases with the oldest dating back to 2019. We acknowledge that during the covid pandemic we had particular challenges responding to complaints as quickly as we wanted to.

“We’ve been working hard to improve complaint handling since merger in December 2022. Maladministration cases remain a very small percentage of our overall complaint cases. But one maladministration determination is too many and we will endeavour to deal quickly and professionally with all complaints. We’re confident the Ombudsman investigation will be a valuable learning experience and an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to delivering for our residents.”