duration

Location
Virtual

Hear about the latest solutions from landlords singled out for praise by the Housing Ombudsman and their recipe for success.  Learn from our benchmarking – ensure your complaints teams have the right structures and resources.

  • Read more

    How have some landlords improved their performance while others continue to struggle?

    Get the year off to a strong start at this focused, practical workshop by:

    • Exploring key learning from the landlords that have been singled out by the Housing Ombudsman for significantly reducing their maladministration rates
    • Examining the results of the Complaints Hub benchmarking around complaint team structures, caseloads and salaries.

    Discover how the right people, in the right roles, doing the right things can transform your complaints handling and build real tenant trust.

    This is a great opportunity to network, to benchmark yourselves and learn from others.

    Pick up the latest best practice, tips and advice. Hear from practitioners and from HQN’s complaints experts about how the sector is responding to the rising number of complaints and increased scrutiny.

    What will be covered:

    • An update on the current complaints landscape and the implications of recent changes, such as the introduction of Awaab’s Law
    • How well are landlords handling complaints? The key messages from the ombudsman’s latest annual complaints performance review
    • The improvement journey: hear from a landlord that’s been recognised by the ombudsman for improving its complaint handling performance
    • Hear the results of our recent survey around complaints teams, staffing, structures and salaries.

    Essential for:

    Everyone who deals with complaints, manages the complaints function or oversees learning from complaints, including:

    • Complaints managers and teams
    • Directors of housing, communities and customer experience
    • Repairs managers and their teams
    • Housing managers and their teams
    • Customer service managers and their teams.
  • Our speakers
    John Goodwin, Associate, HQN
    John Goodwin is a housing trainer and consultant, with extensive experience in the social housing sector, particularly in complaint-handling, resident involvement and governance.

    John was Compliance and Systemic Lead at the Housing Ombudsman Service until 2022, responsible for addressing systemic failings by landlords. He was involved in drafting the Ombudsman’s first ‘Complaint Handling Code’ and for delivering training to landlords, residents and others to improve complaint-handling and learning from complaints across the sector.

    Prior to joining the Ombudsman, John spent ten years with the Audit Commission’s Housing Inspectorate – inspecting a range of housing organisations and services. John previously worked for Shelter in several roles, including Head of Legal Services and Editor of ROOF magazine. He began his housing career in homelessness, housing advice and resettlement with a London borough.

    John has written and edited a number of publications including: ‘Built to Last’ (a history of British housing policy). John is also an accredited mediator and a trustee and past chair of a social care charity.
    Dave Simmons, Associate, HQN
    Dave is the company Director of the Housing Mediators which provides a mediation service focusing on housing and workplace disputes, as well as a training and support service for landlords specialising in effective complaint management.

    He spent 15 years at the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) where he worked as an Adjudicator and Sector Engagement Lead and his achievements included leading on the project to write and publish the first Complaint Handling Code. After this, Dave spent two years as Peabody’s Compliance Operations Manager, where his duties included overseeing compliance with the HOS.

    Dave is a long-term associate of HQN and Tpas (Tenant Engagement Experts) and in his various roles he has delivered hundreds of training workshops, forums and webinars to the housing sector covering a breadth of subjects. He has also written dozens of briefings and best practice documents which he currently continues to do in his capacity as HQN’s Complaints Hub Lead.

    He is an experienced accredited mediator and has mediated on a wide range of disputes including family, community and workplace. As a Board Trustee of Croydon Community Mediation, he co-produces newsletters which promote learning and knowledge sharing for its small team of community mediators.
    Helen Marjoram, Head of Housing Projects, Bromford Flagship
    Helen leads improvement, research and innovation projects at Bromford Flagship, driving initiatives that enhance service delivery and customer experience. Her role also includes oversight of service complaints and Housing Ombudsman activity, ensuring accountability and continuous improvement across the organisation.

    With over 20 years of experience in the housing sector, Helen brings a wealth of knowledge in operational delivery and strategic insights. Under her leadership, Flagship has achieved a significant reduction in Ombudsman findings, reflecting her commitment to quality and fairness in housing services.

    Previously Head of Housing at Samphire Homes leading a team of 50 colleagues across 10,000 homes. She successfully restructured the team to focus services on the customer, while improving performance in rent collection, lettings, and housing management. Her leadership delivered significant improvements in both service outcomes and staff satisfaction.

    Helen is passionate about embedding best practices that create positive outcomes for customers and communities.
    Sam Greenacre, Customer and Communities Director, Bromford Flagship
    Sam has spent over 15 years shaping housing services that put people first. He currently leads a team of more than 400 customer facing colleagues across 35,000 homes, 20 Local Authorities. The team spans housing, contact centre, community safety, neighbourhood maintenance and independent living.

    Previously Managing Director of Newtide Homes, Sam introduced the vision “Housing is Human”—a philosophy that guided digital transformation, localized services, piloted self-managing teams, and new initiatives such as a domestic abuse support team and an affordability fund to help tenants in need.

    Throughout his career, Sam has been driven by a belief that housing is about more than bricks and mortar—it’s about human beings, community, and creating spaces where people can thrive.

    Whether leading boards, championing frontline teams, or building partnerships, Sam brings both strategic insight and a deep commitment to human connection.

     

  • Programme

    10:30am Welcome and introductions

    John Goodwin and Dave Simmons, HQN Associates

    10:40am The complaints landscape and the Ombudsman’s view of how landlords are performing

    John Goodwin and Dave Simmons, HQN Associates
    • Current complaint handling challenges and requirements
      • Including: Awaab’s law and responding to vulnerabilities
    • Ombudsman’s annual report findings: signs of improvement
    • Resident satisfaction with complaint handling – messages from the first two years of Tenant Satisfaction Measures.

    11:25am The improvement journey

    Helen Marjoram, Head of Housing Projects and Sam Greenacre, Customer and Communities Director, Bromford Flagship
    • How Bromford Flagship have improved their complaint handling and reduced their maladministration rate
    • Getting the right structures and procedures in place
    • Maintaining complaint-handling performance during mergers
    • Challenges for the future.

    12:15pm Break

    12:35pm HQN complaints team benchmarking – staff and structures

    John Goodwin and Dave Simmons, HQN Associates
    • Findings from the recent HQN survey
    • Staff structures – the pros and cons of centralised teams and devolved complaint-handling staff
    • Salaries and caseloads.

    1:15pm Closing remarks

    John Goodwin and Dave Simmons, HQN Associates

    1:30pm Close

  • Cancellations and substitutions

    If you are unable to attend an event or public training course, please let us know in writing (email is fine) at least 48 hours before. Please email [email protected]

    Otherwise, a cancellation fee of £60 plus VAT will be chargeable.

    If you are using a package place to attend and do not inform us within the agreed time frame, then a place will be taken to cover your non-attendance.

    Cancellations must be made in writing and will be acknowledged by HQN Limited.

  • Price and booking

    Bookings are closed for this event.

    If you experience any issues when submitting your booking, please email [email protected] with the name and date of the session along with the delegate name(s), email address(es) and job title(s) and we'll process the booking for you.

Dates



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