About us
Our vision is to improve residents’ lives and landlords’ services through housing complaints.
All local authorities and registered social housing providers are required to be members of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. We also have several private landlords and letting agents who have joined voluntarily.
The Housing Ombudsman Scheme sets out our role, what complaints we can consider and the obligations of our members.
We are an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The Framework Document sets out the respective responsibilities and accountability of the Housing Ombudsman, the Secretary of State and officials within the Department.
What we do
We investigate complaints and resolve disputes involving the tenants and leaseholders of social landlords (housing associations and local authorities), as well as for our voluntary members (private landlords and letting agents).
Investigating these complaints is a free, independent, and impartial service and this work is funded by annual landlord subscription fees.
We work with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO), the New Homes Ombudsman, and the Regulator of Social Housing, under a Memorandum of Understanding, to agree a common approach to collaborative working.
You can find out more and view Memorandum of Understanding documents on our dedicated page.
View our Memorandum of Understanding documents
Who we are
We are made up of three directorates:
- Quality, Engagement and Development
- Dispute Support & Resolution
- Finance and Corporate Services
These teams are supported by our Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and Senior Leadership Team.
We collaborate with an Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC), an Advisory Board and an Independent Reviewer of Service Complaints to support our activities, encourage external perspectives and continually improve our performance.
Our values
Our four values are important to us, and we strive to uphold these in everything we do, both internally and externally.
- Fairness: We are independent and impartial; we take time to listen carefully and to understand the evidence
- Learning: We share knowledge and insights to maximise our impact and improve services
- Openness: We are accessible and accountable; we publish information on our performance and decisions
- Excellence: We work together to provide an efficient, high-quality service
Our values and the behaviours that underpin them
Corporate documents
Annual report and accounts 2022-23
Annual report and accounts 2021-22
Annual report and accounts 2020-21
Annual report and accounts 2019-20
Our policies
We have published a range of our internal policies and guidance for transparency.
Expenditure data
We are required to publish our expenditure data as part of the government’s transparency agenda.