The council says there is an ‘improvement plan in place’ after it was revealed that Southwark has the third-highest number of housing Ombudsman complaints in the UK.
According to the data provided Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Report, Southwark Council received 64 housing Ombudsman complaints between 2022-23.
The Ombudsman investigates individual tenants’ complaints independently and makes recommendations to the landlord – in this case the council.
This figure is up from 58 the year before and has risen for the last three years running.
Cllr Sarah King, Cabinet Member for Council Homes, said: “Nothing is more important to us than ensuring our residents live in safe and comfortable homes.
“But as the biggest social landlord in London and the fourth largest in the UK, the challenges we face are enormous with growing demands and shrinking resources. We are determined to learn from every problem or challenge and ensure we constantly improve and adapt our processes.
Asked about plans to improve the issues with housing, Cllr King said: “Our plans to improve our repairs service, overseen by a resident board, are already showing positive change with a 90% satisfaction rate for the last five months. As well as this, we have a new complaint-handling improvement plan in progress.
“We are working hard to get things right but we need the government to do the same with secure and adequate funding for councils. The shortfall in councils’ housing budgets urgently needs to be addressed by the government so we can provide the quality services people deserve.”
The two UK councils with the highest numbers were Birmingham City (144) and Lambeth (84.)
Click here to see the data.