Ms A complained that Trivallis (“the Housing Association”) failed to follow Safeguarding and Anti-Social Behaviour (“ASB”) procedures in response to the concerns she reported. She said that the Housing Association failed to respond to her correspondence within reasonable timeframes, or comply with its complaints policy.
The Ombudsman decided that the Housing Association had responded appropriately to Ms A’s Safeguarding and ASB concerns. It had responded to the majority of Ms A’s complaints appropriately within reasonable timeframes, but there appeared to be some confusion when individual officers were unavailable, and some correspondence that had not been acknowledged or responded to. The Ombudsman acknowledged that this caused frustration for Ms A. She decided to settle the complaint without an investigation.
The Ombudsman sought and gained the Housing Association’s agreement to provide a final response to Ms A to address any correspondence previously not responded to and to offer an apology for any delays. It agreed to provide clear details for reporting future concerns and timeframes to expect a response, and to review the use of out-of-office messages and a single point of contact, to ensure consistency in responding to correspondence when individual officers are unavailable. The Housing Association agreed to undertake the action within 2 weeks.