Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Housing Ombudsman Service's (a) funding, (b) staffing levels and (c) case management capacity for its caseload and adherence to published timescales.

The Housing Ombudsman is an independent, impartial and free service for social housing residents.

My Department remains committed to ensuring it meets its strategic objectives and is delivering value for money.

Since 2021 to this year, demand for the Housing Ombudsman’s services will have increased by 500%. We have been working closely with the Ombudsman to ensure it has the resources and capacity need to meet this increasing demand.

Following consultation, the Housing Ombudsman published its 2026-27 Business Plan on 15 April. Both the final Business Plan and a consultation response summary can be found on the Housing Ombudsman’s website here.

Fees will be increased to £9.64 per home in 2026-27 to deal with ongoing increases in demand. This increase will support the Ombudsman in meeting its KPIs on determination times (90% of high risk cases resolved within four months and 50% of other cases resolved in six months) and will help to reduce the number of their older cases.

The Business Plan also makes clear that in 2026-27 the Housing Ombudsman will undertake a discovery exercise on alternative fee models that recognise positive complaint handling to potentially replace the per home charge and will work with my Department to support an earlier consultation.