Council ordered to pay over £5,000 due to disregarding housing maintenance for decades
Milton Keynes Council Faces Criticism Over Housing Repairs
Milton Keynes Council is under scrutiny after a series of errors and mismanagement in the handling of repairs for a disabled resident and her son. The Housing Ombudsman found severe maladministration against the council, highlighting a lack of empathy, poor record-keeping, and failure to address key failings.
Over four years, at least 120 repair jobs were raised for this household. However, the council did not keep adequate records or obtain any records from its contractors, leading to delays and a lack of transparency.
The council's response did not provide a thorough investigation of its repairs handling, and it failed to address the outstanding issues raised by the resident. This was further compounded by delays in both the stage one and two responses from the council.
The Ombudsman emphasized the importance of using data as intelligence to question where services may be going wrong. In this case, the council's failure to recognize the amount of time and number of appointments it took to resolve some of the issues was a significant concern.
The council also failed to recognize the impact on the resident's child, given their vulnerabilities, and did not express empathy towards the resident. This was a clear breach of the Complaint Handling Code and the council's policies, as it failed to respond within the required timescales.
The council did not raise the resident's formal complaint when it came in, and its attempts to chase a formal response were unsuccessful. As a result, the council was ordered to pay £5,500 in compensation to the resident and her son.
The landlord was also ordered to apologize to the resident and carry out repairs. A damp and mould inspection was ordered for the property, with subsequent works arising from the report.
Actions have been put in place by Milton Keynes Council to prevent similar delays from happening again. The council recognized the decision and apologized to the resident for their experience. However, the council continues to show few signs of learning from these errors, raising concerns about its commitment to improving its services.
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