Severe Maladministration: How to Stay Compliant

Social housing providers have a duty to avoid mismanagement and be compliant. This non-negotiable should be a given in the industry, but sometimes providers fall short of what’s expected.

The Housing Ombudsman’s Severe Maladministration report has recently revealed that poor communication could be at the heart of this issue. Ahead of Awaab’s Law coming into effect in October, this report has explored what makes good communication in complaint handling and how bad communication can drive poor tenant satisfaction and leave social housing providers falling short on compliance.

In this article, we share the main learnings from the report and explain how the right software solutions can help with improving communication and compliance. 

Key findings from the Housing Ombudsman’s report

The Housing Ombudsman’s report was conducted for social housing providers and landlords as they continue to plan for Awaab’s Law. It found there was a clear link between severe maladministration and poor communication, which is driving tenant complaints. 

The report identified four key ingredients to good communication:

• Timely – Delays and communication gaps significantly impact events and cost tenants time and trouble. Well-timed communication helps residents manage expectations and assures them that social housing providers are responding to the problem.
• Transparent – Open communication provides clarity for residents and avoids unnecessary frustration and distress. It avoids misunderstandings between the resident and housing provider, and should be implemented whether there is an issue at a property or not.
• Tailored – Social housing providers must take a human-centric approach to communication, considering the individual circumstances of the household. This personalisation can shorten delays and improve trust.
• Tone – The right tone makes sure residents feel heard and respected. A dismissive and unempathetic tone will impact the relationship between tenants and housing providers. This is important even when there is no evidence of wrongdoing.

You can read the full Severe Maladministration report here.

How ROCC can help with communication and compliance

With the roll-out of Awaab’s Law around the corner and the Regulator of Social Housing’s Tenant Satisfaction Measures in full flow, the time for social housing providers to act is now.

Fortunately, with the help of the right technology, you can ensure your communication with tenants goes above and beyond, ensuring you stay compliant and keep satisfaction rates high.

At ROCC, we help social housing providers achieve and maintain compliance by embedding regulatory requirements directly into workflows, scheduling, asset tracking and reporting tools.

This ensures that nothing falls through the cracks and you can communicate with tenants in a timely, transparent and friendly manner that’s tailored to their circumstances.  

Here’s how we can support you in providing a better service for your tenants.

Automated cyclical scheduling

We automatically generate jobs for time-based compliance tasks, such as:

• Gas servicing (e.g. every 12 months)
• Electrical safety (e.g. every five years)
• Fire risk assessments
• Water hygiene and asbestos inspections

You define the frequency, asset groups and rules. ROCC ensures the right job is created at the right time, every time.

Asset-linked records

Every job is tied directly to the property and its assets. When work is completed, compliance certificates and evidence are uploaded and stored against the asset. 

This creates a full, auditable history to demonstrate compliance across your stock.

SLA-driven scheduling

All jobs are governed by Service Level Agreement (SLA) rules, ensuring repairs, compliance visits and safety checks are scheduled and completed within regulatory timeframes. 

Missed or at-risk appointments can trigger alerts and reports, keeping teams accountable and responsive.

Mobile evidence capture

ROCC Mobile allows operatives to complete digital compliance forms, capture photographic evidence, record access attempts and confirm task completion in just a few taps. 

All inputs are date and time-stamped and uploaded in real time, ensuring full auditability.

Lone worker protection

ROCC includes lone worker protection, dynamic risk assessments and health and safety prompts in the mobile workflow to ensure staff operate safely and in line with regulations. 

Protected, well-looked-after operatives will keep job satisfaction high, which in turn will have a positive impact on tenants and the standard of service provided.

Live compliance dashboards

ROCC provides dashboards and reports to track compliance in real time across multiple programmes and workstreams. You can instantly see:

• Which properties are due or overdue
• Which certificates are expiring
• Completion rates and SLA adherence

Integration with existing systems and third-party providers

ROCC integrates with housing management systems, finance and contractor platforms. This ensures that compliance data flows seamlessly across your ecosystem, reducing duplication and manual errors.

Get in touch 

By choosing to partner with ROCC, communication and compliance are embedded in everything from job creation to completion. This means fewer risks and missed inspections, and total confidence when the auditors come knocking.

If you want to tackle severe maladministration at your organisation head-on, we are here to help. 

For more information about how our software solutions can revolutionise your relationship with your tenants, get in touch with a member of our customer support team today.