The Housing Ombudsman is inviting social housing residents to apply to join its Resident Panel and contribute to the work it is doing to improve residents’ lives through landlords’ services.

As a member of the panel, residents will be invited to share experiences and suggest improvements through regular meetings and virtual discussions with the Ombudsman.

Residents will also be asked for feedback on consultations through surveys, placing residents at the centre of everything the Ombudsman does. Residents will learn more about the role of the Ombudsman and how they can tell their local communities about this work.

The current panel was appointed in March 2021 for a term of 3 years and has been an invaluable asset in the work of the Ombudsman and provided feedback on the introduction of the Complaint Handling Code, annual business plans and various projects to improve accessibility and awareness raising of the service.

This is an exciting opportunity for residents to be part of the Ombudsman’s vision to embed a positive complaint handling culture across the sector and make sure residents’ views are heard.

The Ombudsman is looking to recruit a panel representative of the diverse demographic of residents living in social housing across England. Applicants do not need experience as a member of a scrutiny panel, have made a complaint to their landlord or used the Ombudsman before to apply. The panel will be made up of residents living in all types of social housing – tenants or leaseholders of a local authority, housing association or co-operative landlord.

Applications are open now and will close on 30 April 2024. The Ombudsman reserves the right to close applications early if it receives an exceptionally high level of interest.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said:

"This is an important opportunity for residents to get involved in helping develop the work of the Ombudsman in the coming years. Over the past few years, the Resident Panel has provided us with vital feedback on projects such as the Complaint Handling Code and this will improve the lives of residents for years to come.

"We are now looking at making the next panel bigger and even better, encouraging more residents to sign up and be part of making social housing a better place for everyone. We encourage landlords to share this within their resident networks too to ensure we are fully representative of social housing residents in the country.”

Readthe full article on The Housing Ombudsman website.

Find out more about the Residents Panel.

If you need any help or support to apply or have any questions, please contact our friendly Tenant Voice (Customer Involvement) Team on 0800 678 1894 (Monday – Friday, 8am-8pm), email tenantvoice@torus.co.uk or use the online form.