Dispute Resolution
How we helped the Housing Ombudsman Service deal with a backlog of escalated disputes relating to complex tenancy agreements.
‘From Sigma we have learnt further insights in terms of a professional approach to service development and service delivery and of consideration of flexible operating models to meet customer demand.’
– Director of Dispute Resolution, Housing Ombudsman Service
Overview
The Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) improves residents’ lives and landlords’ services in the UK by dealing with housing complaints.
The challenge
The Housing Ombudsman Service sets a target of 10 hours for a skilled case investigator to reach a conclusion for each case they handle. But cases can be complex and have hundreds of pages of supporting documentation to read, which meant that targets were not being met, and the HOS was facing a large backlog of escalated disputes and complaints. Solicitors proved costly and ineffective, so the HOS turned to Sigma Connected for additional support.
The solution
We formed a dedicated team of case investigators and brought in a strong and experienced industry expert to lead the team.
Investigators were hand-picked based on skill and aptitude, possessing exceptional ability to analyse vast amounts of information and to reach well-reasoned, evidence-based determinations.
Located in a secure environment, only accessible by the team due to sensitivity, investigators produced high quality, detailed adjudication reports, which clearly outlined the background, assessment and determination of each case.
The result
Showcasing Sigma’s proven ability as a strong outsource partner, we delivered work of the highest quality for the HOS. We achieved 0.5% rework rates with 100% of determinations being upheld.
In addition, we helped HOS reduce their overall turnaround time by around 20 days, and our team has regularly achieved, and exceeded, the target determination rate of one case per 10 hours.
Our employees thoroughly enjoyed working on behalf of HOS, which was reflected by the 0% attrition rate, ensuring they were highly productive.
