Part 5: Other provisions about safety standards, etc. Housing complaints Section 160: Housing complaints made to a housing ombudsman Background
This provision applies to England only.
	The requirement to refer a complaint through a designated person/tenant panel, introduced in the Localism Act 2011, was intended to strengthen the accountability of landlords, enable housing complaints to be resolved using local knowledge and help to reduce the number of formal investigations by the Housing Ombudsman Service.
	Through amendments made by The Localism Act 2011 (section 180), a role was given to "designated persons" in dealing with disputes between members of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme and their tenants/leaseholders. This was in circumstances where complaints had not been resolved in the landlord’s procedures and before they could be referred to the Housing Ombudsman. It meant that a complaint against a social landlord cannot be "duly made" (formally submitted for investigation) to the Housing Ombudsman unless it is made in writing to the Ombudsman by a designated person by way of referral of a complaint made to the designated person.
	A designated person can be an MP, a Councillor or a recognised tenant panel. It means that currently, if, after a landlord’s internal complaints process has been exhausted, the complaint is still not resolved, a complainant (whose landlord is a member of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme) has to refer any outstanding complaints to a designated person before a complaint can be formally referred to the Housing Ombudsman Service. Alternatively, a complainant must wait eight weeks after their complaint has exhausted the landlord’s complaints process before they can formally refer their complaint to the Housing Ombudsman Service.
	This is known as the democratic filter. It has been criticised for undermining consumer empowerment and is counter to the principles of the ombudsman institution. The Housing Ombudsman’s own consultation also uncovered concerns and found that while some local "designated person" arrangements work well, in many cases they do not, and that there were designated persons who did not fully understand their role.
	It also emerged that in some areas tenant panels either do not exist or are not used. Removing the democratic filter was supported by the majority of respondents when the Housing Ombudsman Service consulted on its Corporate Plan 2019-22 and Business Plan 2019-20, with low support being expressed for the designated person role.
Example: New complaints process
Current process
A resident makes a complaint to their landlord and completes the landlords complaints/dispute process.
The resident remains dissatisfied and decides to escalate the complaint to redress level and to the Housing Ombudsman Service. They contact a designated person for assistance (the Democratic Filter). If the designated person is unable to help, after 8 weeks from the landlord’s decision they then refer the complaint to the Housing Ombudsman Service.
Following removal of the democratic filter
Again, a resident makes a complaint to their landlord and completes the landlords complaints/dispute process.
The resident remains dissatisfied and decides to escalate to redress level and contacts the Housing Ombudsman Service directly, asking them to investigate their complaint.