verification / datasets / 09-ombudsman-lgsco / VARIABLES.md

Variables — Dataset 09: Housing Ombudsman + LGSCO determinations

Two parts, two units of observation:

1. Extracted variables

Part A — LGSCO (per council)

Variable File / column (verified) Unit Interpretation
lgsco_complaints_received_total 1-Complaints-Received-{yy}-{yy}.csv, column Total count/year Complaints and enquiries received by the LGSCO about this council — raw failure demand reaching the ombudsman.
lgsco_complaints_received_<category> same file, columns Adult Social Care, Benefits and Tax, Corporate and Other Services, Education and Children's Services, Environmental Services, Public Protection and Regulation, Highways and Transport, Housing, Planning and Development, Other count/year Complaints received by service category; shows which service is generating escalations.
lgsco_decided_total 2-Complaints-Decided-{yy}-{yy}.csv, column Total count/year Complaints and enquiries decided in the year (all outcomes).
lgsco_upheld same file, column Upheld (under Investigated group; Investigations in 23-24) count/year Detailed investigations where the council was found at fault.
lgsco_not_upheld same file, column Not Upheld count/year Detailed investigations with no fault found.
lgsco_closed_initial same file, column Closed after Initial Enquiries count/year Assessed and closed without detailed investigation.
lgsco_referred_back same file, column Referred Back for Local Resolution count/year Premature complaints sent back to the council's own process.
lgsco_upheld_per_100k same file, column Upheld decisions per 100,000 residents rate per 100,000 residents LGSCO's own population-normalised uphold volume (blank for zero-decision councils).
lgsco_uphold_rate same file, column Uphold rate (%) (also in file 3 as Uphold Rate (%)) % of detailed investigations Share of investigated complaints upheld. Volatile for small councils — denominator is investigations only.
lgsco_uphold_rate_similar_avg same file, column Average uphold rate (%) of similar authorities (note trailing space) % LGSCO comparator-group benchmark.
lgsco_upheld_n 3-Remedy-Compliance-Outcomes-{yy}-{yy}.csv, column Number of upheld complaints count/year Upheld complaints (file 3's own count; matches file 2's Upheld).
lgsco_satisfactory_remedy_rate same file, column Upheld cases where the authority provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman (%) % of upheld cases How often the council had already put things right itself — self-correction capacity.
lgsco_compliance_outcomes_n same file, column Number of cases with a compliance outcome recorded during the year count/year Cases where the LGSCO checked whether recommendations were implemented.
lgsco_compliance_rate same file, column Cases we were satisfied the authority successfully implemented our recommendations to remedy the complaint (compliance rate) (%) % Share of checked cases where recommendations were implemented; <100% means recorded compliance failures.
lgsco_training_courses 4-Effective-Complaint-Handling-Courses-24-25.csv, column Number of Effective Complaint Handling courses count/year (24-25 only) LGSCO complaint-handling training bought by the council.

File 3 also carries comparator columns Average satisfactory remedy rate of similar authorities (%) and Average compliance rate of similar authorities (%).

Part B — Housing Ombudsman (per landlord, 2024-25)

All from Tables-for-landlords-with-individual-performance-reports-2024-25.xlsx. Table 1 header is on sheet row 4 (group header row 3), data from row 5.

Variable Sheet / column (verified) Unit Interpretation
ho_landlord_type Table 1, Landlord type category Housing Association, Local Authority / ALMO or TMO, or Other — filter for councils.
ho_size_band Table 1, Size band banded units Homes owned/managed (band only, no exact count).
ho_determinations Table 1, Determinations count/year Cases decided about the landlord (excl. entirely outside-jurisdiction/withdrawn).
ho_findings Table 1, Findings count/year Individual findings (a determination can contain several).
ho_maladministration_findings Table 1, Maladministration Findings count/year Findings of severe maladministration + maladministration + service failure.
ho_maladministration_rate Table 1, Maladministration Rate proportion (0–1) Maladministration findings / findings excluding outside-jurisdiction and withdrawn — the headline failure rate.
ho_severe_maladministration Table 1, Severe Maladministration count/year The gravest outcome tier.
ho_orders_made Table 1, Orders Made count/year Binding orders imposed.
ho_recommendations Table 1, Recommendations count/year Non-binding recommendations.
ho_chfos Table 1, CHFOs count/year Complaint Handling Failure Orders — failures in the landlord's own complaints process.
ho_compensation_total Table 1, Compensation £/year Total compensation ordered/recommended.
ho_findings_by_outcome Table 1, columns Maladministration, Service failure, Redress, No maladministration, Mediation, Outside Jurisdiction, Total findings excluding Outside Jurisdiction and Withdrawn count/year Full outcome breakdown.
ho_findings_by_category_outcome Table 2, per-category outcome columns ending <Category> Total (categories incl. Complaints Handling, Health and Safety (inc. building safety), Property Condition, …), plus Grand Total count/year Findings split by service category and outcome.
ho_findings_damp_mould Table 3, columns under Responsive repairs – leaks / damp / mould incl. Responsive repairs – leaks / damp / mould Total count/year Findings in highlighted sub-categories (also noise, fire safety, gas safety, decants, etc. — Awaab's-law-adjacent signal).
ho_findings_by_subcategory Table 4, one column per service sub-category (66 columns) count/year Finest-grained finding counts.
ho_orders_by_type Table 5, columns Apology, Case Review, Compensation, Policy Review, Process Change, Repairs, Staff Training, Take Specific Action (non-repair), Other, Wider Order – Policy Review, Wider Order – Practice Review count/year What landlords were ordered/recommended to do. Empty cells = 0.
ho_compensation_by_category Table 6, paired Order / Recommendation columns per category £/year Compensation sums by category and by order vs recommendation.

2. Constructed variables

Inputs verified in this dataset or in sibling dataset 10-tenant-satisfaction-measures (data/TSM_2025_Full_Data/TSM_2025_Full_Data - File 04 - Management_info.csv, joined on landlord name to ProviderName; both cover 2024-25). TSM File 04 carries verified stock counts: NM01_1_Denominator ("Number of dwelling units owned of the relevant social housing stock at year end (LCRA + LCHO)", per File 0A data dictionary) and CH01_1_Denominator_COMB.

Variable Formula Inputs (verified) Unit Interpretation
lgsco_investigated Not Upheld + Upheld lgsco file 2 count/year Detailed investigations — the uphold-rate denominator, needed to judge rate volatility.
lgsco_investigation_rate (Not Upheld + Upheld) / Total lgsco file 2 proportion Share of decided complaints that got a detailed investigation.
lgsco_uphold_rate_vs_similar Uphold rate (%) − Average uphold rate (%) of similar authorities lgsco file 2 (or 3) percentage points Excess uphold rate over LGSCO's comparator group — controls for authority type.
lgsco_compliance_failures Number of cases with a compliance outcome recorded during the year × (1 − compliance rate/100) lgsco file 3 count/year Cases where the council failed to implement ombudsman recommendations — the hardest failure signal.
lgsco_upheld_yoy_change upheld₂₄₋₂₅ − upheld₂₃₋₂₄ lgsco file 2, both editions count Direction of travel in upheld findings (join on Authority Name; beware 2023 reorganisation successor councils).
lgsco_housing_complaint_share Housing / Total lgsco file 1 proportion How much of the council's ombudsman demand is housing.
ho_severe_malad_share Severe Maladministration / Total findings excluding Outside Jurisdiction and Withdrawn ho Table 1 proportion How often failure was at the gravest tier.
ho_compensation_per_determination Compensation / Determinations ho Table 1 £/case Average financial redress per decided case.
ho_complaints_handling_share Complaints Handling Total / Grand Total ho Table 2 proportion Share of findings about the complaints process itself — process failure on top of service failure.
ho_maladministration_per_1000_homes Maladministration Findings / (NM01_1_Denominator / 1000) ho Table 1 + TSM File 04 findings per 1,000 social homes/year Size-normalised maladministration volume — makes big and small landlords comparable (name-join required; TSM covers 1,000+-home landlords only).
ho_damp_mould_findings_per_1000_homes Responsive repairs – leaks / damp / mould Total / (NM01_1_Denominator / 1000) ho Table 3 + TSM File 04 findings per 1,000 homes/year Stock-normalised damp/mould failure rate.
ho_escalation_yield Findings / (TSM CH01_1_Numerator_COMB = stage-1 complaints) ho Table 1 + TSM File 04 ombudsman findings per stage-1 complaint How much of a landlord's internal complaint volume ends in an ombudsman finding.

Join and caveat notes

3. Variable index

One file per variable in variables/, with full frontmatter (type, unit, grain, role, source, period, missingness).

Extracted — Part A (LGSCO)

Extracted — Part B (Housing Ombudsman)

Constructed