The UK Housing Ombudsman Service, the public body that settles disputes between social housing residents and landlords in England, said on 13 October 2026 that a third-party IT security incident affected its case management system.

It says the incident is contained and it is working with its external supplier to establish the facts, including the extent of the data involved, and is still investigating whether personal information was affected.

In an email bulletin sent the same day (13 October, 11:20 BST), it told recipients that "some contact details such as name, address, telephone number and postal addresses may have been copied" from its system and that this may include their data.

It has reported the incident to the Information Commissioner's Office. While systems are restored, residents cannot submit a new complaint, view an existing complaint or use web chat and the web form, and are asked to email or phone instead.

The service has not named the supplier, and BleepingComputer reported no claim of responsibility.

Correction (22 Oct 2026): an earlier version said only that the Ombudsman was checking whether personal data was affected.

Its 13 October email bulletin to people on its mailing list says some contact details, such as names, addresses and telephone numbers, may have been copied. (source: Housing Ombudsman Service email bulletin, 13 Oct 2026)

UPDATE (22 Oct 2026): Housing Today reported on 21 October that the Ombudsman's online services were still offline, its website notice was unchanged and it had 'no further comment'. (source: Housing Today, 21 Oct 2026)