Associations could face £350m bill to compensate harassed employees

A survey for the Housing Corporation has revealed high levels of unreported harassment in registered social landlords.

According to the report, the sector would have to pay out up to £350m if all these people sued their employers.

The study found that 31% of staff questioned had been verbally harassed by clients, but only 7% had reported the incident because many felt such abuse "went with the territory".

Three-quarters of verbal harassment by managers went unreported, often because staff did not think it would be dealt with properly.

Doug Forbes, director of Barony Consulting Group, which did the research, said: "If you look at the utilities and railway sectors, they are doing things to make sure staff do not get abused. I think the housing sector will have to do that soon."

Forbes is now producing a "harassment index" to help employers measure the extent of the problem in their workplace.

Public sector union Unison called on the Housing Corporation to tackle workplace harassment in housing associations.

A spokeswoman for the union said: "There should be stricter criteria for Housing Corporation regulations and funding that make workforce matters like this a key [performance] benchmark."

Sally Jacobson, group human resources director at London & Quadrant Housing Group, said: "I do not think harassment should be seen as a part of the job.

"Dealing with difficult tenants is definitely on the increase.

"Staff need a lot of support and it's up to managers and team leaders to give that support."

The report comes in the same week as a landmark court case forcing employers to prove they are tackling stress at work.

The Health & Safety Executive has given West Dorset Hospitals NHS Trust four months to assess stress among its employees and set up procedures to tackle it.

The trust could face an unlimited fine if it does not make the changes by 15 December.

Housing associations and councils could face the same action if they do not assess and tackle stress.

Mark London, a solicitor with legal firm Devonshires, said: "I doubt very much whether the majority of local authorities and housing associations would have stress policies in place."

He said Devonshires would develop an off-the-shelf stress policy that could be adapted to individual organisations.