Housing complaints

Here you can see how our housing landlord service has performed on handling complaints raised by Council tenants and leaseholders.

Number of complaints opened

We have two stages to our complaints process. Stage one is where you can first express dissatisfaction. If you remain dissatisfied after stage one, you can request a stage two review. If you remain dissatisfied after the stage two review, you can ask the Housing Ombudsman to investigate your complaint.

Reasons for complaints

Complaints can be about different areas of our landlord and leasehold services. In some instances, we may receive complaints that cover more than one service area, which is why the total figure may be different to the figure of total number of complaints.

Stage One and Stage Two complaint response timescales

We aim to provide a full response to stage one complaints within 10 working days of the acknowledgement of the complaint and 20 working days of the acknowledgement for stage two complaints.

Proportion of stage 1 and stage 2 complaints 2 responded to within the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code timescales

Complaint outcomes

Once a complaint is investigated a decision is made on the outcome. You should be given the reasons for the decision. When we get things wrong, we apologise and put things right. 

How we have learned from complaints and made improvements to services?

We have set out areas identified for improvement below and the steps being taken underneath each one.

Improvement: Strengthening service improvement through learning from complaints

Develop and undertake regular audits of complaint handling to identify trends, assess quality and efficiency, and drive service improvements. The Housing Complaints Panel will continue to expand its role in reviewing learning outcomes and monitoring improvement actions.

Improvement: Increasing customer satisfaction with complaint handling

Use insights from the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) survey and transactional complaint satisfaction surveys to identify customer pain points and develop targeted improvement actions.

Improvement: Monitoring actions taken from complaint outcomes

Implement a process for tracking actions resulting from complaints to ensure lessons learned are embedded, progress is monitored, and outcomes are regularly reviewed through the Housing Complaints Panel.

Improvement: Understanding refused complaints

Introduce a process to monitor why complaints are refused.

Improvements to complaints handling

Responses to complaints are taken in the form of an apology and putting things right. This reporting year the housing landlord service has learned from its complaints and from feedback received from its residents and the Housing Ombudsman. The following improvements have been made to how the Housing Service handles complaints:

• The Customer Communication and Engagement Team continues to oversee the effective handling of complaints. This includes working closely with Housing Management to identify common themes, monitor trends, and drive service improvements.
• The Corporate Complaints Policy and Procedure has been reviewed and updated to ensure full alignment with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.
• A Housing Complaints Panel has been established, chaired by the Member Responsible for Complaints, to scrutinise complaint handling performance, promote accountability, and support the development of a positive complaints-handling culture across the service.
• Best practice guidance on complaint handling has been issued to Housing Services staff, complementing the Corporate Complaints Policy and Procedure and the refresher complaints training delivered to Tenancy Services staff.
• Housing Managers receive an overview of complaints data at each management team meeting. This enables managers to monitor performance, identify emerging issues and trends, share learning, and take timely action to address areas requiring improvement.
• New complaint response templates have been introduced to ensure residents receive all required information in line with the Complaint Handling Code.
• The Customer Communication and Engagement Team continues to issue satisfaction surveys following the closure of complaints. Feedback received is used to identify learning opportunities and inform service improvements.
• Complaints performance information is regularly published to promote transparency, accountability, and resident confidence in the complaints process.
• A communications campaign has been delivered to tenants and leaseholders across multiple channels, providing information on what constitutes a complaint, how complaints are handled, and how to make a complaint. This information remains available on the website and is incorporated into the wider Housing Communications Plan, with regular promotion to increase awareness and understanding of the complaints process.
• A new system has been introduced to monitor and track actions arising from complaints. This provides an auditable record of agreed remedies and service improvements, ensuring commitments made to residents are delivered and enabling a more proactive approach to complaint resolution.
• Following the lessons identified through the Complaints Panel, a formal contingency arrangement has been implemented. Responsible managers within each service area have appointed designated cover staff and established a backup rota to ensure that complaints continue to be managed and responded to within the prescribed timescales during periods of staff absence or unavailability.

View the complaints performance and service improvement report for the housing landlord service