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Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code:

Self-assessment form 2021 – 2022

Compliance with the Complaint Handling Code

1. Definition of a complaint

Yes

No
Does the complaints process use the following definition of a complaint?

An expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual resident or group of residents.

 Yes
Does the policy have exclusions where a complaint will not be considered? Yes. Exclusions listed within the Customer Feedback policy have an alternative process or published policy.

Examples of what is not considered a complaint include:

  • An initial request for a service
  • Asking for an explanation of a policy or an information leaflet
  • An appeal against a decision
  • A neighbour dispute which is dealt with through terms outlined in a tenancy agreement or the Anti-Social Behaviour policy
  • Where a complainant is taking legal action against GPHG on the same issue or GPHG is taking legal action against the complainant on the same issue for which GPHG is not responsible
  • Complaints submitted six months or more after the issue occurred
  • MP, Councillor and Citizen Advice enquiries (handled by the Customer Feedback team)
  • Complaints relating to rent increases (driven by government guidance/ regulation)
  • Reports of fly tipping or vandalism
  • Complaints about the actions of an organisation that is not working for, or supported by GPHG
  • Where the expectation of the customer is beyond the services the Group is able to provide
Are these exclusions reasonable and fair to residents?

Evidence relied upon

 Although we do not treat these issues as a complaint under this policy, we are committed to dealing with them in an appropriate manner

2. Accessibility

 Yes

  

No
Are multiple accessibility routes available for
residents to make a complaint?		 Yes
Is the complaints policy and procedure available
online?		 Yes: Compliments and Complaints.
Do we have a reasonable adjustments policy? Yes, the Customer Feedback policy has been subject to an Equality Impact Assessment
Do we regularly advise residents about our
complaints process?		 Yes, we have regular communications provided to customers in communication emailers and newsletters

3. Complaints team and process

  

Yes

 No
Is there a complaint officer or equivalent in
post?		 Yes
Does the complaint officer have autonomy to
resolve complaints?		 Yes
Does the complaint officer have authority to
compel engagement from other departments to resolve disputes?		 Yes
If there is a third stage to the complaints
procedure are residents involved in the decision making?		 N/A No
Is any third stage optional for residents? N/A No
Does the final stage response set out residents’
right to refer the matter to the Housing Ombudsman Service?		 Yes
Do we keep a record of complaint correspondence
including correspondence from the resident?		 Yes
At what stage are most complaints resolved? Between April 2021 and March 2022 the Customer Feedback team resolved 87.5% of complaints at Stage One

4. Communication

 Yes

 No
Are residents kept informed and updated during
the complaints process?		 Yes
Are residents informed of the landlord’s position
and given a chance to respond and challenge any area of dispute before the
final decision?		 Yes
Are all complaints acknowledged and logged within five days? Yes
Are residents advised of how to escalate at the end
of each stage?		 Yes
What proportion of complaints are resolved at
stage one?		  87.5%
What proportion of complaints are resolved at
stage two?		 73.43%
What proportion of complaint responses are sent
within Code timescales?

  • Stage one
    Stage one (with extension)
  • Stage two
    Stage two (with extension)
  • Stage one 91.65%
  • Stage one (with extension) 8.35%
  • Stage two 74.68%
  • Stage two (with extension) 25.32%
Where timescales have been extended did we have
good reason?		 Yes, some examples are provided below:

  • Waiting for third parties (e.g. builders) to respond
  • The completion of repair work, to resolve a complaint may extend beyond the 10 working day timescale
  • Officer was unavailable to carry out an inspection on a property within the timeframe
  • The Covid pandemic has created challenges in relation to the availability of materials and parts. Communication has been vital to ensure this is managed properly
Where timescales have been extended did we keep
the resident informed?		 Yes, we always seek a customer’s permission before placing complaints on hold and will always offer valid reasons why complaint response deadlines will be extended
What proportion of complaints do we resolve to
residents’ satisfaction		 96%

4.05% complaints were not resolved at Stage One and Stage Two of the complaints process and these were referred to the HOS

5. Cooperation with Housing Ombudsman Service

Yes

No
Were all requests for evidence responded to
within 15 days?		 Yes, however where extensions were required we have had this approved by the relevant HOS case handler
Where the timescale was extended did we keep the
Ombudsman informed?		 Yes

6. Fairness in complaint handling

 Yes

 No
Are residents able to complain via a
representative throughout?		 Yes
If advice was given, was this accurate and easy
to understand?		 Yes
How many cases did we refuse to escalate?

What was the reason for the refusal?

 Seven cases were not progressed to the next stage of the Customer Feedback process.

Examples of the reasons for this are below:

 

  • No service failure identified
  • No new information or reasons provided to escalate the complaint

Policies followed and full response and resolutions offered at Stage One of the complaint process

  N/A
Did we explain our decision to the resident? Yes, we always formally advise customers when complaints will not be escalated to Stage Two of the complaints process

7. Outcomes and remedies

Yes

No
Where something has gone wrong are we taking
appropriate steps to put things right?		 Yes, we record learning and recommendations following complaints on a Service Improvement Tracker. The business is currently reviewing a formal process to allow us to implement service improvements from a variety of customer voice channels.

We are also recruiting a Customer Complaints Community so that we include customers in all stages of the complaints process. Customers will offer the business assurances that we are managing complaints within the guidance offered in the HOS code.

This customer group will link in to Governance by working closely with the nominated colleague on the Board.

Service improvements will be reported via the Customer Experience Dashboard which in turn will be reported to customers, Exec, Board and the Audit & Assurance Committee

8. Continuous learning and improvement

  

Yes

No
What improvements have we made as a result of
learning from complaints?
  • Tighten the process and management in the Planning team to ensure customers are kept updated in relation to repairs and appointments
  • Introduced reasonable adjustments regarding neurodiverse customers and offered front line colleagues specific Autism/Asperger’s training
  • Decant policy review
  • Fire safety notification process updated
  • Changes to the policy relating to defect repairs i.e. if contractors are not resolving in a timely manner, we now bring the repairs in-house and recharge the defect contractor
  • Grounds Maintenance (GM) – customer communications will be developed to manage services and expectations around seasonal GM services. Additionally more resource will be provided across the GM team to enable efficient service delivery
  • Right To Acquire policy is now under review following three separate complaints received
How do we share these lessons with:

a) residents?

b) the board/governing body?

c) in the Annual Report?

 Residents

Board/Governing Body

Annual Report

  • Annual complaints data
  • Complaint stages, outcomes and customer stories
Has the Code made a difference to how we respond to complaints? Yes
What changes have we made?
  • Expanded the team resource, introduction of a complaints community
  • Introduction of a Governance representative on the Board
  • A recent customer insight Scrutiny review was carried out to measure the policy against the HOS code and additionally the Customer Feedback service was subject to an internal audit which provided assurances that we were operating withing the guidance in the HOS code
  • HOS recommendations and determinations offered have enhanced and improved the services provided to customers
Complaint Handling Code 2020-21 Complaint Handling Code 2019-20
Homes for the North Stonewall Diversity Champion Disability Confident Employer