We adhere to the Housing Ombudsman’s universal definition; therefore, we consider a complaint to be: 

“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”.

Therefore a tenant or resident does not have to use the word ‘complaint’ for it to be treated as such.

Council Housing recognises the difference between a service request, where a resident may be unhappy with a situation that they wish to have rectified, and a complaint about the service they have/have not received. We advise staff that where possible they should resolve matters as a service request and if further enquiries are needed to resolve the matter, or if the resident requests it, then log the issue as a complaint.

Council Housing will always accept a complaint unless there is a valid reason no to do so.

In line with the wider Council’s complaints policy (Sept 2019), Council Housing exclude the following from the complaints process.

• Day to day service requests or reporting faults (for example a repair).
• Reports of anti‐social behaviour (please refer to our Anti‐Social Behaviour Policy instead).
• Complaints concerning the level of rent or service charge or the amount of the rent or service charge increase
• Criticisms or disagreement with council policies.
• Complaints against individual employees which arise from dissatisfaction with a council policy or decision, and where no other basis for the complaint exists.
• Matters that have previously been investigated under the complaints policy.
• Appeals against any council advice, actions, or decisions in its capacity as a regulator where a statutory right of appeal or other council appeals/review procedure exists.
• Appeals concerning a matter where an alternative appeals/review procedure exists, such as an appeal within the council or to an independent tribunal (e.g. the awarding of Housing Benefits).
• A matter which is, or could be reasonably be expected to be, the subject of Court or tribunal proceedings, or which is in hands of the council’s insurers. Challenge of a Council or Committee decision would generally be by way of Judicial Review.
• A matter where legal proceedings have begun -in which details of the claim, (such as the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim), having been filed at court
• Complaints which constitute a refusal to accept a rule of law which the council is applying.

If the Council as your landlord decides not to accept a complaint, a detailed explanation will be provided to the resident setting out the reasons why the matter is not suitable for the complaints process and the right to take that decision to the Housing Ombudsman.

Either you or another person (friend, relative, adviser etc.) can make a complaint on your behalf. However, if you’re complaining on behalf of someone, their full name and address along with a signed Consent for Third Party Complaints Form (PDF, 22KB) 

Complaints can be made in person, by telephone, by email or in writing. If you prefer to talk to someone in person, a meeting can be arranged and a friend, relative or other representative can come with you if you wish.  Alternatively , you can also use our online Talk Back form – which can be found here. 

You can make a complaint anonymously and we will consider your complaint, but a detailed investigation will not normally be carried out. 

All information about you or anyone involved in the complaint will be dealt with in accordance with the Data Protection Act. 

We welcome feedback and complaints, we view theses as opportunities to listen, learn and influence change in our services. Speaking out will not bring negative consequences and there will be no reprisals for those who do. 

We feel all frontline staff should feel empowered to resolve problems at the point of service delivery without having to resort to the formal complaints process. If a complaint cannot be resolved at the point of the service provision, then the staff member should deal with it as a formal complaint. We operate a two-stage system for handling formal complaints. Stage one handles the initial complaint and its response from the council. Whereas step two is for complaints that are escalated should you feel unhappy with the initial stage one response.

Housing Ombudsman 

• If you have been through the appeal process and are still unhappy, you can ask the Independent Housing Ombudsman to investigate your complaint. 

• You must wait 8 weeks after receiving the Stage 2 response before contacting the Housing Ombudsman. 

• Contact details for the Independent Housing Ombudsman can be found at housing-ombudsman.org.uk.  

Regulator of Social Housing  

• If you have been through the appeal process and the complaint relates to ‘serious detriment’, you are able to raise this with the Regulator of Social Housing.  

• Such complaints can only be taken up through a third party such a tenants’ group, a councillor or an MP. You will be given appropriate assistance and advice should you wish to follow this route.  

In line with the Housing Ombudsman’s code on complaint handling:

We will carry out an annual self-assessment against the Code to ensure their complaint handling remains in line with the requirements of the Housing Ombudsman. Council Housing Services department undertook a self assessement in October 2022, the results of which can be seen in the right column.

We will also carry out a self-assessment following a significant restructure and/or changes in procedures.

Following each self-assessment, we will ensure that:

•           We report the outcome of the self-assessment to our elected members

•           We publish the outcome of the self-assessment on our website

•           Include the self-assessment in our annual report section on complaints handling performance

Council Housing Services also are commited to regularly monitoring our performance in this area a summary of which can be seen below: