Housing complaints performance and service improvement annual report 2023/2024

The Housing Ombudsman (HO) Complaint Handling Code (CHC) requires social landlords to produce an annual complaints performance and service improvement report for scrutiny and challenge.

The report includes:

• our annual self-assessment against the Complaint Handling Code
• how we are performing with complaint handling
• main themes of the complaints we receive
• an overview of compliments received
• an update on complaints investigated by the Housing Ombudsman
• our approach to improving complaint handling

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 empowers the Housing Ombudsman (HO) to issue a code of practice about the complaint handling procedures that social landlords should have in place. It is also the HO's responsibility to monitor compliance with the complaint handling code.

One requirement of social landlords is to self-assess against the complaint handling code, identifying any area of non-compliance.

The self-assessment was carried out with a focus group of tenants and leaseholders in 2023/24.  

We are making minor updates to the council's complaint's policy and to the training guidance we provide officers in response to our self-assessment.  

The council has also appointed a Member Responsible for Complaints (MRC) who is the Portfolio Lead for Housing. The MRC is plays a key role for ensuring that complaint handling drives service improvement for residents. 

In addition, the council has a senior lead officer who is accountable for complaint handling. This is the Service Director for Housing Strategy and Commissioning.

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has introduced a framework of Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) that all social landlords must collect and report on from 2023/24. In relation to complaint handling these include:

• satisfaction with the landlord's approach to complaint handling
• complaints relative to the size of the landlord
• complaints responded to within Complaint Handling Code timescales

Satisfaction with the landlord's approach to complaint handling

This is measured by a perception survey and in 2023/24 the survey was carried out by telephone. Compared to results from 2022/23 satisfaction has increased from 21% to 26% in 2023/24. Although satisfaction has increased, it remains comparatively low when compared to our other TSM scores. Low levels of satisfaction with complaint handling is a trend widely reported across the social housing sector, however our performance indicates that we are not providing a good customer experience. 

Complaints relative to the size of the landlord

This TSM aims to provide the Regulator of Social Housing with the number of complaints received per 1000 properties. This alongside data from the other Tenant Satisfaction Measures provides an indication as to how effective a landlord's complaint policy is being implemented. We have exceeded the target of registering 13 complaints per 1000 homes during 2023/24, which evidences a proactive approach to registering complaints.

In total 429 stage 1 complaints were received during 2023/24 and 56 stage 2 complaints. 

Complaints responded to within Complaint Handling Code timescale

To ensure compliance with the CHC the council adopted a simplified two-stage process for housing complaints with a target of 10 working days to respond to stage 1 complaints and 20 working days for stage 2 complaints were adopted.

The Housing Ombudsman target of 10 days for responding to stage 1 complaints has proven to be very challenging and only 29% were responded to within timescale during 2023/24. Performance against the Housing Ombudsman target of 20 working days for a stage 2 complaint was better with 71% responded to within timescale.

Identifying the main themes from the complaints we receive is an important tool we use to identify areas where we need to focus service improvement on. During 2023/24 the following were the main housing complaint themes:

Time taken to complete the repair:

• residents left without the full use of rooms due to the length of time taken to complete the repair, or facilities such as hot water and heating
• outstanding repairs causing other issues within the property due to the time taken to complete the repair - i.e. example states damaged guttering has resulted in damp and mould in the home
• 'make safe' appointments provide a temporary fix, but the full repair then takes a long time to complete
• a number of complaints relate to roofing issues specifically and the time taken to complete repairs
• customers having to live with damp and mould in their home for long periods of time due to time taken to complete a repair - one said they waited 6 months after they initially reported the damp and mould and still hadn't had an appointment

Estate maintenance

Rubbish building up in back lanes and the length of time taken by the council to address it.

Neighbouring gardens in poor condition, despite reports no action taken.

Antisocial behaviour

Reports of minor antisocial behaviour not being addressed by the council. One customer said they'd reported numerous issues over 5 years and no action had been taken. Examples include - loud music from neighbours, cigarette ends being thrown into neighbours garden, rubbish in neighbouring gardens, general noise from neighbouring properties.

Boundary maintenance

Work relating to boundary fences/hedges commenced without communication with the customer leaving no boundary between two properties.

Damage to personal property

A customer complained that personal items were removed from a communal area in a block of flats and disposed of.

A resident complained that their personal property was damaged while in storage during a house move and that some items went missing.

Communication

• Work such as scaffolding being erected was carried out without being communicated to the resident - one example is from a private tenant living next door to a council tenant who'd had scaffolding erected in their property without any prior notice or permission requested.
• Appointments missed without being communicated with the customer.  
• A number of customers state that they've contacted the council repairs service to report a new repair or seek an update. They state nobody got back to them.
• Customers not kept up to date with the progress of their repair work, they have to contact the council if they need an update and many state they're told somebody will contact them, but they don't.
• Customers receiving multiple updates for repair work appointments which just provides a reference number. One reported receiving numerous text messages with different dates for works leaving them unsure when their work would be carried out.
• Works booked in with the customer but then cancelled with no warning. The customer then had to contact the repairs service to rebook.
• Some residents have reported that they feel that the officer they've dealt with has had a poor attitude towards them.

In 2024/25 we will develop our approach to learning from complaints that will seek to:

• meet our regulatory requirements
• identify emerging themes and issues so that we can act promptly
• focus on embedding learning
• demonstrate that we have learned from complaints
• share learning across services and the wider council

Our approach will be informed by learning from peers across the council and other social landlords.

In addition to complaints, we encourage employees to record compliments that they receive about colleagues and services. This is important as it also provides valuable insight into what tenants appreciate and helps us to improve the services we provide. It can also help to boost morale highlighting the positive impact we can make to our tenants and residents. When a compliment is registered the relevant line manager is notified.

During 2023/24 a total of 73 compliments were registered.  Of these 19 were internal compliments from other officers or managers and 54 were from customers. Broken down by service area:

• repairs and maintenance 31
• neighbourhood housing services - 27
• multi-storey team - 6
• neighbourhood relations -3
• investment -2
• lettings - 2
• rent and income - 2

Key themes from compliments include carrying out repairs to a good standard, helping to resolve an enquiry quickly and effectively, providing practical guidance including bidding on a new home and giving general advice on arrange of issues.

In 2023/2024, the council received 4 determinations by the Housing Ombudsman. Determinations are the number of cases decided upon by the Housing Ombudsman.

In those 4 determinations, the council received 8 findings. Each category on a determined case has one finding. A complaint could have multiple findings and the findings in these cases were as follows:

• severe maladministration - the most severe failings will result in a finding of severe maladministration.
• maladministration - when there was a failure which has adversely affected the resident.
• no maladministration - the Housing Ombudsman finds no maladministration where the landlord acted in accordance with its obligations and policies/procedures. Minor failings may have been found but these caused no detriment to the resident.

In case 1, there were 3 findings of severe maladministration. The findings of severe maladministration related to the council's handling of reports of damp and mould, complaint handling and record keeping. This was a complex case dating back to 2018. Since then, the council has a new and robust approach to cases of damp and mould and has revamped it's complaints process to ensure it's compliant with the HO's complaint handling code.

In case 2, there were 2 findings of maladministration. These findings related to the council's handling of a repair and complaint handling.

In case 3, there were 2 findings of maladministration. These findings related to the council's handling of water ingress and complaint handling.

In case 4, the Housing Ombudsman found that there was no maladministration.

Service redesign - complaint handling repairs and maintenance

To identify barriers to performance and propose solutions, a discovery project was undertaken. This review specifically focused on complaint handling within repairs and maintenance as this service receives and responds to the largest number of complaints and therefore has the biggest impact on performance. 

Customer scrutiny review - stage 1 response letters

In response to evidence that shows low levels of satisfaction with the council's approach to dealing with housing complaints, the Resident Influence Panel commissioned a scrutiny review of stage 1 complaint responses across all Housing services. The aim of the review was to scrutinise the standard of stage 1 complaint responses and recommend actions that will improve the customer experience.

Both reviews are now complete, and we are introducing changes to the way we manage complaints to reflect their findings and recommendations.    

Online complaint reporting

To refine our approach to handling housing related complaints, enquiries, and compliments submitted online a redesign exercise was undertaken. A survey of customers who had recently used the online service was undertaken and this was followed up with telephone conversations to explore responses in more depth. Insight provided from this customer engagement included:

• the absence of updates following submission
• difficulty in speaking directly to the appropriate person or department
• challenges in locating forms on the website
• confusion about the process
• unclear support options

In response we have introduced the following enhancements:

• a new, user-friendly digital form that consolidates all contact types into one accessible format to include a save and resume feature
• updated web pages to clearly outline the process and expected timelines
• enabling customers to specify their preferred contact methods and timings
• refine the form categories to ensure direct routing to the correct service team from the initial contact
• implement automatic email confirmations upon submission

We will monitor the impact of these changes and carry out further customer engagement to improve the online experience further.

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