Housing complaints annual report 2024/2025

Identifying complaint trends is an effective tool for identifying underlying issues in service delivery that may not be immediately visible through individual complaints. By analysing patterns over time, we can proactively address recurring problems, improve operational efficiency, and prevent minor issues escalating into serious concerns.

In 2024/25, complaints received were broken down by service as follows:

To better understand the main drivers of complaints, an in-depth analysis of 200 stage 1 complaints was undertaken in March 2025. This analysis found the following key themes:

• Time taken to carry out repairs - Customers regularly waiting a long time for repairs to be carried out, following an inspection.
• Carrying out multiple inspections/surveys- Customers having had an inspection or survey report chasing up the work after waiting a long time. Due to the time passed, a further inspection needed to be carried out.
• Poor communication - Customers report waiting a long time for a repair but not hearing any updates.
• Appointment issues - Customers report missed or changed appointments without any notice, resulting in them having to contact the council for an update.
• Pest control and repairs - Customers report issues with pests accessing the property and a failure to fix the holes to stop access, suggesting issues with communication between departments.
• Time taken to rehouse and communication - Customers report they are unhappy with the length of time they must wait to be rehoused and the communication while they're waiting.
• Lack of support with antisocial behaviour - Customers report they feel a lack of support or positive outcomes with ASB cases.

Appendix 1 to this report provides further details on the findings from this exercise.

The above analysis forms part of our approach to learning from complaints. Regular reports on themes and trends are now shared with the Housing Leadership team and the member responsible for complaints. We will continue to include updates in the six-monthly reports taken to this committee and this will include our response to that learning.

In addition to the above, officers meet monthly with the member responsible for complaints (MRC), Councillor Buckley, to review complaint handling. A performance report which includes the number of complaints registered, performance against target timescales and complaint trends is provided and discussed.

Following the extensive improvement work outlined in this report, we will continue to further develop our approach to learning from complaints. This will include:

• reviewing complaint volumes, performance and themes with senior management at a service level to identify recurring trends and implement learning outcomes
• improving updates to customers around changes implemented as a result of that learning
• introducing powerful new reporting tools to better understand complaint trends and performance