Housing complaints policy
This is our policy on managing complaints about our housing service.
Contents
- Our approach to customer feedback and complaints
- How you can help us investigate complaints
- What you should do if you have a complaint
- Refer to the Housing Ombudsman
- Making a complaint about other council services
- What our Housing Complaints Policy does not cover
- Managing unacceptable behaviour
- Statutory and regulatory requirements
- Complaint, change and modification
How to complain and give us feedback on our housing services.
1. Our approach to customer feedback and complaints
1.1 Uttlesford District Council always aims to provide you with a high-quality service and welcomes all feedback about the services that we provide and how they could be improved.
1.2 We recognize that sometimes things go wrong, and you may be dissatisfied with the service you receive. We will take time to listen and understand the experience of our customers.
1.3 This document explains how Uttlesford District Council will manage the feedback we receive from our customers.
1.4 If you have a suggestion or complaint, please let us know. We will do our best to put the matter right and make sure that we improve the service we provide. We would also like to know if you are pleased with the service provided. We can share this with our staff and use the information to further improve our services.
2. Compliments
2.1 You may want to congratulate us or an individual officer for a job well done, or a service provided in a way which has exceeded your expectations. We will share your views with those involved and encourage others to follow similar ways of working.
2.2 Compliments are regularly reviewed by the Corporate Management Team and are shared through staff briefings.
3. Suggestions
3.1 You may have an idea for improving our services. If you do, we would like to hear about it. We will acknowledge your suggestions and let you know how we will use them or explain why we are unable to.
4. Complaints
4.1 We realise there may be times when things go wrong, and you may not be satisfied with the service you receive. The council expects everyone who is involved in delivering services to always work to the highest standards of conduct and integrity, whether directly employed by the council, suppliers and contractors. We will always investigate when standards have not been met.
4.2 We welcome and value your complaints and will try our upmost to resolve them and involve you in this. We aim to be fair, put things right and learn from our mistakes and improve services to prevent the same thing happening again.
4.3 We would prefer not to receive anonymised complaints; however, we recognise that not everyone is comfortable complaining.
4.4 Information about complaints made by tenants is reviewed by the Corporate Management Team in order to identify any learning and address any trends.
4.5 The Audit and Standards Committee receives an annual report on complaints, including any escalated to the Housing Ombudsman.
5. What is a complaint
5.1 We would 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 individual or group of individuals'.
6. How you can help us investigate complaints
6.1 It is important to provide as much information as possible so we can deal with your complaint promptly. This may include:
- the location/site of the subject of your complaint
- relevant dates
- names of any council staff involved, if known
- how our service failed to meet your expectations
- what you would like us to do to put things right
- how you or others have been adversely affected by the service failure
6.2 If you are unable to complain yourself, we will accept complaints made on your behalf but will ask for your written permission for us to talk to a third party. Our Customer Services team can also provide advice and support in helping you to make a complaint.
7 - 8. What you should do if you have a complaint
Make a complaint (Stage 1)
- You can make a complaint by email, letter or through the online form on our website at complaint or comment on a housing repair. We will also accept a complaint over the telephone on 01799 510510.
- We will log your complaint and send you an acknowledgement that we have received your complaint within 5 working days (not including weekends and bank holidays).
- We will investigate and always aim to respond to your complaint in writing within 10 working days of the complaint being logged.
⚠ Note that complex complaints may take longer to investigate.
Should this be the case, we will keep you informed of the likely timescale for fully resolving your complaint. If we need more than the 10 working days to resolve your complaint, we will discuss this with you first and provide clear reasons why we need to extend the timescale for a further period of time.
- If you ask us to deal with an issue that does not fall within our complaint's procedure, we will let you know what other options may be available to you. For example, by asking other council services or outside organisations.
- We will also let you know how to move your complaint to Stage 2 of the procedure if you are not happy with the response at Stage 1, you should contact us ideally within 10 working days to escalate your complaint to Stage 2.
Ask for a review of your complaint (Stage 2)
- Once the manager has responded at Stage 1, if you are unhappy with the way your complaint has been dealt with, you should ideally contact us within 10 working days, and we will escalate your complaint to the relevant service head or equivalent. The officer reviewing the complaint at Stage 2 will be more senior than the officer who investigated at Stage 1.
- For complaints which relate to the conduct of a Director these will be reviewed by a Director of another council service or the Chief Executive. Complaints relating to the Chief Executive will be reviewed by the Leader of the Council.
- We will log your complaint and send you an acknowledgement that we have received your Stage 2 complaint within 5 working days.
- The Stage 2 investigating officer will investigate your complaint further and aim to respond within 20 working days of the complaint being logged.
- The purpose of Stage 2 is to ensure that everything you raised in your original complaint has been looked at in detail and correctly addressed and, if not, to make sure that this now happens.
9. Refer to the Housing Ombudsman
9.1 Once the council's complaints procedure has concluded you can refer the matter to the Housing Ombudsman. The Housing Ombudsman Service is a government- sponsored, independent body which investigates and resolves complaints about social landlords, including local authorities. The Ombudsman has powers to ask the council to resolve complaints in a certain way, including putting things right and paying compensation to tenants.
9.2 You can also contact the Housing Ombudsman for general advice about making complaints about the housing service.
9.3 You can contact the Housing Ombudsman:
- by phone: 0300 111 3000
- by email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
- using an online form
- by writing to: Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 152, Liverpool L33 7WQ
9.4 The Housing Ombudsman's investigations are free and confidential.
10. Making a complaint about other council services
10.1 Not all housing-related complaint are dealt with the by the Housing Ombudsman. These include complaints about your homeless application or private sector accommodation. For complaints about these services, please refer to the council's general Compliments, suggestions and complaints policy.
10.2 For complaints relating to housing applications, housing options, homelessness enquiries and private sector housing issues, or any other council services not covered in the Housing Complaints Policy you can also contact the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman.
10.3 You can contact the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman:
- by phone on: 0300 061 0614
- through the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman website
- by writing to: Local Government Ombudsman, PO Box 4771, Coventry CV4 0EH
11. What our Housing Complaints Policy does not cover
- We generally do not investigate complaints where you are complaining about something that happened 12 months ago or longer. However, we will look at each case separately and, in some cases, we may accept the complaint.
- Complaints relating to non-housing services, or services relating to homelessness applications or private sector housing. Please refer to the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman website.
- Routine requests for housing services, such as reporting a repair or another issue, or asking for us to deliver a service to you for the first time. Find out how to get in touch with us.
- Resident which are not housing related.
- Reporting fraud, bribery and corruption.
- Services provided by Essex County Council or another organisation. Where you contact us to make a complaint and the service you are complaining about is not delivered by Uttlesford District Council, we will do our best to advise you which organisation you should contact.
- Complaints about councillors. If your complaint is about a councillor, please tell us in writing by sending an email to: MonitoringOfficer@uttlesford.gov.uk or you can write to the Monitoring Officer at Uttlesford District Council, Council Offices, London Road, Saffron Walden CB11 4ER.
12. Managing unacceptable behaviour
12.1 The council has a separate process available for dealing with complaints which meet our definition of "unreasonable complainant behaviour" and "unreasonable persistent complaints". You can find further information in our Managing unacceptable behaviour policy.
13. Support agencies
13.1 If you would like to receive support from an independent support agency such as Citizens Advice, Shelter, and Age UK we will do our best to assist you.
14. Confidentiality
14.1 We will comply with the requirements of the data protection law.
15. Statutory and regulatory requirements
15.1 The council's approach to complaints will comply with all relevant statutes and regulations including but not limited to the Localism Act, Housing Act, General Data Protection Act, Equality Act and the regulatory requirements of the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman and Housing Ombudsman.
Roles and responsibilities
Role: Strategic Directors
Responsibilities:
- Oversight and monitoring of the policy.
- Ensuring that this policy is operationally effective.
- Responsibility for higher level compensation awards.
Role: Service Director
Responsibility:
Stage 2 complaint response author.
Role: Service Managers
Responsibilities:
- Stage 1 complaint response author.
- Propose and agreed compensation level in line with scheme of delegation.
Role: Staff
Responsibilities:
- Receive and record complaints.
- Provide contributions to complaints drafted.
Role: Resident Engagement and Social Value Manager
Responsibilities:
- Monitoring complaints responses and generating complaint key performance metrics (turnaround and satisfaction).
Role: Housing Officer/Complaints Lead
Responsibilities:
- Log, acknowledge and monitoring of complaints.
Key contacts
Lead Officer: Strategic Director of Housing, Environment and Communities - Simone Russell
Service Area/Directorate: Housing, Environment & Communities
Landlord Services
Lead Member: Councillor Arthur Coote
Link to Corporate Plan Priorities
Corporate priorities | Yes/no |
|---|---|
Putting residents first | Yes |
Active place-maker for our towns and villages | No |
Progressive custodian of our rural environment | No |
Champion for our district | Yes |
Contextual information
Update overview
This policy seeks to ensure compliance with The Charter for Social Housing Residents, Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and Housing Ombudsman Complaints Handling Code.
Legislative context
The Charter for Social Housing Residents The charter for social housing residents: social housing white paper
Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023
Local government context
Compliance with the statutory Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code issued in March 2024 is a requirement.
Uttlesford District Council policy history
The complaints policy was revised in October 2023. This further minor revision was made in November 2024 and approved by Cabinet in December 2024.
Policy scope: resident and/or internal
This policy provides a clear, simple and accessible opportunity for our customers to be able to raise complaints and have them promptly, politely and fairly handled.
Related Policies and corporate governance matters
Housing and Repairs Compensation and Reimbursement Policy
Managing unacceptable behaviour policy
Policy monitoring
We will review this Policy at least every 2 years or earlier if there has been an update to legislative, regulatory, best practice or operational changes.
Complaint, change and modification
Complaint
Complaints made in relation to this policy, or its application shall follow the council's Corporate Complaints policy.
Modification
Minor changes will be signed off by the appropriate service director following CMT approval.
Substantial changes will be referred to the CMT for approval.
The decision on what changes will constitute minor or substantial change will be determined by CMT
Change
The Strategic Director, Housing, Environment and Communities shall be responsible for reviewing /updating the policy in accordance with changes to best practice, statutory guidance and legislation.
Substantial changes made shall be presented to CMT for formal approval.
References
The Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code on the Housing Ombudsman Service website.
Date of issue: Approved by Cabinet 5 December 2024
Amendment by Executive Decision 17 February 2025
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