We understand that sometimes, despite our best efforts, we might get things wrong and you might want to submit a complaint.
We want to know when our service falls short of what you expect. This is so we can put things right, make improvements and learn from the experience.
Complaints can be about:
The quickest way to get a response is to contact us directly – either in person, by email, phone or letter or you can make a complaint using our online form below. You should normally receive an acknowledgement within 5 working days and a response to your complaint within a further 10 working days. Here's a handy infographic showing our complaints process.
If you’re not happy with the response to your complaint or the way it was handled, you can ask for a review. Details about you can do this will be included in our initial response to you. We aim to issue our reply within 20 working days, once we understand the reasons why you remain dissatisfied.
If you are unhappy with the result of the review you can contact the Housing Ombudsman.
Please note you can ask the Housing Ombudsman for advice and support at any time during the handling of your complaint. You can also approach your MP or your local Councillor.
Find contact details for your MP or phone 020 7219 4272.
This page explains the role of the regulator and what they do when they receive a complaint or referral - Information for social housing tenants - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
If you would like to know more about how to make a complaint, click here to read our leaflet.
You can download a full copy of our Customer Complaints and Feedback Policy by clicking here.
You can find the Housing Ombudsman Service contact details here.
To support customers and colleagues we have an Unreasonable or Persistent Complainants Framework, you can download a copy here.
We have created an Annual Summary of our Complaints and Service Improvement for 2023/24 which is available here.
Examples of how customer feedback has been used in the past can be found here.
We have recently completed a self-assessment of the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code. To view it, please click here. You can view the Housing Ombudsman Complaints Handling Code here.
When publishing the self-assessment as part of the annual complaint performance and service improvement report, landlords must include the governing bodies response to the report.
The purpose of publishing the governing body’s response to the self-assessment is to provide assurance that the self-assessment is a true reflection of the landlord’s complaint handling.
Plus Dane’s self-assessment against the Complaint Handling Code has been scrutinised by our Purpose Committee and presented to Board alongside the annual complaint performance report. This performance report details service improvement actions taken throughout the year, alongside opportunities to be explored for improving consistency of complaint handling and mitigating potential risks. We recognise that our complaint handling performance has not been where we, or our customers, would want it to be. By increasing Board oversight of key processes and outcomes, including our approach to Housing Ombudsman returns, we have started to see improvements in the service we provide when handling and resolving complaints and we look forward to seeing this continue over the next year as our new service model embeds.
We are assured that the self-assessment is a true reflection of complaint handling across the year and welcome the transparency of the information shared.
In April 2023, the Chief Executive commissioned a task force to address emerging risks that had been identified around service quality and complaint handling. Board has been kept informed of insight gathered by the task force and the recommended actions to improve the service. In the year, Board approved a recommendation from the task force to transition complaint handling from a service led model, with each operational area responsible for handling their own complaints, to a central led model which will see the Customer Relations Team handle all complaints, providing greater consistency and quality complaint handling for customers.
As well as investing in additional colleagues to deliver this, we have seen evidence of a number of programmes and projects established to address service failures identified through complaints and customer feedback, such as a Homes project that is looking to improve our responsive repair timescales with an improvement plan covering the end to end service for customers. We will continue to monitor progress against these improvement plans to ensure customer experiences continue to improve as anticipated.
We are aware that this transition period has not been without its challenges, and our Member Responsible for Complaints has taken an active role in holding Plus Dane to account for its performance. The member has requested updates relating to specific cases, dissatisfaction they have been made aware of and scrutinised the quarterly reports presented to Purpose Committee. They have challenged the management team to provide further information within the annual review, such as analysis of the number of customers who have raised more than one complaint, allowing us as a Board to see evidence of the positive impact the member’s role is having in ensuring we take appropriate learnings from our complaint handling.
In July 2023, Board was made aware that a finding of severe maladministration had been determined for a complaint reviewed by the Housing Ombudsman. We treated the finding with the seriousness that it merits, referring the incident to the Regulator of Social Housing and working closely with the Housing Ombudsman Service to comply with all orders, ensuring the customer received the required outcome in a timely manner. We commissioned an independent review to assess and address key points made in the Housing Ombudsman’s determination. Board has been kept informed of progress against the action plans that were created, and we acknowledge the level of focus the Executive has applied to ensure learnings from the review are implemented. Our Member Responsible for Complaints is updated quarterly on Housing Ombudsman interactions to ensure we have visibility of these complaints.
The spotlight reports published by the Housing Ombudsman Service continue to be useful tools in helping Board to scrutinise services further, providing insight to draw on from across the sector. We were pleased to see that many of the recommendations within the two reports issued this year, Knowledge and Information Management and Attitudes, Rights and Respect, were already being considered through existing strategic projects, such as the Business Intelligence project which seeks to improve the use of data in service provision, and the creation of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion steering group. Any gaps or additional recommendations identified through scrutiny of these reports have been added to relevant action plans, with progress reported through the relevant Committee. As an example, following the publication of the Attitudes, Rights and Respect spotlight report, the EDI steering group has begun to consider a definition of ‘vulnerability’ with the aim of improving data collection and data quality in relation to both protected characteristics and vulnerabilities. This will allow for greater analysis of EDI data to review the effectiveness of our policies and procedures in providing equitable outcomes for customers and tackling barriers to accessing the complaints process overall. Assurance on the progress of this work is provided to Purpose Committee.
As well as reviewing newly published reports, we have revisited previous spotlight reports throughout the year where appropriate, including a review of our self-assessment against the spotlight report on Damp and Mould. These reviews have allowed us as a Board to provide appropriate challenge and support to ensure we continue to deliver quality homes and great services.
This year we have also welcomed the Customer Assurance Panel (CAP) to our governance structure, and this has strengthened the way in which we as a Board hear our customer voice. We see this coming year as an opportunity to build on its work to date through increasing opportunities for CAP to work closely with the Member Responsible for Complaints to enable our discussions of key themes and concerns for customers.
In addition, our Foresight Committee was established to be responsible for horizon scanning; identifying, assessing and mitigating key changes in the social housing sector and beyond that may impact on our customers and the delivery of our services. Being able to receive these reports alongside operational performance updates from our Purpose Committee, and scrutiny and challenge from our Customer Assurance Panel, allow Board members to feel assured of the issues and successes our customers are experiencing and how they are managed through complaints.
