Audit & Governance Committee – Response to the Housing Ombudsman Self-Assessment and the Annual Complaints Performance and Service improvement Report 2025-26
Complaint handling and learning from complaints has remained a key focus for Bassetlaw District Council throughout 2025/26.
The Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report, together with the Housing Ombudsman Self-Assessment of Complaint Handling are presented to the Council’s Audit and Governance Committee by the Member Responsible for Complaints and the Head of Housing, in order that members can scrutinise and ask questions to be able to seek assurance that complaint handling within the Council is compliant with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.
Throughout the year, the Member Responsible for Complaints (MRC) meets regularly with the Housing Management Team to gain assurance on performance and progress against our improvement plans. They also chair the Complaint Improvement Group, which includes tenant representation. Within this forum, tenants randomly select cases to quality check against the Code in order to closely monitor performance and identify area for improvement, they review performance information and trends and are involved directly in the Self-Assessment of Complaint Handling. The MRC is also provided with a monthly report on complaints which they share with members and provides information from our Learning and Improvement Group.
As part of the Council’s Performance Management Framework, detailed information about the performance of complaint handling is presented to Overview and Scrutiny and its Housing Scrutiny Sub Committee as part of the Corporate Performance Report on a quarterly basis and tenants are routinely kept informed with a performance report to the Tenant Forum and which is made available on the Council’s website.
Since 2024 the Council has made significant strides in improving complaints performance. It is particularly pleasing to note that whilst the level of complaints remains high, including seeing a significant increase in AI generated complaints, the Council has continued to improve its response time within the required time frames, with performance of 100% for Stage 1 and 100% for Stage 2 in 2025/26.
We remain confident that this performance will continue, as we plan to further improve our processes and conduct more in-depth analysis of complaints, undertake transactional surveys and focus groups to address the root causes of complaints.
I recognise the importance of delivering an effective complaints management service – one that not only resolves issues for our customers at the earliest opportunity, but one which also fosters continuous learning and service enhancement. The Council is committed to enhancing the services it provides, and communication is a key area for improvement. We will focus on ensuring that customers are kept informed and that we follow through with what we say we will do and listen to tenants so we can learn from complaints.
As a Council, we remain committed to ensuring that Bassetlaw District Council delivers the highest quality service to our customers, when things go wrong, we are committed to putting them right swiftly and supporting our customers during this process.
I hope that you find the attached report both informative and encouraging.
Councillor Robin Carrington-Wilde - Chair of Audit and Governance.
Date 24 September 2026.
Housing Service: Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report 2025-26
Introduction
The Housing Ombudsman Service introduced a new Complaint Handling Code in April 2024. This code is mandatory and there is a statutory requirement for all social landlords to produce an annual complaints performance and service improvement report which must be reported to the Council as well as published to residents. This report will be presented to the Audit and Governance Committee who will provide a response, which is submitted to the Housing Ombudsman. This report sits alongside the Council’s Annual Report for Formal Complaints across the Council. The report includes a summary of the number and nature of the complaints made about Housing Services between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.
There has been a focus on formal complaints in housing following the introduction of new powers given to the Regulator of Social Housing and the Housing Ombudsman. This report shines a light on complaints and how these are being addressed.
Background
At the 31 March 2025, the Council owned and managed 6,539 properties. During this period 235 formal complaints were received, which was in line with 2024/25 when there were 237 formal complaints. The number of formal complaints showed 0.84% decrease on the previous year’s figures which could indicate that complaints had reached their peak and are beginning to find a level. However, there has been a marked increase in the number of Stage 1 complaints progressing to Stage 2. The total number of complaints received equates to 3.6% of the entire Housing Stock.
As previously discussed, tenants are more aware about how to make a complaint due to the promotion following the introduction of the RSH Consumer Standards and greater signposting from the Council, as well as national publicity. Over 92% of Stage 1 Complaints were responded to within 10 working days and where an extension of a further 10 working days was applied for complex complaints, all Stage 1 complaints (100%) were completed within the Housing Ombudsman’s timescales in 2025/26.
Corporate Complaints Policy
Full Policy included at Appendix A.
The Council has a 3-step procedure for complaint handling. Stage 1 of the procedure is for the appropriate Head of Service/Service Manager to respond to the complaint, escalating the complaint to stage 2 of the procedure ensures a review by the Council’s Chief Executive is carried out and stage 3, the final stage, is referral to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) or Housing Ombudsman (HO).
Responding to Housing stage 1 complaints within 10 working days is measured as a Service Performance Indicator (SPI) with a target for 2025-26 of 100% of all stage 1 complaints to be responded to within 10 working days.
A formal complaint is defined as: ‘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.
Both the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) and Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) launched new Complaint Handling Codes in February 2024, effective from 1 April 2024.
Whilst the new complaint handling code(s) are separate documents, they are aligned. ‘This means that organisations that fall under the jurisdiction of both Ombudsmen should be able to provide a co-ordinated complaint handling process across services covered by both Codes.’
The Housing Complaint Handling Code is a mandatory and legal requirement. The Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman Code ‘constitutes important advice and guidance to councils, rather than instructions.’
It should be noted however that the LGSCO ‘expect local councils to carefully consider the Code when developing policies and procedures.’ Furthermore, they ‘may make a finding of maladministration where a local council, without good reason, does not meet the standards in the Code when responding to an individual complaint’.
The Council’s Complaints Policy and Procedure has been updated to comply with the Code(s) and with cross referencing to the self-assessment completed and published in June 2024 in respect of the HOS Complaint Handling Code.
Stage 1 complaints which are dealt with by the Housing Service Customer Experience Team and the relevant Service Manager have to be responded to within 10 working days from the acknowledgement. An extension can be arranged for complex cases as long as the reasons are outlined to the complainant and a response provided within the additional 10 days.
Stage 2 complaints, which are reviewed through the Chief Executive’s Office have to be responded to within 20 working days from the acknowledgement. An extension can be arranged for complex cases as long as the reasons are provided to the complainant and the response is sent within the additional 20 days.
The Member Responsible for Complaints (‘MRC’): was introduced in April 2024 as a new requirement under the Code. The Cabinet Member for Housing is the Member responsible for Housing formal complaints (MRC). An annual conference which was hosted by the Housing Ombudsman Service, took place in Leeds in October 2025 to provide MRC with updates, training, and an opportunity to talk to other MRCs.
The Housing Ombudsman is working more closely with Regulator for Social Housing, sharing information that could initiate an inspection if there are concerns raised.
The Complaint Performance and Improvement Report and the response to the report by the Audit and Governance Committee and Member Responsible for Complaints is submitted along with the Annual Self-Assessment against the Complaint Handling Code to the Housing Ombudsman and this has to be submitted by 30 September in each year.
The purpose of the Code is to enable the Council:
‘To resolve complaints raised by their residents quickly and to use the learning from complaints to drive service improvements. It will also help to create a positive complaint handling culture amongst staff and residents.’
The self-assessment is carried out along with tenants on the Complaint Improvement Group. Bassetlaw District Council’s Self-Assessment will be available on the Council’s website and is also attached at Appendix B.
Officers will continue to ensure that the requirements of the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code are being adhered to self-assess against the code each year. Officers therefore routinely self-check the Service’s response to complaints, in order to ensure that they remain in line with the required standards, this is done through quarterly Officer Complaint Meetings. This year the Housing Ombudsman Service have requested to review our Complaints Policy and Procedure, and we are awaiting their comments.
Formal Complaints
Complaints come into the Council through a number of different routes such as through the Contact Centre or Customer Services via telephone calls, online through our website or passed to front line staff when face to face. We also pick up complaints through emails and analysis of survey data. In 2025/26 253 formal complaints raised of which 235 were accepted. Of the 18 that were not accepted 15 were duplicates, 2 were changed to a request for service and 1 was withdrawn by the tenant.
Appendix C sets out more detail of the 235 formal complaints received in the Housing Service in 2025/26.
As can be seen, the majority of complaints received relate to the Repairs Service and Tenancy and Estates. When analysed further, the majority of the repair complaints are due to lack of action (service delivery) relating to when the repair will be carried out. This is due to a combination of delays due to the backlog of jobs and the availability of materials and the increase in reports of damp and mould of which is reflected in the increase in complaints. Many of the outstanding jobs are relating to fencing which we have batched up with contractors and included within the Housing Capital Programme.
Tenancy and Estates interestingly had 44 complaints however only 18 were upheld and 4 partially upheld. The table below shows the overall picture of the outcome of the complaints.
Type 1 - Outcomes
| Type | Not Upheld | Partially Upheld | Upheld | Withdrawn | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adaptions | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Damp Issues | 5 | 1 | 16 | 0 | 22 |
| Estates and Tenancy Management | 21 | 4 | 18 | 1 | 44 |
| Heating and Service | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Housing Register | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| Major Improvements | 3 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 21 |
| Neighbour related issues | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| New Property Issues | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Rents | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Repairs (day-to-day) | 30 | 10 | 83 | 0 | 123 |
| Supported Housing | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Tenancy Sustainment | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| - | 70 | 16 | 148 | 1 | 235 |
Stage 2 Complaints
Stage 2 complaints are referred to the Chief Executive’s Office where the complaints are reviewed, and a response provided. There were 61 Stage 2 complaints referred to the Chief Executive’s Office in 2025-26.
There were 7 complaints from 2024/25 and 54 in 2025/26. There was a 48.7% increase in Stage 2 complaints and 25.9% of the Stage 1 complaints went to stage 2. The outcomes of these complaints are;
- 50 Upheld
- 11 Not upheld
- 1 unable to be accepted due to Data Protection
Table 2 - Stage 2 Outcomes
| Type | Number of Stage 2 Complaints | Upheld |
|---|---|---|
| Damp & Mould | 5 | 5 |
| Heating and Service | 1 | 1 |
| Housing Register | 3 | 1 |
| Major Improvements | 11 | 10 |
| Neighbour related issues | 2 | 2 |
| Repairs | 23 | 20 |
| Tenancy and Estates | 16 | 11 |
| Total | 61 | 50 |
The main reason for the complaints was a lack of action and delay in completing the follow up works. As a result, we have added reminders to our CRM system and taken a case load approach so that they can monitor the outstanding works and keep the tenants updated on a regular basis.
Table 3 - Reason for the complaints at Stage 2
| Type | Number of Stage 2 Complaints |
|---|---|
| Contractors Attitude | 1 |
| Dissatisfaction | 10 |
| Lack of Action | 28 |
| Lack of Communication | 7 |
| Lack of Information | 1 |
| Lack of Response | 3 |
| Officer Decision | 3 |
| Officer Attitude / Conduct | 3 |
| Service Delivery delay | 1 |
| Standard of Work | 1 |
Ombudsman Complaints
During 2025/26 the Housing Ombudsman Service requested information for 10 cases, and we are awaiting the outcomes. Two Complaints (0.3% of the stock) were dealt with, and none were upheld by the Housing Ombudsman Service. As part of the Complaint Handling Code submission, the Housing Ombudsman Service also reviewed the Council’s Complaints Policy and Procedure and highlighted a number of recommendations. The Complaints Policy and Procedure has therefore been updated to take account of the recommendations providing greater clarity in conjunction with the Council’s compliance of the Code.
Request for Service
A Request for Service issue is defined as where a service user is chasing up an outstanding action but is not wanting to make a formal complaint. During 2025/26 the Customer experience Team received 371 requests for service. This was an increase of 250 requests for service on the previous year.
Complaints not accepted
Tenants can complete a formal complaint form online. However, these are not all accepted when they go through the triage process and the tenant has spoken to the Customer Experience Team. The reason being they may already have a complaint that is going through the process or that the issue has never been raised previously, for example a repair and the complaint is then changed to a request for service. Also, some complaints come in anonymously and we are unable to respond without a name or contact. In 2025/26 there were 18 that were not accepted, 15 were duplicates, 2 were changed to a request for service and 1 was withdrawn by the tenant.
Other forms of contact
In addition to complaints and repairs the Housing Service had over 46,602 interactions with tenants during 2025/26, in addition to those instigated or identified by Housing Services staff during the course of their duties. Housing Services receive general enquiries, these can be made, in person, over the phone, in writing (letter or email) and via an on-line form.
During 2025/26 there were 140,717 hits on the housing pages on the website, and 7,077 online enquiries were received.
Compliments
In addition to complaints, the Housing Service also receives compliments from service users. During 2025/26 112 compliments were received, these have been broken down by Service Area below.
Table 2 - Compliments by Service
| Service | Number of Compliments |
|---|---|
| Allocations | 6 |
| Engagement | 8 |
| Estates | 14 |
| Housing Support | 6 |
| Improvements | 5 |
| New Properties | 1 |
| Rents | 4 |
| Repairs | 66 |
| Tenancy Sustainment | 2 |
Telephone Contacts
During 2025-26, the Housing Service received over 34,579 direct telephone contacts. In addition, the Contact Centre handled 85.07% calls as the first point of contact.
These are broken down as follows:
| Team | Number of telephone calls received |
|---|---|
| Repairs, stores and Sure Group | 10,561 |
| Housing Management (Rents, Tenancy and Estate Management, Tenancy Sustainment and Supported Housing) | 4,421 |
| Allocations and Voids | 2,521 |
| Property and Development, Adaptations and Leaseholds | 1,921 |
| Housing Options | 13,972 |
| Engagement and Strategy (Customer Experience, Tenant Engagement and Strategy) | 1,183 |
| Total | 34,579 |
Tenant Engagement
The Complaints Improvement group which includes tenants, and the Cabinet Member for Housing is now in place it meets bi-monthly to review the complaints at all stages of the process that have come in and how they have been handled. This year the Complaint Improvement Group has scrutinised 20 complaints (8% of all complaints), which were selected by the panel. They highlighted learning around education for tenants about mutual exchange and communication.
They receive information regarding the performance of complaints and the Tenant Satisfaction Measures and are updated on the learning and outcomes gathered from complaints. They are consulted on all matters relating to changes in the Complaints process, the Housing Ombudsman Self – Assessment and updates from the Housing Ombudsman.
Benchmarking with other Providers of Social Housing
Housemark, a national benchmarking organisation, reported in July 2026 that nationally, average complaint volumes have increased by 11.6% since 2024/25. The increased rigour of proactive regulation, alongside additional powers for the Housing Ombudsman, led to many landlords, including Bassetlaw District Council, to increase resources available to record and resolve service failure. Early indications suggest that satisfaction with complaint handling has improved to a median 1.5% in comparison to the previous year.
Learning from Complaints
The Housing Service has a positive complaints culture. In order to improve service provision, complaints are received positively, and opportunities taken to learn from them. A list of the improvements which have been categorised thematically can be found at Appendix D.
Improvements identified include;
- Improvements made to the acknowledgement letter to include how tenants prefer to communicate with the Council throughout the Complaint Process and provision of the Life and Progress – Tenant Support and Wellbeing Service leaflet.
- The response letter has been further updated with a section on monitoring outstanding works and how we will monitor this and keep tenants updated.
- We have adapted the CRM system to now include an automated reminders regarding outstanding works to ensure they are completed on time.
- Review Compensation and Remedies Policies
- A new supplier identified for Air Source Heating to reduce the wait for units in the winter.
- New process put in place to test Air Source Heating prior to letting to new tenants and a planned schedule to replace units of a certain age to reduce breakdowns
- There has been considerable training with staff regarding the Complaint Handling Code and also the importance of identifying a complaint.
- We are also working closely with our contractors to ensure that the complaint handling code is embedded and there are regular meetings to talk about complaints.
In addition, we have reviewed our Mutual Exchange process and procedures implementing new checks, so tenants are sure the property is in a good condition. We also utilise The Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) and Housing Ombudsman (HO) Spotlight Reports and real-life case studies to ensure best practice and continued learning. We have been self- assessing our policies processes and procedures against the Noise spotlight report and are currently working on the Knowledge and Information Management Report.
At Stage 2 of the complaint’s procedure, the Chief Executive’s Office may identify cases where there are issues that have contributed to service failure (upheld complaints). Service improvements and learning are identified for implementation with further review and discussion recommended to be carried out at the Service Learning and Improvement Group, led by the Head of Service. Some examples of service improvement and learning are:
- Contractors care when in tenants’ home
- Scaffolding checks
- Improve communication with contractors installing solar panel by utilising their Tenant Liaison Officer
- Contact Centre to have all the contact details for project managers
- Improve communication between contractors - through the project Contractor Portal to be launched in 2026
- Review of repairs timescales being carried out as part of the new Repairs Policy
- Additional training for staff re Mutual exchange
- Revised procedure to include a Technical Officer to attend a joint inspection
- Continued learning and development through 1-1 discussions and appraisals
Tenant Satisfaction Measure (TSM) Perception Survey
From April 2023, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) required all social housing providers to collect Tenant Satisfaction Measure data annually, as part of the new Tenant Satisfaction Measure Standard, within the Consumer Standards. This data must be submitted to the RSH by 30 June each year.
The Tenant Satisfaction Measures, comprise of 22 individual measures, 10 performance measures and 12 perception measures, which will let tenants see how well their landlord is performing and allow the RSH to see which landlords might need to improve things.
Bassetlaw District Council appointed IFF Research to undertake the field work in respect of the Tenant Satisfaction – Perception Measures, on a rolling basis throughout the year, in accordance with strict methodology set out at Tenant Satisfaction Measures Standard | GOV UK
IFF Research carried out 717 surveys over the year as per the Regulator for Social Housing recommended sample size. 80% of surveys were carried out on the telephone and 20% were online. Appendix E provides how the representative sample is broken down against the population demographics. This approach gives validity to the survey results as it is both representative and a measurement over time as opposed to a snapshot measurement. A comparison with national figures released by Housemark (a Housing Benchmarking Company) have been provided below as a comparator, however a detailed report was presented to Cabinet in June 2026.
As can be seen from the table, despite some changes to satisfaction Bassetlaw scores in the top quartile across all of the TSM measures and is performing above average across all measures.
We submitted all of our TSM data in June and uploaded the data onto the Council’s website. The figures below shows the data gathered on complaints which includes the perception survey response gathered from tenants using the prescribed questions provided by the Regulator for Social Housing. This information is gathered by IFF Research on behalf of the Council.
Table 5 - TSM Satisfaction Measures
| Satisfaction Measure | 2025/26 TSM Outcome (%) | 2024/25 TSM Outcome (%) | 2025/26 Benchmark Average (%) | Quartile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Satisfaction with Landlord | 74.3% | 75.8% | 74% | Top - 70% to 100% |
| Satisfaction that Home is safe and Secure | 82% | 83.6% | 79.1% | Top – 80% to 100% |
| Satisfaction with quality of home | 76.4% | 77.5% | 74% | Top – 70% to 100% |
| Satisfaction with the overall repairs service | 79.3% | 81.1% | 76% | Top – 70% to 100% |
| Satisfaction that Council listens to views and acts on them | 63.2% | 67.2% | 63.4% | Top – 60% to 100% |
| Satisfaction with how Council deals with Complaints | 40.3% | 46.8% | 36.5% | Top percentile |
| Satisfaction with how the Council makes a positive contribution to your neighbourhood | 5.7% | 69.6% | 67.1% | Top – 60% to 100% |
| Satisfaction with approach to handling ASB | 59.3% | 65.4% | 60.1% | Top – 50% to 100% |
| Satisfaction with Communal Areas | 69.6% | 70.6% | 69.6% | Top - 60% to 100% |
Table 6 -Tenant Satisfaction Measures – Complaints 2025/26
| Satisfaction Measure | 2025/26 TSM Outcome (%) |
|---|---|
| Stage 1 Complaints responded to within 10 working days | 92.34% |
| Stage 2 Complaints responded to within 20 working days | 95.08% |
| Stage 1 Complaints responded to within the Complaint Handling Code Timescale including a 10-day extension | 100% |
| Stage 2 Complaints responded to within the Complaint Handling Code Timescale including a 20-day extension | 100% |
| Stage 1 Complaints relative to the size of the landlord | 36.02 per 1000 homes |
| Stage 2 Complaints relative to the size of the landlord | 9.35 per 1000 homes |
| Satisfaction with the landlord's approach to handling complaints (% of tenants satisfied) | 40.3% |
Last Updated on Friday, September 25, 2026