Self Assessment Form

Officers consider what is being said by the complainant and act accordingly.

Complaints Policy refers.

Officers are experienced and understand the difference. Matters are dealt with appropriately and proportionately. Complaints Policy refers.

The standard acknowledgement letter also includes a paragraph:

Please note: It may be that upon looking into this matter further, it is more appropriate to address the issue being raised via an alternative and more proportionate route, if this is the case, we will inform you.

Officers would sign post to the complaints procedure where necessary and appropriate to do so.

Landlords must make it easy for residents to complain by providing different channels through which residents can make a complaint such as in person, over the telephone, in writing, by email and digitally. While the Ombudsman recognises that it may not be feasible for a landlord to use all of the potential channels, there must be more than one route of access into the complaints system.

Landlords must make their complaint policy available in a clear and accessible format for all residents. This will detail the number of stages involved, what will happen at each stage and the timeframes for responding.

Landlord websites, if they exist, must include information on how to raise a complaint. The complaints policy and process must be easy to find on the website.

Landlords must comply with the Equality Act 2010 and may need to adapt normal policies, procedures, or processes to accommodate an individual’s needs. Landlords must satisfy themselves that their policy sets out how they will respond to reasonable adjustments requests in line with the Equality Act and that complaints handlers have had appropriate training to deal with such requests.

Complaints Policy refers.

Equality Training is routinely carried out corporately for all employees.

A new Corporate Customer Contact group for all services is being convened in the Autumn which will address this further.

Landlords must publicise the complaints policy and process, the Complaint Handling Code and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme in leaflets, posters, newsletters, online and as part of regular correspondence with residents.

Published on the web-site, leaflets, posters and newsletters.

Request to include in every addition on the back page of the Tenants' newsletter ‘In Touch’ magazine that goes to every household. Plus in tenant e-newsletter.

Landlords must provide residents with contact
information for the Ombudsman as part of its regular correspondence with residents.

This has been, and will continue to be included in newsletters both electronic and paper version.

Landlords must provide early advice to residents regarding their right to access the Housing Ombudsman Service throughout their complaint, not only when the landlord’s complaints process is exhausted.

The Complaint Policy is provided at acknowledgement stage i.e. from the outset of the complaint, with useful sign posting including Ombudsman.

Any messages received through social media channels that might constitute the need for the issue to be addressed as a formal complaint will be sign posted accordingly to the complaints policy and procedure. Communications Officers will remove any data as appropriate on social media platforms ensuring confidentiality and privacy.

Complaints Policy refers.

The Council has a dedicated officer; ‘customer experience officer’ that deals with complaints.

We have a dedicated Cabinet member/portfolio holder for housing, the ‘governing body’. Complaints are reported to Overview & Scrutiny Committee annually.

The complaint handler appointed must have appropriate complaint handling skills and no conflicts of interest.

As above, the officer is experienced in complaint handling and is part of a specific tenant satisfaction housing service area.

• be able to act sensitively and fairly
• be trained to handle complaints and deal with
• distressed and upset residents
• have access to staff at all levels to facilitate quick
• resolution of complaints
• have the authority and autonomy to act to resolve
• disputes quickly and fairly

Any decision to try and resolve a concern must be taken in agreement with the resident and a landlord’s audit trail/records should be able to demonstrate this. Landlords must ensure that efforts to resolve a resident’s concerns do not obstruct access to the complaints procedure or result in any unreasonable delay. It is not appropriate to have extra named stages (such as ‘stage 0’ or ‘pre-complaint stage’) as this causes unnecessary confusion for residents. When a complaint is made, it must be acknowledged and logged at stage one of the complaints procedure within five days of receipt.

Officers are aware that by acting on the operational work that may be required to address the complaint does not mean that the complaint is completed.  Quick resolution is sought with the follow-up stage 1 complaint reply to follow where appropriate.

Within the complaint acknowledgement, landlords must set out their understanding of the complaint and the outcomes the resident is seeking. If any aspect of the complaint is unclear, the resident must be asked for clarification and the full definition agreed between both parties.

Where the complainant has opted for an e-mail reply, the system automates an acknowledgement letter from the complaint system which is generic. The follow-up to this is to ascertain the detail of the complaint and desired outcomes which is carried out by the Customer Experience Officer in order to manage expectations.

A complaint investigation must be conducted in an impartial manner.

The complaint handler must:

• deal with complaints on their merits
• act independently and have an open mind
• take measures to address any actual or perceived conflict of interest
• consider all information and evidence carefully
• keep the complaint confidential as far as possible, with information only disclosed if necessary to properly investigate the matter.

Landlords must adhere to any reasonable arrangements agreed with residents in terms of frequency and method of communication

The resident, and if applicable any staff member who is the subject of the complaint, must also be given a fair chance to:

• set out their position
• comment on any adverse findings before a final decision is made.

A landlord must include in its complaints policy its timescales for a resident to request escalation of a complaint.

The Council is flexible on this, and on balance, will take each case on its own merits.  

Complaints Policy refers.

A landlord must not unreasonably refuse to escalate a complaint through all stages of the complaints procedure and must have clear and valid reasons for taking that course of action. Reasons for declining to escalate a complaint must be clearly set out in a landlord’s complaints policy and must be the same as the reasons for not accepting a complaint.

A full record must be kept of the complaint, any review and the outcomes at each stage. This must include the original complaint and the date received, all correspondence with the resident, correspondence with other parties and any reports or surveys prepared.

Landlords must have policies and procedures in place for managing unacceptable behaviour from residents and/or their representatives when pursuing a complaint

Landlords should manage residents’ expectations from the outset, being clear where a desired outcome is unreasonable or unrealistic.

From June 2023 the tenant panel complaint review group meets every 3 months to consider complaints.

In addition, from the Autumn/Winter 2023, a telephone survey is going to be carried out to ask complainants about the complaint handling process and how satisfied they were with this.

Landlords should recognise the impact that being complained about can have on future service delivery.

Landlords should ensure that staff are supported and engaged in the complaints process, including the learning that can be gained.

Staff are supported and know how to raise any concerns/issues.

A positive complaints culture is continually being encouraged through the staff newsletter and associated articles.

Any restrictions placed on a resident’s contact due to unacceptable behaviour should be appropriate to their needs and should demonstrate regard for the provisions of the Equality Act 2010.

The Complaints Policy refers. One form of contact will be maintained which will take into account any reasonable adjustments required and with due regard to any protected characteristics.

Landlords must respond to the complaint within 10 working days of the complaint being logged. Exceptionally, landlords may provide an explanation to the resident containing a clear timeframe for when the response will be received. This should not exceed a further 10 days without good reason.

Refer to Policy and systems/processes.

We aim to send the stage 1 reply within 10 working days as per the policy. Follow-up letters are sent where appropriate.

Letters are clear and easy to understand without being overly officious.

There is also the offer of a discussion about the content of the letter should the tenant find that useful.

Landlords must confirm the following in writing to the resident at the completion of stage one in clear, plain language:

• the complaint stage
• the decision on the complaint
• the reasons for any decisions made
• the details of any remedy offered to put things right
• details of any outstanding actions
• details of how to escalate the matter to stage two if the resident is not satisfied with the answer

Refer to Policy.

Often it is sensible to refer back to the stage 1 complaint reply content, or even include a copy for ease of reference where appropriate to do so.

Refer to Policy.

Landlords must confirm the following in writing to the resident at
the completion of stage two in clear, plain language:

• the complaint stage
• the complaint definition
• the decision on the complaint
• the reasons for any decisions made
• the details of any remedy offered to put things right
• details of any outstanding actions

and

• if the landlord has a third stage, details of how to escalate the matter to stage three
• if this was the final stage, details of how to escalate the matter to the Housing Ombudsman Service if the resident remains dissatisfied.

The council operates a 2-stage complaints procedure.

Landlords must confirm the following in writing to the resident at the completion of stage three in clear, plain language:

• the complaint stage
• the complaint definition
• the decision on the complaint
• the reasons for any decisions made
• the details of any remedy offered to put things right
• details of any outstanding actions
• details of how to escalate the matter to the Housing Ombudsman Service if the resident remains dissatisfied

Any remedy offered must reflect the extent of any service failures and the level of detriment caused to the resident as a result. A landlord must carefully manage the expectations of residents and not promise anything that cannot be delivered or would cause unfairness to other residents.

The remedy offer must clearly set out what will happen and by when, in agreement with the resident where appropriate. Any remedy proposed must be followed through to completion.

In awarding compensation, a landlord must consider whether any statutory payments are due, if any quantifiable losses have been incurred, the time and trouble a resident has been put to as well as any distress and inconvenience caused.

Legal advice will be sought where appropriate. 

Accountability and transparency are integral to a positive complaint handling culture. Landlords must report back on wider learning and improvements from complaints in their annual report and more frequently to their residents, staff and scrutiny panels.

As a minimum, governing bodies should receive:

• Regular updates on the volume, categories and outcome of complaints, alongside complaint handling performance including compliance with the Ombudsman’s orders
• Regular reviews of issues and trends arising from complaint handling,
• The annual performance report produced by the
  Ombudsman, where applicable
• Individual complaint outcomes where necessary, including where the Ombudsman made findings of severe maladministration or referrals to regulatory bodies. The implementation of management responses should be tracked to ensure they are delivered to agreed timescales.
  The annual self-assessment against the Complaint Handling Code for scrutiny and challenge.

Any themes or trends should be assessed by senior management to identify potential systemic issues, serious risks or policies and procedures that require revision. They should also be used to inform staff and contractor training.

Landlords should have a standard objective in relation to complaint handling for all employees that reflects the need to:

• have a collaborative and co-operative approach towards resolving complaints, working with colleagues across teams and departments
• take collective responsibility for any shortfalls identified through complaints rather than blaming others
• act within the Professional Standards for engaging with complaints as set by the Chartered Institute of Housing.

The Council’s staff intranet includes the standard objective of the policy:

“To provide the Council with a recognised framework for managing formal complaints. To provide residents with an accessible, fair and recognised procedure to address dissatisfaction, enabling appropriate escalation through each stage of the process.”

Head of Service is looking to include the ‘collective responsibility’ approach in all staff appraisals.

This is also referenced in the Council’s values, “Vision 2040”:

“Implementing a new ‘Customer Experience Plan’, ensuring that our residents and customers receive a good-quality, efficient and accessible service when dealing with the Council."

And;

“Embedding a positive organisational culture across the Council."

Landlords must carry out an annual self-assessment against the Code to ensure their complaint handling remains in line with its requirements.

December 2020 self -assessment

October 2022 self – assessment

We have looked to amend the policy as and when required to ensure the policy and associated complaint handling remains fit for purpose.

Self-assessment is now diarised annually for the Head of Housing and Housing Complaints Officer.

Following each self-assessment, a landlord must:

• report the outcome of their self-assessment to their governing body. In the case of local authorities, self-assessment outcomes should be reported to elected members
• publish the outcome of their assessment on their website if they have one, or otherwise make accessible to residents
• include the self-assessment in their annual report section on complaints handling performance

Website, formal complaints annual report, members update through ‘Members Information Bulletin’ 

Tenant satisfaction measures annual report will include data 2023/24 and will be produced in 2024.