How many complaints did we receive?
Between July and September 2024, we received 1,754 complaints, which was a 4% increase from the previous quarter.
Most of these complaints (29%) related to our responsive repairs service. Key areas of concern related to the time taken to complete your repair, dissatisfaction with the quality of the repair and not attending appointments as scheduled.
We also received complaints about our mechanical and electrical service, relating to lift maintenance, CCTV, emergency lighting and automatic doors, and about environmental services including communal gardening, bulk refuse, pest control and cleaning.
How quickly did we respond to your complaints?
We aim to respond to 100% of stage 1* complaints within 10 working days and stage 2* complaints within 20 working days. These timescales are set by the Housing Ombudsman Service.
Whilst we are not yet responding to all complaints within the required timescales, we have been making improvements. Between July and September, we responded to 12% more stage 1 complaints and 19% more stage 2 complaints within the required timescales compared to the previous quarter.
To speed up our response times, we are requiring dozens more senior managers from across our organisation to take on responsibility for investigating and responding to your complaints. Training is currently under way to support this and we expect to see further improvements in the next quarter.
*What are stage 1 and stage 2 complaints?
Our complaints process has two stages. Stage 1 is when your first make a complaint with us. If you’re not happy with our response to you at this first stage, you can ask for your complaint to be progressed to Stage 2. This means it will be re-investigated by a senior manager.