Improvements we’re making to our complaints service

Services

We’ve published a new report providing an overview of our complaints performance and service improvement over the past year.

Two people talking to each other

The report also includes a self-assessment of our performance against standards set out in the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.

The code, which was developed with input from hundreds of residents from across the country, aims to ensure landlords respond to complaints from residents effectively and fairly.

Our report covers:

  • Analysis of how we’ve managed your complaints

  • Areas identified by the Ombudsman where we weren’t meeting its standards

  • The improvements we’ve made using learning from complaints.

Read our report here.

Kate Gascoigne, A2Dominion’s Chief Customer Officer, said: “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do, and last year we wrote to apologise for our under-performance and thank them for their continued patience as we work to transform our customer-facing services.

“This self-review highlights that our complaints service is not currently where we want it to be, or where our customers deserve it to be. We’ve already made a number of important changes and, as we continue to take action, we don’t underestimate the level of improvements we need to make.

“We’ve restructured our Executive Management Team and recruited a new leadership team for our Repairs and Maintenance service. This is supported by improvement plans for our repairs and complaints services to ensure we handle cases better for our customers and embed lessons learnt across all we do.

“We know there’s much more to do, but we are determined to get this right for our customers, colleagues, and stakeholders for the years ahead.”

You said, we’ve listened

Your feedback makes huge difference to the way we deliver our services. We’ve set out below some of the improvements we’ve made as a result.

You said

It’s difficult to make a complaint

We have

  • Introduced more ways to make a complaint and explained these clearly on our website. Customers can now make a complaint by speaking to us in person, through live chat, as well as via our website, letter, email or phone.  

You said

You want a quicker response to your complaints 

We have

  • Introduced new timescales for resolving complaints, in line with the Ombudsman’s code and guidance. We’re now working towards acknowledging initial complaints within 5 working days and responding within 10 working days (unless we need more time to investigate).
  • Introduced complaints champions across the organisation, who investigate complaints and develop action plans to put things right.
  • Launched a new system to help us better track complaints and take action if we spot a delay.

You said

It’s not clear enough when we will award compensation payments

We have

  • Simplified our compensation policy so you can better understand how we decide on payments. We’ve published the policy on our website.
  • We’ve also improved how we assess and award compensation payments, so they are based on what is considered fair in the circumstance of the case in line with Ombudsman guidance.

You said

You said you wanted to get involved with giving feedback to help us improve

We have

  • Set up resident panels to scrutinise anonymised complaint letters. This feedback is driving changes to our complaint responses and inform colleague training. 

You said, we will

We’re continuing to listen to your feedback and are planning more improvements in 2024/25 including:

  • Significant further improvements to our complaint handling timescales by September 2024.
  • Expanding our digital offer to ensure services can be accessed more easily, and so that we can improve resolution and response times.
  • Holding regular customer feedback workshops focusing on complaints and communication to support on-going improvements.

Get involved 

If you’re interested in getting involved in any of our resident panels or workshops, you can find out more or fill out this short form

More information

Visit our complaints page for more information on how to report a complaint. You can also read our Complaints Performance and Service Improvement report and self-assessment.