Learning from complaints October 2023

Since our last learning from complaints blog, we have been busy reflecting on how we handle customer complaints; making sure we stay accountable, and find ways to improve the customer complaints journey as well as learn lessons and embed a culture of continuous improvement. We want a consistent performance on how we handle complaints.

Here are some of the key things we are working on as an organisation.

Working together with the Housing Ombudsman

The Housing Ombudsman looks at complaints of social housing providers. We are working closely with them to understand how to:

• Resolve customer complaints
• Improve our complaints processes
• Improve customer experience
• Make sure we are compliant with the Housing Ombudsman’s standards

Improving our complaints culture

We are working to improve our culture around complaints to make sure they are a priority at every level. We have also adapted our internal processes to prioritise complaints and improve efficiency and accountability.

Collaborating internally and with contractors

Some of our customer complaints are quite complex, and one team alone cannot resolve them. That’s why collaboration between different teams is key to success.

Also, many of our repairs and maintenance work is completed through contractors. We are working with them to improve the level of service you receive.

Creating action plans

We are improving our planning skills related to complaints. We want our teams to be able to build and execute action plans; that’s the plan we carry out to put things right when something has gone wrong. This is especially important when it comes to more complex cases. Creating an action plan will help us resolve complaints more quickly and to a higher standard.

Improving information, record keeping and communication

We have improved the information we record for each complaint. This also includes an organisation wide dashboard on our complaints performance. Now, all colleagues working on a complaint will have a clearer picture of what is happening. This means an improved complaints experience for customers.

We want to make sure we keep customers updated on how their complaint is progressing in a timely manner and get to a resolution promptly within our targets and key performance indicators.