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Formal complaints procedure
Stage one
At stage one, the manager of the service that the complaint is about will investigate it. When we receive a formal complaint we will:
within two days, send you a letter to let you know we have received your complaint;
ask the manager of the department you are complaining about to investigate it; and
write back to you within 10 working days, explaining how you can appeal if you disagree with our decision.
The manager responsible for the service area the complaint is about will investigate your complaint. If the complaint is about a service manager, we will ask their line manager to investigate the complaint.
Stage two
If you are not happy with the decision at stage one, we will ask you to write to us to explain why, within 10 working days of when you received our decision. We will deal with this at stage two of our complaints policy. When we receive your letter we will:
send you a letter within two working days;
make sure a more senior officer than the person who made the stage one decision investigates the complaint; and
write back to you within 15 working days, and tell you how you can appeal their decision.
Stage three panel
If you are not happy with the decision at stage two, we will ask you to write to us to explain why, within 10 working days of when you received our decision. We will deal with this at stage three of our complaints policy. When we receive your letter, we will:
write to you within two working days to let you know we have received your complaint;
if you ask for a personal hearing, contact you to arrange a time for the hearing within 20 days of when we receive your response to our decision at stage two;
let you know that you have the right to have someone with you at the hearing. those with vested interests will not be allowed to attend, eg lawyers; and
give you a written response delivered by hand, or by post within five working days of the hearing, stating your rights and how to appeal.
Complaints panel
Our complaints panel is made up of two resident directors and a member from the corporate management team. The panel can:
uphold or overturn the investigating officer's decision at stage two in part or in full;
offer a different way of dealing with your problem
make a recommendation for a change in policy, procedure or practice; and
recommend compensation.
Our complaints panel co-ordinator
The complaints panel co-ordinator will:
decide who will be on the panel (they will get other people to help them make this decision if they need to)
work with the head of service to get the information they need for the panel hearing;
give out documents to the panel members
let the panel know they have been chosen, and the arrangements for any meetings;
let you know what we are doing about your complaint, and the date of any meetings you have asked for a personal hearing; and
sign our final decision letter after the ruling of the panel.
Independent Housing Ombudsman service
If you are not satisfied with our response at stage three, you can ask the Housing Ombudsman to investigate. The Housing Ombudsman considers complaints about housing services.
If the Ombudsman agrees that your complaint is reasonable, and we didn't deal with it in the right way, they can point out what we are doing wrong, recommend that we change the way we operate, and recommend compensation.
The Ombudsman will only consider complaints that have gone through our all stages of our complaints process. You can get information about the Ombudsman from our reception areas.
