Agenda item

Housing Complaints Update

Report of Martin Poulter, Business Performance and Customer Services Manager

Minutes:

The Committee received a report on to seek the views of the Housing Complaints Performance and Service Improvement for 2023/24. 

 

Housing Complaints Process 2023/24

 

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has introduced a framework of Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) that all social landlords must collect and report on from 2023/24. In relation to Complaint handling these include:

 

Satisfaction with the landlord’s approach to complaint handling:

The survey was carried out on the telephone and compared to the data from 2022/23 satisfaction has increased by 5%. However, satisfaction does remain comparatively low when compared to the Council’s other TSM scores.

 

Complaints relative to the size of the landlord:

Our aim is to provide the RSH the number of complaints received per 100 properties. In 2023/23 the target had been exceeded by registering 13 complaints per 1000 homes. In total 429 stage 1 complaints were received during 2023/24 and 56 stage 2 complaints.

 

Complaints responded to within Complaint Handling Code timescales:

To be compliant with the CHC a two-stage process has been adopted for housing complaints with a target of 10 working days to respond to stage 1 complaints and 20 working days for stage two complaints. The HO target of 10 days for responding to stage one complaints has proven to be challenging and only 29% were responded to within the timescale for 2023/24. Stage two target of 20 working days was better with 71% responded to within timescale. 

 

Improving Complaint Handling Performance and Customer Experience

 

The service redesign of complaint handling has focused on repairs and maintenance is to identify barriers to performance and propose solutions to enhance the service as it receives the most complaints, however, poor performance and low customer satisfaction with complaint handling apply across all Housing Services.

 

A report setting out the finding and recommendations will be discussed with the Housing Leadership Team in June 2024 and a response agreed. An update will be brought to a future meeting of this committee.

 

Complaint trends:

 

Complaint trends are an effective tool for identifying areas of risk, testing culture, and checking if there is a disconnect between policy and practice. During 2023.24 the following summarise the main housing complaint themes

 

·         Time taken to complete a repair

·         Estate Maintenance

·         Anti-Social Behaviour

·         Boundary maintenance

·         Damage to property.

·         Communication

 

 

 

Compliments:

 

In addition to complaints, it is encouraged to record compliments that are received about colleagues and services. During 2023/24 a total of 73 compliments were registered. Of these 19 were internal compliments from other officers or managers and 54 were from customers. Broken down by service area:

 

·         Repairs and maintenance 31

·         Neighbourhood Housing Services – 27

·         Multi-storey team - 6

·         Neighbourhood Relations -3

·         Investment -2

·         Lettings - 2

·         Rent and Income -2

 

Key themes from compliments include carrying out repairs to a good standard, helping to resolve an enquiry quickly and effectively, providing practical guidance including bidding on a new home and giving general advice on arrange of issues.

 

Housing Ombudsman Service

 

The annual Housing Ombudsman report was produced by the HO service for each landlord, and it is expected to be received later in 2024/25. This will set out Gateshead Council’s performance in relation to complaints accepted by the HO and will compare Gateshead Council against other social landlords. A copy of the annual report will be included in the next Complaints update report with a full update on determinations made by the HO in 2023/24. 

 

Complaint Handling Code – self assessment

 

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 empowered the HO to issue a code of practice about the procedures members of the Scheme should have in place for considering complaints. It also placed a duty on the HO to monitor compliance with a code of practice that it has issued.

 

The self-assessment was carried out with a focus group of tenants and leaseholders in 2023/24 and identified some updates that are required to the Council’s Complaint’s policy and to training guidance. A copy of the draft self-assessment is included with this report in Appendix 2.

 

Online Complaint reporting

 

To refine our approach to handling housing related complaints, enquiries, and compliments submitted online a redesign exercise was undertaken. A survey of    customers who had recently used the online service was undertaken and this was followed up with telephone conversations to explore responses in more depth.

 

In response we have we introduced the following enhancements.

 

  • A new, user-friendly digital form that consolidates all contact types into one accessible format to include a save and resume feature.
  • Updated web pages to clearly outline the process and expected timelines.
  • Enabling customers to specify their preferred contact methods and timings.
  • Refine the form categories to ensure direct routing to the correct service team from the initial contact.
  • Implement automatic email confirmations upon submission.

 

RESOLVED:

 

(i)            That Committee noted the report

(ii)           The Committee provided its view and endorsed the report

 

Supporting documents: