Complaints, compliments and feedback

Providing excellent service to our tenants is one of our main objectives. We aim to put residents’ needs and aspirations at the heart of everything we do. We view complaints as a way of monitoring, maintaining and improving the level and quality of service we provide. 

You can make a compliment, complaint or provide feedback in a number of ways:

• Visit our offices in person
• Ring us on 01768 861400
• Send us an email to [email protected]
• Write to us at Blain House, Bridge Lane, Penrith CA11 8QU
• Logging into ‘My Account’ on our Tenants Portal

In addition, we will accept Compliments, Complaints and Feedback from family members, local Councilors or any other advocate acting in your best interests (provided you have authorised them to do so).

Support:

If you require assistance to use our service, we will do everything we reasonably can to assist by agreeing adjustments to how we deliver our service and acknowledging our obligations to the Equality Act 2010. This could include (but is not limited to):

• Providing advice and assistance about the process
• Providing information in appropriate alternative formats such as large print, braille and other languages
• Providing an interpreter
• Providing a same sex interview
• Extension of time limits (where it is lawful to do so)
• Use of email or telephone in preference to hard copy letters
• Rest or comfort breaks in any meeting

We will not make assumptions about whether you require any reasonable adjustment or about what those adjustments might be. We will discuss your requirements to reach an agreement that best suits your individual needs.

Definitions:

We define a complaint as:

‘an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the landlord, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting a resident or group of residents’.

You do not have to use the word ‘complaint’ for us to treat it as a complaint. Whenever you express dissatisfaction, we will make sure this is recognised and handled appropriately. If you are dissatisfied with our response to a service request, we will raise this as a complaint.

We will use the following definition to help distinguish service requests from complaints:

Service request – A service request is a request from a resident asking us to take action to put something right. This may include reporting an issue for the first time, asking us to provide information, or asking us to take action about one of our services. For example, a service request could be:

• reporting a repair for the first time
• asking for an update on a repair
• asking us to remove fly-tipping
• requesting action about an estate issue
• asking for information or help with any of our housing services

If you are dissatisfied with our service, our actions, a lack of action, delay, or the outcome of a service request, we will treat this as a complaint. We will continue to deal with the service request even if a related complaint is raised.

We will record, monitor and review service requests regularly to make sure they are responded to appropriately and to help identify any learning or service improvements.

When dealing with a complaint we will not stop our efforts to address the original service request. If you are dissatisfied with our response to a service request, we will raise this as a complaint and explain the next steps.

When we may not treat something as a complaint

We will accept a complaint unless there is a valid reason not to do so. Each complaint will be considered on its own merits, and we will not apply exclusions in a blanket way.

We will accept complaints referred to us within 12 months of the issue occurring, or within 12 months of you becoming aware of the issue, unless there is another valid reason for us not to do so.

We may decide not to treat a matter as a complaint, or not to escalate it, where:

• the issue happened more than 12 months ago, or you became aware of it more than 12 months ago, and there is no good reason for us to consider it
• legal proceedings have started, meaning details of the claim, such as the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim, have been filed at court
• the same issue has already been considered through our complaints process

If we decide not to accept or escalate a complaint, we will explain our reasons clearly in writing and keep a record of our decision. We will also tell you how you can challenge that decision, including your right to contact the Housing Ombudsman about our decision.

Our Formal Complaints Process:

We operate a two-stage, resident-focused complaints process which gives you the opportunity to explain your point of view and the outcome you are seeking before a final decision is reached. If you remain dissatisfied with our Stage 1 response, you can ask for your complaint to be considered at Stage 2. You do not need to explain why you want your complaint to be escalated, although it will help us if you tell us which parts of the response you remain dissatisfied with and what outcome you are seeking.

All complaints (at either Stage 1 or 2) will be acknowledged, defined and logged within five working days of the complaint being received.  The acknowledgement will include:

• the complaint stage and reference number
• our understanding of the complaint and the outcome you are seeking
• areas of the complaint we are or are not responsible for
• name of the investigating officer
• timescale for the response
• details of how to access the Housing Ombudsman’s dispute support advisors throughout the life of the complaint
• a copy of our Service Standard

When responding to complaints at each stage, we will clearly set out:

• the complaint stage, complaint reference and our understanding of the complaint
• our decision on each point raised, with clear reasons for our decision
• any remedy offered, including apologies, explanations, actions, timescales or compensation where appropriate
• any outstanding actions and when we expect them to be completed

• how to escalate the complaint to the next stage, where this applies, or how to refer the complaint to the Housing Ombudsman once our complaints process has ended
• what we have learned and any service improvements we will make, where relevant

The response provided to the Stage 2 complaint marks the end of Eden Housing Association’s complaints process.  If you remain dissatisfied with our response, you can refer your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman.  You can contact the Housing Ombudsman at any point during the complaints process for advice and support.

The table below demonstrates who will deal with complaints, the timeframe for response and how to escalate your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman if you remain dissatisfied: