Annual Complaints Report Summary

This article summarises the complaints received about the Council's Housing Assets Service which is responsible for the management and maintenance of the Council's housing stock between the 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024.  

It excludes complaints which are submitted about other housing services provided by the Council. 

All complaints are dealt with in accordance with the Council's Corporate Complaints and Compliments Policy.   With effect from 18 March 2024, the Council's Corporate Complaints and Compliments Policy was updated to ensure that it is consistent with the Housing Ombudsman's 2024 Complaint Handling Code.   This means that from 18 March 2024 the Housing Assets Service has a two-stage complaint process, prior to this there were three stages.

Complaint numbers and performance

The charts below summarise the number and types of complaints received. 

The Council received 100 formal complaints in 2023/24.

Number of complaints received per stage

Outcome of complaints

Outcome of complaints by stage

Category of complaints

Service Improvements from complaints

Complaints are an important part of feedback about the service which tenants are receiving.  When considering complaints, especially where complaints are upheld in full or part, improvements are identified by the investigating officer which will either prevent an issue identified in a complaint from happening again or improve the service provided. In some cases, actions are identified which are specific to resolving the complaint or which apply more widely.

Improvements to address areas where there was service failure identified as a result of a complaint investigation, or where the service can be improved by changing the way it works were identified in 10 complaints, although some complaints identified more than one improvement.

Examples of some of the improvements identified as a result of complaints are below:

• we have produced a tenants' guide on Decants so the process and council support for tenants who need to decant is clear
• we reviewed the way we deal with the end of tenancy when the tenant has had to flee because of Domestic Violence
• we have developed a new process for dealing with rent reduction requests to improve decision making, the timescale for decisions and communication with tenants
• the tenancy support visit form was updated to ensure it captures information on any vulnerabilities the tenant or their household have
• we have developed an action tracker to record repair actions identified as part of complaints. This allows the council and tenant to monitor that all actions are completed
• to ensure we have more information on new tenants, a copy of their housing application is reviewed by the council before tenancy sign up and a copy saved on their tenancy file
• we will provide a copy of all inspections and surveys of a tenant's home to them on request. Where a Damp and Mould survey is undertaken a copy is automatically sent to the tenant.
• our new IT system will have an online form for capturing the outcome of property inspections and either surveys of Council homes
• we reviewed our approach to dealing with garden tenancy breaches and will use Community Protection Notices and Warnings where appropriate to ensure gardens are free of rubbish and well maintained

Housing Ombudsman Complaint Investigations

• the Housing Ombudsman Service considers complaints about the services provided by social landlords.  
• the Housing Ombudsman produces reports on landlords which have five or more findings against them.  The latest reports are for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, there is no landlord report for the Council.
• no other reports about the Council were published by the Housing Ombudsman during the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
• no Complaint Handling Failure Orders have been issued by the Housing Ombudsman against the Council during the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, these orders are issued when a landlord does not comply with orders (or the timescale to complete orders) made as a result of a determination by the Housing Ombudsman into a complaint
• during the period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, the Housing Ombudsman made determinations on five cases where the complainant had escalated their complaint to the Housing Ombudsman. 
• Two of the cases had been published:

Case 1

Great Yarmouth Borough Council (202201561) - Housing Ombudsman (housing-ombudsman.org.uk)

This case related to the delivery of improvement works to the property and resolution of issues as a result of those works.   The Housing Ombudsman found:

• severe maladministration by the landlord with respect to its handling of works to the property
• maladministration by the landlord with respect to its complaint handling
• maladministration by the landlord with respect to its record keeping

The Council has complied with all orders made in relation to this case

Case 2

Great Yarmouth Borough Council (202119372) - Housing Ombudsman (housing-ombudsman.org.uk)

This case related to the Council's handling of reports of damp and humidity, repairs and the resident's associated concerns, pest control issues and complaint handling. The Housing Ombudsman found:

• no maladministration in relation to the handling of repairs to the property and the resident's associated concerns
• maladministration by the landlord with respect to its complaint handling
• reasonable redress by the landlord in its handling of the reports of damp and humidity and in relation to pest control issues.

The Council has complied with all orders made in relation to this case.