We always welcome your comments about our service. The feedback we receive is carefully monitored. It helps us to identify the areas in which we need to make improvements and likewise those where we seem to be getting things right.
Between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2008, we resolved 158 formal complaints, some of which were originally received during the previous year, but needed further investigation. 188 compliments were received during the period.
Over the course of the year, seven complaints were independently investigated by the community services manager or another senior manager. Of these, three have been fully resolved, and four were referred on by the residents to be considered by a panel drawn from the local regional committee. The Independent Housing Ombudsman is presently investigating one matter which was heard by regional committee panel in 2006.
We try to take into account the lessons learnt from compliments and complaints received when making improvements to our services. The following is a selection of some of the more recent improvements we have implemented:
- we have asked our solicitors to provide prospective purchasers of shared ownership properties and their solicitors with relevant briefings on the shared ownership and staircasing process to avoid unnecessary legal costs and delays
- we have reviewed our consultation procedures for planned and cyclical works and copies of the specifications for any such works are now provided to residents’ associations or key tenant(s) in parallel to the tendering process to enable us to incorporate any feedback before a contract is awarded
- we are rolling out the pilot of our complaints satisfaction and reviewing the questionnaire to cover overall satisfaction. This will help us to monitor and where necessary improve our processes
- our rent statements that are sent out quarterly have been reviewed and updated
- details of our planned and cyclical maintenance programmes are now often available on the website.
Please refer to the charts in the link below which provide a more detailed breakdown of complaints, compliments and feedback from the pilot we undertook to gauge the level of satisfaction with our complaints process itself.
We will provide further updates on the complaints and compliments that we received on this page of the website.
If you would like to contact us with any comments about our service, click here or contact us by, by e-mail, telephone, letter or by visiting one of our offices. Click here for more contact information.
