Homes for Northumberland Customer Scrutiny and Complaints Panel

Complaints Procedure Report, July 2015

Customer Scrutiny and Complaints Panel Members:

Lillian Clark

Carol Davies

Peter Davison

Andrew Hale

Paul Griffiths

Dawn Pearson

Eleanor Webber

The CSCP would like to thank all members of HfN staff for their assistance in completing this report.

Introduction and background

  1. This is the third Scrutiny Review that the Homes for Northumberland (HfN) Customer Scrutiny and Complaints Panel have carried out.
  1. The Complaints procedure was chosen for three reasons;
  1. there is no real review stage within the current two stage process
  2. there is no tenant involvement in the complaints procedure
  3. the outturn has been below target for the last two years
  1. Two of Homes for Northumberland’s values are to:
  • To be a listening and learning organisation
  • To seek continuous improvement

A robust complaints process is an important element in these values. Such a system will enable us to record the views and feedback from our customers and use this insight to develop and improve our services, correcting any existing mistakes,avoiding making future mistakes, as well as allowing us to recognise and replicategood practice across the organisation.

The current procedure

  1. In April 2013 the Complaints procedure was reduced from a five to two stage procedure.
  1. As part of the Localism Act 2011 a “designated person” was introduced to allow complaints about housing to be resolved locally, without the need of referring to the Housing Ombudsman. When a landlord’s internal complaints procedure is exhausted tenants of housing associations, local authorities and ALMO’s can refer their complaint to a designated person. The designated person can be a local politician or an independent tenant’s panel. Northumberland do not have an independent Tenants Panel therefore the “designated person” is either a local Councillor or Member of Parliament
  1. Homes for Northumberland now has a two stage internal complaints process:
  • Stage 1 – a resolution at the first point of contact.
  • Stage 2 – referral to a Manager who will liaise closely with the relevant Director.
  1. If the tenant is still not happy with the resolution, they have the option of referring their complaint to a “designated person” or alternatively referring it to the Ombudsman.
  1. The designated person can either deal with the complaint on the complainants behalf, or agree to refer it to the Housing Ombudsman.
  1. If the tenant does not want to refer the complaint to a designated person they have to wait 8 weeks and then refer it directly to the Housing Ombudsman.
  1. Recommendations made by members of the Scrutiny Panel

Observation / Implication / Recommendation
No real review stage within the current 2 stage system. / Limited opportunity for complaints to be resolved at a management level within HfN. / Introduction of a third stage in the complaints process.
At present there is no tenant involvement within the Complaints Process. / Tenant opinion is not represented at a higher level within Homes for Northumberland. / Introduction of a Complaints Panel comprising of members of the Customer Scrutiny Panel and a Senior Manager/member of staff.

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11. Research

Name of organisation / Complaints procedure
Homes for Northumberland / 2 Stage Complaints Procedure:
  • Stage 1 – a resolution at the first point of contact.
  • Stage 2 – referral to a Manager who will liaise closely with the relevant Director.
  • If the tenant is still not happy with the resolution, they have the option of referring their complaint to a “designated person” or alternatively referring it to the Ombudsman.
  • The designated person can either deal with the complaint on the complainants behalf, or agree to refer it to the Housing Ombudsman.
  • If the tenant does not want to refer the complaint to a designated person they have to wait 8 weeks and then refer it directly to the Housing Ombudsman.
  • When complaints are received by HfN they are logged by the recipient onto the current Housing Management system (OHMS). However this module still reflects the previous 5 stage complaints process which at the time it was developed was the process used by HfN.
  • The majority of complaints are received and logged by members of the Customer Contact Centre team. Two PA’s and a member of staff in Repairs and Maintenance also receive and log complaints and disseminate them accordingly.

East Durham Homes / 3 Stage Complaints Process:
  • 3rd Stage of complaints is dealt with by a Customer Service Panel which is made up of members of Strategic Board, including Tenant Board Members.
  • A Senior Manager who has been involved in the complaint at stage 2 will also attend to provide information regarding the complaint.

South Tyneside Homes / 3 Stage Complaints Process:
  • No tenant involvement in the complaints process.
  • At stage 3 the investigation is taken over by a separate team to the service the customer is complaining about i.e. customer services.
  • The organisation has 20 working days to investigate and respond.
  • Part of the process involves a stage 3 panel which usually comprises of the Head of Service and key staff.
  • The letter is signed off by the Managing Director following its findings and recommendations.
  • Any service improvements identified are then passed to the relevant Director.

Gateshead Housing / 3 Stage Complaints Process.
  • The three steps are Step 1
  • Informal/problem solving – something that can be resolved there and then
  • Step 2- Investigation – investigated by a service manager
  • Step 3 – Review – Review of the process carried out by the Managing Director
  • Gateshead Housing does have a complaints panel but they look at performance and more recently reviewing some complaints that have been anonymised to look at whether they are satisfied with the response we gave and the way we handled the complaint.

Your Homes Newcastle / 2 Stage Complaints Process:
  • No tenant involvement. Very similar system to HfN in that if the tenant is unhappy with the resolution they have the opportunity to refer the complaint onto a designated person or the Ombudsman.

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  1. Findings
  • When complaints are received by HfN they are logged by the recipient onto the current Housing Management system (OHMS). However this module still reflects the previous 5 stage complaints process which at the time it was developed was the process used by HfN.
  • The majority of complaints are received and logged by members of the Customer Contact Centre team. Two PA’s and a member of staff in Repairs and Maintenance also receive and log complaints and disseminate them accordingly.
  • The total number of complaints received per quarter during 2014/15:

Total number of complaints received per quarter during 2014/15 (arbitrary target)
Quarter 1 / Quarter 2 / Quarter 3 / Quarter 4
58 / 54 / 50 / 52
Number of complaints dealt with at Stage 1 per quarter during 2014/15
Quarter 1 / Quarter 2 / Quarter 3 / Quarter 4
35 / 23 / 34 / 43
Number of complaints dealt with at Stage 2 per quarter during 2014/15
Quarter 1 / Quarter 2 / Quarter 3 / Quarter 4
9 / 6 / 3 / 0
  1. The number of complaints that were referred to the Ombudsman in 2014/15 is 6; none were upheld and the outcome of 3 is still unknown.

14. Appendices

14.1 Complaints Process 2014

Staff Briefing Document

Changes to the Complaints Process

5th February 2014

Our complaints process is as follows:

a)A 2 stage process.

b)These stages are:

i.Stage 1 – resolution at the first point of contact

ii.Stage 2 – referral to a Senior Manager who will liaise closely with the relevant Director.

Timescales remain the same, at Stage 2, the Senior Manager will arrange for the complaint to be acknowledged within 2 working days and for a full response provided within 10 working days.

All complaints must be logged on OHMS, even those that can be solved immediately.

If the complaint cannot be dealt with immediately, it must be referred to the relevant Senior Manager, as well as being logged on OHMS.

c)If the tenant is still not happy with the resolution, they now have the option of referring their complaint to a ‘designated person’ or alternatively referring it to the Ombudsman (If they go directly to the Ombudsman they must wait 8 weeks from the end of stage 2).

d)A ‘designated person’ is defined as an MP, a local councillor for the district the tenant lives in or a designated tenant panel. At present, Northumberland does not have a designated tenant panel. Staff will be expected to direct tenants to the relevant ‘designated person(s).

The Councillors working within our areas are:

Cllr G R ArcklessAmble

Cllr A R ArmstrongCramlington Village

Cllr T BrechanyCramlington South East

Cllr S C BridgettRothbury

Cllr M BrownCramlington West

Cllr D CampbellNewsham

Cllr G CastleAlnwick

Cllr V CoilsCroft

Cllr B CrowtherCramlingtonEastfield

Cllr W DaleyCramlington North

Cllr G DaveyKitty Brewster

Cllr S DaveyCowpen

Cllr J ReidPlessey

Cllr M E RichardsSeghill with Seaton Delaval

Cllr L J RickerbySouth Blyth

Cllr A C RomerHartley

Cllr I C F Swithenbank Cramlington East

Cllr J A TaylorLonghoughton

Cllr G WebbIsabella

The Members of Parliament serving our areas are:

Anne Marie Trevelyan Alnwick

Ronnie Campbell Blyth

e)The designated person can either deal with the complaint or agree to refer it to the Housing Ombudsman.

f)If the tenant does not want to refer their complaint to a designated person they have to wait 8 weeks and then refer it directly to the Housing Ombudsman.

g)The Housing Ombudsman’s details are:

  • Website
  • Telephone 0300 111 3000
  • Email
  • Address Housing Ombudsman Service, 81 Aldwych, London, WC2B 4HN

h)The standard letters have also been changed to reflect the new process and will be loaded onto Sharepoint.

i)A complaints form has been introduced for customers to complete when raising an issue. This is on the back of the new leaflet.

j)A new leaflet will be printed and distributed in the coming weeks.

k)The new complaints process and letters will be loaded onto Sharepoint today and will be effective from the 5th February 2014. Please take the time to read through the documents to become familiar with the process

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