Complaints policy

This Complaints Policy has been developed in line with Wandle’s values, which are:

• Think customer
• Build relationships
• Work together
• Aim high
• Own it

It will ensure that actions we undertake will be underpinned by our vision of:

“Homes to be proud of and services you can trust”.

The Complaints Policy has also been developed in line with Wandle’s Corporate Strategy, in particular the strategic theme of Outcomes for our customers that make us proud.

This policy looks to support a positive complaints culture that puts our customers first; and looks to rebuild trust while learning from our mistakes to help improve our services.

Despite our best-efforts mistakes will happen. We do not always get things right or meet the expectations of our customers. When something goes wrong, we aim to find out why and put it right as quickly as possible. We will always ensure that complaints are addressed fairly, effectively, and promptly.

For this policy the term “customer” includes tenants, leaseholders, shared owners, applicants for housing and any other person or organisation to which we; provide a service for, have a legal obligation to or are otherwise impacted by our services. Where this policy uses the term resident, in line with the Ombudsman’s complaint handling code, it should be read as customer within the context of this policy. 

This policy has been developed in line with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaints Handling Code. We will update this policy, when necessary, to ensure ongoing compliance with the Code. This is further detailed in our self-assessment with the Code.

2.1 Definition of a complaint

A complaint is:

‘an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual Resident or group of Residents.’

To make sure complaints are resolved as quickly as possible, we may choose to manage any report of dissatisfaction as a complaint, even where a customer has not explicitly asked us to do so.

Service requests

A service request is a request from a customer requiring action to carry out a new or additional service or provide further information.

Complaints are considered separately to a service request. Service requests allow us to deal with an issue more promptly that we may be able to under a complaint.

We will raise a complaint when the customer raises dissatisfaction with the response to their service request.

Chasers on a service request, such as a missed appointment, can often be resolved with an apology and the provision of another appointment and may not need to be recorded as a complaint. We will ensure that we work with our customers to resolve issues as quickly as possible to avoid the need for a complaint.

However, if further investigation is needed to solve the problem, or if the customer requests it, we will log this as a complaint, even if the handling of the service request is still ongoing.

Feedback through surveys

An expression of dissatisfaction with services made through a survey is not defined as a complaint, although a customer can raise a complaint if they wish to.

Building Safety Complaints

To ensure a consistency of approach, complaints and concerns about building safety , specifically in relation to high risk residential buildings should be raised through our usual complaints process. We have made sure that building safety related complaints are directed to the Building Safety & Property Compliance Team for action. This is in line with our Building Safety Framework and the Building Safety Act 2022.

Disrepair

As outlined in the Pre-Action Protocol for Housing Conditions Claims (England), where a claim of disrepair is made, we may consider it under our complaints policy.

This means that where appropriate we will consider issues that have arisen more than 12 months ago.

Further information can be found here

Members enquiries

A customer can contact their local councillor or MP at any time to make a complaint. We will treat these as complaints in line with our policy and keep the member informed as well as the customer.

Any service requests or enquiries received from a member that are not a complaint will be responded to within 10 working days directly to the member to allow them to keep their constituent informed.

Who can make a complaint?

We will accept complaints from any Wandle customer or those made via an advocate or representative authorised to act on their behalf.

Customers should make it clear if they are representing a resident as we will need to ensure that the relevant authority is received for the representative to act on the customers behalf if we don’t already hold this information.

We will normally treat simultaneous complaints from one customer as a single complaint. However, where a response has been issued, or where the additional complaint would unreasonably delay the response, a separate complaint will be logged.

If we receive a joint complaint about the same issue from multiple customers, we may ask the group to nominate a lead contact to help us manage their concerns efficiently.

Exclusions to who can make a complaint do not apply to buildings covered by the Building Safety Act 2022.

2.2 Exclusions

We will accept a complaint unless there is a valid reason not to do so and will not take a blanket approach when considering if a complaint will not be accepted. Each complaint will be evaluated on its own merits.  We will also consider any exceptional circumstances that may apply.

If we decide not to accept a complaint we will explain our reasons, in writing, within 10 working days and provide the contact details for the Housing Ombudsman.

To help, here are examples of complaints we will not usually accept:

• Where the issue leading to the complaint occurred or the customer was made reasonably aware of the issue more than 12 months ago.
• Where we had not previously been made of aware of an issue and not given an opportunity to put things right.  This does not apply where a disrepair claim has been made (see section 2.1)
• Where a more appropriate process exists to resolve concerns (for example, reports of anti-social behaviour, service charge queries or insurance claims). Any dissatisfaction with how we’ve handled these processes will be logged as a complaint.
• Where an issue has already been addressed through our complaints process.
• Where the complaint concerns the specific terms agreed upon in an approved Wandle policy; however, we will accept complaints about how a policy has been applied.
• Where legal proceedings have been started relating to the same concern and a claim has been filed with a court.
• Where a court, tribunal or Ombudsman has already considered and concluded the matter.

Where access to our complaints process has been restricted in line with our Excessive Use and Unreasonable Behaviour Policy.

2.3 Accessibility and awareness

We will make it easy for customers to complain and will inform them about their right to access the Housing Ombudsman Service at any time during their complaint. We accept complaints via telephone, email, post, in person and via our portal MyWandle. Customers can raise a complaint with any member of staff. Customers are also able to have a representative to deal with their complaint on their behalf and are able to attend any meetings.

Our publications, website, and online self-service portal will provide customers with easy to access information about our complaint policy and how to make a complaint. The Equality Impact Assessment for this policy has further information about this.

We will make exceptions to our policies and procedures or provide more help where necessary to meet the additional support needs of our customers. When doing this we will take a customer’s individual circumstances into account to ensure that we are able to meet a customer’s support and communication needs and make sure that they are not disadvantaged in their ability to fairly access our complaints procedure.

How customers can make complaints

Wandle follows a two-stage complaint process in line with the complaint handling code.

We will accept complaints via our online self-service portal, through our website, by phone, by email, post, in person and by any other reasonable method. Customers can raise a complaint with any member of staff. Where a complaint is received via an official Wandle social media channel or a publicly accessible forum, we may ask that further contact is made via another accessible communication channel to ensure that confidentiality and privacy is kept.

Where a complaint is about a service provided by a contractor, any response directly from the contractor will form part of the two-stage process and will be line in line with the code. All stage-two complaints will be responded to by Wandle.

Additional Information about our Complaints Policy and Procedures, including how to make a complaint can be found on our website.

Our investigation

Complaint investigations will be conducted in an impartial manner and will seek sufficient reliable information from all parties concerned to ensure that any findings and recommendations are fair and proper.  As part of our investigation, we will work with our customers to resolve the complaint at the earliest opportunity.

Our Customer Resolution Manager can allocate complaints handling to another person. Where this is the case, the complaint handler appointed will have the right complaint handling skills and no conflicts of interest.

Complaint investigators will be expected to:

• Deal with complaints on their merits.
• Act fairly and have an open mind.
• Give residents a fair chance to set out their position.
• Take measures to address any actual or perceived conflict of interest.
• Make sure that they understand any specific issues or additional support needs, affecting the customer and their household, which may affect the complaint.
• Consider all information and evidence clearly.
• Keep the complaint confidential as far as possible, with information only disclosed, if necessary, to investigate the matter.
• Communicate with the customer throughout their investigation and keep them informed of any relevant information.

We will communicate clearly with customers and ensure that any communication needs are acted upon. This might include any reasonable adjustments, frequency or method of communication.

Acknowledging the complaint

The first thing we will do when we receive a complaint is make sure we understand what has caused the dissatisfaction, what affect it has had and what our customer wants us to do to put things right.

We will ensure that we include our understanding of the complaint and the outcomes the customer is looking for in the acknowledgement.  Where we feel that any part of the complaint is unclear, we will ask for further clarification to ensure a full understanding of why the customer has made a complaint.  We will also ensure that we are clear where there may be parts of the complaint that we are not responsible for.  

Once we have enough detail, we will communicate with the customer:

• Confirmation the complaint has been opened, with the complaint reference number
• Details of the complaint
• How to contact us
• How to contact the Housing Ombudsman Service
• Information about our complaints policy

We will acknowledge all complaint requests within five working days of receiving them.

Complaint stage one

All new complaints will be reviewed at stage one of our complaint processes. This involves an investigation to find out what has gone wrong and how we can put things right. It may be possible for us to resolve a complaint at first point of contact when a solution can be agreed with the customer at this point.

We will respond to stage one complaints within 10 working days of the complaint being acknowledged. There may be times when we cannot respond within this timeframe, and in these cases an extension may be required. If this is the case, we will inform the customer why this has happened and will not extend beyond a further 10 working days without good reason.

Where we do have to extend a response beyond a further 10 working days, this will be agreed with the customer, and we will provide the Housing Ombudsman’s contact details so the resident can contact them.

We will provide a response covering all complaint points when the answer is known. This may mean there are extra actions that still need to be completed. We will track the actions and keep the customer updated.

If unrelated complaint points are raised during the investigation, we may decide to address these separately.

Complaint stage two

If a customer is not happy with our response at stage one or feels that we have not resolved the issue as agreed, a request can be made to escalate their complaint to stage two of our process. We will acknowledge the escalation within five working days of the request being received.

A request to escalate a complaint to stage two of our process must be made within a reasonable period, this will normally be within three months of our stage one response or completion date of agreed stage one resolution actions. If necessary, we will look for more information to make sure our understanding of the complaint is the same as the customers.

Stage two complaints will be investigated and responded to by a senior member of the relevant service area, this will always be someone more senior than the stage one responder.

We will provide a response to stage two complaints within 20 working days of the complaint being acknowledged. There may be times when we cannot respond within this timeframe, and in these cases an extension may be required. If this is the case, we will inform the customer why this has happened and will not extend beyond a further 20 working days without good reason.

Where we do have to extend a response beyond a further 20 working days, this will be agreed with the customer, and we will provide the Housing Ombudsman’s contact details so the resident can contact them.

We will provide a response covering all complaint points when the answer is known which may mean that there are outstanding actions. We will track these actions and keep the customer updated.

If more points are raised that are unrelated to the complaint, we may ask the customer to raise these as a separate complaint.

What to expect in our responses

Our response to complaints at all stages will include:

• The complaint stage
• The complaint definition
• The decision on the complaint
• The reasons for any decisions made, including reference to relevant policies, law and good practice where appropriate
• The details of any remedy offered to put things right (the resolution plan)
• Details of any outstanding actions
• Details of how to escalate the matter further

Contacting the ombudsman service

We are members of the housing ombudsman service and will provide information to customers and this service as required.

The role of the Ombudsman is to resolve disputes between housing associations and customers, including making awards of compensation or other remedies when appropriate, as well as to support effective landlord and tenant dispute resolution.

The Ombudsman can be contacted at any point during the complaint process; however they will also investigate complaints which have completed a landlord’s process.  The Ombudsman’s decision is final, and we will comply with any order made.

The Housing Ombudsman can be contacted at:

Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 1484, Unit D, Preston PR2 0ET

Telephone: 0300 111 3000

Email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk

Online: www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/residents/make-a-complaint/

We will close a complaint when:

• A resolution plan has been provided with clear, reasonable timescales for actions. Outstanding actions will be tracked and actioned promptly, and regular updates provided.
• The complainant specifically says that they do not wish to take the matter further.
• A legal hearing has taken place, and a judge has made a relevant ruling.
• The complainant acts in an unreasonable or offensive manner and/or refuses to cooperate with our staff (see section 3.4)

Where things go wrong, it is important as a landlord we have acknowledged this and set out how we have, or intend to, make things right.

We take into account the guidance issued by the Ombudsman Service when considering a fair and proportionate remedy and will reflect any impact the failure may have caused.

To help, here are examples of factors we consider:

• Length of time the situation has been ongoing.
• Frequency with which something has occurred.
• Severity of any service failure or omission.
• Number of different failures.
• Cumulative impact on the customer.
• Customers particular circumstances or support requirements.
• Specific financial loss and /or loss of amenity in respect of claim of disrepair

We can provide a number of remedies to put things right. These may include:

• Acknowledging where things have gone wrong.
• Providing an explanation, help, or reasons.
• Apologising.
• Acting where there has been delay.
• Undertaking works of repair in respect of a claim of disrepair.
• Reconsidering or changing a decision.
• Amending a record.
• Providing financial compensation.
• Changing policies, procedures, or practice.

Any remedy offered will clearly set out what will happen and by when. This will be agreed with the customer where appropriate.

Where compensation is awarded, we will make payment via bank transfer.

If a customer is in arrears, we will usually credit any compensation to the rent account unless the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses is needed to prevent hardship.

If we are ordered to pay compensation by the housing ombudsman service, then we will not offset this payment against a resident’s arrears and will make a direct payment.

There are some circumstances where we won’t provide financial compensation, in line with the ombudsman guidance.

To help, here are examples of these circumstances:

• The issue occurred due to the customer’s action or inaction.
• We took reasonable steps (made multiple contact attempts) to cancel an appointment up to 24 hours in advance.
• The service failure was the fault of a third party not acting on our behalf.
• The issue arose from circumstances beyond our control (e.g. extreme weather).
• The matter requires investigation by our insurer (e.g. personal injury claims).
• The recovery of a loss should be covered by the customer’s contents insurance.

We expect staff, contractors, and customers to behave in an appropriate, respectful and fair manner at all times. Our Restricted Contact Policy sets out the type of behaviour we consider to be unacceptable. This includes the inappropriate or excessive use of our complaints process where the nature or frequency of contact hinders our ability to resolve the concerns raised by that customer or other customers.

When a customer’s behaviour is unreasonable or excessive, we may vary our usual process and put specific arrangement in place as required by the circumstances. If this happens, we will follow the process for appeal and review set out in our restricted ontact Policy to ensure all customers are treated fairly.

To help, examples of behaviour we will not accept include:

• Refusing to cooperate with our investigation process.
• Refusing to accept when issues are outside the scope of the complaint process.
• Insisting on the complaint being handled in a way that is incompatible with our process or good practice.
• Raising many detailed, inconsequential queries and insisting that they are all answered individually.
• Making excessive demands on staff time through frequent, lengthy, repetitive phone calls, emails, online contacts, letters, or any other form of contact.
• Contacting members of staff via their personal communication channels including social media, email, or telephone.
• Excessive attendance at our office or insisting on a meeting without making an appointment.

We aim to work together with our customers so we’re able to effectively communicate with them so that we can reduce these occurrences.

We want to learn everything we can from our complaints to improve customer experience and our relationship with our customers and to promote a positive complaint and learning culture:

To do this we will:

• Provide feedback to customers through relevant publications, our website and our residents annual report on the number and types of complaints we receive, and the actions taken to learn and improve our services.
• Review trends, themes and relevant data at leadership level to identify any systemic issues, serious risks or areas for improvement.
• Keep our staff informed of the reasons for dissatisfaction and lessons learned.
• View complaint volumes as an opportunity for learning and evidence that our complaints process is readily accessible to our customers.
• Pro-actively use learning from complaints to improve our services and help inform our policies and procedures and provide adequate training to all involved parties.
• The lessons learned from our complaints will be published on our website under the “you say, we did” section.
• We will use feedback from post complaint survey and through Tenant Satisfaction Measure surveys to find themes in complaints and complaint handling to ensure we’re providing the best service to our customers. Where feedback from a survey says a need for action to be taken, we will ensure this is done.
• Our customer excellence panel serve as a source of scrutiny for Wandle’s service, this includes complaints reviews which looked at themes. We have used their recommendations to form part of a service improvement project to better our customer’s experience.

Performance on complaints is monitored by the senior management team, the executive committee and the customer experience committee (CEC) through monthly and quarterly reports. The chair of the CEC is the lead board member on complaints and has regular oversight on performance. 

Our complaints performance against our key performance indicators (KPI’s) will also be published on our website. We will produce an annual complaints performance and service improvement report for the housing ombudsman. This will be reported to our board and published on our website. Any board response to this report will also be published.

Any information shared in a complaint response will follow our data protection policy and privacy statement. Complaint responses may not always name individual members of staff or contractors or confirm whether disciplinary actions have or will be taken against members of staff or contractors acting on our behalf.

We will manage complaints about our handling of personal data like any other complaint, while making sure to consider our data protection policy and privacy statement as well as all relevant data protection legislation. We will notify the information commissioner’s office (ICO) of any reportable data breaches identified through our investigations.

Member responsible for complaints

The chair of the customer experience is the responsible member for complaints and is responsible for oversight of complaints for the board, reporting and Wandle’s complaint handling culture.

Head of customer experience

This policy is owned by the head of customer experience who is responsible for ensuring the consistent application of it throughout Wandle.

Complaints officer

The customer resolution manager has been identified to fulfil the role of “complaints officer” as outlined in the housing ombudsman complaint handling code.

All staff

All staff are expected to follow the guidance outlined in this policy. Dependant on the nature of their role, staff may be expected to open, investigate, respond, or review a complaint case.

Customer

Customers are encouraged to notify Wandle promptly of any service failures to allow for prompt resolution. Customers will also be required to communicate with Wandle staff as necessary throughout the process and provide relevant evidence to support their complaint.

Board and executive team

The board and executive team members are responsible for ensuring compliance with this policy and any other relevant regulatory and compliance guidance.

Resolution Steering Group (RSG).

The RSG are responsible for providing assurance on Wandle’s compliance with the Ombudsman’s Complaints Handling Code, and complaints performance through the review of sample complaints and responses to severe maladministration cases.

The Group will also provide general scrutiny and advice where required to the Board and ensure the views of residents are taken on board and used to shape our services.

The Group is made up of Customer Experience Committee and Board members and is chaired by the Head of Customer Experience. The has an agreed terms of reference and will convene for as long as members see fit.

5.1 Internal

Strategies	Corporate Strategy Building Safety Framework
Policies	Restricted Contact Policy Data Protection Policy Service Charge Policy Responsive Repairs Policy Anti-Social Behaviour Policy Homeownership Policy Tenancy Management Policy
Procedures	Complaints Procedure Service Charge Dispute Procedure Tenant Panel Recognition Procedure
Other internal documents	Compensation Guidelines

5.2 External

The Housing Ombudsman Scheme (housing-ombudsman.org.uk)

The Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (housing-ombudsman.org.uk)

Tenancy Involvement and Empowerment Standard

Governance and Financial Viability Standard

Pre-Action Protocol for Housing Conditions Claims (England)

New guidance for landlords on disrepair claims – Housing Ombudsman (housing-ombudsman.org.uk)

Legislation	Main powers and relevance to the policy subject	How we use or comply with legislation
Housing (Regulation) Act 2023         Housing Act 1996   Schedule 2	Places the Complaints Handling Code on statutory footing. Places duty on the Housing Ombudsman Service to monitor compliance with the Code. Requires social landlords to be members of the approved Housing Ombudsman Scheme. As a condition of membership, a member must: a. Agree to be bound by the Scheme, b. Establish and maintain a complaints procedure, c. Inform complainants of their right to bring complaints to the Ombudsman under the Scheme, and d. Publish its complaints procedure and its membership of the Scheme, and make information about them available to those entitled to complain to the Ombudsman	Wandle is a member of the Housing Ombudsman Service.We review our compliance complaint handling code on a year basis, following board approval this is made available to our customers through our website. Wandle are members of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme.We have agreed to be bound by the Scheme as part of our membership.This complaint policy establishes our complaints procedure and will be maintained as required.Details of the Housing Ombudsman Service are provided to customers via our website, template letters and publications.This policy will be published on our website and will be provided to customers when requested in a suitable format.
General Data Protection Act 2018	All Wandle policies are required to comply with the General Data Protection Act 2018.	Section 2.4 of this policy explains that we will ensure the privacy of customers, staff and those acting on behalf of Wandle and will adhere to our Data Protection Policy and privacy statement.
Equality Act 2010	Under the Equality Act 2010 Wandle must consider whether our policies adversely affect our customers and/or staff.	An equality impact assessment (EIA) has been completed for this policy and will be revised as needed.
Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code	The Complaints Handling Code provides a set of standards for complaints procedures that housing providers are required to comply with.  The code aims to establish consistent complaints handling across the sector	This Policy has been reviewed in line with code to ensure our policy covers everything required to comply with the code.  This is evidenced in our Complaints Handling Code Seld Assessment.

7.1 Ombudsman complaint handling code

We will comply with the Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code, and this assessed through completion of the Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code self-assessment. The self-assessment will also be reviewed following either a significant restructure, a merger and/or changes in our procedures.  We will also review and update the self-assessment were requested by the Ombudsman following an investigation.

Should we be unable to comply with the complaint handling code, due to exceptional circumstances, such as a cyber incident, we will inform the ombudsman, provide information to customers who may be affected, and publish this on our website, along with a timescale for returning to compliance with the code.

7.2 Regulatory standards

Transparency, influence and accountability

1.6 Complaints

1.6.1 Registered providers must ensure complaints are addressed fairly, effectively, and promptly.

This policy outlines how we will ensure that complaints are addressed fairly, effectively, and promptly. This policy further supports compliance with this standard through specific timescales for complaint resolution and provision of guidance for complaint investigator conduct.

2.5 Complaints

2.5.1 Registered providers must ensure their approach to handling complaints is simple, accessible, and publicised.

This policy outlines our approach to complaints handling at each stage of the process, including definitions and exclusions to out policy and includes information on details on how tenants can make a complaint through various channels and how they are able to escalate to the ombudsman.

2.5.2 Registered providers must provide accessible information to tenants about: a) how tenants can make a complaint about their registered provider.

b) the registered provider’s complaints policy and complaints handling process

c) what tenants can do if they are dissatisfied with the outcome of a complaint or how a complaint was handled, and

d) the type of complaints received and how they have learnt from complaints to continuously improve services.

This policy supports compliance with the standard, by outlining how customers can make a complaint and the channels through which they can complain. This policy also outlines our process for acknowledging and responding to complaints and the ways in which they are able to escalate a complaint. This policy outline how we will report on complaints, including the lessons we have learned to improve our services, as part of our annual report and on our website.

Equality & diversity is central to our business; promoting fairness and opportunity for customers and staff; helping provide the best services shaped by and for customers; and right for recruiting and developing our staff.

We are committed to celebrating diversity. To ensure equal access to our services is available, Wandle will comply with the Equality Act 2010 and all other legislative requirements relating to equality. We will work to avoid exclusions or restrictions that are not appropriate to the housing and support needs of our tenants and that may lead to discrimination. We will endeavour to ensure that all tenants receive a consistent level of quality service.

Equality Consideration

Under the Equality Act 2010 Wandle must consider whether our policies adversely affect our customers and/or staff.

The following table identifies whether this policy disproportionately impacts upon any individuals in regard to the key protected characteristics, as identified in the Act:

Special Characteristic	Any impact? (Yes or No)
age	No
disability	Yes
gender reassignment	No
marriage and civil partnership	No
pregnancy and maternity	No
race	No
religion or belief	No
sex	No
sexual orientation	No

As this policy may impact  individuals in regard to one or more of these protected characteristics, an equality impact assessment (EIA) has been completed and can be found here.

Every year, we review our complaint handling against the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code. You can download and view our latest assessment here.