As a mutual housing society we want to be as open and transparent with our customers as we can. With this in mind we have set out below our performance on complaints handling as well as some other information we hope you will useful.
Complaints in numbers
- 120 formal stage one complaints were received during the period January to March 22, which was two more than in the previous quarter.
Causes of complaints (both formal and informal)
- 74 complaints were about repairs, for example the time taken to carry out a repair or about the quality of a repair
- 12 were about neighbourhood services
- 11 were about rehousing services
Time taken to resolve complaints
- Stage 1 cases were resolved in an average of 4 working days in 2021-22 (target 10 working days). This is a big improvement on our 2020-21 performance which was 15 working days
- Stage 2 cases were resolved in an average of 5 working days in 2021-22 (target 15 working days). Again this is an improvement on our 2020-21 performance which was 14 working days
Percentage of complaints resolved within target
- Stage 1 cases – 98% in 2021-22 (Target 79%). Our 2020-21 performance was 60%
- Stage 2 cases - 98% in 2021-22. Our 2020-21 performance was 70%
Learning and improving from complaints
We are always looking at ways to learn and improve as a result of complaints from customers, some examples of how what did in January to March 22 are:
- Fire evacuation procedures have been reviewed and updated to ensure they meet best practice requirements
- The processes and communications between planners and operatives have been reviewed and improved
- A review of contract management of lift maintenance providers was carried out to ensure improved service delivery
- Complaints training for contact centre new starters was delivered
- Service delivery issues by our of hours contractor have been addressed
- We reviewed procedures around community investment meetings with customers to ensure everyone is aware why notes are being taken
- Income staff have received training on home loss and disturbance payments
Customer complaints panel
The panel work with us to improve the complaints service and the experience for customers. One way they do this is by scrutinising recent complaints and providing invaluable feedback regarding what we have done well and what we need to do better moving forward so that the customers experience is improved. The Panel have reviewed four such complaints already this year.
If you are interested in joining the panel please email our customer complaints lead Tim Bright at customer.complaints@rbh.org.uk.
For more information about the complaints service including the complaints policy and how to make a complaint please visit our feedback page.
