Section 2 - Complaint analysis
2. Complaint analysis
2.1 Number of complaints
During 2023-2024, 54 Stage One housing complaints were received, broken down as follows:
- Q1 - 15
- Q2 - 14
- Q3 - 12
- Q4 - 13
We also received 10 Stage Two formal complaint escalations.
This graph shows a breakdown of the stage one complaints received during 2023-2024 and the average time taken (working days) to respond on the right axis.
2.1 Stage one complaints
Chart information
A bar chart with columns for the stage one complaint volumes and the numbers responded to within complaint handling timescales for 2023-2024, by month.
Overlaid is a line graph with the average time to respond to stage one complaints throughout 2023-2024. Complaints were responded outside of timescales in April (3), May (1), July (1), September (2), December (1).
The average time to respond line has peaks and troughs throughout the year, with the overall general trend being the average time reducing as the year progresses.
2.2 Performance
There has been a 29.9% reduction in the number of stage one complaints received in 2023-2024, compared to the previous year. However, stage one complaint volumes remain higher than 2021-2022. Stage two complaints have increased by 25%, compared to the same period last financial year. However, the proportion of complaints escalating to stage two remains relatively low at 18.5%.
2.2 Stage one complaint comparison
Chart information
A line graph with stage one complaint volumes of the previous 3 financial years. All 3 lines have a similar upward trend, with complaint volumes being highest in 2022-2023 and lowest in 2021-2022.
2.2 Stage two complaint comparison
Chart information
A line graph with stage two complaint volumes of the previous 3 financial years. All 3 lines have a similar upward trend, with 2023-2024 being steeper than the other 2 years. Complaint volumes are highest in 2023-2024 and lowest in 2021-2022.
In 2023-2024, stage one complaints took an average of 10.7 days to respond to, which is 14.8% higher than the previous years performance and slightly over the target. Extensions to response times above the target response time are permitted under the Housing Ombudsman Services’ Complaint Handling Code and have been utilised in all but one case where the response time exceeded target. In this case failure to implement a permitted extension was the result of confusion regarding the definition of ‘working days’ over the period of enforced office closure period during the Christmas period in December.
85% of stage one complaints were responded to within complaint handling timescales, as defined by the Regulator of Social Housing’s Tenant Satisfaction Measures guidance, which was predominantly due to delays in acknowledging the complaint.
51.9% of the stage one complaints received in 2023-2024 were found to be upheld or partially upheld, which is consistent with the previous year’s decision rate.
2.3 Breakdown of stage one complaints/service requests by service area YTD
| Service area | Number received |
Working days taken |
Average time to respond (working days) |
Percentage responded to within target |
Justified/part justified complaints |
Number of service requests (Not complaints) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assets | 6 | 54 | 9 | 66.67 | 6 | 1 |
| Support services | 1 | 9 | 9 | 100 | 1 | 11 |
| Lettings | 2 | 14 | 7 | 50 | 0 | 1 |
| Planned and cyclical | 2 | 16 | 8 | 100 | 2 | 2 |
| Tenancy services (ASB – CST) | 10 | 130 | 13 | 70 | 3 | 29 |
| Responsive repairs | 22 | 208 | 9.5 | 95.5 | 9 | 1 |
| Housing management | 11 | 147 | 13.4 | 90.9 | 7 | 0 |
| Total | 54 | 578 | 10.7 | 85.2 | 28 | 46 |
2.4 Breakdown by stage of complaint
Stage one - target (5 working days for acknowledgement; 10 working days for response)
| Month | Number of complaints | Number responded within timescales (including permitted extension within complaint handling code) |
Number of service requests (not complaints) |
Number of working days | Average time to respond (working days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2023 |
4 | 1 | 3 | 69 | 17.25 |
| May 2023 |
6 | 5 | 3 | 62 | 10.33 |
| June 2023 |
5 | 5 | 7 | 76 | 15.2 |
| July 2023 |
6 | 5 | 1 | 50 | 8.33 |
| August 2023 |
4 | 4 | 1 | 45 | 11.25 |
| September 2023 |
4 | 2 | 4 | 37 | 9.25 |
| October 2023 |
3 | 3 | 4 | 29 | 9.67 |
| November 2023 |
3 | 3 | 3 | 33 | 11 |
| December 2023 |
6 | 5 | 2 | 51 | 8.5 |
| January 2024 |
4 | 4 | 8 | 44 | 11 |
| February 2024 |
6 | 6 | 5 | 59 | 9.83 |
| March 2024 |
3 | 3 | 5 | 23 | 7.67 |
| Total | 54 | 85.20% | 46 | 578 | 10.7 |
Non-compliant stage one responses (Complaint Handling Code timescales)
This is a list of complaints that were not responded to within complaint handling timescales, along with the reason why and the relevant department.
- Tenant – Kirkby – took 11 working days to acknowledge (Community Safety)
- Tenant – Sutton - took 11 working days to acknowledge (Community Safety)
- Tenant - Hucknall – took 7 working days to acknowledge (Community Safety)
- Tenant – Sutton - took 6 working days to acknowledge (Assets)
- Tenant – Sutton – took 8 working days to acknowledge (Assets)
- Tenant – Sutton – took 10 working days to acknowledge (Housing Management)
- Former Tenant – Sutton – took 9 working days to acknowledge, as former tenant failed to engage with a request for additional information to facilitate acknowledgement (Lettings)
- Tenant - Kirkby – took 6 working days to acknowledge and responded outside of deadlines without an extension (Responsive Repairs)
As non-compliance with the requirements of the Code have been identified, these have been raised with the relevant department and advice given on how to achieve compliance.
Additional guidance was published in September 2023 regarding the definition of how to calculate performance against the complaints responded to within complaint handling timescales, which confirmed the requirement to include complaints acknowledged outside of timescales. As the financial year progressed, compliance improved. A Housing Complaints Procedure is in place to support officers/managers to comply with the requirements of the Complaint Handling Code. Non-compliant cases were broken down as follows:
- Q1 - 4
- Q2 - 3
- Q3 – 1
- Q4 - 0
Stage two – target (5 working days for acknowledgement; 20 working days for response)
We received 10 stage two complaints in 2023-2024. 6 of the stage two complaints were found to be upheld or partially upheld and are broken down as follows:
- length of time taken – 3
- State of property – 2
- Attitude or conduct of employee – 1
In only 2 or 20% of the stage two investigations the decision made at stage one was changed.
| Month | Number of complaints | Number responded within timescales (including permitted extension within complaint handling code) |
Number of working days | Average time to respond (working days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2023 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 16 |
| May 2023 | 2 | 2 | 124 | 62 |
| June 2023 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 15 |
| July 2023 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| August 2023 | 2 | 2 | 32 | 16 |
| September 2023 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| October 2023 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 30 |
| November 2023 | 2 | 2 | 31 | 16 |
| December 2023 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2024 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 18 |
| February 2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| March 2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 10 | 100.00% | 266 | 26.6 |
- Tenant - Sutton – State of property, brickwork, windows and mould.
- Tenant - Sutton – unhappy with decision and way complaint dealt with
- Tenant - Sutton – dispute over use of a drive
- Tenant - Sutton – length of time to complete repairs
- Tenant - Sutton – Heating issue not rectified continued to be charged
- Tenant - Kirkby – Took several weeks to bring up to a habitable standard.
- Tenant - Hucknall – Conduct and actions of various officers in Community Safety Team (CST)
- Tenant - Skegby – Continued issues with leaking roof
- Tenant - Hucknall – Conduct of officer from CST and actions taken when investigating alleged ASB
- Tenant – Sutton – Length of time taken to replace communal door.
Non-compliant stage two responses (Complaint Handling Code timescales)
- All the stage two have been complainant in meeting target.
2.5 Proportion of complaints received that relate to leaks, floors or damp and mould
The Council’s handling of damp and mould cases within our housing stock presents a serious risk to both our tenants and the Council. The future introduction of Awaab’s Law, will place more stringent requirements on social housing landlords regarding how they handle and address reports of damp and mould within their housing stock. As a result, we monitor the number of complaints we have received which relate to this subject area, to assist with identifying any systemic issues.
| Complaint stage | Stage one | Stage two | Service request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of complaints (Leaks, damp and mould) | 11 | 4 | 13 |
| Total number of complaints | 54 | 10 | |
| Leaks, damp and mould complaints as a percentage of all complaints | 20.37% | 40% | 28.26% |
| Leaks, damp and mould complaints: Upheld | (4) 36.36% | (1) 25% | N/A |
| Leaks, damp and mould complaints: Upheld partial | (1) 0.09% | (1) 25% | N/A |
| Leaks, damp and mould complaints: Not upheld | (6) 54.55% | (1) 50% | N/A |
One fifth of all stage one complaints received included leaks/damp and/or mould, and two fifths of the stage two complaints.
2.6 Breakdown by type of complaint
The stage one complaints received within the financial year were broken down as follows:
- 2.6 Breakdown by type of complaint chart [DOCX 18Kb]
- 2.6 Breakdown by type of complaint data table [XLSX 13Kb]
Chart information
A chart containing 9 segments in order of the volumes of specific complaint type category for the 2023-2024 financial year.
Complaint types in order by volume are ‘unhappy with decision’ (22%), ‘attitude or conduct of employee’ (22%), ‘length of time’ (20%), ‘state of property’ 17%), ‘conduct of neighbour’ (6%), ‘accuracy of information’ (6%), ‘poor workmanship’ (4%), ‘poor communication’ (2%), ‘appointment not kept’ (2%).
The percentage of complaints by type is shown in the following table and is compared to the previous financial year. “Unhappy with decision” is the highest complaint reason and equates to nearly a quarter of all complaints and is higher than same period last financial year. Whereas we have seen a significant decrease in the number of complaints relating to “poor workmanship” and “poor communication” based on the proportions of the last financial year.
| Complaint Type | % of complaints within financial year 2023-2024 |
% of complaints within financial year 2022-2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Attitude or conduct of employee | 22.22% (12) | 31.2% (24) |
| Unhappy with decision | 22.22% (12) | 5.2% (4) |
| Length of time taken | 20.37% (11) | 18.2% (14) |
| State of property | 16.67% (9) | 14.3% (11) |
| Conduct of neighbour | 5.56% (3) | 1.3% (1) |
| Accuracy of information | 5.56% (3) | 5.2% (4) |
| Poor workmanship | 3.70% (2) | 14.3% (11) |
| Poor communication | 1.85% (1) | 10.4% (8) |
| Appointment not kept | 1.85% (1) | 0% (0) |
2.7 Breakdown of complaints by complainant’s ethnicity
The ethnicity of the complainant (including both stage one and two) is monitored based on the information held in the Capita OpenHousing system, at the time of making the complaint and is not collected as part of the complaints process, to avoid any allegations of bias. The breakdown continues to be relatively consistent with the tenant base. A project group is currently reviewing the diversity information held on tenants and the implementation of tenancy audits to ensure that tenant data is reviewed with tenants on a regular basis, to ensure accuracy.
Chart information
A pie chart containing 6 segments of the volumes of specific ethnicity of stage one complainants for the 2023-2024 financial year.
Complaint types in order by volume are ‘white British’ (81%), ‘not stated’ (11%), ‘European’ (3%), ‘Asian Indian’ (2%), ‘mixed white and black Caribbean’ (2%), ‘not known’ (1%).
2.8 Compensation awards as part of complaint outcomes
A total of £1814.48 has been offered to tenants, in compensation or ex-gratia payments, as a remedy for resolving the complaints and acknowledging the impact of service failure, this incorporates complaints at all levels, including awards made by the Housing Ombudsman Service.
2.9 Expressions of dissatisfaction excluded from the complaint process
There have been 4 expressions of dissatisfaction received, which were not accepted for investigation through the complaints process, as they met one of the exceptions within the Complaints and Compliments Policy.
Details of the cases are as follows:
| Month | Who made the expression of dissatisfaction | Location | Expression made |
|---|---|---|---|
| May | Tenant | Sutton |
Dissatisfaction related to a legal decision, in relation to the enforcement of an access injunction awarded by the Courts. An additional element of the dissatisfaction related to allegations of ASB, which was considered to be a service request. |
| May | Tenant | Sutton |
Expression of dissatisfaction submitted on tenant’s behalf by HOS. Dissatisfaction related to the care of the tenant’s dog whilst the tenant was in Police custody. Complaint not accepted as the Council believed the duty of care lies with Nottinghamshire Police to ensure wellbeing of the dog whilst owner was in custody. Further information was subsequently received from HOS, following a review of the dissatisfaction and the complaint accepted on their instruction. The complaint was not upheld at stages one and two. The tenant has recently requested that the Housing Ombudsman service investigate the case. |
| June | Tenant | Sutton |
The request to make a complaint was the first report of concerns relating to the condition of the property following being re-let. The complaint was not accepted and the dissatisfaction was responded to as a service request. |
| August | Tenant | Sutton | A representative submitted a complaint on behalf of the tenant, in relation to the Council’s handling of an alleged pest infestation at the property. Upon seeking authority from the tenant to disclose information to the representative, they advised that they had no knowledge of the complaint being made on their behalf and that they were satisfied with the Council’s actions to address their service request. The representative was notified that the complaint would not be accepted as the tenant had confirmed they were not dissatisfied with the service provided by the Council. |
2.10 Housing Ombudsman Complaints
During 2023/2024 one new complaint was referred to the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) for investigation. All relevant supporting information was provided to HOS in March 2024, to assist the HOS with their investigation. A determination is expected by the end of June 2024.
One complaint remained with the HOS for investigation following a referral by a tenant in 2022/2023. In November 2023 we received notification that the HOS had concluded their investigation and had determined that there had been no service failure on behalf of the Council.