How we’re learning and improving from complaints

Find out how a recent complaint following a water leak led to important changes to the way we work and communicate with residents.

If you ever feel we haven’t acted or responded effectively to an issue you can make a formal complaint to let us know, so that we can resolve the problem and learn from that situation.

Recently, we received a complaint from a tenant concerning how their mental health had been affected by the way we dealt with a water leak in their property. As no one was home at the time of the incident we had to force entry to resolve the problem and prevent any further damage to property. Unfortunately, the tenant felt that the way we handled the situation and the lack of communication about why we forced entry caused them undue stress and anxiety. It was clear we needed to implement changes as a result of this feedback in order to prevent it happening again.

As a result, we updated our policy and procedures on recording incidents where we have to force entry for emergency repairs. We also organised specialist staff training on mental health awareness. Thanks to this feedback we know how important it is that residents understand the reasons and subsequent actions we have to take in these situations, and so we have made improvements to the way we communicate with residents and record these incidents.

This is just one example of how we learn and adapt when responding to your grievances. Other complaints relating to repairs have resulted in us investing in technology to streamline and automate our repair services and multi-skilling our workforce to enhance productivity. We are also recruiting to a new Housing Complaints officer to help us deal with complaints more effectively.

If you feel that something has gone wrong, please let us know so that we can put it right. If you would like to make a formal complaint you can complete our online complaint form, call 023 8083 3006, talk to any member of council staff or write to your Local Housing Office.