Every complaint or compliment provides us with valuable feedback

But what’s the difference between a complaint and a service request? Read on to find out more.

A service request is if you want to tell us something needs sorting

We understand that sometimes you need to get in touch to ask us to deliver a service or sort an issue in your home, for example, tell us if your bin collection was missed, report graffiti, request a repair, or let us know if a communal area needs cleaning.

To tell us about an issue that needs putting right, simply:

• Complete an online form
• Call us: 023 8083 3006 and select option seven
• Email us: mytenancy@southampton.gov.uk

We will be happy to help. You can also use these contact details if you want to say well done or thank you to a member of staff.

A complaint is if you are dissatisfied with our service

If you have already reported an issue and feel we haven’t taken appropriate action or responded in a suitable way, you can make a formal complaint. Let us know what you think has gone wrong by:

• Completing our online complaint form
• Calling 023 8083 3006
• Talking to any member of council staff
• Writing to your Local Housing Office

We have a formal complaint procedure in place to ensure corporate complaints are treated fairly and follow the correct process.

As well as letting us know when something has gone wrong so that we can respond and resolve the issue, complaints also help us to identify any underlying problems or issues so that we can learn lessons and make changes.

Last year we received 329 complaints about the Housing service, with over 70% of these relating to repairs, showing just how important the repairs service is to you. We aimed to learn from these complaints and, as a result, made several practical changes to the way we work.  For example, investing in technology to streamline and automate our repair services and multi-skilling our workforce to enhance productivity.

Looking forward, we have a number of improvements planned for the year ahead to help us deal with complaints more effectively, such as recruiting a new housing complaints officer and upgrading our IT systems.

You can read more about how we handled and responded to complaints in our 2023-2024 Annual Report and in our end of year complaints report.

Look out for future articles in Tenants Link about the importance of complaints in helping us to improve our service.