Complaints Handling Code self-assessment

The Housing Ombudsman’s Complaints Handling Code provides clear guidance about how housing providers like YHN should deal with customer complaints.

We have looked at the ways we meet the guidelines set out in the Code to understand what we are good at and which parts of the complaints process we need to get better at.

Here is a snapshot of how we measure up against the Code.

What the Complaints Handling Code says about...

Understanding what a complaint is

We should clearly and fairly set out what is and what isn’t a complaint, including timescales for reporting complaints.

What YHN does to comply

  • Our definition of a complaint matches the Housing Ombudsman’s definition.
  • We clearly set out what is and isn’t a complaint.

How easy it is to make a complaint

There should be different ways to make a complaint and our complaints process and policy should be available to all customers. We should take into account customers’ different needs and regularly provide information about how customers can make a complaint.

What YHN does to comply

  • Customers can make a complaint online, over the phone, by email, in writing and in person.
  • We have a reasonable adjustments policy which explains how we adapt our processes to meet customers’ different needs

Having a complaints team and complaints process

We should have a member of staff or team responsible for complaints and an agreed process for investigating complaints.

We should keep records of the complaints we receive and how we handle them and customers should be given the option to refer complaints to the Housing Ombudsman when they are not satisfied.

The Housing Ombudsman does not believe a three stage process is necessary.

What YHN does to comply

  • Our customer experience team is dedicated to handling complaints.
  • Our complaints process is published on our website.
  • We keep records of correspondence about complaints in line with general data protection regulations.
  • We provide information about the Housing Ombudsman to everyone who has made a complaint.
  • We have streamlined our complaints process to having two stages instead of three.

Keeping customers informed about how their complaint is progressing

We should keep customers informed about how we are dealing with their complaint and if it’s taking longer than expected we should explain why.

What YHN does to comply

  • We keep customers informed about how we are dealing with their complaint.
  • Customers are given the chance to respond to and challenge how we investigate their complaint.
  • We log complaints quickly (within five days).
  • We tell customers how to pursue their complaint if they are not happy with a response we give them.

Making sure complaints are dealt with fairly

Customers should be able to request that we contact a representative (such as a family member) about their complaint if that is what they want. We should clearly explain the reasons we agree or disagree with their complaint after we have investigated it.

What YHN does to comply

  • Customers can nominate a representative to handle their complaint for them.
  • We provide information about how and why we have made a decision about a complaint.

Putting things right after a complaint is made

We should take steps to put things right if something has gone wrong.

What YHN does to comply

  • We take action to put things right when something has gone wrong, using our remedies policy when we need to.

Learning from complaints and making improvements to services

We should use complaints as an opportunity to find ways to improve our services and share this learning with our customers, Board and partners.

What YHN does to comply

  • We have a learning log for all staff to record what they have learned from the complaints they receive.
  • We monitor the types of complaints we receive and discuss these with our senior leadership team on a regular basis so we can address issues as we become aware of them.

Get in touch

If you’re not happy with any part of the service you receive from us we want to hear about it. You can make a complaint by:

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