What We Learned From Complaints - June Update

Each month, we look closely at the complaints and service requests we receive from customers. This helps us identify what's working well, where things have gone wrong and, most importantly, how we can improve our services.

Here's what we found in June:

How many complaints did we get in June?

• We had 24 Stage 1 complaints
• We had 4 Stage 2 complaints (where a customer remained dissatisfied after receiving their Stage 1 response)
• We also received 53 service requests (issues that could be resolved quickly without progressing through the formal complaints process)

Stage 1 complaints increased compared with 15 in June last year, while Stage 2 complaints increased from 2 to 4. Service requests also increased from 43 to 53, reflecting higher levels of customer contact and repairs activity during the month.

The most common issues raised by customers were:

• Delays completing repairs and long-running unresolved issues
• Poor communication and lack of updates
• Process and case management issues
• Quality of repair work
• Damage caused during works
• Missed appointments
• Grounds maintenance and communal areas
• Staff and contractor attitude and behaviour

How quickly did we respond?

• We responded to Stage 1 complaints in an average of 4 working days
• 100% of complaints were responded to within the Housing Ombudsman's target of 10 working days

Complaint outcomes

• 22 Stage 1 complaints were upheld
• 5 Stage 1 complaints were not upheld

Of the 4 Stage 2 complaints, three were not upheld, with the majority relating to Housing Services complaints where our investigation found the correct processes had been followed.

What do we mean by "upheld" and "not upheld"?

Upheld – We found that something went wrong and the complaint was justified. This could be because we didn't provide the service we should have, made a mistake, caused unnecessary delay or failed to meet our own standards. When a complaint is upheld, we explain what went wrong and what we will do to put things right.

Not upheld – After investigating, we found that we had followed the correct process and acted appropriately. This doesn't mean we don't understand the customer's concerns, but it means we did not identify a service failure or find evidence that we had done something wrong.

Compensation

During June we awarded £1,653.67 in compensation, including:

• £1,443.67 relating to Stage 1 complaints
• £170.00 relating to service requests
• £40.00 relating to a Stage 2 complaint

Compensation was primarily awarded for:

• Quality of repair work
• Delays in completing repairs
• Damage caused during works
• Process failures
• Damp and mould
• Communication issues
• Staff behaviour
• Missed appointments
• Communal maintenance

Service improvements

Learning from complaints continues to be recorded and tracked through to completion to ensure improvements are delivered and embedded across the organisation.

All complaints, service requests and learning are reviewed monthly by The Tenants' Voice (TTV), ensuring customers continue to influence how our services develop.

Learning from June

The key themes during June continued to focus on repairs, communication and customer experience.

The most significant issue was the time taken to complete repairs, especially when they had taken several weeks or months. Customers also highlighted concerns about not receiving timely updates, poor coordination between teams and contractors, and repairs requiring repeat visits or further work.

Contractor-related complaints continued to be the highest for Ian Williams. This is expected as they complete the most repairs on our behalf. The most common issues related to delays, missed appointments, communication and repair quality. Complaints relating directly to North Star increasingly focused on internal processes, case ownership and follow-up. Grounds maintenance concerns remained the primary theme for Tivoli.

We're using this feedback to:

• Improve proactive communication throughout the repairs journey.
• Strengthen ownership of complex repair cases so customers have clearer updates and accountability.
• Continue working with contractors to improve repair quality, reduce delays and minimise repeat visits.
• Improve internal coordination between teams to ensure issues are resolved first time wherever possible.
• Continue monitoring complaint trends using AI-assisted thematic analysis to identify emerging issues earlier.
• Ensure all learning and service improvements are tracked through to completion.

Complaints provide valuable insight into how customers experience our services and help us identify opportunities to improve. We encourage customers to tell us when something hasn't gone as expected so we can put things right, learn from the experience and continue improving the services we provide.