Complaints and Feedback

Complaints and feedback

The Henley & District Housing Trust (HDHT) seeks to provide the best possible service it can to all its tenants, however we realise that occasionally you may have a complaint to make.

The Trustees complaints procedure statement.

The Henley and District Housing Trust take all complaints seriously and aim to resolve swiftly. The initial point of contact for complaints from the tenants, public or tradesmen is the CEO. The process has one or two stages depending on the outcome of stage one. Complaints are either dismissed or upheld and any lessons learnt are incorporated in the process.

Further details are available in the Complaints Process. (below)

Making a complaint

We hope that your complaint will be dealt with quickly and efficiently. But if you feel we haven’t properly dealt with your problem or request, please email your concerns to enquiries@henleyhousing.co.uk or phone us on 01491 579803.

Complaints Policy

1.     A complaint can be made by any individual or organisation who wishes to report dissatisfaction about the standards of service, actions or lack of action by HDHT staff, Trustees, or anybody directly involved in the delivery of our work.

2.     We aim to resolve complaints within 10 days. Where this is not possible the complainant will receive an update within 10 days on progress made to date and when they can expect to receive the outcome.

3.     Complainants who have launched a complaint and who are unsatisfied with HDHT’s response to that complaint have the right to appeal. The appeals process is described in the process below. In which case we aim to resolve the issue within 20 days from the appeal.

4.     Those who make a complaint will be treated with courtesy and respect. In return, we expect the complainant to communicate their concerns fairly and appropriately. Where complainants harass our staff, Trustees , or those involved in the delivery of our work, or unreasonably pursue complaints, we reserve the right to withdraw or modify our complaints procedure.

5.     We will log and monitor all serious complaints and results of such complaints and this information will be brought, regularly, to the attention of the Trustees (Management Committee) in order that we learn from what we do and how we do it. This information will not necessarily be available to the public.

6.     There are some items that are excluded from our complaints process:

•       Where the issue giving rise to the complaint occurred over twelve months ago.

•       Where legal proceedings have commenced.

•       Where the request is to reopen a concluded complaint

•       Neighbourhood issues such as unwelcome or anti-social behaviour.

•       First time service request - when you tell us something has gone wrong for the first time, we respond to this feedback as a "service request or, work order" and we try and resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

Complaint process

We have a formal process to make sure all complaints are treated fairly. Note : You can ask for someone to deal with the matter on their behalf, and we will be happy to work with them once you have given your permission

• Stage 1 - If you are not entirely satisfied with the practices and procedures of the Henley & District Housing Trust, you should contact the Operations Manager as follows by phone (01491 579803) or by email to enquiries@henleyhousing.co.uk.
  Your complaint will be acknowledged within 5 working days and if needed, a full response provided within 10 working days of the complaint initially being acknowledged.

• Stage 2 - If you are still dissatisfied with the service of The Henley & District Housing Trust, please write to the Chairman, c/o the office, who will review the case. Your complaint will be acknowledged within 5 working days and a final response issued within 20 working days. If an extension is required to further investigate this will be clearly explained to you.
  This is the final stage of the complaints process.

The Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS)

If you’ve exhausted our complaints process and you remain unsatisfied, you can refer your complaint to the HOS. This is an independent body appointed by the government to look at complaints about housing associations and local authorities. Until you’ve exhausted the HDHT complaints process you are unable to make a complaint to the Housing Ombudsman. You can, however, ask the Housing Ombudsman for advice while your complaint with us is in progress. Contact details are below:

Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 1484, Unit D, Preston, PR2 0ET

Phone: 0300 111 3000 (lines are open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm)

Website: https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/ where you can find more information and complete their online form.

Complaints Handling Code

The HOS Complaints Handling Code promotes the progressive use of complaints, providing a high-level framework to support effective handling and prevention alongside learning and development. The aim of the Code is to enable landlords to resolve complaints raised by their residents quickly and to use the learning from complaints to drive service improvements. Click here to go to the HOS Complaints Handling Code

Formal complaints received in the last year

Here is a summary of all formal complaints received in the business year 2023-24. It shows what they were about, how we resolved them, and what we learned from them.

The summary has been reviewed by the governing body (Trustees) and their response is as follows:

Governing Body response

We are pleased that the service provided has resulted in a very low level of complaints and we will ensure that feedback (including that received within a formal complaint) continues to be used to benefit the service provided and improve processes and procedures. We review every complaint at a trustee meeting ensuring that all parties are fully appraised of any issues and any opportunities for lessons learned.

Self Assessment

The Henley and District Housing Trust self assess against the complaints policies and procedures each year. The 2024 Self Assessment.