Compliments, Feedback and Complaints

A suggestion is a comment from you, about how we can improve our offer and/or services. We will report on the types of suggestions we receive and what we are doing as a result in our customer newsletters and our You Said, We Did reports. 

A compliment is a positive comment about an individual, team or service. We welcome all compliments, as these help us to identify where we are performing well and enable us to share good practice across our organisation.

We understand that sometimes things don’t go to plan, and our services may fall below your expectations. We want you to know that your feedback is invaluable and helps us to focus our efforts on things that matter most to you.

A complaint as per the Housing Ombudsman Code is defined as ‘an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions, or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual resident or group of residents’.

In the event you would like to make a complaint we would recommend that you talk to us first by contacting the team who dealt with your initial enquiry. They will try to resolve your complaint for you on the spot. If you still feel aggrieved, you can make a formal complaint.
We are happy to communicate with you in the way that you prefer. This could be in writing, over the phone, in person, or by email.

If you do not wish to make the complaint yourself, we are happy to deal with someone who will represent you. This may be a local official, family member, or other body such as an advocate. You may need to give us permission if your complaint concerns sensitive information.

Complaints do not include the following:

• Neighbour disputes
• Neighbour nuisance or anti-social behaviour complaints – unless you feel that we have not dealt with a nuisance complaint properly
• Complaints about the actions of a party that is not working for, or supported by Pine Court Housing Association.

We will acknowledge your complaint and give you a full response in line with our Complaints Policy.

In instances where you wish to contest a decision made in line with our published policies or procedures, you may raise an appeal. A non-exhaustive list of issues you may appeal include:

• Eligibility for independent living following a needs and risk assessment
• Decisions on investments or adaptation work
• Decisions to allow ‘Right to Buy’ and ‘Right to Acquire’ applications
• Service charges for tenants and leaseholders
  

We will acknowledge your appeal in line with our Complaints Policy and will include an explanation of what you can do if you are still unhappy.

Tenant Mediation Panel

Our Tenant Mediation Panel is a group of customers recognised by Pine Court Housing Association to independently look at complaints after they have been through the complaints process, with a view to helping resolve issues.

You can contact the Tenant Mediation Panel on their email: tenantmediationpanel@outlook.com.

The Housing Ombudsman (HO) is an independent complaints regulator, set up to impartially resolve complaint disputes between Registered Providers and their customers.

We work in line with the HO’s complaint handling code. This helps us to resolve your complaints fairly, quickly and effectively in line with best practice, whilst providing data to set industry benchmarks.

At any point of the complaints process, you are able to contact the HO, who may offer assistance whilst we investigate your complaint.

You can contact the HO via:

• PO Box 1484, Unit D, Preston, PR2 0ET
• info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
• 0300 111 3000
• 020 7831 1942

In April 2024 the Housing Ombudsman released a new Complaint Handling Code to enable us to resolve complaints raised by our residents quickly and to use the learning from complaints to drive service improvements.

We are fully compliant with the new code and are committed to providing an annual self-assessment, to ensure we remain compliant, enabling a positive complaint handling and improvement culture across the organisation. This self-assessment is reported to our Board members and is also available for customers.

Our Year-end Complaints Report and Our Self-Assessment against the New Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code have recently been shared with our Board Members .On behalf of the Board, PCHA’s Member Responsible for Complaints, Steve Gow, thanked PCHA team  for sharing and said:

‘The Board acknowledge a significant increase in Complaints across the Sector and support the heightened Regulatory focus on quality, assurance and accountability. The Board is pleased with the level of detail and scrutiny provided within the Year-end Complaints Report. The improvement measures, both implemented and identified help to ensure continuous learning, understanding of customer perception and priorities, and focus on root cause analysis to enhance Customer Experience. Our Customers are valued and help to shape and improve the services we deliver.

We continually monitor our complaints to improve our processes and make it easier for you to raise a complaint when needed. We will report on the complaints we receive and provide information on other feedback we receive in our annual Complaints Report.