Council housing complaints performance and service improvement - Policies, strategies and open data

Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report 2025/26

Our annual complaint report provides an overview of council housing complaints during 2025/26. It includes complaint numbers and outcomes, response times, common complaint themes, Housing Ombudsman activity and the improvements made or planned as a result of tenant feedback.

The report shows that complaint numbers increased during the year. It also highlights the need for continued improvement in communication, case ownership, timely action, clear explanations and ensuring agreed actions are completed. Particular areas of focus include repairs, damp and mould, gas and heating, tenancy management, allocations and Right to Buy.

Complaint Handling Code self-assessment

We have completed our annual self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code. This considers whether our complaints policy and day-to-day complaint handling meet the requirements of the Code.

The assessment covers areas including accessibility, the two-stage complaints process, response times, reasonable adjustments, remedies, record keeping, learning from complaints and Member oversight.

Complaints Service Improvement Action Plan 2026/27

Our housing complaints action plan explains how we will respond to the learning identified through complaints, tenant feedback, service reviews and Housing Ombudsman activity.

The key areas for improvement include:

• responding to complaints on time and reducing avoidable escalation;
• providing clearer updates and improving case ownership;
• improving the quality and consistency of complaint responses;
• strengthening the management of repairs, damp and mould and property-condition cases;
• improving gas and heating contractor performance;
• ensuring vulnerability and reasonable adjustments are properly considered;
• improving tenancy and anti-social behaviour case handling;
• giving tenants a stronger role in shaping services;
• making better use of complaints data and learning; and
• continuing to learn from Housing Ombudsman decisions and wider sector reports.

Progress will be managed by the Complaints and Data Manager and reviewed through management oversight, performance reporting and service improvement reviews. Updates will be reported quarterly to the Council’s Management Team and the Housing Cabinet Committee.

Quarterly complaints dashboard

We will use a quarterly dashboard to monitor complaint performance and show whether the actions in our improvement plan are making a difference.

The dashboard will look at:

• Stage 1 and Stage 2 response times;
• late responses;
• complaints escalating from Stage 1 to Stage 2;
• recurring complaint themes;
• the quality of complaint responses;
• repairs and damp and mould case progression;
• gas and heating contractor performance;
• consideration of vulnerability and reasonable adjustments;
• tenant engagement and learning; and
• learning from the Housing Ombudsman.

The dashboard will also report positive feedback and compliments, helping us recognise what is working well and share good practice across housing services.

2025 Q1 dashboard

You said, we are doing

Complaints help us understand where services need to improve. The main areas raised by tenants include delays, lack of updates, unclear decisions, incomplete actions and the quality of some services.

In response, we are:

• strengthening the monitoring of open and long-running cases;
• encouraging earlier contact and clearer updates;
• improving follow-through after inspections and complaint responses;
• strengthening our approach to damp, mould and housing hazards;
• improving complaint-handling training and quality checks;
• developing a repairs tenant panel;
• using tenant feedback to challenge and improve services; and
• sharing complaint learning across teams to help prevent issues from happening again.

We will continue to report on our progress and use complaints, compliments, tenant feedback and Housing Ombudsman learning to improve services for tenants, leaseholders and housing applicants.

The Lead Member for Complaints Response

The Lead Member and Housing Cabinet Committee has considered the annual report, self-assessment and improvement action plan.

The Housing Services Cabinet Committee has considered the Council Housing Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report for 2025/26 and the Council’s annual self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.

 Members reviewed complaint volumes, response times, escalation, Housing Ombudsman findings, learning from complaints and the improvement activity set out in the report. The Committee noted the increase in Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints and recognised that delays, communication, case ownership and follow-up continue to affect tenant experience. 

 The Committee welcomes the progress made through complaint handling training, improved acknowledgements, updated tenant information and stronger management oversight. It also recognises that further work is required to improve response timeliness, communication, contractor performance and the handling of long-running or complex cases, particularly where vulnerable households are affected.

 Members have requested continued monitoring of actions assessed as partially met, complaint escalation within repairs and tenancy management, Housing Ombudsman learning and evidence that improvement activity is delivering measurable benefits for tenants.

 The Committee will continue to scrutinise complaint performance and seek assurance that learning from complaints is being embedded across Housing Services.