Plans for 2026-27 - Council housing complaint report 2025-26
In last year’s report we set out our intentions for this year. The volume of complaints and challenges with this, alongside the Landlord Services restructure, have delayed our completion of some of these plans but we have made some progress.
Creation of a resident panel examining our complaints performance
This panel has now started and meets quarterly.
Further development of our use of IT for recording, analysing and reporting on complaints
We have made some progress on this (especially with the formation of the Housing Strategy and Performance team), and have carried out an end-to-end process review. We have already implemented some of the recommendations from this, including a new complaints tracker to strengthen recording, reporting and analysis.
Better ability to analyse trends and themes and ensure these are used to inform the Council’s decisions and policies
We have begun to explore ways we can use our CRM system to better record information so that we can better identify and report on trends within complaints. Again, this is something we will continue to work on in 2026/27.
Development of a compensation policy
As mentioned, the Housing Complaints Policy has been reviewed by our Resident Policy Review Group, has been approved by Cabinet and Full Council in July 2026. A Compensation Policy will follow this year.
Satisfaction survey following complaints
We have not yet implemented this but it is a priority for 2026/27.
In addition to these, as our residents have advised that they want greater assurance over ODS’ complaints handling, we have implemented monthly performance reporting on their compliance with the Code, as well as adding enhanced oversight arrangements. As of April 2026, we have begun to handle all complaints at Stage 2 within the Council.
Considering that cases around responsive repairs and managing relations are the most likely to escalate to the Ombudsman for investigation, we intend to focus on these areas and look at why residents remain dissatisfied after completing our internal process and better understand their reasons for approaching the Housing Ombudsman.
We are aware that communication is an area for improvement, and whilst the Complaints team cannot change the past issues that led to the complaint, we will always look to provide an appropriate and satisfactory remedy. We will look to understand what further resolution residents are seeking.
