Compliments and complaints

If you just want to report a missed council service or ask a question about one of our services you can usually find the answer on our website or contact them through their web pages.

If you cannot resolve your problem by speaking to the service and you wish to make a formal complaint please use the form above.

Our services are always grateful for positive feedback when they have done a good job. This will be brought to the attention of the relevant manager and the officer involved.

If you have spoken to the service your problem relates to and are unhappy with their response then we can investigate further for you.

There are two stages to our complaints procedure. It’s important to give us as much information as possible when you complete the above form. This could include dates, reference numbers and copies of letters.

Stage 1

We will write to you within five working days with the name of the officer who will be dealing with your complaint. The officer will be a senior member of staff from the service area the complaint is about.

The officer will write to you and send either a full answer or a progress report within 10 working days (25 working days for Planning Services).

Stage 2

If you are not happy after our investigation at Stage 1 you can ask for the Group Head of the service area to look at your complaint. You will have 28 days from the date of the stage 1 response to request a review.

The Group Head will conduct a further investigation of all documents and correspondence, and will arrange to visit if the complaint is about something that needs to be seen. We will send a full response or a progress report, if we need more time, within 25 working days.

Next steps

In our Stage 2 response we will tell you what you can do if you are still not happy. The response will let you know whether you will need to go to the Local Government Ombudsman or the Housing Ombudsman Service.

If you are still not happy we will give you information about the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is an independent public body who can investigate how we have handled your complaint.

You can find out more about Ombudsman services on the Local Government Ombudsman website.

The Ombudsman will not be able to begin an investigation until we have had the opportunity to try and resolve the complaint. It is important, therefore, that you contact us first.

The Housing Ombudsman Service can be contacted throughout your complaint to housing, and within our final response at stage 2 we will give you information about how to refer your complaint to their service.

You can learn more about their service on Housing Ombudsman website .

The Housing Ombudsman’s complaint handling code

The Housing Ombudsman’s new Complaint Handling Code came into force on 01 April 2024, and replaces previous versions of the code. It sets out good practice for landlords to respond to complaints effectively and fairly.

To find out more about the complaint handling code, please visit the Housing Ombudsman's website.

We are required to carry out a self-assessment against the code to ensure our complaint handling remains in line with their requirement. Our self-assessment form can be found here: AR Housing Ombudsman self-assessment [pdf] 269KB.

Housing complaints annual performance report 

We are required under the Complaint Handling Code to produce an annual performance report setting out our complaints performance, the improvements we have made as a result of complaints and any determinations made by the Housing Ombudsman. 

This report was presented to the Housing and Wellbeing Committee on 18 June 2024, Members approved a response prepared by the Member Responsible for Complaints Cllr Carol Birch:

“Having been asked to accept the role of Member Responsible for Complaints I have met with Arun’s Business Improvement Manager for Housing, Sasha Hawkins to review the self-assessment for the Housing Ombudsman. Arun has made improvements in how they respond to housing complaints. There is now a clear process that is monitored with ongoing improvements implemented when needed. There is a developing culture of recognition of a complaint, evaluation of the complaint and learning from the complaint to improve deliverance of services. Ongoing, we will meet on a bi-monthly basis to review complaints to ensure that the processes are working and that lessons are learnt. Reports on the complaints process performance are also brought to the Housing and Wellbeing Committee for scrutiny.”

The report itself can be seen here: AR Housing complaints annual performance report [pdf] 245KB 

The Housing Ombudsman's Landlord report can be viewed here: Landlord Report 2022-2023

Please see our Complaints against councillors page as there is a separate process for complaints about councillors.

Complaints about Members of Parliament are not dealt with by us. If you wish to complain about an MP please email standardscommissioner@parliament.uk or call 020 7219 1883.