From the 1 April 2024, the Housing Ombudsman and the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman agreed their mandatory Complaint Handling Codes will be a joint code. Our process reflects this . We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and will respond to your complaint in 10 or 20 working days accordingly, from the day the acknowledgement is sent.
Our policy meets the requirements of the joint Complaint Handling Code.
Arun District is committed to providing consistent, efficient and fair standards of services to its customers
Feedback and complaints play a role in maintaining and improving standards and the quality of service provided. When we receive feedback or a complaint, we see this as a way of getting an important insight into how services are being delivered. By listening to you, we can look at actions that can be taken to improve services and help your experience.
This policy details the way in which feedback and complaints are managed, investigated and acted upon.
We recognise the need to provide an efficient professional public service which is responsive to your views and needs.
The aim of this policy is to demonstrate our commitment to deliver a transparent, clear-to-understand approach in the management of feedback and complaints based on understanding, speed and fairness.
When dealing with feedback and complaints, it is our aim to work with you so we understand what your issues are and what you would like to happen to resolve it.
We are committed to treating all customers fairly and will make sure that individual needs are taken into account when applying this policy and that any reasonable adjustments are made in line with the Equality Act 2010.
All customer complaints and compliments will be treated equally whether they are:-
Feedback is information about your reaction or opinion as a result of actions or behaviour undertaken by the council. It can be either positive or negative and used as a basis for service improvement. All feedback is recorded and a copy is sent to the relevant service manager to review and feed into their work plans accordingly.
All customer complaints and compliments will be treated equally regardless of the method they are submitted, and customers do not have to use the word complaint for it to be treated as such.
If you need any support or assistance in making a complaint then please let us know so that we can ensure any reasonable adjustments are made in line with the Equality Act 2010 and our Equality Policy.
Any complaints made via our social media sites will be dealt with in line with this complaint policy, to protect confidentiality and privacy we will reply and ask you to message us directly with further details so that we can log your complaint.
A complaint submitted via a third party or representative will handled in line with this complaints policy.
Feedback is information about your reaction or opinion as a result of actions or behaviour undertaken by the council. It can be either positive or negative and used as a basis for service improvement. All feedback is recorded, and a copy is sent to the relevant service manager to review and feed into their work plans accordingly.
A complaint is defined by the ombudsman as:
“An expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the landlord or organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting a customer or group of customers.”
A customer does not have to use the word “complaint” for it to be treated as such. If an expression of dissatisfaction is made they will be given the option to raise this as a complaint, should they wish to do so.
A complaint differs from a service request which is defined as:
“A request from a customer to the landlord or organization requiring action to be taken to put something right.”
If the customer is dissatisfied with the response to their service request, then a complaint will be raised even if the service request is still ongoing.
Not all complaints are to be dealt with under this policy (see Appendix 1).
If a formal appeal process exists then this will be used to address the issue (for example, planning applications, homeless legislation). To ensure the customer is using the correct route for the issues raised please see Appendix 1 for guidance on what we cannot deal with.
If for any reason we decide that a complaint will not be accepted, and the decision is taken to decline the complaint, the customer will be sent an explanation outlining the reasons for the decision. Details will be provided to the customer about what to do next. If they are unhappy with the decision the complainant will be informed of their right to take this to the relevant Ombudsman Service. If the Ombudsman disagrees with our decision, they can thereafter advise us to investigate a complaint.
We understand that it is frustrating when expectations are not met. All necessary steps will be made to resolve your complaint. In return the following is requested: -
We have a two-stage policy.
We will acknowledge receipt of a complaint within 5 working days from the date that it is received.
This acknowledgement will include:
The investigating officer will contact the customer to set out their understanding of the complaint, the outcome that is requested and, if any aspect of the complaint is unclear, they will ask for clarification. The investigating officer will clarify if there are any aspects of the complaint we are not responsible for where this is not clear.
Our policy is to respond in full within 10 working days from the date of acknowledgement.
Sometimes a complaint cannot be responded to in full within 10 working days. If this is the case, the customer will be contacted and an explanation as to why the deadline cannot be met. A revised date when the response can be expected will be sent out. This will be within an additional 10 working days and will not be extended any further without good reason.
Where a response cannot be provided within the agreed timescales, the customer will be contacted at regular intervals to update on the progress of their complaint. Information will be provided to the customer informing them of their right to approach the relevant Ombudsman.
Our response can be provided by letter, email, face to face or telephone. Where a response is given by telephone or in person. Written confirmation of any discussion can be provided to the customer.
A response to the stage 1 complaint will be issued when the answer to the complaint is known and not when any outstanding actions have been completed. Any uncompleted actions will be tracked and updates provided outside of the complaints process.
The stage one response will advise of the right to escalate to a stage 2 complaint.
If any additional complaints are raised whilst the investigation into the stage 1 complaint is ongoing, every effort will be made to incorporate these into the stage 1 complaint. This may mean that deadlines will be extended to ensure a thorough investigation. If the stage 1 response has already been issued, the complaint is about an unrelated issue or would unreasonably delay the response to the original complaint, a new complaint will be raised to cover this point.
If the customer is not satisfied with all or part of the stage 1 complaint, a request can be made to escalate this to stage 2 of the complaint process. A customer can request that their complaint is escalated to a stage 2 without needing to explain the reasons.
The complainant has 28 days from the date of the stage 1 response to request a stage 2 complaint, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
An acknowledgement of the request to escalate the complaint to stage 2 will be provided within 5 working days of the request.
This acknowledgement will include
A senior officer, who has not been involved in the complaint at stage 1, will be appointed to review the complaint. This will ensure that there is no conflict of interest. The investigating officer will make reasonable efforts to understand why the complainant remains unhappy as part of their stage 2 investigation.
At stage 2, it will be looked at how the original complaint was dealt with. In addition, a response will be provided to any further related issues raised (although not new complaints).
All complaints relating to Landlord/Tenant services will follow the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code.
All complaints relating to Corporate matters will follow the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code.
Our policy is to respond in full within 20 working days from the date the acknowledgement is sent for stage 2 complaints. If it is not possible to provide a response within the extended in full within this timeframe, we will contact the customer to explain why this is and give an updated response date. This should not be longer than an additional 20 working days.
Where it has not been possible to provide a response within the extended timeframe, contact will be made with the customer to explain why and agree regular intervals to update on the progress of the complaint. Information will be provided to inform the customer of their right to approach the relevant Ombudsman.
Any outstanding actions that need to be completed will not delay the stage 2 response being sent. Any uncompleted actions will be tracked and updates provided outside of the complaints process.
There is no further right of appeal to the council following completion of a review at stage two of this policy.
Within our final response, information will be provided regarding the right to take the complaint further if the customer remains dissatisfied. This will be to either the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman or the Housing Ombudsman as appropriate.
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
Online - www.lgo.org.uk
Phone - Tel 0300 061 0614
The standard telephone line opening times are:
Post - LGSCO, PO Box 4771, Coventry, CV4 0EH
For Landlord/Tenant complaints you can approach the Housing Ombudsman. The Housing Ombudsman will investigate complaints about housing management, repairs, leaseholder complaints, transfers, and mutual exchanges.
Housing Ombudsman
Online - www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk
Phone - Tel 0300 111 3000
Post - Housing Ombudsman Service, P.O. Box 1484, Unit D, Preston, PR2 0ET
If a copy of this policy is required in an accessible format, please contact infomanagment@arun.gov.uk and every effort will be made to meet your requirements.
A copy of this policy is available on our website.
These issues will be dealt with sensitively considering the nature of the issues raised when appointing an investigator. In cases of harassment, characteristics of the investigating officer will be considered, and if appropriate, this will be discussed with you before appointing an investigator. Appropriate information to assess overall levels of discrimination and harassment amongst different groups may be used to feed into corporate policy review mechanisms and to improve policy and practice.
When a complaint is received from a customer via an elected member, advocate, or other third party responses will be provided to the customer and the third party unless instructions to say otherwise are received from the customer.
Complaints received by our Chief Executive will be passed on to the Information Management department who will ensure that appropriate responses are provided to the customer.
If a complaint includes issues for more than one part of the council, where possible a single response will be provided.
If you have an issue about a member of staff, investigations and appropriate action will be taken in accordance with our internal procedures.
Anonymous complaints will be investigated as far as possible, and a record of the complaint will be kept.
There are a small number of customers whose behaviour is felt to be unreasonable in pursuing the resolution of their complaint. An Unreasonable Behaviour Policy exists to deal with these instances and explains Arun District Council's approach.
We will publicise their complaints policy, process, Housing Ombudsman Service, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and relevant Complaint Handling Codes through various communication channels. This includes the council website, correspondence and highlighted in customer newsletters.
During the complaints process, customers are reminded of their option to approach the Housing Ombudsman at any stage.
Our customer engagement strategy can be found on the website and outlines in detail how we publicise the complaints policy, including information about the Ombudsman Services and Complaint Handling Codes.
Performance statistics and complaint outcomes will be shared with our Corporate Leadership Team on a quarterly basis to promote continuous development and service improvements.
For Landlord & Tenant complaints - anonymised case studies may additionally be shared with Your Voice (customer engagement group).
This policy was adopted by the Policy and Resource Committee and will be reviewed after one year by the Assistant Director Governance, People and Performance.
As an example, if a repair is requested to a council property or fly-tipping is witnessed - these are alerting us to work that needs to be done. These requests may however become a complaint if appropriate is not taken.
If an appeals procedure applies to your complaint, we will refer you to this and notify you of our actions at the outset.
Appeals procedures must be completed before we can investigate any other issues you raise with us. If this is the case, we will let you know.
The following are examples of complaints where there is an appeals process and so we will not deal with them under this policy: -
Where a live enforcement case is ongoing and under investigation, the enforcement case must be brought to conclusion before any complaint can be submitted.
We will accept any complaints that are referred within 12 months of the complainant being aware of the issue or the issue occurring. Complaints that occurred more than 12 months ago would not normally be investigated, however if there are exceptional circumstances this would be considered. Discretion will be applied when evaluating complaints made outside of this time limit. Each complaint will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and any exemptions or discretionary measures that could be applied will be analysed.
To make a complaint about a Councillor, please refer to our website for further advice.
Any concerns relating to the above roles are not appropriate to manage through the Complaints process and will be managed on an individual basis.
We are committed to being open and accountable for our staff. Please refer to our website for further advice.
When a legal challenge is being made regarding whether a decision, action or lack of action is lawful, this is a separate process to the Ombudsman so will not be considered under the complaint policy. Legal proceedings are issued when a claim form and particulars of a claim have been filed at court.
In the case of a disrepair claim, it is a customer's prerogative to follow the Pre-Action Protocol for Housing Conditions Claims (the protocol) and make a claim. The council will continue with the complaint process or the repair even though the protocol has been initiated as this does not constitute legal proceedings. Legal proceedings are when the details of the claim, such as the Claim Form and Particulars of claim, have been filed at court.
It will be made clear to the customer how the correspondence is being handled when they initiate the protocol. This can be under our internal complaints process or the protocol or both.
Complaints made by Arun District Council employees concerning their employment, or job applicants who wish to complain about the recruitment and selection process will be dealt with by the relevant recruiting manager or HR as applicable. Policies that may be applicable here are Dignity at Work and Grievance.
These complaints will be handled by the Information Governance Manager. If it is decided not to provide information to the requester, the Manager will notify the requester of the outcome of investigations within 20 working days of receipt of your complaint.
If a full response cannot be provided within the timeframe, the requester will be advised that more time is required. Under legislation, a full response must be provided within 40 working days from receipt of the complaint.
There is no further right of appeal to the council following this investigation. Within our response we will inform you of your right to take your complaint further if you remain dissatisfied. Our response will contain the contact details for the Information Commissioner www.ico.gov.uk.
Under EIR 2004, requests can be made for the information in an EIR to be reconsidered. Representations can be made to the council in writing about this no later than 40 working days after the date that the requester considers that there was failure to comply with the EIR.
These complaints will be handled by the Information Governance Manager. Consideration will be made to your representations and any supporting evidence provided to decide if there is compliance within the EIR requirements.
The Manager must consider advice from the information management service. The Manager will notify the requester of the outcome of the investigation as soon as possible, and no later than 40 working days after receiving the complaint.
There is no further right of appeal to the council following this investigation. In the response the requester will be informed of the right to take their complaint further if dissatisfaction remains. The response will contain the contact details for the Information Commissioner, as above.
In relation to individual rights' requests under the GDPR the council has 1 month in which to respond although this can be extended by a further 2 months if the request is complex or if a number of requests have been received by the requester. Any complaints on this subject matter should follow the data protection complaints procedure.
There is no further right of appeal to the council following this investigation. At this point, the requester is entitled to complain to the Information Commissioner if there is a consideration that there has been an infringement of data protection legislation.