Complaints and Compliments

In line with the Housing Ombudsmen Service Complaints Handling Code, we define a complaint 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”.

We welcome honest feedback, and we see complaints as an opportunity to learn from a resident’s perspective.

To make sure we are all on the same page we will check with you whether you intend for us to deal with your dissatisfaction as a Complaint which will involve an investigation and formal written response. 

If this is not what you intend and your issue can be quicky and easily resolved, then we can seek to resolve your dissatisfaction as a Service Request

A service request is:

“A request from a resident requiring action to be taken to put something right. Service requests are not complaints and must be recorded, monitored, and reviewed regularly”.

A service request is typically something that can be resolved within the initial phone call. We will  log a complaint if you then raise that you remain  dissatisfied. Whatever happens, we will continue to try put things right, even after a complaint is made.

There are a number of ways in which you can get in contact with us to make your complaint:

In writing – Complaints, Arches Housing Ltd, 122 Burngreave Road, Sheffield, S3 9DE

By email  - info@archeshousing.org.uk

By telephone – 0114 228 8100

By chat via our Arches Housing website

By social media channels – Send us a DM via Facebook or X

In person – Arches Housing, 122 Burngreave Road, Sheffield, S3 9DE

Once a complaint has been received, we will log and acknowledge that we have received it within five working days. Your complaint will be allocated for investigation by a manager who has had no prior involvement in the current issue, to ensure objectivity is maintained.

Stage One complaints will be investigated within 10 working days after  acknowledgement, however, if it is not possible to conclude the investigation into your complaint in 10 working days, we may need to extend our investigation. As a maximum, stage one investigations will be concluded within 20 working days after acknowledgement.

Upon the conclusion of our investigation we will always try to explain our findings to you verbally in the first instance, followed by a written response (outcome letter) which will outline what you need to do if you remain dissatisfied, including offering advice on how to contact the Housing Ombudsman.

If you believe we have failed to fully address your complaint, you may request that your complaint is escalated for review at stage two of our complaints process. A Stage Two complaint will be acknowledged and logged within five working days of it being received and your complaint will then be reviewed by a director. It will not be handled by the same person who investigated it at Stage One.

Stage Two complaints will be investigated within 20 working days from acknowledgement. If it is not possible to conclude the investigation into your complaint in 20 working days, we may  extend our investigation by a further 20 working days. As a maximum, stage two investigations will be concluded within 40 working days after acknowledgement. When we notify you of the extension, we will provide you with contact details for the Housing Ombudsman.

Once the investigation has concluded we will contact you with our outcome, we will attempt to do this verbally initially and follow up our conversation with a written letter which includes details of how to contact the Housing Ombudsman should you remain dissatisfied.

Stage Two is the final stage of the Arches Housing Complaints Policy.

Following a thorough investigation into your complaint, we will find that your complaint is either:

Upheld – We got something wrong. We will explain what went wrong and how we propose to put it right, as well as outlining any measures we will put into place to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Not upheld – We have acted in line with our policies and procedures, and we have not found any evidence to suggest any wrongdoing on our part.

We will always accept a complaint unless there is a valid reason for us not to do so. If we decide not to accept a complaint, we will always provide evidence and feedback to support the reasons behind our decision. We will always ensure each complaint is considered on its own merits and we will not take a blanket approach to excluding complaints.

Examples of what is not considered a complaint:

• Where complaints submitted 12 months or more after the issue occurred (we will consider any circumstances which may have prevented the resident from making their complaint earlier).
• We may temporarily exclude a complaint if the resident has not yet provided sufficient information, or where discriminatory behaviour is alleged.
  
  
• Where the complaint concerns services not provided by Arches Housing, for example any service provided by the local authority.
  
  
• Where it is a service request.
  
  
• Where a complainant is taking legal action against Arches Housing on the same issue.
  
  
• Where complaints have already been investigated and will not be investigated again, unless new information which is significant to the case is presented.

Although the above issues are not treated as complaints under our complaints policy, we are committed to dealing with them in an appropriate and efficient manner.

If a complaint is excluded, we will confirm in writing and provide full reasons for the exclusion, as well as advising you how to contact the Housing Ombudsman.

We will always treat complaints about any Arches Housing employee seriously, however, we reserve the right to limit the information we provide on the outcome of the complaint to protect the privacy of the employee. This is in line with current General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

You would need to follow our complaints process and log your concern in the usual way, as listed above.

When you want to say Thank You to us or one of the team for a job well done, or for going above and beyond, we call this a compliment. It’s important that we recognise when someone has made a difference to you as this also tells us when we are on the right track. 

There are a number of ways in which you can pass on your compliment to us:

In writing – Complaints, Arches Housing Ltd, 122 Burngreave Road, Sheffield, S3 9DE

By email  - info@archeshousing.org.uk

By telephone – 0114 228 8100

By chat via our Arches Housing website

By social media channels – Send us a DM via Facebook or X

In person – Arches Housing, 122 Burngreave Road, Sheffield, S3 9DE