Complaints

In line with the Housing Ombudsman 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.

We will check with you whether you intend for us to deal with any 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 will seek to resolve the matter 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 always raise a complaint if you tell us that you remain dissatisfied with the way in which we handle your service request, or the outcome. Whatever happens, we will always continue to try put things right, even after a complaint is made.

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

In writing – sending a letter to '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 website www.archeshousing.org.uk

Attending our office  –  Arches Housing, 122 Burngreave Road, Sheffield, S3 9DE 

In person - tell any member of staff

Once a complaint has been received, we will record it on our systems and acknowledge receipt within five working days. Your complaint will be allocated to a manager to investigate. the manager will not have had any prior involvement in the subject  of the complaint, to make sure objectivity is maintained.

Stage One complaints will be investigated and responded to within 10 working days after acknowledgement. It is likely we may need to speak to you for further information and welcome discussions with you regarding your feedback.  If we need more time to investigate this will be explained to you along with the reason why and we will confirm this in writing. The maximum length of time a stage one investigation will be concluded within is 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. This will then always be followed by a written response (outcome letter). If you are still dissatisfied after the Stage 1 outcome, you will need to let us know, and this will then be escalated to  Stage 2 of the procedure who will review the complaint and original investigation.  

If you are still dissatisfied after the Stage 1 outcome, you will need to let us know, and this will then be escalated to  Stage 2 of the procedure where a Director / Chief Executive will review the complaint and original investigation. You will receive a response to this within 20 working days of us receiving your wish to escalate the matter.  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, or the Chief Executive. 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.  We will always discuss with you why this may be necessary, and the maximum length of time for a Stage Two investigation to be concluded is 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 the outcome. We will attempt to do this verbally initially and follow up our conversation with a letter.

Stage Two is the final stage of our Complaints Policy.

If you are still dissatisfied with the Stage 2 outcome you can take this further with the Housing Ombudsman Service. Contact Details for The Housing Ombudsman Service:

• 0300 111 3000
• Complete the online form
• Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 152, Liverpool L33 7WQ

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

Upheld – The investigation concluded that 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 – The investigation concluded that 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 on 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.