Annual Report for customers 2023

Here you can find out about how we deal with complaints.

Complaints

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We continue to focus on how we deal with complaints to ensure a consistent and effective approach. Following a self-assessment against the Complaint Handling Code, which has been produced by the Housing Ombudsman (the sector body that has an overview of complaints) we have identified further actions that will improve our approach.

Customer at No.5 HUB in Guildford Surrey playing chess with staff member.

These actions will include:

  • Developing an agreed approach to how RCVE members support us in identifying improvements around complaint management
  • Reviewing our Customer Feedback Procedure.
  • Introducing a revised Complaints Policy.

Learning from complaints

Last Financial year 2022/2023 there have been 23 Determinations where there has been a finding of service failure or maladministration by Riverside.

These complaints have resulted in the following improvements.

  • Recruitment of additional colleagues.
  • Rechargeable repairs working group is represented by all business areas to understand barriers and challenges, and review customers communications.
  • Creation of a complaints team to deal with all building safety complaints.
  • Building Complaints Governance Team carry out random Quality Assurance of complaints responses and share findings across the complaints community.
  • Review of letters to avoid jargon and respond clearly and concisely in Asset Strategy, Delivery, and Evolve.
  • Complaint Surgeries have been embedded to specifically review complaint progress and quality of responses to customers.
  • Customer videos produced following trend analysis of complaints to educate our customers better in relation to defects.
  • Stronger partnership working across Housing Services for complaint handling to ensure complaint responses are thorough and robust.
  • Lessons Learnt Forum implemented to understand reasons for complaints and learning we can adopt and share across the group.
  • Complaint Handling refresher training delivered to frontline colleagues.
  • With the removal of the demographic filter our RCVE panel no longer review or hear complaints. Their role is to scrutinise complaint satisfaction and lessons learnt and to help drive improvements.