Housing complaints

How to make a complaint about Tenant Services

How to make a complaint

Complete our online form

Make a housing complaint

Email: CCOHousing@wokingham.gov.uk
Call: 0118 974 6000 - choose option 4 and ask to speak to the Housing Service Customer Care Officer
Write to: Customer Care Officer, Housing Service, P.O. Box 154, Shute End, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG40 1WN
Organise a face-to-face meeting at one of our offices with the Customer Care Team (this is subject to availability of space)

What is a Housing complaint?

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about:

The standard of service

Service not provided
Actions taken by us, our staff or those acting on our behalf, affecting an individual resident or group of residents
Lack of action taken by us, our staff, or those acting on our behalf, affecting an individual resident or group of residents

Please be aware that the Housing service can only investigate complaints regarding Wokingham Borough Council, its own staff or those acting on its behalf. If you want to make a complaint about a Housing Association, we recommend you seek their Complaint Policy and Process or make contact with Citizens Advice or the Housing Ombudsman for support.

What is not a Housing complaint?

There are some circumstances as to why we will be unable to progress the issue through the Housing Complaint, Compliment and Compensation Policy.

Anti-Social Behaviour reporting
Complaints that are going through a court, tribunal or are within a legal process
Dissatisfied with a Housing Allocations decision
A query
A first request for service (this is when a resident has initially raised an issue with the service requiring action from the landlord to put something right. The resident should allow for the Housing service to deal with their request initially, before raising with the Customer Care Team. A complaint can be raised when the resident is dissatisfied with the response to their service request)
If the issue giving rise to the complaint occurred over 12 months ago. However, these will be considered on a case-by-case basis where safeguarding or health and safety are concerned
If the resident has already been through the complaints process for the issue and has been provided with an in-depth formal response

Housing Complaints Procedure

Stage 1:

We have 5 working days to acknowledge the complaint
10 working days to respond (We may contact you to discuss actions for resolutions with a follow up formal response provided after this contact)
In complex cases we may advise a further 10 working days are needed
If you are dissatisfied with the stage 1 response, you can request escalation to Stage 2 within one calendar month of the receipt of a Stage 2 response

Stage 2:

5 working days for Customer Care Team to acknowledge
20 working days to respond. This will be a formal response
In complex cases we may advise a further 20 working days are needed

Representation

There are several people who can represent a resident during a complaint. These include:

A friend
Another Resident
A Family Member
Support Agencies, e.g. Citizens Advice Bureau
Designated Persons, e.g. a Member of Parliament or Councillor
The Housing Ombudsman

Consent will be required from the resident before a response or information can be provided to the representative. The Customer Care Team will seek consent and advise the representative of this.

All complaints raised by a Councillor and/or Member of Parliament (MP) will be processed through the Housing Complaint process.

Councillor and MP enquiries are processed separately to complaints. An enquiry may be a query raised by a designated person. Councillor and MP enquiries have 5 working days for the Customer Care Officer to acknowledge and a target to be responded to within 10 working days. The Customer Care Team will make it clear from acknowledging if it is an enquiry or a complaint.

The Housing Ombudsman can be contacted at any point during the Housing Complaint process and are set up by law to look at complaints and resolve disputes involving tenants and leaseholders of social landlords and voluntary members.

You can contact the Housing Ombudsman by the following methods:

Address: Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 152, Liverpool, L33 7WQ or Housing Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, Harbour Exchange Square, Isle of Dogs, London, E14 9GE

Housing Ombudsman Complaint Code Self-Assessment

We complete self-assessments and publish these accordingly. They can be found:

Read our Housing Complaint Handling Code Self-Assessment Form – subject to sign-off from The Housing Ombudsman (PDF document) from December 2020
Read Our Housing Complaint Handling Code Self-Assessment Form – subject to sign-off from The Housing Ombudsman (PDF document) from 31 March 2021 against the consultation proposals
Read our Housing Complaint Handling Code Self-Assessment Form – subject to sign-off from The Housing Ombudsman (PDF document) from the 9 May 2022 against the updated Complaint, Compliments and Compensation Policy

Compliments

A Compliment is a polite expression of praise or admiration for going over and above what is expected within the role or service. This can be received verbally or in writing to the Customer Care Team or Housing Service Staff Member. Anyone who has had contact from the Housing service can make a compliment. If you would like to make a formal compliment, please contact the Customer Care Team. More information can be found within the Complaints, Compliments and Compensation Policy (PDF document).

Compensation

Compensation is a payment, either obligatory or discretionary, of a sum of money in recognition of loss or detriment to a complainant. Compensation being referred to, is that which is related to a complaint case raised with the Housing service. The policy cannot consider disrepair claims or compensation undergoing a legal process. Compensation should be appropriate and proportionate but is not automatic when a mistake is made. More information can be found within the Complaints, Compliments and Compensation Policy (PDF document).

Landlord's complaints procedure

All complainants can seek advice and support from the Housing Ombudsman at any point during the Housing Service Complaints procedure. Visit the Housing Ombudsman website for more details. When you contact the Housing Ombudsman you will be asked if you have gone through the landlord's complaints procedure.

Any questions?

Please get in contact if you have any questions regarding the complaints process, email CCOHousing@wokingham.gov.uk or call us on 0118 974 6000. Select Option 4 for Housing and ask to speak to the Housing Service Customer Care Officer.