How to make a Complaint

Help us to get things right.

If you feel we haven’t done what we should have, or we have let you down in some way, please talk to us.

Call: 01609 767900

Email: info@broadacres.org.uk

What is a complaint?

The Housing Ombudsman says that a complaint is:

“An expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of

service, actions or lack of action by Broadacres, our staff, or those acting on our behalf, affecting you or a group of residents.”

Often your concerns can be resolved quickly at first point of contact and you will not need to go through the formal process. However, if you wish for your concerns or dissatisfaction to be recorded as a complaint, then our colleagues will support you through this process.

You may need us to help you access our complaints process, if you do, just let us know, and we can provide extra support with this.

A complaint can be where we have:

• not done something that we should have done
• done something that we should not have done
• treated you unfairly, not been polite or acted badly
• given you a service below the expected standard
• given you incorrect information
• not followed our policies and procedures

At any point of your complaint, you can contact the Housing Ombudsman Service for support or advice.

Sometimes we receive complaints that cannot be considered under the

Complaints Policy. If this is the case we will let you know why in writing within 5 working days of receiving it.

Service Request.

Where you contact us to request a service for the first time, we will let you know that this will not be treated as a complaint and your request will be recorded, monitored and reviewed regularly and dealt with by the relevant department.

Examples of a service request:

• the first report of a repair
• an initial request for information or an explanation
• a report of anti-social behaviour

However, if you feel dissatisfied with our response to your service request or provision of this service and wish to raise a complaint we will willingly record and action this.

How to make a complaint.

We will accept complaints by telephone, letter, e-mail, in person, on the website and social media, and we will accept complaints made by your friends, relatives or advocates, who have your permission to act on your behalf.

What happens next?

Once you’ve told us about your complaint:

• we will aim to let you know that we’ve got your complaint by the end of the next working day, but always within the Housing Ombudsman Code requirements of 5 working days.
• we will give you a full written response within 10 working days

This is called a stage 1 complaint.

If we need more time to put things right, we will only do this in agreement with you and we will keep you up to date.

Where something has gone wrong, we will provide you with an honest and open explanation and set out the actions we have already taken or intend to take to put things right. We’ll also let you know how we will learn from any mistakes.

If you are still not happy, you can move your complaint to the next level,

This is called a stage 2 complaint.

You’ll need to let us know if you’d like to do this.

We’ll acknowledge this by the end of the next working day and respond in writing within 20 working days.

If you are still not happy?

You can contact the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) by:

Telephone: 0300 111 3000

Email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk

Web: www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk

Letter: Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 152, Liverpool, L33 7WQ

You can contact Broadacres using any of the ways below:

Telephone: 01609 767900

Email: info@broadacres.org.uk

Social media: Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn

Letter: Broadacres Housing Association, Mount View, Standard Way, Northallerton, DL6 2YD

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