Complaints
Make a complaint
A complaint is defined 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.
If it is the first time you are telling us about an issue, you should report it to us before making a complaint.
You can make a complaint in whichever way you prefer. Using our form is the best option because it means we get any essential details we need from you. If you'd prefer, you can also email, call, write or visit us.
Email us
housing.complaints@derbyhomes.org
Call us
01332 888777
Write to us
Complaints
Derby Homes Ltd
839 London Road
Derby
DE24 8UZ
You can also make a complaint in person, by speaking to a member of staff.
As a member of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme our complaints policy follows the statutory requirements of the Housing Ombudsman and Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.
You can contact the Housing Ombudsman at any time during the complaints process. Alternatively, if your complaint is about Money Advice, you can ask for it to be reviewed by the Financial Ombudsman.
Our complaints process
This is a summary of our complaints process. You can find our full process in the Complaints Policy at the bottom of the page.
Stage one - formal complaint
We aim to resolve all complaints at this stage. Most stage one complaints can be resolved quickly with an explanation, apology or resolution.
We will:
- acknowledge your complaint within five working days
- investigate and provide a full response in writing within ten working days of the complaint being acknowledged.
In some cases, due to the complexity of the complaint we may need to extend the full response timescale. This will be no more than ten days without good reason. If we do, we will contact you to let you know.
During the investigation process we’ll contact you to find out more information about the complaint and ask if you have any support needs to identify any reasonable adjustments you may need.
We'll always try and contact you before we send the full response.
Stage two - complaint review
If you’re not happy with the outcome of your complaint, you can ask for it to escalated. We call this a 'stage two' complaint.
The investigating officer will not be the same person who investigated the initial complaint.
We will:
- acknowledge your complaint within five working days
- investigate and provide a full response in writing within 20 working days of the complaint being acknowledged.
In some cases, due to the complexity of the complaint we may need to extend the full response time scale. This will be no more than 20 days without good reason. If we do, we will contact you to let you know.
If you are still dissatisfied you can contact one of the ombudsman services.
Complaint decisions
Upheld - If our investigation finds that we were at fault, your complaint will be 'upheld'. We will tell you about the actions we will take to put things right in our response.
Not upheld - If our investigation finds that we were not at fault, your complaint will be classed as 'not upheld'. We will tell you the reasons why it was not upheld in our response.
Exclusions
There are some things that are not considered complaints and will be dealt with outside of our complaints process. Some examples include:
- the first time you have reported an issue to us and asked us to put it right. We call this a service request
- reports of Anti-Social Behaviour – unless it is a complaint about how we have handled a report
- requests for information or explanation of our policies
- complaints that have already been fully investigated in line with this policy
- complaints relating to legal proceedings that have already started. This is defined as details of the claim, such as the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim, having been filed at court
- complaints from people we have no relationship with or obligation to provide a service, or where the issue is not within our control or remit
- complaints relating to a personal injury claim. However, you can complain about how the matter was handled or the service you received
- disagreement with decisions that have dedicated appeals process
- issues that occurred more than 12 months ago
We are unable to formally respond to anonymous complaints within this process. However, we will still use your feedback to improve our services.
If we decide not to accept your complaint, we will explain why.
Remedy and Redress
Remedy
If our investigation finds that we were at fault, your complaint will be 'upheld'. We will then take action to make things right. We call this remedy.
Examples of remedy are:
- making an apology - acknowledging what went wrong and explaining why
- taking action to put things right
- reconsidering or changing a decision
- correcting a mistake in our records
- changing our policies or procedures
- supporting employee training and development
The type of remedy we consider will depend on your complaint and what impact it has had on you.
Redress
In some cases we may consider giving you money as a form of remedy. If we decide to offer financial redress, we will consider:
- Financial loss - the amount of money you have had to spend because of a service failure. We may need evidence of this.
- Impact - the inconvenience and distress our service failure has had on you.
- Missed appointments - if we did not attend an appointment and did not let you know.
Financial redress is not automatic and is not intended to provide a financial gain.
For more information about remedy and redress, please see our Remedy and Redress Policy 2026
Learning from complaints
We don’t always get things right. When we don’t, we work hard to prevent it from happening again.
Complaints help us identify issues with our processes and the way we deliver services. We look beyond the circumstances of the individual complaint and consider whether any service improvements should be made.
An update on learning from complaints is sent to Derby Homes Board every three months.
Ombudsman services
There are a number of different ombudsman services, that oversee different types of complaints. You should check which ombudsman is right for your complaint.
The services we provide are overseen by the following ombudsman services:
- Housing Ombudsman
- Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
- Building Safety Regulator
- Financial Ombudsman Service
Housing Ombudsman
As a landlord, we're a member of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The scheme is set up by law to look at complaints about housing organisations that are registered with them.
If you are not satisfied with the response to your complaint from Derby Homes, you can ask for your complaint to be reviewed by the Housing Ombudsman at any time during the complaints process.
They’ll investigate your complaint and gather evidence to help them reach decision. Their powers are similar to those of a court in terms of getting evidence, and they’ll keep you up to date with the results of their investigation. Their decision is final, and there is no right of appeal.
0300 111 3000
Housing Ombudsman Service
PO Box 1484
Unit D
Preston
PR2 0ET
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman reviews complaints about local authorities. This includes housing allocations, homelessness, general housing advice, housing benefit, housing improvement grants and adult social care.
If you have been through all stages of our complaints procedure and are still unhappy, you can ask the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to review your complaint. The Ombudsman expects you to have given us chance to deal with your complaint, before you contact them. If you have not heard from us within a reasonable time, it may decide to look into your complaint anyway. This is usually up to 12 weeks.
When things go wrong, they can make orders and recommendations to put things right or to improve service failure. The service is free, independent, and impartial.
0300 061 0614
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0EH
Building Safety Regulator
If you live in a high-rise building and your complaint is about our building safety services. You contact the Building Safety Regulator at any time during our complaints process. This can include complaints about:
- issues in a high-rise residential building that could lead to fire spreading
- issues in a high-rise residential building that could lead to part or all of the building collapsing
- issues with fire safety or structural integrity in a high-rise residential building that is being designed, built or renovated
- people and organisations the regulator oversees, for example building inspectors and people accountable for safety in a building
- The Building Safety Regulator itself
www.gov.uk/guidance/contact-the-building-safety-regulator
0300 790 6787
The Building Safety Regulator,
The Health and Safety Executive
Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Liverpool
L20 7HS
Financial Ombudsman Service
Our Money advice service is a financial service that is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. If your complaint relates to our financial services, you can ask for it to be reviewed by the Financial Ombudsman if:
- you are not satisfied with the response to your complaint, or
- eight weeks have passed since you raised your complaint
The Financial Ombudsman will only investigate your complaint once we’ve had an opportunity to look in to it, so please contact us first. They’ll investigate your complaint and gather evidence to help them reach decision.
Their powers are similar to those of a court in terms of getting evidence, and they’ll keep you up to date with the results of their investigation. Their decision is final, and there is no right of appeal.
www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
0800 023 4567
The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London
E14 9SR