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.

Fill out our complaint form

[email protected]

01332 888777

Complaints
Derby Homes Ltd
839 London Road
Derby
DE24 8UZ

We are committed to making the process of complaining as simple as possible. We will acknowledge your complaint within five working days. We aim to investigate, respond and put things right in a fair and timely manner.

As a members 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 and Financial Redress Policy at the bottom of the page.

Stage one - initial 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 time scale by 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 need any reasonable adjustments.

We'll always try and contact you before we send the full response.

Stage two - complaint escalation

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 by no more than twenty 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

What we do not accept as a complaint

Examples of what we will not accept as a complaint:

• If it is the first time you have reported an issue to us and asked us to put it right. We call this a service request
• Anonymous complaints
• Complaints that are being pursued in an unreasonable manner
• A report of Anti-Social Behaviour – unless it is a complaint about how we have handled a report.
• A request for information or explanation of our policies
• A complaint that has already been fully investigated in line with this policy
• Where we have specific arrangements with the customer in line with our Unacceptable Customer Behaviour Policy
• Cases that have been referred to the insurance company, where legal action is being taken or a disrepair case has been submitted, where action has commenced following the pre-action protocol
• Where Derby Homes can assist, but the underlying issue is not within our control or remit
• Where the issue occurred more than 12 months ago

Complaint 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.

Complaint 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.

There are several ways we may do this:

• Making an apology, acknowledging and providing explanation why things have gone wrong
• Taking action if there has been a delay
• Carrying out the service required quickly and efficiently
• Reconsidering or changing a decision
• Amending or correcting a record
• Change our practice, policies or procedures as part of our lesson’s learned
• Employee training and development
• A financial remedy such as, financial redress and goodwill gestures

Guidance on calculating payments

Minor impact

• Missed appointment
• succession of service failures and/or the
• problem not resolved within a reasonable timescale.

Remedy or redress value: £10 up to £600

Moderate impact

• Serious or prolonged service failure 
• loss of facilities resulting in disruption, inconvenience and / or damage

Remedy or redress value: £600 - £1,000

Severe impact

• Significant impact or prolonged service failure
• loss of facilities resulting in disruption, inconvenience, damage or physical and/or emotional impact
• Personal injury claim

Remedy or redress value: £1,000+ (£5,000+ for personal injury claim.)

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. 

Read the latest report on CMIS 

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.

Make a complaint to the Housing Ombudsman

www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk

0300 111 3000

[email protected]

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.

Make a complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

www.lgo.org.uk

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

[email protected]

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

[email protected]

0800 023 4567

The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London
E14 9SR