Feedback, Compliments and Complaints
We want to ensure the services we provide meet both our published standards and the needs of our customers. All customer feedback is important to us.
As part of this, we regularly review the things we've changed and would like to share a few of them with you. Check out our Lessons Learnt section for more.
Comments and Compliments
We welcome your comments and compliments about our services, and will use these to improve our services further.
If you are pleased with a service, please tell us so that we can thank the member of staff or team and make sure that we use this positive feedback to improve other services.
We accept feedback by all channels, telephone, email, web form, Your Online Account, social media and letter.
Our Customer Relations Team are available to provide support and guidance. They can be contacted on 0300 304 5000 or email: feedback@estuary.co.uk
Complaints
We aim to deliver the best service possible, however, we recognise we don’t always get things right. We use complaints to learn how things might have been done better, to help improve the services we provide and to work with our customers to reach a fair resolution.
In line with the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code definition - we consider a complaint to be “an expression of dissatisfaction" with the standard of service or with an action or lack of action by our staff or contractors. We accept feedback by all channels, telephone, email, web form, Your Online Account, social media and letter.
You can view and print Our Complaints Process [pdf] 328KB or speak with our Customer Relations Team, who are available to provide support and guidance on the complaint process and can be contacted on 0300 304 5000 or email: feedback@estuary.co.uk
Our most recent information on how we've handled complaints can be found on our Peformance Information Summary
If you support someone and they need to make a complaint, our Complaints and Customer Feedback Policy [pdf] 171KB and How to Complain (Feedback) Easy Read Leaflet.pdf[pdf] 279KB are both available to download and print.
Feedback Form
Use this form to send us your thoughts, compliments, complaints and suggestions.
How We Will Deal With Your Complaint
All formal complaints will be acknowledged in writing within 5 working days of receipt and assigned to an investigating officer. A complaint case reference number and a response date for the complaint will be included in the acknowledgement. The investigating officer will investigate the matter and provide a formal, written response within 10 working days of the complaint being logged. In some circumstances in order to provide you with a full response, we may need additional time to complete our investigation. In such cases, the investigating officer will contact you directly to agree an extension and confirm a new response date.
Should you remain dissatisfied with the outcome – you can request to escalate your complaint to Stage 2 of our internal process. You must contact us within 4 weeks from the date of our response letter explaining the reasons for your dissatisfaction and your preferred outcome.
Stage 2 complaints will be assigned to a senior member of staff. As with a Stage 1 formal complaint, your complaint will be formally acknowledged within 5 working days of receipt and responded to, in writing within 20 working days of the complaint being logged. As above the response date may be extended should further time be needed to complete our investigations and the investigating officer will contact you directly to agree this extension.
If You Remain Dissatisfied
If you believe that we haven't dealt with your complaint adequately, or we have not resolved the problem you raised, you may wish to ask for further assistance. You can contact the Housing Ombudsman Service who offer a free impartial service. The Housing Ombudsman will only consider your complaint once you have completed our internal process. However, you can contact the Housing Ombudsman at any point during the complaints process for their guidance and advice:
You can contact the Housing Ombudsman on 0300 111 3000 or by emailing info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk.
If the complaint is not related to tenancy management, and depending on how care is funded, complaints can then be referred to the appropriate external authorities:
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) – If your care is funded under NHS Continuing Health https://www.ombudsman.org.uk.
If your care is funded or arranged by a Local Authority; you can make a complaint directly to that Local Authority if you prefer to do so. If you're dissatisfied with the outcome of that complaint you can contact the Local Governance and Social Care Ombudsman https://www.Igo.org.uk, or telephone 0300 061 0614.
Where necessary the Ombudsman will work together to resolve your complaint.
Housing Ombudsman
Social Housing Tenants, Leaseholders, Market Rent Tenants and Care and Support (in relation to occupation and tenancy management), may complain directly to the Housing Ombudsman. Complaints to the Housing Ombudsman do not have to be referred by a designated person.
The Housing Ombudsman will only consider your complaint once you have completed our internal process.
However, you can contact the Housing Ombudsman at any point during the complaints process for their guidance and advice:
Contact details:
Housing Ombudsman Service
PO Box 152
Liverpool L33 7WQ
Telephone: 0300 111 3000
Fax 020 7831 1942
Email: info@housing-ombudman.org.uk
Website: www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk
We will co-operate with the Housing Ombudsman in accordance with their Complaint Handling Code.
Estuary Housing Association – Self Assessment With The Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code
As a member of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, we must comply with the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code. As required, we have reviewed our complaint handling processes to ensure that they align with the requirements of the code – you can read our Housing Ombudsman Self Assessment.