Handling Customer Complaints
Our Customer Feedback Team plays a key role in making
sure complaints are handled well and that we learn from what
customers tell us.
During 2025/26, we completed a major review of our complaints service in response to rising demand and customer feedback. The focus was on understanding the main causes of complaints, simplifying the process and improving how we respond when things go wrong.
This review was not just about changing processes; it was about improving how we learn from feedback and work together to deliver a better customer experience. Improvements introduced during the year included stronger record keeping, a new central approach to logging elected member enquiries and a resolution tracker to ensure agreed actions are completed on time.
We also strengthened complaints handling by improving visibility and control over compensation payments, restricting access to confidential complaints so sensitive cases can be managed securely, and introducing clearer Stage Two guidance with mandatory check-ins and tighter timescales. Together, these changes have helped improve accountability, reduce repeat complaints, and support more consistent responses for customers. We have reduced complaints by 26%, but our stage 2 escalations remain high. We continue to work with customers and colleagues to understand the drivers for escalation.
In 2025/26, Great Places received 28 determinations from the Housing Ombudsman Service.
Across those determinations, the Ombudsman made 52 findings, of which 32 related to maladministration or service failure. We had 15 ‘no maladministration’ findings.
| Number of HOS referrals | Per cent of total complaints | Service failures upheld | Maladministration upheld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | 28 | 1.7% | 17 | 15 |
| 2024/25 | 22 | 1.1% | 11 | 16 |
| 2023/24 | 22 | 1.1% | 14 | 22 |
We have used these determinations to drive further service improvement. This has included clearer communication with customers about home contents insurance and personal responsibility for belongings, which is now part of a new digital welcome pack and reinforced through regular campaigns.
We have also introduced a standard property inspection for repair or building-related Housing Ombudsman cases. This helps us confirm whether anything has been missed and resolve any outstanding concerns more quickly and effectively for the customer.
We will continue building on this work in 2026/27, including further enhancements to our complaints systems, dashboard reporting and Housing Ombudsman processes. We are also formalising how we learn from complaints through our Service Excellence Groups, helping us embed continuous improvement more consistently across the organisation.
Learning from complaints remains an important source of customer insight and continues to inform service redesign and continuous improvement activity.
The Top 3 areas we received complaints around from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 were:
Repairs
Customer Experience
Compliance
Case studies – Services shaped by customers
10-Year Ambitions
After consulting customers on our corporate priorities, the Great Places Board invited customers to help shape our 10-Year Ambitions. Customers reviewed a draft document prepared by the Board and shared whether the Ambitions felt right, whether they were bold enough and whether anything was missing. Customer Committee members also took part in the consultation, which helped inform the Ambitions signed off by the Board in December 2025.
Outcome: Board decision-making benefited from customer insight, helping shape the final 10-Year Ambitions, which will determine our direction of travel for the next decade.
Tenancy management
To inform our updated Tenancy Management Policy and changes to our tenancy agreements, customers were invited to comment on our approach to several tenancy related issues. These included how we manage pest infestations, permissions for customer-installed CCTV and doorbell cameras, and the support customers need to exchange their homes. We invited all customers to get involved and sent individual invitations to customers with lived experience of running a business from home, having a pet, dealing with problems caused by a neighbour’s pet, or making complaints about noise nuisance.
Outcome: Customer feedback informed final policy changes and helped ensure tenancy guidance reflected lived experience, making it relevant and meaningful.
Calls to customers with complaints with the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS)
As part of Great Places’ complaints review, customers were encouraged to tell us about their experience of making a complaint to Great Places. Satisfaction scores had improved across all areas from previous surveys completed. However, if customers do not feel that they have received a fair and reasonable response to their complaint after escalating it to Great Places’ stage two process, customers are advised how to escalate their complaint to the HOS.
We called a sample of customers who had escalated their complaints to HOS to understand the steps Great Places could have taken to reduce the need for customers to go beyond Great Places’ own complaints process.
Great Places’ complaints review resulted in updates to our Remedies and Resolutions Policy to ensure that customers are fairly compensated when issues have left them out of pocket or inconvenienced. This reflects the new HOS Compensation policy guidance supporting fair and transparent awards when we have got something wrong. It ensures that we have robust learning and service improvement from customer complaints and cases escalated to the HOS for their review.
Outcome: Customer feedback informed improvements to complaint logging, remedies and resolution processes. We’ve also seen a significant reduction in complaints, an improved Tenant Satisfaction Score in this area and quicker case resolution for customers.
Scrutiny
Our customer Insight group also undertook a scrutiny exercise linked specifically to our stage two complaint responses. They reviewed the process, communications and outcomes for customers. They made a number of recommendations, and an action plan has been agreed with Insight which will be delivered during 2026/27.
Outcome: Insight recommendations have been translated into an agreed action plan for delivery during 2026/27. The group receives regular progress updates from the accountable colleagues across the business.
Heat networks
We worked closely with the Energy and Heat Networks Team to support changes to systems and contractors for heat networks across several blocks. The project has helped save customers hundreds of pounds a year and gave us a better understanding of customer needs in those buildings. This involved meeting customers in their homes, making calls and providing regular communication. It also resulted in additional investment at one of our apartment blocks, ensuring we are listening and acting upon our customers’ feedback.
Outcome: Many customers have benefited from warmer homes and lower heating bills, as well as receiving more tailored communication and dedicated support.
Customer Engagement – April 2025 to March 2026
93,456 emails were sent to customers with opportunities to get involved
4,603 text messages were sent to customers where we do not hold an email address
3,387 postal invitations were sent
85 face-to-face and telephone conversations were held
6,042 visits were made to the Our Voice engagement platform
508 customers completed surveys to share their feedback
Repairs Review
Customer engagement highlighted what was important to people and enabled the review to focus on what customers wanted/ expected. This has influenced the new structure, new repair priority and new Repairs Policy. The next consultation is focused on customer responsibilities, and a new recharge policy, enabling customers to continue to shape policy and service improvements.
Outcome: We have drafted a new Repairs Policy for launch in Autumn 2026, which has been significantly influenced by customer voice and input.
