Kirklees Council Homes and Neighbourhoods Annual Complaints review
Kirklees Council cabinet have reviewed and responded to a report on Kirklees Homes & Neighbourhoods complaints performance and service improvements at their meeting on the 9 July.
The report which is a statutory requirement under the social housing regulation act 2023 sets out the council’s performance is relation to the housing ombudsman’s complaint handling code. The Housing Ombudsman is the independent public body for complaints within the social housing sector.
The council has carried out a self-assessment of their performance against the code, alongside an analysis of the complaints it has received, and the learning identified in relation to how they have been handled. Now this has been approved the report will be submitted to the housing ombudsman this month.
Cllr Cathy Scott, Leader of the Council and Cabinet member for Housing said:
“Kirklees Homes and Neighbourhoods are on an improvement journey covering all aspects of our service delivery. We are committed to making sure our tenants live in safe and comfortable homes, and have a positive experience of dealing with the service as their landlord.
“By carrying out this self-evaluation exercise and reporting on complaints and self-improvement we have been able to take a deep dive into what we are doing well and what we can do better. Most complaints we receive are in relation to customers feeling uninformed about what action is being taken to resolve as issue, rather than a failure to resolve an issue with their home.”
“This understanding has led to a series of improvements in our customer service and complaints procedures which should mean complaints are easier to make, are dealt with quicker and complainants feel that they are kept informed of the process for resolving their complaint from start to finish. Other improvements include carrying out staff training on our service standards and the complaints handling process, an ongoing review of policies including the Repairs and Maintenance Policy and current No Access procedures, to make sure that the overall number of complaints are minimised in the future”
“This year we will work to improve the quality of our work, make sure our working relationships with delivery partners are efficient and effective, make better use our IT and recording systems, we are also actively recruiting more staff to support the needs of our tenants. All these changes are being made with the tenant’s customer experience first and foremost in our minds.”