How Your Complaint Will be Dealt With
If your complaint cannot be resolved at the first point of contact and you wish to have your complaint investigated, the following process will be used.
Stage one
- When you first make a formal complaint, your complaint will be dealt with by a manager or their representative.
- The manager or representative will investigate your complaint and will aim to respond to you and resolve your complaint within five working days. If they cannot resolve it they will inform you within five working days and give you a date by which they hope to resolve it.
Stage two
- If your complaint is not resolved at stage one, you can ask to proceed to stage two. You should let us know you would like to do this within ten working days of our response to your complaint.
- The director responsible for the relevant service will investigate your complaint. We will advise you who this person is and the date by which they will aim to respond to your complaint. The director will aim to resolve your complaint within seven working days of receipt. If they need more time to investigate, they will let you know within seven working days.
Stage three
- If your complaint is not resolved at stage two, you can ask to proceed to stage three, where your complaint will be considered further. You should let us know within 14 days of our response to your stage two complaint if you wish your complaint to continue to the next phase.
- At this stage the Director of Corporate Services will consider your complaint and aim to make a final decision on it within ten working days of receiving it. This is the end of the complaints process. If the Director of Corporate Services is unable to make a decision on your complaint, the matter will be referred to the Complaints (and Appeals) Committee.
- The Complaints (and Appeals) Committee will not consider cases where the decisions reached at stage one and two of the policy are within existing policies and procedures of Erimus Housing.
- If your case is to be considered by the Complaints (and Appeals) Committee, the committee will aim to meet within 20 working days and you will be invited to attend.
- After the meeting, the case will have reached its final decision. However if you feel the complaint has still not been resolved, you can contact the Independent Housing Ombudsman.
The Independent Housing Ombudsman
The independent Housing Ombudsman provides a free and independent service. Before contacting the ombudsman, you should normally have completed the final stage in Erimus Housing’s complaints procedure.
If you think that your complaint is ready for the Housing Ombudsman to investigate, you can telephone the Ombudsman for a free complaint form on 08457 125973, or visit the website at www.ihos.org.uk. Alternatively you can email the ombudsman at ombudsman@ihos.org.uk.
