Complaints

Complaints are different to everyday enquiries such as reporting repairs, rent enquiries or reporting anti-social behaviour issues. These are considered as service requests and will be handled in accordance with the policies in place for an escalated service request. Issues resolved in this way will still be logged for tenancy management and learning purposes.

Where substantial further enquiries or actions are needed to resolve the matter (such as looking into why a repair request was not actioned), or the customer requests it, the issue can become a complaint and will be dealt with in accordance with the Complaints Policy. This does not necessarily mean that the complaint cannot be then addressed quickly if that is the appropriate way to respond to the issue.

A complaint within this policy 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 you are looking to get in touch with us to request a service, report a repair or find out the status of your repair(s), a rent enquiry or to report anti‐social behaviour then please email our connect customer care team using info@jigsawhomes.org.uk .  This will ensure your enquiry is dealt with faster by the appropriate team.

A complaint can be raised to Jigsaw Homes Group by any person or group of people affected by an activity or service provided by the Group including:

• Current tenants/licensees and members of their households
• Former tenants/licensees
• Housing applicants
• Leaseholders
• MPs and Councillors
• Advocates of the complainant such as friends, relatives or other representatives (consent from the complainant is required)
• Residents of neighbourhood groups/those who have been affected by group activities and services in the locality
• Clients/customers for some contracted services (some contracted services are not covered by this policy).

This Policy applies to complaints against external contractors and external service providers acting on our behalf.

The Policy will not take a blanket approach to excluding complaints. Consideration will be given to the individual circumstances of each complaint. There are however some circumstances where we will not normally accept a formal complaint (or parts of a complaint). In some of these circumstances we may still internally investigate to ensure we continue to provide the best possible service. Such circumstances include:

• Anonymous complaints
• Complaints raised on behalf of a customer without their authority
• Complaints that have previously been fully investigated in‐line with this policy
• The issue giving rise to the complaint occurred over 12 months ago (we will not exclude any complaints that concern safeguarding or health and safety issues)
• Legal proceedings have started. This is defined as details of the claim such as the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim, having been filed at court
• Where you have exhausted another Group Policy and had the opportunity for independent review through appeal. For example, Unreasonable Behaviour Policy, Data Protection Policy
• Where you wish to complain about the terms of your tenancy agreement. We can investigate if the terms have been correctly interpreted, but we are unable to change the terms as this is a legal contract. For example, Right to Acquire eligibility
• Insurance claims. These are handled by our Insurers or our Insurance Team
• In some cases which relate to Health & Safety concerns. These may be passed to our Health & Safety team for investigation
• Where we have special arrangements in place with a customer in line with our Unreasonable Behaviour Policy. We will consider on a case-by-case basis whether it would be appropriate for us to accept a complaint. If the complaint is accepted, the terms of the Unreasonable Behaviour arrangements will be reflected in the way we respond
• Temporary business or service closures/outages (including digital services) due to unforeseen circumstances or logistical reasons.

There may be other circumstances where it is not appropriate to follow this complaints policy. If we do, for any reason, refuse to consider a matter as a complaint, we will always explain our decisions and signpost you to an appropriate service or team to progress the matter in the suitable way including your right to take our decisions to The Housing Ombudsman.

Please note:   If you’re looking to get in touch with us to request a service, report a repair or find out the status of your repair(s), a rent enquiry or to report anti‐social behaviour then please email our connect customer care team: info@jigsawhomes.org.uk .  This will ensure your enquiry is dealt with faster by the appropriate team.

We are happy to receive complaints in a variety of ways. You can raise a complaint by:

• Calling us
• Visiting us in person
• Emailing our complaints inbox
• Writing to us at Chief Executive’s Department.  Cavendish 249, Cavendish Street,
  Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 7AT
• Social media (send us a direct message on Facebook or Twitter)

Where a complaint is received via social media, it will be acknowledged using the same channel and referred to an appropriate person or team to help the customer make a complaint. If the complaint is made publicly – either via a comment on one of our posts, or on an individual’s own post, we may ask the customer to send any confidential or sensitive information via private message.

We may then also remove posts or comments that contain private or sensitive information or that could potentially put a customer at risk, such as publicly posting an address or phone number for data protection.

If you require support to raise your complaint please contact us and ask for the Chief Executive’s Department. We will assess customer needs on the specific circumstances of each case making reasonable adjustments where appropriate taking account of the Equality Act 2010.

We will accept complaints from a representative dealing with a complaint on behalf of a customer providing appropriate consent is obtained. Appropriate consent will take account of the Group Data Protection Policy and General Data Protection Regulation.

We will respond to complaints within the timescales set out by The Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code. Our timescales are explained further in this policy under the relevant headings. Sometimes it may not be possible to respond fully to a complaint within these timescales, but we will always keep you informed of any changes and agree with you any required extensions and when you can expect a reply.

The complaints process is a two-stage process designed to comply with The Housing Ombudsman Statutory Complaint Handling Code.

Customers can contact the Housing Ombudsman Service at any point during the complaint process. It cannot investigate the complaint whilst the complaint is going through our internal complaints procedure, however The Housing Ombudsman may be able to help the customer and the Association reach a resolution.

Contact information for The Housing Ombudsman is provided under heading ‘The Housing Ombudsman’.

All our staff will try to help customers who want to make a complaint, however if they cannot help a customer themselves, they will help the customer find someone who can. Our frontline staff are able to help customers who want to make a complaint. If they can’t help a customer themselves, they will help the customer find someone who can.

In most situations, the quickest and most effective way to resolve complaints or dissatisfaction for a customer is for us to work with managers in the relevant department to find an informal solution outside the formal complaints process.

If you remain unhappy with how your complaint has been handled, you can ask for your complaint to be escalated to the formal process under this Policy.

You also have the right to access The Housing Ombudsman Service throughout your complaint. Contact information for The Housing Ombudsman service is provided under heading ‘Designated persons and The Housing Ombudsman’.

Stage 1 – Investigation
We will acknowledge your stage one complaint within five working days of receiving your complaint.

Stage one complaints will be investigated by a service area manager or an officer from the Complaints Team within the Chief Executive’s Department. The investigating officer will investigate and provide you with a written response, which will normally be sent within ten working days from the formal acknowledgment of your complaint. If we need more time to investigate your complaint, we will always keep you informed and agree any extensions with you along with the reason why and when you can expect a response.

The maximum extension time to your stage one complaint will be a further ten working days.
Where customers raise additional complaints during the investigation, these will be incorporated into the stage one response if they are related and the stage one response has not been issued. Where the stage one response has been issued, the new issues are unrelated to the issues already being investigated, or it would unreasonably delay the response, the new issues will be logged as a new complaint.

Stage 2 – Review
If after your complaint has been investigated, you remain unhappy with our response, you can request a review. You will need to make this request within one month of your stage one response being sent to you.
The person considering the complaint at stage two, will not be the same person that considered the complaint at stage one.

We will acknowledge your stage two review within five working days of receipt. The investigating officer will review the complaint handling and provide you with a final response to your complaint. We will normally send you a final response within 20 working days from the acknowledgement of your stage two escalation. If we need more time to investigate your complaint, we will always keep you informed and agree any extensions with you along with the reason why and when you can expect a response.

The maximum extension time to your stage two complaint will be a further 20 working days.

Our response at stage two is our final response to your complaint and the end of the internal complaints process. If you are still not happy with the response you have received, you can refer your complaint to The Housing Ombudsman.

The Housing Ombudsman
The Housing Ombudsman service investigate complaints and resolve disputes involving the tenants and leaseholders of social landlords. Investigating these complaints is a free, independent, and impartial service.

You can contact the Housing Ombudsman Service at:

• Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 1484, Unit D, Preston, PR2 0ET
• Tel: 0300 111 3000
• Email: info@housing‐ombudsman.org.uk
• Website: www.housing‐ombudsman.org.uk

If you need to make a general complaint you should refer to the Complaints Policy HERE. 

You can refer to our Self Assessment Compliance with the Complaint Handling Code HERE.

If your complaint is specifically in relation to Debt Advice, please refer to our Debt Advice Complaints Policy HERE.

If you are a Legal & General Affordable Homes customer, please click HERE.

Jigsaw Homes Group is committed to providing a fair, consistent and accessible service. We believe that everyone who contacts us has the right to be heard, understood and respected. We believe that our staff have the same rights, and the Group must provide a safe working environment for our staff. Please refer to our Unreasonable Behaviour Policy (against Jigsaw Homes representatives) HERE.

If you are unsure which policy to refer to or wish to find out more about making a complaint, please email us on info@jigsawhomes.org.uk or call 0300 11 11 212.

There are a number of ways in which we may consider resolving customer complaints. These remedies include but are not limited to:

• An apology and explanation
• A specific action or correction of an error within timescales
• Changing policies, procedures or practices
• Additional staff training
• Providing a financial remedy where appropriate, taking account of The Group’s Compensation Policy and The Housing Ombudsman Guidance on Remedies.

Customer satisfaction is a key measure of our performance and we take a proactive approach to learning from any customer feedback, including complaints and compliments. We use feedback to help shape our policies and procedures and to continually improve the services we deliver to our customers.

We will publish an annual complaints performance and service improvement report on our websites to provide customers with information about the Association’s complaint handling performance including any findings of non-compliance by The Housing Ombudsman and the service improvements made as a result of the learning from complaints.

The Chief Executive’s Department will monitor the delivery of this policy and it will be reviewed annually. We may review this policy sooner if appropriate, for example, if there are changes to legislation or business requirements.

Our compensation policy applies to all customers of Jigsaw affected by an activity or service carried out by Jigsaw Homes Group and aims to define the circumstances where compensation will be considered by the Group.

We aim to compensate in circumstances where:

• Customers have suffered financial loss, or suffered significant inconvenience as a result of service failure
• Complies with statutory and regulatory obligations
• It is an appropriate and proportionate response to a failure on our part.

To offer redress that is:

• Fair, when considering the specific circumstances of the case
• Appropriate and proportionate to the severity of the service failure taking into account the impact of the action or behaviour of the customer as well as the landlord’s actions
• Flexible, considering different remedy solutions.

Some services we carry out are contracted to or by us to deliver with partnership organisations or contractors. Compensation relating to these services may go through different processes.

View our full compensation policy HERE.

The Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code became statutory on 1st April 2024 meaning that landlords are obliged by law to follow its requirements. The Code aims to achieve best practice in complaint handling and ultimately to provide a better service to residents. To monitor landlord compliance, the Housing Ombudsman require landlords to complete a self‐assessment against the code standards with part of the assessment requiring evidence of an annual Performance and Service Improvement Report.

Download our Performance & Service Improvement Report here →

If you live in social housing and you have an issue with your home or your landlord, there are ways to make things right.

Visit socialhousingcomplaints.campaign.gov.uk for more information.