Did we get it wrong?

We always aim to provide a good service however sometimes things go wrong. When that happens we will do all we can to put it right, as quickly and effectively as possible, however you may wish to have a formal response. We learn from complaints and feedback, and complaints give us valuable information about how to improve services and we take them seriously.

CHS Group is a member of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme and so we follow the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code. We have produced an annual complaint handling report for 2023-24 which includes the number and outcomes of complaints we have handled, and also our annual self-assessment against Ombudsman’s Code.

On 18^th June 2024 the CHS Board responded to the annual complaints report:

‘The CHS Group Board welcomed the Complaints Annual Report and Self-Assessment. The report showcases the exemplary work done in partnership by CHS Group officers and tenants to manage and oversee our approach to complaints. We take complaints very seriously and look to continuously learn from incidents that don’t go as well as we would like.  We commit wholeheartedly to complaints management and will continue this work through our established working relationship with tenants through the Tenant Committee, Complaints panel and Scrutiny panel. We will continue to seek assurance that officers are doing everything possible to improve services based on the learning points noted in this report, and to improve satisfaction with complaint handling. ’

Making a complaint

You can make a complaint in whatever way suits you, including:

Call us on 0300 111 3555 or Minicom

Email us info@chsgroup.org.uk

Complete our online Complaints Form

Write to us – CHS Group, Endurance House, Chivers Way, Histon, Cambridge CB24 9ZR

Speak to us in person to a CHS employee

As a CHS resident, you can also contact The Housing Ombudsman for advice at any stage if your complaint is about housing and if your complaint is about our care provision, please contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Tel: 0300 061 0614 (Mon-Fri 10 am – 1pm, apart from Weds: 1 pm – 4pm) or write to Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, PO Box 4771, Coventry CV4 0EH – Sign language: https://www.interpreterslive.co.uk/app/local-government-social-care-ombudsman/

Customer Complaints Panel

This Panel, made up of our customers, helps CHS maintain high standards in complaint handling by reality checking a sample of closed complaints to check the quality of CHS’s complaint responses. This learning is then fed back into the continuous training programme for complaint handlers. The Customer Complaints Panel also review complaint themes to identify trends and monitor complaint handling performance. They review CHS’s Complaints and Compensation Policies, and co-create an annual self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.

Key information – How we deal with your complaint

Stage 1 Complaints

We’ll take any problem you raise seriously and try to resolve it when you first contact us.  If your initial contact with us doesn’t resolve the issue to your satisfaction, we will open a stage 1 complaint, we’ll acknowledge in writing within 1 week and send a full reply within a further 2 weeks. (or let you know if we need some more time to gather information).

Stage 2 Complaints

If you are not satisfied you can make a stage 2 complaint which will be handled by a senior manager or Director. The stage 2 complaint will take up to 4 weeks (or we’ll let you know the reason if it will take longer). This is as far as your complaint can go with CHS, after which you can refer it to The Housing Ombudsman (www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk or 0300 1113000)

You can also seek advice from The Housing Ombudsman at any stage and they can advise you on how the would expect CHS to handle your complaint or offer support to help us find a resolution with you.

Complaints Policy

Click here to view our Complaints Policy May 2024

Compensation Policy

Read our Compensation Policy here

Housing Ombudsman

CHS is a member of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk) and we follow the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code. Our customers can seek advice from the Ombudsman at any stage during the course of a complaint, or ask the Ombudsman to investigate if you are not satisfied with the final outcome of your complaint. Click here to find out more

Unreasonable Complaints

The ability to use our complaints process is important however occasionally we may consider it is being used unreasonably – if so we would explain why we will not further consider the complaint.

Unreasonable Customer Behaviour Policy May 2021

Complaints Performance

We received 35 stage one complaints during 2023/24. Five of these complaints were escalated to stage two and were all property related. Of the 35 complaints, 28 were made by tenants and 7 were made by Shared Owners. From the complaints that were closed at the year-end, 12 were fully upheld, 16 were partially upheld and 4 were not upheld.

Each time we complete a complaint we note the learning from it and any steps we need to take to improve services for customers.