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, reviews complaints to ensure that solutions are fair and just. If you have made a complaint you can request that the panel be involved at any time during the complaints process and panel members will act as a mediator between CHS and tenants to help resolve disputes. We work closely with our Customer Complaints Panel, which helps us to learn from complaints, review our Complaints Policy, complete an annual self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman’s standards, and carry out formal reviews of individual complaints. You may want to ask the Panel to support you in making a complaint to CHS, or give you advice and you can contact them at ComplaintsPanel@chsgroup.org.uk

Key information – How we deal with your complaint

Formal Complaints (stage 1)

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 formal 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).

Complaint Review (stage 2)

If you are not satisfied you can ask for a Formal Review which will be handled by our Customer Complaints Panel or a senior manager or Director. The review 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 24 formal complaints during 2022/23, 11 about housing management and 13 about repairs / maintenance issues.

Our analysis of complaints received so far in 2023/24 shows that a high number of the complaints we receive about property issues are about issues with appointments and the time taken to complete repairs. We are working with our contractors to improve communication and also repair timescales.