✅ Acknowledge your complaint in writing within 5 working days.
✅ Confirm who is responsible for reviewing and responding to your complaint.
✅ Provide a response in writing within:
10 working days from the date of acknowledgment (Stage 1).
20 working days from the date of acknowledgment (Stage 2).
✅ Clarify when any issues arising from your complaint will be resolved.
✅ Inform you whether and how you can have our decision reviewed.
✅ Provide contact details for the Housing Ombudsman Service should you wish to escalate your complaint.

To learn more about what happens when you make a complaint and what you can expect from us during this process, please refer to our full Complaints Policy (revised April 2024). Please note that further amendments will be made shortly once our action plan for service improvement is completed.

If you are unsure at any point during the complaints process and need guidance, please let us know. Alternatively, the Housing Ombudsman is available to provide impartial advice and support at every stage of your complaint.

Contacting the Housing Ombudsman Service
📞 Phone: 0300 111 3000
📧 Email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk

📮 Postal Address:
Housing Ombudsman Service
PO Box 1484, Unit D
Preston, PR2 0ET

We appreciate your feedback and are committed to continuous improvement in our services.

In line with new guidance published by the Ombudsman, we are actively reviewing and improving how we handle complaints.

If you want to know more about what we have done to improve our complaints process, and what work we still have to do, then have a look at our Complaints Handling Code Self-Assessment carried out in April 2024.  This self-assessment was carried out using the Housing Ombudsman Service’s ‘Complaint Handling Code‘. The Code, published in April 2024, looks to ensure fairness for residents who have a complaint about their Housing Provider.  It is vital that you are easily able to access the complaints service and that you are clear on your rights throughout.

Our existing Complaints Policy is already largely compliant with the expectations of the code (85%). In areas we need to improve (11 out of 72) we have a clear action plan with what we need to do and when by.  We will update this Assessment as we complete the plan and republish the policy.

We have a member of our Board leading on complaints’ performance and this is what he said about our self-assessment against the new code this year: “…Good to see that we comply with the majority of the provisions of the code and where we partially do, I am confident that our proposed actions will ensure compliance…”

Our complaint performance in 2023-2024

It is important to us that you know how we handled your complaints last year, including the gaps identified and what we learned.  Please take a look at the Complaints performance report for 2023-2024 here and our governing body’s response (Services Committee, Board Sub Group):  “We wish to congratulate them (CDS) for the improvements seen here, accepting the number of complaints upheld remained high, but there were learnings identified and some robust actions in place.