For Residents
It’s important to us that we listen to our customers and provide services that meet and exceed expectations.

Customers often tell us this and provide us with compliments about the service they receive. However, sometimes, things may not go right and you may wish to complain about the service you receive. We take all complaints seriously and see them as an opportunity to improve.

Complaints Procedure (Easy Read)

What is a complaint?

If you are unhappy about:

  • the standard of service you receive from us
  • our response to your request for a service or
  • something we did or didn’t do and want to make a complaint, we will investigate.
  • Complaints should be made as soon as possible.

How to make a complaint or compliment our services?

  • Call our Housing Services Team on 0121 663 1443
  • Email us at info@springhousing.org.uk
  • Write to us at: Spring Housing Association Limited Head Office, 22 Old Walsall Road Birmingham B42 1DT or to your local office.
  • Call into your local office and report a repair in person.
  • If you live in one of supported or specialist housing schemes, you can contact any member of staff at the service.

Complaint Process

All complaints/compliments should be made to the organisation within 1 month of the event that is being complained/complimented about. The organisation reserves the right to deal with any complaint made outside that timescale

Staff will try to resolve any issue causing customer dissatisfaction immediately at the point of enquiry. When customers remain dissatisfied, customers have the right to request that the matter be treated as a formal complaint.

Complaints from groups of tenants will be accepted. The response will be sent to all members of the group who are named in the complaint.

There are three stages to the formal complaints process and we aim to resolve the complaint at the earliest stage possible:

Stage 1 – the complaint is investigated by a staff member separate from the situation about which the complaint is made.

Stage 2 – the complaint investigation and response is reviewed by a senior manager.

Stage 3 – the complaint investigation and response is reviewed by a director.
If the complainant thinks that the response at Stage 1 or 2 has not fully addressed their complaint, they may request that their complaint is moved on to the next stage. Complainants will need to clarify which aspects of the complaint have not yet been resolved and what information has not been taken into account in the investigation. Requests to move a complaint to the next stage must be received within 10 working days of the date of the previous stage’s response letter.

At the end of the complaints process, if the complainant does not think that Spring has fully resolved their complaint, they will be advised that they can wait for 8 weeks (from the date of their stage 3 decision letter) and approach the independent Housing Ombudsman Service.

Making a complaint

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to tell us when you feel something’s gone wrong. If you’re not happy with a service we’ve provided, please get in touch. (hyperlink to contact page)

Once we’ve heard from you, we’ll:

  • Make sure we understand what’s happened from your view point and look for a solution.
  • Be clear about what we can and can’t do.
  • Sort out your issue if we can.
  • Tell you who’ll be able to help if the issue is complex.
  • Keep in touch until everything’s sorted out.
  • Look at the cause of the issue so we can stop it happening again.

How we would handle your complaint/compliment.
We will:

Acknowledge your complaint within two working days, advise you of the procedure and give you the name of the person dealing with your complaint at Spring.

Right to Appeal

  • A person has the right to appeal about a decision that they disagree with
  • All appeals will be considered on individual merit
  • All appeals will be viewed impartially
  • A decision will be made within 10 working days of receipt with complainants being advised where a full response is likely to take longer
  • If the complainant still feels aggrieved with the findings they have the right to a secondary appeal via the organisations Appeals Panel

General

All complaints/compliments should be made to Spring Housing Association within 6 months of the event being complained/complimented about. We reserve the right to deal with any complaint made outside that timescale dependent on the nature of the complaint.

Spring Housing reserves the right to refuse to deal with complaints that are pursued unreasonably and may deal with complaints differently to the way outlined in our policies and procedures if circumstances merit it. The decision to refuse to deal with a complaint or to deal with it differently will be taken at, at least senior management level

Further options

If you are still not satisfied, you can contact three types of ‘designated person’: Tenant Panel, a local MP or a local councillor. Designated persons help to resolve disputes between tenants and their landlords. If the designated person cannot help they can refer a complaint to the Housing Ombudsman Service.

Complaints to the Ombudsman do not have to be referred by a designated person, but, if they are not, at least 8 weeks must have passed from the end of the landlord’s complaint process before the Ombudsman can consider your case.

Housing Ombudsman Service, 81 Aldwych, London WC28 4HN. Tel: 0300 111 3000 E-mail: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk