Compliments, complaints and feedback

Give us your feedback about our service

We are committed to continuously evolving our service and we’d love to hear your thoughts, whether you’ve had a positive experience, or if you think there are areas where we could improve. If you’d like to leave us a comment, or raise a complaint with us, let us know by filling out our comments form.

Complaints

Things to consider before logging a complaint:

• If you’re reporting a repair, this can be reported by repairs@jmha.co.uk.
• If you’re reporting antisocial behaviour, please head to our antisocial behaviour page for further advice.
• Let us know clearly who you are. We want to work with you to find a solution and won’t be able to anonymously.
• Under normal circumstances you must make your complaint within 12 months of the event you want to complain about. In exceptional circumstances, we may be able to accept a complaint outside of these timescales, but you must provide justification as to why this is the case within your complaint.

What is a complaint?

• Not delivering a service in line with our agreed standards.
• We have done something that we should not have done.
• There are concerns about the way something has been dealt with.
• There have been delays in responding to enquiries or requests.
• The conduct, treatment, or attitude of one of our staff members, contractors, or representatives has caused concern.
• We have not complied with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code .

What isn’t a complaint?

• An initial request for a service or information about one of our services.
• An initial request for a service or information about one of our services.
• Issues that are in court or have already been heard by a court or tribunal.
• A request for information under the Data Protection Act.

Making a Complaint

We don’t always get things right first time and if you do have any problems, let us know straight away and we’ll do our best to rectify the problem during the initial enquiry.

If we think your enquiry meets the definition of a complaint as defined by the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code, or if you ask us to log your enquiry as a complaint, we will record this on our system. This will be investigated under Stage 1 of our complaint handling process. We will always write to you to confirm the outcome of your complaint and we’ll also let you know what action we intend to take to put things right.

If you remain unhappy with our response at Stage 1, you can request that your complaint is reviewed by a Director. This is Stage 2 of our process. Following a review of the Stage 1 complaint, the Director will write to you to confirm their findings and set out any action they intend to take to resolve the complaint to your satisfaction. This is the final stage in our complaint handling process.

Should you require any help, support, or advice in relation to your concerns about our service, you can speak to a designated person such as a Councillor or Member of Parliament. You may also contact the Housing Ombudsman Service, an independent organisation that investigates complaints. You may contact the Ombudsman at any stage prior to, or during our complaints process. You can do this by:

• Calling them on freephone at 0300 111 3000.
• Writing to them at Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 1484, Unit D, Preston, PR2 0ET
• Emailing info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk.

To find out more, visit our Complaints Resolution Policy. You can view our Self-Assessment of the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code here.

What happens when you make a complaint?

There are two steps to our Complaints Policy.

Stage 1 is the first step, When you contact us, our Customer Resolutions Team will be in touch in five working days.

They will:

• Introduce themselves
• Explain the stage 1 complaints process
• Ask questions to help us understand your complaint and try to agree a solution
• Agree how we will update you on progress
• Reply within ten working days to explain the outcome and next steps
• If we need more time, we will let you know and agree when we will respond
• If we need to take further action to resolve the complaint, for example carrying out a repair, we will keep in regular contact until all the work is complete and you’re happy with the outcome.

We will write to you to explain our understanding of your complaint, what we have found and what we will do to make this right. We will only close the complaint when all actions are done.

What happens if I am still unhappy?

If you’re still unhappy after stage 1, you can ask for a review by a director. This is stage 2 of our complaints process. We will investigate to understand why you remain unhappy and to identify what you would like to happen next to resolve your complaint. When you ask for a review, a director (or representative) will:

• Introduce themselves
• Explain the stage 2 complaints process
• Ask questions to help them understand the complaint
• Agree with you how we will update you on progress
• If we need more time, we will let you know and agree when we will respond
• We will write to you to explain our understanding of your complaint, our findings and what we will do to make this right. We will only close the complaint when all actions are done

If you need help with making a complaint If you would like to discuss your concerns with someone impartial, or if you need help with making a complaint, you can speak to a Member of Parliament, your local councillor or an advocate of your choice.

You can also contact the Ombudsman for help and support at any point during your complaint.

The Housing Ombudsman

The Housing Ombudsman Service is an independent organisation that investigates complaints. You can get in touch with the Housing Ombudsman at any stage for help.

They can look at your complaint if

• You have been through every stage of our complaints process
• It’s less than 12 months after you first knew about what you wanted to complain about
• The issue hasn’t or isn’t being looked at by a court. You will be asked to fill out a complaint form and give a copy of our response. 

You can get in touch with the Ombudsman by:

• Going online at Make a complaint - Housing Ombudsman
• Calling them on freephone 0300 111 3000