North
Yorkshire Council
Housing and LeisureOverview and ScrutinyCommittee 23
September 2025
Housing Complaints Handling Update Q1 2025/26
Report of the Corporate Director Community
Development
2.0
SUMMARY
2.1
Complaint handling is a
critical component of effective service delivery. Complaints
provide crucial insights into residents’ experiences which
can help directservice improvement. As both a landlord and the
strategic housing authority, North Yorkshire Council need to be
receptive to complaints to help build a greater understanding of
residents’ priorities and areas of shortfall in our
provision. Clear and transparent complaint handling is vital to
ensure lessons can be learnt from outcomes.
2.2
As a social landlordour
responsibilities around complaint handling are set out
inlegislation and codes of guidance. Effective complaints handling,
and the accurate recording of this data are key requirements social
housing landlords are required to adhere to under the Social
Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and the Housing Ombudsman’s
Complaints Handling Code. This legislation gave the Housing
Ombudsman responsibility to monitor compliance with the complaints
handling code.
2.3
As a social landlord a positive
complaint handling culture supports the cultivation of a positive
relationship with our tenantswho can then trust us to respond to
complaints in a timely manner. Being viewed as a proactive landlord
who responds to tenant needs works towards North Yorkshire
Council’s commitment to improving our tenant’s
overallexperience. Elected Members play a crucial part in this by
challenging and scrutinising our complaints data.
3.0
BACKGROUND
3.1
The Social Housing (Regulation)
Act 2023 requires social landlords to measure tenant satisfaction,
complaints handling is includedin this metric.This legislation gave
the Housing Ombudsman Complaints Handling Code statutory power.
Therefore, there is a legal obligation for local authorities to
comply with, and demonstrate their compliance, with this
code.
3.3
The Housing Ombudsman provides
a skeleton framework to which all social housing providers must
adhere to, but it is up to the individual housing provider to
decide the operational components of this framework to account for
their service capacity.
3.4
As a result of NYC’s
first self-assessment of compliance with that code the Housing
Complaints Policy was updated June 2024, utilising the Housing
Ombudsman’s framework to develop an improved
policy.
3.5
As obligated by the Housing
Ombudsman, North Yorkshire Council has a two stage
complaintsprocess. At Stage One, an acknowledgement will be
providedwithin five working days, and a response within 10 working
days detailing any resolution that may take place. Should a tenant
be unhappy with their outcome, they can request for their complaint
to be raised to Stage Two. At this stage, a response must be given
within 20 working days.
4.0
COMPLAINTS PERFORMANCE
4.1
A
complaint is defined as: ‘an expression of
dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service,
actions or lack of action by the landlord, its own staff, or those
acting on its behalf, affecting a resident or group of
residents.’ A tenant does not have to use the word
‘complaint’ for it to be treated as such.
4.2
During
Quarter One 2025/26 the Housing Service received a total of 89 new
Stage One complaints. TableOne below shows that 18 of those
complaints were regarding General Fund Housing Services whilst 71
were from our social housing tenants/ leaseholders.
Table 1 Count of
new Stage One complaints by acknowledgement date
|
Count of
Ref
Row
Labels
|
  Column Labels Apr
|
May
|
Jun
|
Grand
Total
|
|
 Housing - General
|
8
|
4
|
6
|
18
|
|
Housing Delivery
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
Housing Management
|
|
|
2
|
2
|
|
Housing Needs
|
6
|
2
|
2
|
10
|
|
Housing Renewal
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
|
Housing Standards
|
1
|
|
|
1
|
|
Housing - Tenant
|
21
|
25
|
25
|
71
|
|
Housing Delivery
|
1
|
|
1
|
2
|
|
Housing Management
|
1
|
6
|
5
|
12
|
|
Housing Needs
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
Housing Standards
|
19
|
19
|
18
|
56
|
|
Grand Total
|
29
|
29
|
31
|
89
|
4.3. A
further breakdown (Table 2) highlights that 64% of all complaints
received were regarding our Housing StandardsService (responsible
for council house repairs, stock condition and planned maintenance)
and 16% were regarding Housing Management (responsible for tenancy
management). Therefore in Quarter 1, 83% of all housing complaints
were regarding our landlord services.
4.4 The split
between complaints received about our landlord services and general
housing complaints remains consistent with the 2024/25 figures
where the majority of complaints received were from our tenants
and/or leaseholders. Table3 below details a further breakdownof
complaints received about our landlord services.
5.0
HRA
COMPLAINTS
5.1
Further analysis of the
complaints received for our landlord servicesshows that of the 71
receivedin Quarter 1, 79% (56) were regarding our Housing Standards
service and of those 56, 48% (34) were classified as ‘Repairs
– time taken to resolve’. This is reflective of the
high volume of repair requests being received, alongside the
increased workload of the repairs time in dealing with repairs
raised as a result of the stock condition survey
programme.
5.2
Table 4 providesa breakdown of
StageOne landlord servicecomplaints by locality.The information
available shows that overall, the number of complaints is
reflective of the size of the housing stock in the localities, with
no noticeable peaks. The average number of new stage one complaints
received per month in Quarter One was 23.6, this has fallen from an
average of 30 per month across 2024/25.
Table 4 Stage One complaints receivedby month and locality
|
Count
of Ref
Row Labels
|
 Column Labels Apr
|
|
May
|
Jun Grand Total
|
|
|
 Housing Delivery
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|
|
 Harrogate
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
 Selby
|
1
|
|
|
1
|
|
Housing
Management
|
1
|
6
|
5
|
12
|
|
Hambleton
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
Harrogate
|
|
3
|
3
|
6
|
|
Richmondshire
|
1
|
|
|
1
|
|
Scarborough
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
 Selby
|
|
3
|
|
3
|
|
Housing
Needs
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
Harrogate
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
Housing
Standards
|
19
|
19
|
18
|
56
|
|
Hambleton
|
1
|
|
2
|
3
|
|
Harrogate
|
9
|
10
|
7
|
26
|
|
Richmondshire
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
7
|
|
Selby
|
5
|
8
|
6
|
19
|
|
(blank)
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
Grand Total
|
21
|
25
|
25
|
71
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5.3
Despite
high complaint figuresnot necessarily being indicative of poor
provision, in Quarter One 61% of tenant complaints were either
upheld (51%) or partly upheld (10%). This is a slight decrease from
2024/25 when 67% were upheld (55%) or partly upheld
(12%).
Table5
Summary of outcomes of those complaints closed in month
ColumnLabels
Apr
May
Jun
Total Count
Total %
Row Labels
Count
%
Count %
Count
%
Upheld
9
60.00%
13
48.15%
9
47.37%
31
50.82%
Partly Upheld
2
13.33%
1
3.70%
3
15.79%
6
9.84%
Not Upheld
4
26.67%
10
37.04%
4
21.05%
18
29.51%
Not Pursued / Investigated
0.00%
1
3.70%
3
15.79%
4
6.56%
N/A
0.00%
2
7.41%
0.00%
2
3.28%
Grand Total
15
100.00%
27
100.00%
19
100.00%
61
100.00%
5.4
During
2024/25 the service were actively monitoring the increase in
complaints received and increasing our communications with tenants
and staff around the complaints process. This, alongside our
improved complaint handlingprocess resulted in an increased number
of complaints and an increase in complaints being upheld. It is yet
to be seen if this decrease in complaints received and decrease in
complaints being upheld is part of a longer term trend and should
be viewed alongside tenant satisfaction feedback to determine if
this signifies an improvement in service provision and complaint
handling or apathy with the complaints process.
5.5
Regarding
our complaint handling performance and compliance with response
timescales. Performance during Quarter One averaged at 85% of
complaints responded to within timescale. (Table 6) This is an
increased on the 2024/25average where 69% of Stage One complaints
were responded to within timescale.
Table 6
Summaryof Stage One complaints closedin month within policy
timescales
N
1
6.67%
5
18.52%
3
15.79%
9
14.75%
Y
14
93.33%
22
81.48%
16
84.21%
52
85.25%
Grand Total
15
100.00%
27
100.00%
19
100.00%
61
100.00%
5.6
In terms of Stage Two
complaints received in Quarter One, 13 new complaints were received
for landlord services. 85% (11) of these Stage Two complaints were
assigned to Housing Standards. This is equivalent to 15% of Stage
One complaints resulting in a Stage Two complaint, demonstrating the effectivecomplaint handling by
the HousingTeam as tenantsfeel satisfied with a resolution to their
complaint. The low proportion of tenants requiring follow up
investigation is indicative of the Housing Service’s ability
to respond and resolve complaints to a satisfactory
level.
6.0
CONTRIBUTION TO
COUNCILPRIORITIES
6.1
Having an effective complaints
policy alignsto two key council priorities:
•
Good quality, valuefor money
servicesthat are customerfocused and accessible to all.
•
People are free from harm and
feel safe andprotected.
7.0
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
7.1
Complaints which are not
resolved to a satisfactory standard for the tenant can beprogressed
to the Housing Ombudsman. This can have financial implications for
the Council the Ombudsman can direct compensation. It is within the
Council’s interest to action and resolve complaints
quickly.
8.0
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
8.1
The implementation of the
Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and the Housing Ombudsman
Complaints HandlingCode has placed a legal requirement on all
socialhousing providers to have an accessible and comprehensive
complaints policy. As part of this, providers of social housingmust
be able to evidence effective complaints handling.
8.2
Our responsibilities as a Local
Authority housing provider means we are also bound to the Local
Government and Social Care Ombudsman which covers all housing
provision other than social housing.
8.3
Failure to comply with this
legal obligation leads to maladministration claims.
9.0
EQUALITIES
IMPLICATIONS
9.1
Currently, our complaints
procedure does not and is not developed to collect equalities data.
Therefore, we cannot comment on any correlations between our
complaints and tenant characteristics. This is a key area of
improvement our system needs to be able to collect more extensive
data about our tenants.
9.2
A new corporate complaints
system has been developed which will collect equalities data, this
is planned to be launched Quarter Three 2025/26.
10.0
PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS
10.1
Housemark is a national
database of performance related data for social housing providers.
It provides a comparison between other housing providers based on
HRA related complaints, allowing us to benchmark our
performance.
10.2
Using Housemark data, NYC is
improving its performance, becoming more in line with the median
number of complaints housing providers receive each month however,
the length of time taken to respond to complaints has slipped in
comparison to others in the benchmarking group.
|
KPI
|
Year
|
Month
|
NYC
|
Quartile
|
Quartile 3
|
Median
|
Quartile
1
|
|
Formal Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints
received per 1,000 properties
|
2025
|
April
|
2.52
|
4
|
3.25
|
4.99
|
7.535
|
|
Formal Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints
received per 1,000 properties
|
2025
|
May
|
3.96
|
3
|
2.9
|
4.86
|
6.68
|
|
Formal Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints
received per 1,000 properties
|
2025
|
June
|
4.08
|
3
|
3.38
|
5.09
|
7.75
|
|
Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints resolved
within timescale (%)
|
2025
|
April
|
90.48
|
3
|
76
|
94
|
100
|
|
Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints resolved
within timescale (%)
|
2025
|
May
|
86.84
|
3
|
80
|
94.44
|
100
|
|
Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints resolved
within timescale (%)
|
2025
|
June
|
75
|
4
|
80.14
|
97
|
100
|
Table 7 Housemark Benchmarking Q1 2025/26
11.0
CONCLUSIONS
11.1
Since the introduction of an
improved complaints policy in response to the revised Housing
Ombudsman Code, our complaints handling has improved. We now have
more assurance that complaints regarding our landlord services are
reaching the right officers and are being more accurately tracked,
responded to and learnt from.
11.2
In terms of our
tenancy services, the number of complaints and the percentage of
complaints being upheld has decreased in Quarter One. Though the
number of complaints received is beginning to mirror the
averagenumber of complaints received per 1,000 across peer housing
providers, continued improvement is neededto understand the number
of complaints, in particular those upheld and meet our ambition to
becoming an ‘exemplar social landlord’.
11.3
The continued low percentage
(15%) of complaints that progress onto Stage Two (see para 5.6) can
be viewed two ways; either a low number progress to Stage Two due
to the effectiveness of our complaints handling, or a low number
progress as tenants feel unable / unsupported to progress
complaints to Stage Two after completing the StageOne process
– this could be linked to the length of time taken to resolve
complaints. It is only by surveying tenants once their complaint
has been closed that we would start to get any feedback on
this.
11.4
Compared to other housing
providers, we fell within the lowest quartile in relation to
complaints handling in June 2025. Of particular concern is the
percentage of complaints not resolved to timescales; we need to
ensure our complaints handling meet expectations and follow
guidelines. When comparing data across Quarter One, our performance
is improving. However, more work is needed to ensure we provide a
more consistent service for our tenants.
12.0
REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
12.1
As
part of our commitment
to being a tenant focused landlord, it is good practice to report
on our complaints data to help build a better picture of commonly
reported complaints to establish patterns within the data to target
service improvement. It is important to provide the Tenant Forum
and the Housingand Leisure Overviewand Scrutiny Committee with
regular updatesregarding this data and our complaints handling
procedures to help guide this work.
|
13.0
13.1
|
RECOMMENDATION(S)
The Committee is asked to consider the
contents of the report and comment on the progress made along with
the issues raised in this report with regards to possible
improvements.
|
Nic Harne
Corporate Director–
Community Development
County Hall Northallerton
10 September 2025
Report Author& Presenter – Vicky
Young,Service Improvement Manager
APPENDICES:
Appendix A –
HousingComplaints Dashboard
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:
Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023
North Yorkshire CouncilHousing Complaints
Policy
Note: Membersare invited to
contact the author in advance of the meetingwith any
detailedqueries or questions.
