Statement from the Governing Body.
This report outlines our performance in the year April 2025 to March 2026 and self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman Code. I, as the Member responsible for complaints, and the Tenant Voice Forum have ensured the self-assessment gives a true reflection of our complaint handling, the improvements we’ve made, and where we’ll focus future improvement.
We welcome the progress made in strengthening complaints handling across Landlord Services during 2025/26 and recognise the critical role that effective complaint management plays in delivering a high-quality, accountable, and tenant-focused housing service.
We note the significant steps taken to align our processes with the statutory Housing Ombudsman Complaints Handling Code, including the reaffirmation of a clear two-stage process. We are encouraged that complaints performance and compliance are now subject to increased transparency and scrutiny by both elected members and tenants, reflecting our commitment to openness and accountability.
We are particularly supportive of the strengthened governance arrangements established over the past year. Regular reporting to scrutiny committees and tenant forums has ensured that complaints are no longer viewed in isolation, but as a vital source of insight to drive service improvement. We endorse the continued development of operational reporting and Complaints Clinics to ensure learning is embedded and outcomes are effectively tracked.
We also recognise the improvements made to systems and data. The implementation of a new complaints handling system represents a positive step towards achieving more accurate recording, better analysis, and stronger oversight of complaint trends and outcomes.
We are also reassured by the work undertaken to improve accessibility and ensure that complaints processes are clear and easy to navigate. Providing multiple reporting routes and clear information for tenants is essential to ensuring all residents can raise concerns with confidence. Further work to improve triage and promote the tenant complaints guide is supported.
Looking ahead, we fully endorse the planned actions for 2026/27. We expect to see continued strengthening of policy compliance, deeper insight from data, and a sustained focus on learning and service improvement. In particular, we emphasise the importance of evidencing how complaints lead to tangible changes and ensuring corrective actions are tracked.
Overall, we recognise that while progress has been made, continued improvement is essential. We remain committed to supporting the service in delivering a complaints handling function that is transparent, responsive, and centred on the needs of tenants, as part of our wider ambition to be a modern, accountable, and high-performing social landlord.
Cllr Myers –
Member Responsible for Landlord Services Complaints
Executive Summary
During 2025/26, North Yorkshire Council has made meaningful progress in strengthening its approach to complaints handling within Landlord Services, recognising it as a key driver of service improvement and tenant satisfaction. This work has been undertaken in the context of increased regulatory expectations following the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and the statutory Housing Ombudsman Complaints Handling Code.
Significant improvements have been achieved across six core areas. A clear two-stage complaints process has been reinforced, supported by defined response targets and improved alignment with the Housing Ombudsman Code. Governance and oversight arrangements have been strengthened, with regular reporting to elected members and tenant groups, ensuring greater transparency and accountability.
Investment in a new complaint handling system will enhance the quality and consistency of data, enabling better identification of service issues and supporting a more evidence-based approach to improvement. At the same time, there has been a notable cultural shift, with complaints increasingly viewed as an opportunity for learning rather than a measure of failure.
Accessibility has also improved, with clearer routes for tenants to raise complaints and better communication about the process. These changes are aligned with wider housing service reforms, ensuring complaints handling is fully integrated into broader organisational improvement efforts and a more tenant-centred approach.
While good progress has been made, the Council acknowledges that further improvement is required. Planned actions for 2026/27 focus on strengthening policy compliance, enhancing reporting and operational oversight, improving data insight, embedding learning, and refining the customer journey. This includes better tracking of corrective actions and continued development of a proactive, transparent complaints culture.
Overall, the direction of travel is positive, with clear evidence of increased maturity in complaints handling. Continued focus and delivery against planned actions will be essential to ensure sustained improvement and to fully realise the ambition of being a responsive, accountable, and tenant-focused social landlord.
Key Statistics:
· Total complaints received: 474
· Stage 1 complaints: 439
· Stage 2 complaints: 35
· Stage 1 Complaints upheld (partially or fully): 287
Overall, complaints have provided valuable insight into service performance, particularly in areas such as repairs and communication. Improvements have been implemented to address recurring issues and strengthen customer experience.
Introduction
This report and self-assessment cover North Yorkshire Council compliance with the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code, and our complaints handling performance from April 2025 to March 2026.
The report is limited to complaints received to our Landlord Services teams, responsible for management of social housing tenancies, shared ownership and leaseholder agreements, and the maintenance of approximately 8500 homes.
Improving our complaints handling
Improving our complaints handling processes is critical to our success as a social landlord. Throughout 2025/26 we have made significant improvements to our complaint handling and, whilst we acknowledge that there is still much we can do to improve, we are aware of the steps needed and have already begun to improve our compliance in the following areas:
1. Stronger alignment with the Housing Ombudsman Complaints Handling Code
North Yorkshire Council reaffirmed and embedded a two‑stage complaints process that aligns with the statutory Housing Ombudsman Complaints Handling Code, including a commitment to achieve the following complaints handling targets:
· Acknowledgement within 5 working days
· Stage 1 responses within 10 working days
· Stage 2 responses within 20 working days
Complaint handling performance and compliance are now explicitly reported and scrutinised by elected members and tenants, reflecting the statutory status of the Code under the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023.
Action 1: In 2026/27 the Landlord Services Complaints Policy will be reviewed again to ensure continued compliance with the Housing Ombudsman’s code and best practice.
2. Improved governance, oversight, and scrutiny
Complaint handling is recognised as a core component of service improvement rather than a standalone process.
Quarterly performance updates on complaint volumes, themes, and response times were reported to the Housing and Leisure Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Tenant Voice Forum during 2025/26.
Action 2: In 2026/27 complaint handling reporting will be further embedded through weekly and monthly reporting at an operational level, monthly Complaints Clinics will also continue to draw out learning from complaints and ensure outcomes are being tracked.
3. Better recording, transparency, and use of data
The Council implemented a new complaints handling system to improve the accuracy and consistency of complaints data recording and outcome tracking, reflecting regulatory expectations that complaint data should inform service improvement.
Complaints data is increasingly used to identify service weaknesses (for example repairs, damp and mould, and communication issues) and to provide improvement actions.
Action 3: In 2026/27 development of the new complaint handling system will lead to easier reporting and analysis of complaint data, allowing further insight on systemic service failures and opportunities for improvement, as well as complaint outcomes and tracking remedial actions.
4. Cultural shift towards learning from complaints
2025/26 saw a stronger emphasis on developing a positive complaint-handling culture, encouraging tenants to raise concerns and reinforcing that complaints are a tool for learning and improvement.
Action 4: in 2026/27 learning from complaints will be further promoted via weekly complaints updates, staff newsletter and quarterly reporting
5. Clearer customer routes and accessibility
Housing complaint reporting continued to be accessible online, by phone, and in writing, with information provided to tenants about what to expect at each stage of the process.
A new complaint handling system was introduced, ensuring all complaints are captured and handled appropriately. The online reporting form was also reviewed.
Action 5: further process review and improvement will take place to ensure that complaints are properly triaged and land with Landlord Services as soon as possible and a tenant guide to complaints will be promoted further.
6. Alignment with wider housing improvement work
Improvements to complaint handling in 2025/26 were linked to broader housing service reforms, including strengthened governance and service redesign following regulatory scrutiny. Additional resource has been dedicated to complaint handling and an improved, tenant-centred approach is being adopted.
Complaint handling is explicitly positioned as part of becoming a more transparent, accountable, and tenant‑focused social landlord, rather than a reactive function.
Overall, in 2025/26, North Yorkshire Council moved towards a more transparent, and learningfocused approach to housing complaints, improved tenant and member oversight, and stronger use of complaints data to drive service improvement.
Moving forward, we have plans to improve our complaint handling further, capturing and reporting on corrective actions and learning from complaints, holding regular complaints clinics to tackle systemic and complex issues and areas of complaint and, improving our customer journey further, providing easier access to our complaints process and a more tenant centred approach in our response to complaints.
A summary of complaints including the numbers of complaints received and resolved, and the response times
Volumes
During 2025/26 Landlord Services received 474 complaints, this is a 39% increase on complaints received in 2024/25 and represents an average of 39 complaints received per month.
Stage 1 complaints have increased sharply from 306 to 439 – an increase of 43%. This is the main driver of the overall rise.
Stage 2 complaint volumes remained stable at 35 in total.
Volume distribution remains consistent: Stage 1 complaints are still the vast majority in both years, with only a small proportion progressing to Stage 2. The low proportion of complaints progressing to Stage 2 signifies effective resolution at Stage 1, or issues with the escalation process.
There is a clear upward trend in complaint volumes, especially at Stage 1, suggesting:
· Increased demand or reporting of complaints, and/or
· Potential decline in service performance
An increase in complaint numbers is not necessarily a negative outcome, it demonstrates an accessible complaints process, that tenants feel able to complain and that they are engaged with North Yorkshire Council as their landlord.
Outcomes
Throughout 2025/26 there has been a clear shift in complaint outcomes between Stage 1 and Stage 2. At Stage 1, most complaints were upheld (58%), indicating strong early resolution. However, at Stage 2, upheld outcomes drop significantly to 21%, while “Not Pursued” cases rise sharply to 47%.
This suggests that fewer complaints were successfully upheld at later stages, with many cases not progressing or being withdrawn. Other categories show only minor variation, with “Not Upheld” remaining broadly stable.
Overall, the data indicates that resolution is front loaded at Stage 1, while Stage 2 experiences higher attrition and fewer positive outcomes, highlighting a need to review escalation pathways and understand why cases are not pursued further. Work has commenced to address this; the Housing Complaints Policy was reviewed in line with recommendations from the Housing Ombudsman and a programme of work has commenced to review complaints which may have been handled incorrectly.
Timeliness
During 2025/26 compliance with policy regarding timescales varied month on month and has shown some intermittent signs of improvement. However, with the review of complaint handling mentioned above, we have had to take a conservative approach to reporting and where any complaint has been closed as not pursued, this has been reported as non-compliant, leading to a dip in year-end performance figures. While performance for the year was below expected standards, the data provides clear insight into where improvements are required, offering a strong foundation for targeted recovery and service enhancement.
Key issues affecting timeliness
Through root cause analysis of non-compliance throughout the year, some consistent themes have arisen:
· High workloads in repairs and housing management teams have meant operational managers having to balance complaint handling with other service needs.
· Complexity of complaints requiring multi-service responses has, in some cases, led to a lack of ownership of complaints and difficulty in assigning complaints to the right officer first time.
· Resource pressures and organisational change had led to the Community Development Complaints Team being under resourced to deal with the increasing number of complaints for Landlord Services.
In order to address these issues, we have trialled several different approaches to complaint management and introduced additional complaints resource, dedicated to Landlord Services. We have also:
· Introduced weekly meetings between the Complaints Officer and Housing Standards Managers to track progress on complaints.
· Strengthened oversight and performance monitoring, with weekly monitoring now in place, alongside monthly complaint clinics.
· Provided additional training and support for complaint handlers
Moving forward, the further implementation of our new complaint handling system will enhance the service, allowing proper workflows and assignation of complaints, tracking of complaint response timescales and remedial actions. With the right interventions, there is a strong opportunity to stabilise performance and improve overall customer experience in the short to medium term.
Complaint Themes
During 2025/26 monthly reports have been presented to the Extended Housing Management Team detailing complaint classifications. Throughout that time the most common areas for complaint and reasons have been:
Outstanding / Delayed Repairs
