We know that we don't always get it right. When we fall below the standards you expect from us, we'll always try to learn from the result.
We take a positive approach to learning from complaints and improving our approach to complaints handling.
You can find out more on how we do this below.
Every complaint offers us an opportunity to learn and improve our service to customers. We welcome customer feedback, so please tell us about your complaints experience and any suggestions you have on how we can improve.
You may also wish to send us a compliment about the way we managed your complaint.
To provide feedback you can write to us at:
Customer Relations
Merefield House
Whistler Drive
Castleford
WF10 5HX
Or you can email us at [email protected] or you can complete our compliment form.
We have a Board member who is responsible for making sure we understand complaints and handle them so customers are satisfied with the outcomes.
The Member Responsible for Complaints (MRC) makes sure the Board is updated on our complaint handling. Including, what isn't working as well as it should be for customers, and how we can learn from issues and improve customer satisfaction.
They work with the Executive Director of Resources who is the executive lead responsible for complaints to make sure our approach to complaints is clear, simple and accessible and that we deal with complaints promptly, politely and fairly.
The current Board member with the responsibility for complaints (MRC) is Gareth Mann Tighe.
During 2024 / 2025 we’ve:
- Reviewed some of the processes connected with how we deal with mutual exchanges (requests to swap homes with another customer) and introduced improved quality assurance processes to help us provide a better service.
- Delivered refresher training to colleagues on a variety of topics to improve the services we provide to our customers, including the difference between a service request and a Stage 1 complaint.
- Changed the advert wording on our Homesearch website to help customers use their expressions of interest more effectively.
- Updated the toolkit used by our teams when allocating homes to new customers.
- Introduced a Quality Assurance Framework for handling ASB complaints, so Estate Officers can manage cases in a more consistent way.
- Updated processes used by our estates teams to check on fire safety issues in our low rise homes and changed how they request letters and notices to be issued, to ensure customers get the right information first time.
- Introduced changes to how we communicate with customers when improvement works are carried out in their home, so we are aware of and can address issues more quickly.
- Reviewed Housing Ombudsman spotlight reports and took forward any learning.
- Improved the procedures we follow when key safes are installed in our customers’ homes.
- Updated our practices to make sure the correct letters are sent to our customers and to help us keep our records accurate and up to date.
- Discussed how we manage issues around “wet paint” in customer’s homes, including using Black Jack as a finish coat to reduce the problem of it not drying and presenting a risk afterwards.
- Delivered drain camera survey training to external trades colleagues to help us to diagnose and resolve pest control issues earlier, providing an improved customer experience.
You can find out more about our 2024/ 2025 complaints performance in our 2024/ 2025 Annual Complaints and Service Improvement Report
Our Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report details things we will do during 2025 / 2026 to help us improve our approach to complaints handling.
Actions for 2025 / 2026
- Delivering further colleague complaint handling workshops.
- Improving the information we have on our customers and their needs to help us get day to day service delivery right first time.
- Further developing complaint reporting and trend analysis to better understand the complaints we receive and what went wrong to try and prevent further complaints.
- Further promoting to customers how they can make a complaint to us.
- Completing and in-depth review of each of our complaints dealt with by the Housing Ombudsman service receiving determination of maladministration.
- Continuing to review Housing Ombudsman spotlight and other reports and acting on any learning to improve our services.
We learn from all complaints we receive and have a Learning from Complaints Action Plan, this includes other actions teams across Vico Homes will take following a complaint, to try and make sure we don't get repeated complaints about the same thing. Actions are wide ranging and include providing more training to our colleagues or changing a policy or process.
We'll report on progress on actions taken in our Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report 2025 / 2026 which we'll publish in Summer 2025.
We have to make sure our process complies with the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code and carry out a self assessment ever year. We report this to our Board and to the Housing Ombudsman Service.
We publish our Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report every year and this is submitted to our Board for review. The Board then provide their response.
Board response to our 2024 / 2025 Annual Complaints and Service Improvement Report
The Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report, and the self-assessment (SA) against the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code, has been developed with and scrutinised by our Member Responsible for Complaints and Board.
The governing body is satisfied that the self assessment is a true reflection of how we handle complaints and that we are fully compliant with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code. As a result of the self assessment, we have made a number of minor updates to our Complaint Handling Policy and Procedure to make it clearer on how we comply with the Code.
The MRC, Customer Committee and Board have continued to scrutinise complaints performance, including how we compare to other housing providers, seek assurance on how we learn from complaints to make improvements and provide constructive challenge to support continuous improvement.
The Housing Ombudsman produces their own report on individual landlord performance if they have given more than five findings for them in any year. Our latest report, which gives information on the number of complaints dealt with, outcomes and how we compare can be read below.