Expectations for the Member Responsible for Complaints role

Responsibilities - Governing body assurance

To promote a culture of openness and transparency:

• treat resident complaints as insight into how an organisation is managed 
• provide assurance that systems are in place to capture learning from complaints and governing bodies are engaged with this 
• ensure senior level ownership of learning and accountability stemming from complaints 

To provide assurance on complaints handling to the governing body:

• work with operational teams to ensure complaints are valued as an opportunity to learn 
• use complaints as an early warning of ineffective processes, policies, or behaviour 
• identify areas for improvement and to improve awareness and accessibility; and how this is happening across the organisation   

To engage with the chair of the audit and risk committee, or equivalent:

• discuss any risks emerging from complaints and any recommendations for improvement in service areas which may be relevant to internal audit’s activities

To engage in, oversee, and approve the annual landlord submission against the Complaint Handling Code:

• ensure an accurate self-assessment is produced and published each year, or following operational change
• where possible, include residents in the self-assessment exercise

To alert the governing body of any concerns about complaint handling:

• including concerns about the issues giving rise to complaints, or the outcome of an individual complaint

To champion a positive complaint handling culture within senior management, and give complaints he status they deserve:

• ensure the governing body receives regular, meaningful information on complaint handling performance and understands its responsibilities in embedding a positive complaint culture
• lead or facilitate discussion at board and seek assurance that learning from complaints is informing decision making

Responsibilities - Complaint Handling Code

Review the organisation’s communication and tone to improve relationships:

• use the 4 T’s test for effective communication – are they timely, transparent, tailored, and appropriate in tone
• review internal and external communication methods to ensure open communication that provides clarity and transparency whilst empathetic and appropriate for the situation

To oversee the timely actioning of information requests and orders made by the Housing Ombudsman:

• assure of the organisation’s timely compliance with Housing Ombudsman information requests and orders

To promote a culture where effective complaint handling is supported at every level:

• encourage a culture where complaint handlers have the authority and respect to help put things right when they go wrong - this should also extend to where landlords use contractors and other service providers.
• hold a visible presence in the organisation and reach out to individual staff members to 'test' that proactive complaint handling and a positive culture is embedded across all staff
• to gain assurance following the self-assessment, to test that the complaints team has the resources available to fulfil its obligations

To regularly review complaints performance data:

• review (at least) quarterly updates on complaint volumes, categories, outcomes and handling performance
• take an inquisitorial approach to ensure the information gives the governing body confidence in a well-managed, customer-focused complaints process

Responsibilities - Learning

Use Housing Ombudsman Good Practice and learning from reports to review practice:

• facilitate discussion with the governing body on how the organisation can learn and improve from report recommendations
• consider whether relevant policies and procedures are effective where Good Practice is published with recommendations to improve service delivery
• sign up to the Ombudsman’s Centre for Learning Hub to support ongoing learning and to engage in dialogue with other MRCs

To encourage a culture of collaboration and working together to improve service delivery:

• identify and raise gaps in cross department working or where teams might work more effectively across the organisation or departments

To encourage a culture where senior management regularly review issues and trends arising from complaint handling:

• identify themes or trends that may highlight potential systemic issues, serious risks or ineffective policies and procedures must be reported to the governing body, assessed and reviewed
• gain assurance that where revision or change is required, actions are followed through and communicated to the governing body
• encourage resident engagement in changes to service delivery to ensure resident involvement in service delivery improvement