How we assess and prioritise complaints

When we receive a complaint, we assess it to understand the risk to a resident and others in the home, and what action we need to take.

How we assess risk

We look at 3 main factors:

how serious the issue is – the nature of the problem and any harm it may have caused
how long the issue has been happening – whether it’s ongoing or getting worse
household circumstances – how the issue is affecting members of the household, including any vulnerabilities

Based on these factors, we give your case a risk rating of low, medium, or high.

If we’re unable to reach the resident the indicative risk is recorded as low.

After assessing a complaint, we decide the best route to resolution. There are several actions we can take.

Referral back – We ask the landlord to take further steps to resolve the dispute with the resident.

Outside our jurisdiction – We cannot consider the complaint.

Decision at assessment – We have enough information to make a decision straight away.

Focused investigation – We need a small amount of extra evidence.

Full investigation – We need more detailed evidence due to the complexity or risk involved.

We prioritise cases based on:

risk level – high risk cases are dealt with first
how long you’ve been waiting – after risk, we work through cases in the order they were received

We may also prioritise cases where:

This is not an exhaustive list, and we may consider priority where we identify other sensitivity or risk factors.

If a resident’s circumstances change, we assess the risk again. Residents must tell us about any changes in your household or situation.

We consider the circumstances, any legal or reputational factors, and prioritise high-risk reviews first.