Complaints
Customer service is a key part of One Manchester's business and our aim is to provide excellent quality services for our customers at all times. However, we know we can’t deliver a perfect service every time and when this happens we want to know about it.
How to make a complaint
You can make a complaint in the following ways:
- Complete our online form
- Call us on: 0330 355 1000
- Email: complaints@onemanchester.co.uk
- Post your complaint to: Complaints Team, Lovell House, Archway 6, Hulme, Manchester, M15 5RN
- In person
- Let any One Manchester colleague know you want to make a complaint
When you get in touch to make your complaint you will be asked to provide the following information:
- Your full name and address
- Details of your complaint
- Copies of any correspondence or documents relating to your complaint
- How you wish your complaint to be resolved
Our complaints standards
When we receive your complaint, we will:
- refer your complaint to an appropriate manager for investigation and acknowledge this step within 5 working days
- investigate and provide a formal response within 10 working days from receipt of your complaint
- acknowledge any stage 2 request that we accept within 5 working days
- respond to any stage 2 request that we reject within 5 working days
- conduct the stage 2 review and provide a formal response within 20 working days from the date of stage 2 request
- provide a holding letter if we are unable to meet the above timescales
- offer a suitable remedy for any failures in service
- learn from our mistakes to improve our services
We’ll always do our best to resolve the issue quickly and efficiently, and we’ll use complaints to improve the service we provide. You can see the full process in our Complaints Policy here.
The policy explains what happens when something goes wrong, and the steps we will take to put it right. It’s about making sure that complaints are dealt with confidentially, courteously, fairly and consistently. It’s also based on the requirements set out in the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code which can be found here.
Compensation
Any requests for compensation will be treated as a Stage 1 complaint under our Complaints Policy. All complaints will be investigated by a manager and responded to with any compensation paid in line with our compensation policy. You can read the Compensation policy here.
Complaints self-assessment
We're required to carry out a self-assessment against the code and publish it each year. Our most recent Board-approved self-assessment can be found here.
Complaints performance
As part of our commitment to improving our services, we monitor the complaints we’ve received and our performance in responding to those complaints. We also review why customers are complaining and make changes to reduce the chances of making the same mistake again. You can view our complaints performance report here.
Any new complaints will be logged as a Stage 1 complaint and acknowledged within 5 working days of your bringing it to our attention. Your complaint will be allocated to a manager in the business to investigate and they will provide a written response within 10 working days of the acknowledgement. Occasionally, we may need longer to conclude an investigation and when this happens we will confirm to you in writing along with the date you can expect the response by.
We will contact you during this process to ensure we fully understand all the elements of your complaint and how best we can resolve it and we appreciate your engagement in this process. When we speak with you we will give you the opportunity to comment on any adverse findings before a final decision is made.
If we cannot accept your complaint under our complaints policy we will confirm this in writing to you, along with the reason(s) why.
For your complaint to move to Stage 2, you must tell us within twelve months of our Stage 1 response that you want to escalate your complaint to Stage 2 of our process. It would be really helpful if you could also confirm the reason(s)you were not satisfied with the Stage 1 response and what outcome you are looking for.
Your request to move to Stage 2 will initially be considered by our Complaints team. If an issue can be resolved quickly without the need for a Stage 2 review, that is the approach we will take. If an issue cannot be resolved we will refer your complaint for a formal review to a senior manager, director or member of the Executive Leadership team, and contact you within five working days of your request to acknowledge the complaint at Stage 2.
The investigating manager will request a call or a face to face meeting with you as part of their investigation. This is a further opportunity for you to set out your position. The Stage 2 response will be provided within 20 working days from your Stage 2 acknowledgement. Again, you will be given the opportunity to comment on any adverse findings before a final decision is made. Occasionally, we may need longer to conclude an investigation and when this happens we will confirm this to you in writing along with the date you can expect the response by.
If we do not to accept your Stage 2 escalation, we will write to you within 5 working days with an explanation of our decision. In either event, this will be the final response from One Manchester and the end of our internal complaints process.
If you still aren't satisfied following our two internal stages, you can contact the Housing Ombudsman Service and ask them to investigate your complaint. The Ombudsman will only formally investigate your complaint after you have been through One Manchester’s internal process. However, you are able to contact the Housing Ombudsman Service at any stage of your complaint for advice. Go to the Housing Ombudsman website for more information, or contact them using the following details:
- Email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
- Phone: 0300 111 3000
- Write to: Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 1484, Unit D, Preston PR2 0ET
- Fax: 020 7831 1942
We’re committed to providing excellent customer service and to ensuring that we better understand and meet the needs and requirements of our residents by facilitating fair and equal access to our services. To this end we will make reasonable adjustments if they will help you access the complaints process. There is no prescribed list of reasonable adjustments; the adjustment will depend on your needs. We will discuss your requirements with you and seek to reach agreement on what may be reasonable in the circumstances.
View our full Reasonable adjustments statement here.
Our Financial Inclusion team is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority which has different rules for dispute resolution, and is covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Section 6 of our Complaints Policy has further details.
We’re committed to ensuring our neighbourhoods are thriving places to live. It’s important to us that we receive customer feedback and use it to help us understand what’s working well and where we could do better. On the occasions where we could do better, we want to know about it.