Complaints and Compliments
Making a complaint
We aim to provide excellent services at all times, but we know we can’t deliver a perfect service every time. Sometimes our services may not meet your expectations, and if this happens we want to know about it.
We will do our best to resolve the issue quickly and efficiently, and use your complaint to continue to improve the service we provide. You can see how we are doing by visiting our complaints performance page.
Talk to us first
If you aren’t happy with the service you’ve received please talk to us first. Tell us why you're unhappy and what you want us to do. Often this will sort the problem out on the spot, without needing to fill in forms or to put your complaint in writing. However, if you are not happy with our response you can make a formal complaint.
Making a formal complaint
If you want to make a formal complaint please complete our online complaints form in the ‘Talk to Us’ section of the website. We’ll let you know that we’ve received your complaint within two working days.
If you prefer, you can make a complaint by phone on 0330 355 1000 or write to us at:
Lovell House, Archway 6, Hulme, Manchester, M15 5RN
What happens next?
Stage 1: Your complaint will be investigated by the Head of Service responsible for the service being complained about. We will contact you to discuss how we can resolve your complaint and will give you a full response within 10 working days. If we think it might take longer than this we will explain why and send a holding letter. The vast majority of complaints are sorted out by this stage, but if you are not happy with the solution you can request it to be reviewed again.
Stage 2: The review of your complaint will be carried out by a review panel made up of a One Manchester board member, Scrutiny Panel member, and a Director from an unrelated service area wherever possible. We’ll give you a full response within 20 working days of the panel hearing.
Independent review: If you still aren’t satisfied following our two internal stages you can ask to have your complaint reviewed independently of One Manchester. This can be done by your local MP or a local councillor.
Most cases are resolved early on but if you are still not satisfied at the end of the process you can contact the Housing Ombudsman and ask them to review your complaint. The Ombudsman will only do this after you have been through One Manchester’s internal process.
Our standards
When we receive complaints we will:
- Acknowledge your complaint within 2 days
- Investigate and provide a formal stage 1 response within 10 days
- Provide a formal response following a stage 2 panel hearing within 20 days
- Provide a holding letter if we are unable to meet the above timescales
- Deal with your complaint courteously, fairly, and in confidence
- Offer an apology for any failures in service
- Ensure all staff handling complaints have received the appropriate training
- Learn from our mistakes to improve our services
- Publish information each year about how we have performed against our complaints service commitments and how we have improved our services in response to complaints received
Compliments
We’d love to know if you have received great service or if someone has been especially polite or helpful. We will thank the member of staff ourselves and value them for doing a good job.
Whenever someone praises the service, it has a direct impact on our standards, because we want to keep up the good work!
If you would like to provide us with positive feedback about a particular member of staff or any aspect of our services you can do so by filling out a compliments form in the ‘Talk to Us’ section of the website.