Complaints and Compliments

Making a Complaint

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.

We will do our best to resolve the issue quickly and efficiently and use complaints to improve the service we provide. You can see our complaints policy here.

The policy is based on a set of principles with the overarching aim of quickly identifying what if anything went wrong and prompt action to put it right. It is also based on the requirement set out in the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code which can be found here. The Code itself is available to download as a PDF here.

How to Make a Complaint

You must provide the following information when contacting us by your chosen method (telephone/in person/email etc.) to make a complaint:

  • 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

Complaints can be sent to: Complaints Team, Lovell House, Archway 6, Hulme, Manchester, M15 5RN

or in the following ways:   

If you aren’t happy with the service you’ve received our priority is to ‘put things right’ as quickly as possible. Our first step on receipt of your complaint is to find a quick and effective solution without the need for lengthy investigations. We will contact you within 48 hours of receiving your complaint to try and agree reasonable outcomes in reasonable timescales. If we can ‘put things right’ we will class the complaint as resolved. You can choose to have your complaint dealt with at the ‘Investigate It’ stage instead – leaving out this stage – the choice will be yours. You also have the right to contact the Housing Ombudsman Service for advice and assistance – www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk – at this early stage as well as at the Investigate It stage and 'Review It' stage.

If we are unable to put things right you can ask us to move your complaint to the next step, ‘Investigate It’, and this request will be acknowledged within two working days. This is a full investigation carried out by relevant managers and Heads of Service. We will contact you to discuss how we can resolve your complaint and give you the opportunity to comment on any adverse findings. We aim to give you a full response at this stage within 10 working days from receipt of your complaint. If we think it might take longer than this, we will explain why and send you a holding letter. Most complaints are sorted out at this stage but if you remain unhappy with our response and any proposed actions you can request a review.

For your complaint to be reviewed you must tell us, within one month of our ‘Investigate It’ response, which of the following is the reason for your request:

  • All or some of the points raised as part of your complaint have not been investigated or responded to or where you feel the outcome is wrong
  • All or some of the agreed actions have not been carried out within the specified timescales or carried out to a less than satisfactory standard (the one month review request timescale can be extended to 7 working days beyond our final action deadline if that deadline exceeds the one month period)
  • We failed to respond to your complaint within the published timescales as set out in our policy including any notified additional time
  • You must also tell us what outcome you want from the review process.

The initial review of your complaint will be handled by our Business Excellence team. Where an issue can be resolved without the need for a full review that is the approach we will take. If an issue cannot be resolved and we accept the reason for your request we will refer your complaint for a formal review to an Executive Director and contact you within five working days offering you a face to face/virtual meeting or a conference call with the Director or alternatively they can consider your written appeal.  This is a further opportunity for you to set out your position. The ‘Review It’ stage response will be provided within 20 working days from the request to escalate. Again, you will be given the opportunity to comment on any adverse findings before a final decision is made.  

If we decide not to accept the reason for your review request, we will write to you within seven 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 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 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.

We are 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. Read our Reasonable Adjustment Statement.

When we receive your complaint, we will:

  • contact you within 48 hours to try and put things right or deal with it straight away at the ‘Investigate It’ stage
  • move your complaint to the ‘Investigate It’ stage if you tell us we haven’t put things right and acknowledge this step within 2 working days
  • investigate and provide a formal response within 10 working days from receipt of your complaint
  • respond to any review request that we accept within 5 working days
  • respond to any review request that we reject within 7 working days
  • conduct the review and provide a formal response within 20 working days from the date of review 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

Our One Money team is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority which has different rules for dispute resolution and is covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service. See section 8 of our Complaints Policy which has further details.

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