Board Statement on Complaints Performance
Board Statement on Complaints Performance
On 29 July 2026 the Board received:
- The 2025/26 annual complaints performance and service improvement report for One Manchester customers
- One Manchester’s Complaint and Compensation policies
- A self-assessment for the year 2025/26 against the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code 2024
These documents were also reviewed by the Customer Scrutiny Panel and the Complaints and Performance Group, providing additional independent challenge and assurance.
Throughout the year the Board has maintained oversight by way of quarterly updates on complaints performance and service improvement including complaint volumes, themes, demographics, and learning. This has enabled us to scrutinise trends and areas of concern, and gain assurance that appropriate measures are in place to improve the customer experience.
In addition, our Member Responsible for Complaints (MRC), Sue Lock FCIH, Chair of the Committee for Customer and Communities, has provided focused scrutiny of complaints performance to ensure that One Manchester is meeting the requirements of the Code in both policy and practice.
We have further considered external sources of assurance such as the Housing Ombudsman’s landlord performance report for 2025/26. This report confirms One Manchester’s maladministration rate is 38% compared to a national average of 62%. We were also pleased to see that customer sentiment around timely responses and resolution has been acted upon resulting in 100% of stage one and stage two complaints being responded to within code timescales.
We are encouraged by performance improvements during the year. In addition to the 100% compliance with Complaint Handling Code timescales there has been a 26% reduction in Stage 1 complaint volumes and 21% reduction in complaints relating to repairs . The Board has challenged One Manchester to demonstrate that improvements reflect genuine service improvements and improved customer outcomes and were assured that this was the case with 25/26 Tenant Satisfaction Measures perception scores improving in most areas including repairs and overall satisfaction.
Real time monitoring and reporting of all stage one and stage two complaints via the housing management system gives the Board assurance on data accuracy on complaint handling.
Having considered the evidence presented, the Board is assured that One Manchester are complying with the complaint handling code, are recording and reporting complaints accurately and are using the learning from complaints to implement improvements to services.
The Board remains committed to empowering customer-led scrutiny. As such, in May 2025 our independent customer scrutiny panel completed their review of One Manchester’s complaints handling. The panel made 37 recommendations of which 34 were accepted and 32 have been implemented to date. Positive outcomes of this scrutiny include the publication of an “easy read” complaints policy, the introduction of digital connect sessions, and a reduction in “follow on” works which was a driver for complaints. This follows a successful repairs scrutiny where the impact can be seen in Tenant Satisfaction Measures scores and complaint volume reductions.
Looking forward, the Board is committed to ensuring that complaints are used as a key source of insight to drive service improvement and to strengthen a positive complaints handling culture across One Manchester. With that in mind we will continue to monitor performance closely to ensure that learning from complaints results in demonstrable improvements in services and outcomes for customers in 2026/27 and beyond.