We’ve listened to you, and we’re taking action to improve how we respond to and learn from complaints.

We’ve doubled our complaints team from four to eight staff and complaint response times have improved considerably – with 78.9% of complaints being responded to within the Housing Ombudsman’s timescales, compared to 41.5% last year.

Learning from complaints

We’ve listened to you, and we’re taking action to improve how we respond to and learn from complaints.

We’ve seen a slight increase in complaints this year, with 1,447 received compared to 1,210 last year. We received 892 complaints about repairs, mainly to do with delays and keeping you informed about appointments.

Here’s how we’re improving our communication and response times for repairs:

Keeping you updated: We’ll text you about your routine repair appointment so you know when we’re coming.
First-time fix: More repairs are now being completed in just one visit.
Accessing your home: We’ve improved our internal processes and communication with you so our team can access your home when needed.
Tackling mould straight away: When you report damp, we’ll clean any mould during the first visit.
Faster damp inspections: We’ve added more appointment slots, which means shorter wait times and less complaints.

There were 83 complaints about how we deal with antisocial behaviour, compared with 55 last year. The main issues you raised were about communication and how long cases were taking to resolve. After listening to your feedback, here’s what we’re doing.

Report anytime, anywhere: Our new mobile app lets you report antisocial behaviour 24/7 and send noise recordings straight to your case officer.
Always someone to call: You can now report antisocial behaviour on our 24-hour telephone helpline, 01204 328000.
More understanding: We’ve given staff additional training on equality and tenant vulnerability issues linked to antisocial behaviour.
Faster legal action: We’ve improved our processes so managers can spot cases that need legal action sooner.
Learning from your feedback: We’re sharing what we learn from cases and your feedback across the whole team to keep improving.

For more information on how our Neighbourhood Safety and Enforcement Team can help with antisocial behaviour, along with contact details, please tap here.

In the 2024-25 Tenant Perception Survey:

of tenants said they were satisfied with our approach to complaints handling.

of tenants said they were satisfied with our complaints handling process.

Here’s a summary of some of the changes we’ve made to our complaints handling this year:

Dedicated complaints team: We’ve created a specialist team, which we’re expanding to deal with complaints faster.
Board-level responsibility: A Board member leads on tenant feedback, making sure your voice reaches the top.
Better oversight: Our complaints steering group keeps track of performance and drives improvements.
Updated policy: We’ve refreshed our Complaints and Feedback Policy to meet the Housing Ombudsman code.
Preventing problems: We’re improving how we communicate with you to stop issues becoming complaints.
Fair compensation: We’ve developed a new Compensation Policy with input from tenants.
Tackling the root causes: Senior managers review all service failures to improve your experience.
Learning from complaints: When we get things wrong, we share what happened with our colleagues so everyone learns.

Each year we publish our Annual Complaints and Service Improvement Report – to meet the legal standards set by the Housing Ombudsman. The report explains how we’ve handled your feedback and complaints over the last year, as well as highlighting our performance and the improvements we’re making. We also publish a self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.

Tap here to access the full Annual Complaints and Service Improvement Report, along with our Housing Ombudsman’s self-assessment

If you’d like to make a complaint, please contact us on 01204 328000 or tap here for more information on logging a complaint with Bolton at Home.

The Housing Ombudsman website contains lots of free advice to help resolve disputes between tenants and landlords. Tap here to visit the Housing Ombudsman website.

The ‘Four Million Homes’ initiative also offers advice and training to anyone living in the four million social housing homes in England. It’s designed to help you understand and exercise your rights as a social housing tenant. Tap here for more information about the Four Million Homes initiative