✅ Acknowledge your complaint in writing within 5 working days.
✅ Confirm who is responsible for reviewing and responding to your complaint.
✅ Provide a response in writing within:
10 working days from the date of acknowledgment (Stage 1).
20 working days from the date of acknowledgment (Stage 2).
✅ Clarify when any issues arising from your complaint will be resolved.
✅ Inform you whether and how you can have our decision reviewed.
✅ Provide contact details for the Housing Ombudsman Service should you wish to escalate your complaint.

To learn more about what happens when you make a complaint and what you can expect from us during this process, please refer to our full Complaints Policy (revised April 2025). Please note that further amendments will be made shortly once our action plan for service improvement is completed.

If you are unsure at any point during the complaints process and need guidance, please let us know. Alternatively, the Housing Ombudsman is available to provide impartial advice and support at every stage of your complaint.

Contacting the Housing Ombudsman Service
📞 Phone: 0300 111 3000
📧 Email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk

📮 Postal Address:
Housing Ombudsman Service
PO Box 1484, Unit D
Preston, PR2 0ET

We appreciate your feedback and are committed to continuous improvement in our services.

In line with new guidance published by the Ombudsman, we are actively reviewing and improving how we handle complaints.

If you want to know more about what we have done to improve our complaints process, and what work we still have to do, then have a look at our Complaints Handling Code Self-Assessment carried out in February 2025. This self-assessment was carried out using the Housing Ombudsman Service’s ‘Complaint Handling Code‘. The Code, published in April 2024, looks to ensure fairness for residents who have a complaint about their Housing Provider.  It is vital that you are easily able to access the complaints service and that you are clear on your rights throughout.

Our complaint’s policy is fully compliant with the Housing Ombudsman’s complaint handling code. We have two actions to complete from the self assessment carried out:

• Set up a task and finish group to look at making improvements to the way handle complaints. 
• Survey residents after a response has been sent. 

We are pleased to report that we have started doing this. Your feedback will help us improve further.

We have a member of our Board leading on complaints’ performance and this is what he said about our self-assessment against the new code this year:

“Having reviewed the self-assessment of the 2024 code completed in February 2025 I am satisfied that CDS is compliant with all the requirements of the complaints handling code except one Section 9.3 which is in reference to setting up a residents task and finish group to drive service improvement. However, I am additionally satisfied that the Operations Director has an action plan in place that will ensure that this outstanding requirement will be met in the upcoming financial year 25/26 in June which is line with the timeline for the organisations Resident Influence Strategy. I have also noted an outstanding action from the 2022 code which is in reference to section 4.16 of code regarding the implementation resident feedback surveys which is on target to be completed in Quarter 1. This requirement will be important in assessing resident satisfaction towards complaint handling as due to the nature of the questions in the TSM (Tenant Satisfaction Measures) surveys they do not always give the full picture on satisfaction.”

Our complaint performance in 2023-2024

It is important to us that you know how we handled your complaints last year, including the gaps identified and what we learned.  Please take a look at the Complaints performance report for 2024-2025 here and our governing body’s response (Services Committee, Board Sub Group):

“Dear Residents

I am really pleased to be issuing this statement as the Member Responsible for complaints for CDS. Whilst it is of course disappointing when anybody complains, the truth is complaints are a really important tool for improvement and accountability. They help us to identify problems, use those problems to improve services whilst building trust and transparency with residents in doing so. Complaints also provide the basis for continuous improvement which, in line with our regulatory obligations, is something we are absolutely committed to doing.

The 2024-25 out turn for complaints paints a positive picture as whilst there has been an increase in complaint volumes (which is sector wide), we have seen a reduction in the number of complaints being escalated formally. This suggests that we are successfully resolving more complaints at the first stage which is something we always aim to do. We have also seen a reduction in the number of complaints received in the last quarter of the year in comparison to the last financial year’s final quarter figures.

However, we know we still have work to do. I am aware of residents’ dissatisfaction with our repairs service in particular and we don’t take this or dissatisfaction with any part of the organisation lightly, and through an action plan established to learn from our complaints, I am confident our teams are doing the necessary to address these issues and improve your experience with our services.

Best wishes 
Ben Anim-Antwi
CDS Co-operatives Board Member and Member Responsible for Complaints (MRC)”