Complaints performance
Complaints performance
Requirements of all social housing landlords like Settle were launched at the start of April 2024, to improve the services residents receive. These include the new complaint handling code launched by the Housing Ombudsman.
For residents the complaint handling code (the Code) explains your rights and what can be expected when a complaint is made to a landlord. The Code also requires us as landlords to submit a new report by the end of September each year. We have now published our annual complaints performance and service improvement report for 2024/25 and submitted this to the Housing Ombudsman.
In line with the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code, we have also published and submitted our Complaint Handling Code Self-Assessment for 2024/25.
Every year the Housing Ombudsman publishes a landlord performance report. We are pleased to provide a link to the landlord performance report 2024/25.
The new Code also requires landlords like Settle to include a response from our governing body, known as our Board, within our performance and service improvement report, to provide assurance that this accurately reflects our complaint handling. The report has been reviewed by our Board and members of our Voice of the Resident Panel. We are pleased to include their statements below and they are also included in the full report.
As Chair of the Operations Committee of the Settle Board, and the member responsible for complaints, I welcome the opportunity to introduce this year’s complaints report. The role I play along with other Board and committee members, is to regularly assess and review the handling of complaints at Settle, ensuring compliance with requirements of the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code.
In the course of this year, it has been consistently apparent that there is a positive complaint culture embedded in Settle – where residents are encouraged to share their experiences. It’s also clear that Settle are committed to listening carefully and taking meaningful action in response – an example being the response to the trend in property related complaints which has helped inform a Repairs Improvement Plan – which we have seen start to improve the time taken to complete repairs and communication throughout the process.
It’s great to see that the work we are doing on complaints has also helped improve the 2024/25 Tenant Satisfaction Measures. We saw improvements across all 12 perception survey questions, which is a positive reflection of how Settle are responding to feedback and adapting services.
Looking ahead, I’m confident that by continuing to assess complaints and the learning opportunities they present, there will be an increased awareness of the issues residents face and wider service improvements as a result.
On behalf of the Board, I confirm our approval of this report and the ongoing work to learn from complaints, ensuring that feedback from residents leads to better outcomes.
Hasani Jess, Settle Board Member, August 2025
“After reading the annual complaints performance and service improvement report, I’m pleased to see that 99.7% of complaints have been investigated and responded to within the expected timeframe, reflecting positively on Settle’s commitment to timely responses. In summary, the panel highlighted some of the key statistics from the report below:
- 1,002 complaints received (up from 622 in 2023/24)
- 99.7% responded to within required timeframes
- 84% of complaints were resolved at Stage 1
- 0.3% of complaints responded to outside the timeframe
- 16% of complaints escalated to Stage 2
- 8 cases were investigated by the Housing Ombudsman
- 41%of complaints were about responsive repairs
- 67%of all complaints were upheld
- Over 20 service improvements have been implemented based on learning from complaints, including making it easier for residents to raise a complaint when things go wrong.
The Voice of the Resident Panel can see that the number of complaints is in line with what other housing associations are experiencing and also reflects improvements made by Settle in making it easier for residents to raise concerns. It is really pleasing to see that Settle have acted on feedback from residents and the Voice of the Resident Panel which includes making it easier to report complaints through changes to the My Settle Portal, and clearer and more effective ategorization of complaints.
We believe every complaint is valuable in helping to improve services. The Voice of the Resident Panel will continue to ensure accountability from Settle for complaint improvements and looks forward to continuing this work in 2025/26.
Annette, Resident & Chair of the Voice of the Resident Panel, August 2025″
Previous reports
Complaints report 2023-24 [PDF]