If you are not happy with the response to your complaint you can request for it to be escalated to Stage 2. You must do this within 90 days of receiving your response. An escalated response is normally looked at by an executive director. Your escalation will be processed and acknowledged within two working days. Once your escalated complaint has been investigated you will receive a response within 10 working days.
If your complaint cannot be resolved within 10 working days, we will let you know when you can expect a response.
What happens if I'm still not happy with your response?
If after receiving your response to your escalated complaint you are still not happy, you can take your complaint to the independent Ombudsman who will review your complaint free of charge. The nature of your original complaint will depend on which ombudsman you refer your complaint to. The Ombudsman may not be able to assist with some complaints, we will though make it clear what options you have as part of our stage 2 complaint responses.
The Ombudsman will want to see that every effort has been made to resolve the complaint locally before investigating.
If you are a housing tenant and remain dissatisfied after receiving your response to your escalated complaint, you can refer the matter to either a designated person or the Housing Ombudsman.
Referring an eligible complaint to a designated person means that you can send your complaint to your local councillor, your MP or the local Tenants’ Panel. At this stage, your complaint will be reviewed, and a decision will be taken on whether the complaint can be resolved to the satisfaction of both the tenant and the council. Your designated person has the power to refer the complaint to the Ombudsman if they feel this is the most appropriate channel.
You may decide not to refer your complaint to the Tenant Complaints Panel and refer your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman instead. However, complaints cannot be sent to the Ombudsman until eight weeks after receiving your final response from the council.
Which Ombudsman?
In most cases, it will be the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman that you need to take your complaint to. If however, the original complaint is relating to housing you may need to refer it to the Housing Ombudsman.
You can ask the relevant Ombudsman to independently investigate, depending on the nature of your complaint:
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
Complaints relating to the following issues will be handled by the Local Government Ombudsman:
- Planning
- Some housing issues
- Social care
- Some education and schools issues
- Children’s services
- Housing benefit
- Council tax
- Transport and highways
- Environment and waste
- Neighbour nuisance and antisocial behaviour
Get in touch with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman via their website.
Housing Ombudsman
Complaints relating to the following issues will be handled by the Housing Ombudsman:
- Leasehold Services – sale and repair of leasehold properties, mortgage rescue schemes
- Moving to a property – transfers, mutual exchanges, type of tenancy offered
- Rents and service charges
- Occupancy rights – conditions of tenancy, succession/assignment (passing on your tenancy), possession proceedings
- Property condition – repairs, empty properties, planned maintenance
- Tenant behaviour – anti-social behaviour, noise nuisance, harassment
- Estate management – use and maintenance of communal areas, grounds maintenance, parking
- Complaint handling
- Compensation – home loss or disturbance, improvements, damage or discretionary payments.
For more information about what the Housing Ombudsman deals with visit their website.
Get in touch with the Housing Ombudsman via their website.
For further information on how the East Riding of Yorkshire Council complies with the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code, you can view the Self-Assessment.
Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code - Compliance Self-Assessment (pdf 113kb)
Pensions Ombudsman
Complaints relating to the way pension schemes are run will be handled by the Pensions Ombudsman:
- taking too long to do something without good reason
- failing to do something they should have
- not following their own rules or the law
- breaking a promise
- giving incorrect or misleading information
- not making a decision in the right way
Get in touch with the Pensions Ombudsman via their website.