Complaints and compliments updates
In our latest Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report, we shared our promise to be open and transparent about our complaints performance and are committed to providing regular updates.
Complaints and compliments guideWelcome to our Complaints and Compliments Updates page. Here you can see how many complaints and compliments we received, and how we responded, in each quarter of the year.
If you click on each quarter (for example “Quarter one”, “Quarter two”) you will see all the results for that time, how many complaints, how many we answered on time, what we learned, and how many compliments we got.
Complaints and compliments updates - 2025
Complaints and compliments update – Quarter Three
In our latest Complaints Performance & Service Improvement Report, we shared our promise to be open and transparent about our complaints performance and are committed to providing regular updates. Please find our third quarter’s update below.
All complaints received into our complaints process this quarter:
Stage 1 complaints received (including leaseholders and shared owners) – 253
Stage 2 complaints received (including leaseholders and shared owners) – 27
Stage 1 complaints responded to in time 97%
(within Ombudsman timescales)
Stage 2 complaints responded to in time 84%
(within Ombudsman timescales)
Ombudsman Determinations
The Housing Ombudsman publishes decisions on the cases they review. All resident information is anonymised, and determinations are made public around three months after the final decision date. We will share our determinations in this section once they have been approved and published by the Ombudsman.
Quarter Three
Bernicia Group (202420134) – Housing Ombudsman
Learnings & Service Improvements
Some of our key learnings and improvements for this quarter are:
- Learning from our Housing Ombudsman Case
- We received findings regarding how we handled the customer’s move out of the property in the above ombudsman’s determination.
- Our Head of Service reviewed the case with their team and, using both the Ombudsman’s feedback and the customer’s experience, identified a key practice that needed improvement.
- We have now implemented these changes, including issuing a letter to residents who are awarded a property move to explain the process and outline the support available.
- This ensures residents are fully informed about the next steps and provides clarity around what is expected throughout the process.
- Learning from our Stage 2 Complaints
- Following a Stage 2 complaint supported by our Managing Director of Property & Construction, we identified key areas within a complex repairs journey where we needed to improve.
- These improvements focus on strengthening our internal communication and coordination, as well as promoting clearer accountability within our teams.
- The team has completed additional staff training on customer excellence, and we are also delivering further training on supporting vulnerable households through the repairs process.
- Other improvements include using new reporting tools to help us monitor performance more closely and encouraging better use of planning tools to coordinate actions more effectively, ensuring a smoother customer journey.
Compliments
Compliments raised regarding our services – 645
What our tenants have said about our Service:
“I have recently been dealing with your Home Ownership Officer who is an asset to your service, she is incredibly polite, professional and deals with any issues promptly. I cannot thank her enough for all that she has done.” – Mr M from Ashington
What our tenants have said about our People:
“He was very friendly, although all operatives are friendly when they attend, he went above and beyond… so that follow-on works would not be required.” – Miss F from Durham
What our tenants have said about our Quality of Work:
“Called to say thank you and advised he is extremely happy with the quality of the job and attitude of the joiner. Very satisfactory job.” – Mr C from Morpeth
Complaints and compliments update – Quarter Two
In our latest Complaints Performance & Service Improvement Report, we shared our promise to be open and transparent about our complaints performance and are committed to providing regular updates. Please find our second quarter’s update below.
All complaints received into our complaints process this quarter:
Stage 2 Complaints Received (including leaseholders and shared owners): 33
Stage 1 complaints responded to in time 100%
(within Ombudsman timescales)
Stage 2 complaints responded to in time 100%
(within Ombudsman timescales)
Ombudsman determinations
The Housing Ombudsman share their decisions on our cases which they have reviewed. They anonymise the resident information and publish these three months after the final decision date. We are open to sharing our determinations received in this section once the ombudsman have approved and published the reports.
No determinations to share for quarter two.
Learnings and service improvements
Some of our key learnings and improvements for this quarter are:
- Learning from the Housing Ombudsman – Adaptations
We have reviewed the latest Learning from Severe Maladministration – September 2025 report produced by the Housing Ombudsman. One of our commitments within our Annual Performance & Service Improvement Report was to review our approach to aids and adaptations. Following the report being shared, we have used this to support our review to ensure any changes take into consideration the learning identified.
- Improvements from our complaints customer experience survey
Last quarter we advised we were updating our complaints survey to help pinpoint development areas to improve our satisfaction when handling complaints. We have used the feedback so far to target our investigations into complaints as well as our written responses.
- Enhanced ways of working and team learning
We have enhanced ways of working to improve our understanding of the complaint journey to support our investigations. The team have also utilised Housing Ombudsman microlearning on communication to support with conversations and our written responses. This has resulted in more positive responses in quarter two for those particular areas.
Compliments
Compliments raised regarding our services – 676
What our tenants have said about our Service:
“We really appreciate the time and effort you put into making sure this was resolved. It’s made things much easier for us, and we’re grateful for your assistance.” – Mrs R from Bedlington
What our tenants have said about our People:
“Wanted to compliment the person who come out to do the work. He was polite, professional and commendable as a tradesman.” – Mr M from Wooler
What our tenants have said about our Quality of Work:
“The workmanship completed was excellent and he did a good job.” – Mr T from Ashington
Complaints and compliments update – Quarter One
All complaints received into our complaints process this quarter:
Stage 2 Complaints Received (including leaseholders and shared owners): 22
Stage 1 complaints responded to in time 99%
(within Ombudsman timescales)
Stage 2 complaints responded to in time 92.9%
(within Ombudsman timescales)
Ombudsman determinations
The Housing Ombudsman share their decisions on our cases which they have reviewed. They anonymise the resident information and publish these three months after the final decision date. We are open to sharing our determinations received in this section once the ombudsman have approved and published the reports.
No determinations to share for quarter one.
Learnings and service improvements
Some of our key learnings and improvements for this quarter are:
- Reviewed the Housing Ombudsman’s Spotlight Report on Repairs and Maintenance – Repairing Trust (May 2025)
We attended the Ombudsman’s webinar, discussed key findings in team meetings, and are taking forward recommended actions.
- Updated guidance for non-Bernicia customers making complaints
After reviewing a case, we found that signposting to the Housing Ombudsman was not relevant for the non-Bernicia customer. New guidance is being created to better support colleagues and customers in these situations.
- Improved our complaints customer experience survey
The updated survey helps us pinpoint areas for service improvement. This will be used regularly to ensure we’re delivering the best possible experience.
Compliments
Compliments raised regarding our services – 645
What our tenants have said about our Service:
“Can’t thank you enough for all your help. We are so grateful for everything you’ve done for our family.” – Mrs S from Gateshead
What our tenants have said about our People:
“How happy I was with the engineer, he cleaned up after himself, he was very polite even my dog liked him!” – Mrs B from Newbiggin By The Sea
What our tenants have said about our Quality of Work:
“Pass on many thanks to whoever cut the grass… It was looking like an eyesore and now it looks fantastic.” – Mrs F from Ashington