Residents


Complaints, suggestions and feedback

PRHA aims to provide high quality services to its residents. We rely on complaints, suggestions and feedback from you to achieve this.
Our Complaints Policy is intended to provide you with a way to:
• Report where you are dissatisfied with our services, our staff, or our procedures, so that the situation can be resolved (complaints)
• Inform us of ways in which we can improve our services and procedures (suggestions)
• Provide positive feedback that we can use to further inform the development of our services and procedures (feedback)

Making a complaint

Things to consider before making a complaint
• If you are reporting Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB), please refer to our page on Reporting ASB which explains how staff will work to support you with the issues you are reporting.
• If you are reporting a repair for the first time, please refer to our page on Reporting Repairs.
• Complaints about PRHA services should usually be made within twelve months of the issue occurring. In exceptional circumstances our Policy will however allow for complaints received outside of this period to be responded to.
• Complaints about how we have responded to a data subject request (such as if you are dissatisfied with our response to a Subject Access Request you have raised), or how you feel we are handling your personal data generally, are now dealt with specifically as Data Protection Complaints. Please refer to our Data Protection Complaints Policy here.
• Complaints concerning building safety will generally be handled under our main Complaints Policy. The exception is for Fidelis House, which is the only one of PRHA’s properties that meets the definition of a Higher Risk Building under the Building Safety Act 2022 (a building of 7 storeys or more, or over 18 metres in height). As such, complaints concerning building safety issues at Fidelis House will be handled specifically under our Higher Risk Building Complaints Policy, available here.

Raising a complaint

If you are not happy with any aspect of the service that we provide please let us know. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to do this, in the way that best suits you.
This means that we do not require complaints to be raised by sending us a complaints form (unless that is your chosen method) and that complaints can be made verbally as well as in writing. Complaints can also be raised via a chosen third party or advocate.
Verbal complaints can be made by speaking with a member of staff directly or by telephone; or by calling our Head Office on 020 7920 7300.
Written complaints can be:
1. Emailed directly to a PRHA member of staff (e.g. your housing officer, key worker, service manager or other appropriate PRHA staff member); or emailed centrally to feedback@prha.net.
2. Made by written letter or by complaint form handed directly to an appropriate PRHA member of staff; or sent to our Complaints & Compliance Team at PRHA’s registered postal address of 15a Kelsey Street, London, E2 6HD.
You can download a copy of our Complaints Policy here
You can download a copy of our complaints form here
If your complaint is determined to fall under our Data Protection Policy or our Higher Risk Building Safety Policy, we will let you know as part of our acknowledgment process and will inform you of any difference that this will make to our processes and timescales for investigating and responding to your complaint.

Support when making a complaint

If you would like support to make your complaint your housing officer, keyworker or project manager will be able to help you.

Our complaints handling performance, and learning from complaints
The feedback provided by complaints raised and the lessons we can learn from putting things right are key in improving our services and demonstrating that we are listening to our residents and tenants. In support of this we review complaints and feedback received and publish the learning as part of our regular reporting back to our stakeholders. We do this in two ways:

Complaints Review Reports

These are summary reports that provide key information on complaints and learning that includes:
• A breakdown of formal complaints received in the period, by department
• A breakdown of formal complaints received in the period, by main type
• The number of complaints that were escalated to Stage 2 of our process
• The number of complaints that were closed within the timescales governed by our Complaints Policy and the Housing Ombudsman’s Code
• How complaints received in the period have changed the services we provide (learning from complaints)
Our most recent Complaints Review Report is available here

Our Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Reports

Our annual reports offer more detailed information and are designed to meet the requirements of The Housing Ombudsman for providing our complaints performance data to our residents, tenants and stakeholders.
Our latest Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report is available here

PRHA’s Self-Assessment (Housing Ombudsman Complaints Handling Code)

The Housing Ombudsman requires all Housing Associations to annually assess their complaints handling policy and procedures against the Ombudsman’s Complaints Handling Code using their self-assessment template, and to publish the Self-Assessment on their website. Our most recent Self-Assessment is available here
For more information about the Complaints Handling Code you can visit the Housing Ombudsman Service website: https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/

Getting help and support from the Housing Ombudsman

If you have raised a complaint with PRHA that has gone through both stages of our internal complaint procedure (Stage 1 and Stage 2) and are not happy with the response received, you are able to refer your complaint formally to the Housing Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman may then choose to investigate the complaint and to support you in reaching an appropriate resolution with PRHA.
The Housing Ombudsman is also available to provide advice and guidance about a complaint you are making or wish to make, and this support is available at any point during the process. The Ombudsman will however not be able to formally take on your complaint until after is has been through both stages of our complaint procedure.
If you wish to contact the Housing Ombudsman you can do so using the contact details below:
• Online complaints form (available from the Housing Ombudsman’s website at www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk )
• Contact via phone: 0300 111 3000
• Contact via email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
• Postal address: Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 1484, Unit D, Preston PR2 0ET.

We aim to satisfactorily resolve your complaint quickly but should that not be the case, or the complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, please contact PRHA’s Complaints & Compliance Team (Email: feedback@prha.net / Phone: 07921 700492).
You can also speak to your housing officer, key worker or service manager for advice and support with the process of contacting the Housing Ombudsman.