How we will deal with your complaint

• We may contact you for more detail or to find out how you would like us to resolve it.  
• We shall investigate and respond within 10 days of receiving your complaint.
• Or in exceptional cases, we will advise you if and why we need a little longer.

If you are not happy with our response you must tell us within 28 days of receiving it. 

• We will pass your complaint to an appropriate Manager or Head of Service for further investigation and consideration.
• They will respond within a further 10 days.

If you are still unhappy please tell us again – within 28 days.

• We will pass your complaint to the relevant Director or the Chief Executive.
• We will always tell you who is dealing with your complaint.

The next step, if you would like to appeal against this decision would be to refer it to a Complaints Panel comprising two members of the Association's board plus a resident or service user who is a member of Orwell’s tenant involvement committee.

• We will try and arrange the panel meeting at a time and location to suit you.
• We will confirm the details within 10 days although the date could be up to a month from when you requested an appeal.
• When we advise you of the outcome of the panel’s consideration of your complaint, we shall also give you details of how to appeal externally if you are still unhappy.

How you can appeal to someone else about Orwell’s final decision

If you have followed the Association’s complaints procedure but are still dissatisfied you can appeal against the panel’s decision to the Housing Ombudsman Service.

If you would like more details about the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, then please contact the Association, or call at any one of our offices for a leaflet. Alternatively, click here for a link to the Ombudsman website www.ihos.org.uk

If the complaint is about support or care services provided by Orwell, the matter can be referred to the Supporting People Administering Authority, or to the Care Quality Commission respectively.