Complaints
At Ascham Homes, we believe that complaints about our services
are very important and we treat them very seriously.
How to complain
There are a number of ways to send your complaint to Ascham
Homes. You can:
Write to us at:
Ascham Homes, Willow House, 869 Forest Road, Walthamstow
E17 4UH
Visit us at:
Cedar Wood House, 2d Fulbourne Rd, Walthamstow E17 4GG
By telephone to:
Complaints and Service Improvements Team (Monday to Friday 9am
to 5pm) – 020 8496 4197
By fax:
020 8496 5554
By email:
listening@aschamhomes.org.uk
Via our website:
Fill in the complaints form online
What is a complaint?
A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction by a customer
about Ascham Homes’ services or its staff, where a response or
resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected.
We are always looking to improve our services. Your complaints
help us do this.
There may be times when we get things wrong. If this happens we
would like to hear from you so we have the chance to put things
right and make sure that we learn from our mistakes.
How does a complaint differ from a service
request?
We treat complaints and services requests differently. For
example, if your home requires a repair, and you are reporting this
to us for the first time, we will treat this as a service request.
If you have reported a repair request to us and we have not carried
this out and you are unhappy about this, we will treat this as a
complaint. If you wish to make a service request please contact
Ascham Direct on 020 8496 4197 or direct@aschamhomes.org.uk
Who can complain?
Anyone associated with our customers (e.g. family members,
advocates, or friend acting on behalf of our customers with
customer’s written consent) or any person affected by our services
can complain if they are unhappy about the services received, our
policies or procedures, or if they feel there has been unfair
treatment.
We aim to:
- Make it easy for you to complain
- Sort out your complaint as quickly as possible.
- Investigate all complaints fairly
- Explain why we have reached our decisions
- Say sorry when things have gone wrong and put them right,
offering compensation where appropriate
- Learn from your complaints and improve the service offered to
our customers.
Our complaints procedure
At Ascham Homes there are two stages to our complaints
procedure:
Stage one – the relevant service area within
Ascham Homes will reply to your complaint, if possible,
within 10 working days. If it is not possible to respond fully
to your complaint within 10 working days [i.e. because we need some
further information that is not available] we will write to you and
explain why. We will also tell you when we will be able to respond
to your complaint.
You will receive a letter acknowledging your complaint. This
will tell you the name of the person who is dealing with your
complaint, their contact details and the date by which you will
receive a response.
Stage two – if you are not happy with the
response received from Ascham Homes at stage one, you have the
opportunity to complain further to the Chief Executive of the
London Borough of Waltham Forest (the Council) who will carry out
an independent review of the actions taken by Ascham Homes. The
Council’s Corporate Complaints Team will acknowledge your request
within five days and your complaint will be reviewed within 28
calendar days.
The Local Government Ombudsman
If you are still dissatisfied with the Council’s stage two
response, you have the right to escalate your complaint to the
Local Government Ombudsman. The Ombudsman may be contacted on-line
at www.lgo.org.uk or in
writing to P.O Box 4771 Coventry CV4 0EH or by email to advice@lgo.org.uk You can also
contact the LGO Advice Team for advice or to lodge a complaint by
telephone (0030 061 0614 or 0845 602 1983) or by fax (024 7682
0001) or by text requesting “call back” (0762 4804299)
How can I get help making my complaint
Your local Councillor or Member of Parliament can help you make
a complaint or complain on your behalf. Their details can be
obtained from the Council on 020 8496 3000 or via their website
www.walthamforest.gov.uk
You may also contact the Complaints and Service Improvement Team
on 020 8496 4197 and they will be happy to assist.
Alternatively, you can:
Contact or visit your local Citizens Advice
Bureau
Telephone: 0844 826 9696 or visit their website www.citizensadvice.org.uk
or www.adviceguide.org.uk
Seek help from a local Law Centre
Telephone:0845 345 4345 or visit their website www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk
Seek help from a local solicitor
Visit the Law Society’s website www.lawsociety.org.uk (to help
you find a local solicitor)
Putting it Right
To put things right if we’ve made a mistake, these are the
things that we will do:
- Apologise
- Arrange for work or repairs to be done as soon as possible
- Speed up a decision that has taken too long
- Reconsider facts, if circumstances have changed
- Learn from our mistakes and update training to staff
Compensation
In some cases, we may offer to pay you compensation.
Examples of situations where we may pay compensation are:
- If we fail to complete certain repairs within the time that we
promise
- If we miss an appointment in your home without cancelling it in
advance
Your Access to Information Rights
We believe in keeping you informed. You also have the legal
right to see or have a copy of any information held on your tenancy
file. If there are any confidential letters on your file, for
example from social services, we must ask for their permission to
show them to you. Once this is granted, you are able to see or have
a copy of your file within 40 calendar days. There will be a £10
administration charge.
If you are unhappy with any information on your file, you can
ask us to remove it by writing to the Chief Executive, Ascham
Homes, Willow House, 869 Forest Road, London E17 4UH.
You also have the right to see certain types of information such
as our policies and procedures. We must deal with these request
within 20 working days.
Back to top