Complaints

At Ascham Homes, we believe that complaints about our services are very important and we treat them very seriously

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.

How to complain

There are a number of ways to send your complaint to Ascham Homes. You can:

Visit us or write to us at:

Ascham Homes, Willow House 869 Forest Road London E17 4UH or at our Billericay and Wickford Office at 16 Morris Avenue Billericay Essex CM11 2JR.

By Telephone to:

Complaints and Service Improvements Team (Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm) – 020-8496-4027/4079

Ascham Direct (24 hour service) 020 8496 4197

Billericay and Wickford Residents – 0845 3000 363

By Fax:

020-8496-4061

By Email:

complain@aschamhomes.co.uk

Via our Website:

Fill in the complaints form online

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 28 calendar days. If it is not possible to respond fully to your complaint within 28 calendar 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 35 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 4079/4027 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.

Contact Us

Complaints