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Feedback from our tenants, leaseholders, residents and customers helps us to know what we are doing right and, most importantly, where we need to improve.
Following the Housing Ombudsman Code released in July 2020, the commitment made in the 2020 Government White Paper - ‘The Charter for Social Housing Residents’ – that all social housing residents should have complaints dealt with “promptly and fairly”, and a consultation with our involved customers in October 2020, we launched a new and more customer-focused Complaints Policy.
Our new policy puts the customer first and that we welcome complaints as a chance to put things right and genuinely address your needs and help to strengthen relationships.
Meeting bi-monthly, our Complaints Learning Circle gives managers dealing with Stage 2 complaints the opportunity to share best practice, analyse trends, review case studies and identify opportunities for improvement.
Our Tenants Complaints Panel look at the whole complaints journey and feedback on ways we can improve our customer experience.
Complaints were sometimes assigned to the wrong team which causes delays in resolving issues for the customer.
Customers reported that they weren’t kept informed about the progress of their complaint.
The complaints procedure has been reviewed to improve communication with customers:
Customers were unhappy with how their reports of damp and mould were dealt with.
Communal bins in some areas were overflowing.
A dedicated team now completes a monthly inspection of all Torus communal areas. If issues are found, a manager will visit the site to ensure any issues are resolved.
Visitors to our website who had dyslexia, and other neurodiverse conditions, sometimes struggled with the accessibility of our website.
A Housing Ombudsman case highlighted a case of poor communication with a leaseholder before works completed on their property
An increase in ASB cases escalating through the complaint’s procedure and to the Housing Ombudsman.
Torus reviewed the volume of ASB cases and found trends in the escalated complaints related to the quality of responses.
The non-statutory cases are now handled by Neighbourhood Housing Officers with specialist Enforcement Officers now dealing with those cases that need formal actions to be progressed.
The teams have been restructured with additional resources with improved line-management oversight and support.