This meeting of the Decision Notices committee of Dover District Council was scheduled to consider the council's annual housing complaints performance and a self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman's complaint handling code. Councillor Michael Nee, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Governance, Climate Change and Environment, was expected to approve the report for publication. The Chairman of the Council agreed to suspend call-in due to the deadline for publishing the report.

Annual Housing Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report

The main item for consideration was the Annual Housing Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report, including a self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code.

The report pack included a recommendation that Councillor Michael Nee approve the Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report, which includes the Annual Self-Assessment against the Code. It was also recommended that Councillor Michael Nee approve the proposed response on behalf of the Cabinet for the Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement report, for publication. The report also recommended that the Head of Corporate Services and Democracy be authorised to publish the Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report, including the Self Assessment and the response from Councillor Michael Nee, on behalf of the Cabinet, and to submit the self-assessment to the Housing Ombudsman by 30 September 2025.

The purpose of the report was:

To approve the response of the governing body (the Cabinet) and the self-assessment and authorise its publication and submission to the Housing Ombudsman.

The report noted that the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023¹ imposed a duty on the council as a landlord to monitor its compliance. The annual complaints performance covered complaints received between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 regarding:

• Housing Management
• Housing Rents
• Housing Repairs

The report stated that Dover District Council has always viewed complaints as an opportunity to learn and improve services, and actively encourages tenants and customers to raise comments and complaints.

The council operates a two-stage complaints process. Stage 1 complaints are responded to by individual services, and Stage 2 complaints are handled by the Corporate Services Officer responsible for complaints.

The council can refuse to accept complaints in certain circumstances, such as:

• If the issue occurred over 12 months ago
• If legal proceedings have started
• If the matter has already been considered under the council's Complaints Policy or by the Ombudsman

The report included statistics on the number of complaints received, the number of complaints handled at each stage of the process, complaints by type/service area, and complaints performance. Overall, the council saw an increase in complaints year-on-year between 2023-24 and 2024-25, with the number increasing from 113 to 163 complaints.

The report also included information on processing times for complaints, the reasons for complaints, and the outcomes of complaints. Most complaints received related to dissatisfaction with the service provided or works undertaken by the council.

The report outlined an improvement plan for Stage 1 response times, which included:

• Implementation of a new in-house complaints system
• Automatic reminders to staff concerning deadlines for complaints
• Employing an additional member of staff for the complaints team
• Roll out of PowerBI dashboards to all key service areas to enable real time monitoring of their live complaints
• Training on complaints for staff

The report also included lessons learnt and service improvements from complaints, such as:

• Ensuring that all information regarding new build properties is passed on to the tenant
• Providing further training to staff on dealing with tenants and to ensure that all alerts regarding tenants are reviewed regularly
• Reviewing procedures to ensure that garages were not let before works had been completed
• Reviewing procedures to ensure that clearer advice was provided as to when pests were the council or tenants responsibility

The report included a response on behalf of the Cabinet to the Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report from Councillor M J Nee, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Governance, Climate Change and Environment (Member Responsible for Complaints). Councillor M J Nee welcomed the overall picture of compliance with the provisions of the Complaint Handling Code, and emphasised the importance placed by the Cabinet on the first Strategic Priority of the Council's Corporate Plan is 'Improving our Housing'.

The report included a self-assessment form, which assessed the council's compliance with the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code.

Finally, the report included a Landlord Performance report from the Housing Ombudsman, which provided data on the council's performance in handling complaints compared to other landlords. The report noted that the council had 3 determinations, 15 findings, and a maladministration rate of 60.0%. The report also noted that the council had complied with 100% of orders made within 3 months. The report provided guidance notes on the figures included in the report.