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Our complaints procedure is split into two stages. We will try to resolve your complaint in stage one, if we don’t, you can escalate it to stage two.
You can contact the Housing Ombudsman at any point, however, they will not consider your complaint until you have completed our internal complaints procedure.
Stage 1 complaints
Your complaint will be acknowledged within five working days, then an investigating officer will contact you two days after your complaint has been acknowledged. This can be over the phone, in person, by email or text to introduce themselves and ensure they have all the correct details regarding the complaint to enable them to investigate.
If we can resolve your complaint at this point, we will close the case with your agreement and confirm this in writing.
If we were not able to resolve your complaint when we made contact with you on day 2, further investigation will be carried out by the investigating officer. We will look to provide you with a full response within 10 working days, where this isn’t possible we will provide an explanation and let you know a date that we will provide you with a response. This will not be more than 10 further working days.
If you raise additional related complaints during the investigation, we will respond to these in your Stage 1 response letter. Where the issues are unrelated or the response letter has been sent, we will log the issues as a new complaint.
The complaint response will advise that if you are not satisfied with our response, you should inform us within one month to escalate your complaint to Stage 2 of our internal complaints process.
Stage 2 complaints
Residents are not required to explain their reasons for requesting a stage 2 consideration. PCH are expected to make reasonable efforts to understand why you remain unhappy as part of its stage 2 response.
The investigating officer reviewing the complaint will be different to the member of staff that dealt with the issue at Stage 1 to ensure an independent review.
Your stage 2 complaint will be acknowledged within 5 working days and we will respond within 20 working days of this ackowledgement.
If we need to investigate further we will let you know and give you a date when the complaint response will be received. This will not exceed another 20 working days.
The complaint response will advise that you have completed our internal complaints procedure and if you are still not satisfied you may contact the Housing Ombudsman to pursue the matter further outside of the PCH internal complaints process. You can find contact details for the Housing Ombudsman below.
Complaints timeline
1. Stage 1 complaint submitted: An investigating officer will acknowledge your complaint. Within five working days.
2. Initial response: An investigating officer will contact you to discuss your complaint. if we can resolve your complaint at this point, we will close the case with your agreement. Within two working days.
3. Further investigation: If your complaint isn't resolved, further investigation will be carried out by the investigating officer. We will provide you with a full response to your complaint after the investigation is completed. Within 10 working days.
4. Continued investigation: Where it's not possible to provide a response within 10 working days, we will provide an explanation and let you know a date that we will provide you with a response. Within 10 working days.
5. Escalate your complaint: If you are not satisfied with our response, you’ll need to inform us within one month so we can escalate your complaint to Stage 2. Within one month.
6. Stage 2 complaint submitted: A different investigating officer will acknowledge your complaint. Within five working days.
7. Stage 2 response: The investigating officer will provide a response to your complaint. Within 20 working days.
8. Further investigation: If we need to investigate further we will let you know and give you a date when the complaint response will be received. Within 20 working days.
9. Escalate your complaint: If you are still not satisfied you may contact the Housing Ombudsman to pursue the matter further. Within 12 months.
Useful guides and video
You can find more information on our complaints process by watching the below video or reading our Complaints Process Guidance.
