The complaints procedure

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What is a complaint?

We use the Housing Ombudsman’s definition of a complaint which is “an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual client or group of clients.”

You may feel that we have:

• done something wrong
• failed to do something we should have done
• given you the wrong information
• treated you unfairly.

Things we won’t consider as a complaint

• Service requests. A service request is a way for you to ask us to put something right if you are a Transform client. For example, if you have an issue in your home, you should let us know. We will tell you how we will respond to your request and set out what action we will take. If you are unhappy with our response to your service request, this will then become a complaint.
• Claims for compensation outside of those relevant to a complaint (all claims are dealt with in accordance with our Compensation Policy) .
• If the issue is being considered as part of an insurance claim.
• The matter that you want to complain about happened more than twelve months ago, unless it relates to health and safety or safeguarding.
• If you have started legal, tribunal or ombudsman proceedings against us. However, we will consider complaints during any “pre-court protocol” period where it has not been accepted by a court yet
• Any matter which has been previously considered under this policy.
• Where the complaint is made anonymously.
• Where the complaint is being pursued in an unreasonable manner. We will use our Unacceptable Behaviour Policy where this is the case.
• Where you want to report a wrongdoing by us. If you are making an allegation of us breaking the law which is in the public interest, then this must be dealt with under the Whistleblowing Policy.

How do I make a complaint

You can make your complaint whichever way is best for you, either by:

• completing our on online complaint form (this is the quickest way to send it to us)
• calling your local office
• emailing complaintsteam@transformhousing.org.uk
• calling our central office on 01372 387100
• direct messaging us on social media
• sending a letter to us at:

Someone else can submit a complaint on your behalf, such as a family member or another organisation. Please note we will need to receive your written permission for them to do this if we don’t already have this. You can also be supported by an advocate or friend when making your complaint.

We’ll ensure that you can easily make a complaint in a way that works best for you so, for example, we can provide you with a translator if needed, or provide extra help if you struggle with reading or writing. You can find out more about this in our Reasonable Adjustments Policy and Vulnerability Policy. 

We can also help you contact the Housing Ombudsman Service at any point during the complaints process.

What will happen when I complain?

Our complaints procedure has two stages. We aim to resolve your complaint at the earliest opportunity.

When you first make a complaint to us, you will receive an acknowledgement from us within five working days.

Stage 1: A designated complaints officer will investigate and respond at stage 1. They will contact you, ideally by telephone or via your preferred contact preferences stated in your complaint. They will discuss your complaint and will agree actions and timeframes during this investigation period.

If you do not wish to be called by telephone, we will agree another method of communication.

They will work with relevant colleagues across different teams to investigate your complaint fully.

You will get a response within 10 working days from acknowledgement. If we need to extend this, for example, the complaint is particularly complex, we will agree an extended response date. This will be no longer than a further 10 working days.

Stage 2: If you’re not happy with the way your complaint has been handled at stage 1, you can escalate your complaint to stage 2.

The stage 2 review is not a repeat of the full investigation. The actions and decisions taken at stage 1 will be examined to check if they were thorough, reasonable and fair.

A response will be sent out no more than 20 working days from the request to escalate. If this is not possible, for example the complaint is particularly complex, we will extend this for another 20 days maximum. In these instances, we will contact you and discuss the reasons for this, as well as keep in touch.

A copy of our Complaints Policy is available here.

A flowchart of our complaints process can be found here.

Transform’s Member Responsible for Complaints

The Board has appointed Katie Wadey, Chair of our Client Experience & Impact Committee as our Member Responsible for Complaints. She is responsible for ensuring the Board receive regular complaints information. She will have access to colleagues and information to be able to report on their findings in complaints.

She can be contacted by email.