Blackpool Coastal Housing (on behalf of the landlord Blackpool Council) Annual Complaint and Service Improvement Report 2024/25
This report outlines how we’ve performed against our complaints service standards from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. It outlines where we have got things wrong and what actions we have taken to improve our services.
The annual self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code will be submitted on/before 30th September 2025 and has been published on this BCH website, along with this report and the Member Responsible for Complaints & Board Complaint Champion’s response to this report. All of these documents can be found in the related links section on this webpage.
Below is a summary of the Annual Complaint and Service Improvement Report 2024/25.
Complaints opened within period
The table below shows all new complaints opened within the period. This includes complaints from tenants, leaseholders and private residents.
|
This period 2024/25 |
Previous period 2023/24 | |
| Stage 1 | 159 | 211 |
| Stage 2 | 36 | 45 |
| Housing Ombudsman Determinations | 1 | 4 |
There has been a decrease in the number of complaints received compared to the last period. In 2024 all staff underwent mandatory customer case training with a focus on ‘Right First Time’. The impact of this training presumably explains some of the reduction in complaints.
The complaints process and service has continued to be promoted through various communication channels so that all customers are aware of their right to complain and can access this process. The Involvement & Communications Manager has also attended all staff team meetings to explain the complaints process and responsibilities, outline expectations and discuss any queries. We have continued to promote the ‘Four Million Homes’ campaign and several of our involved residents have attended training and meetings offered by this campaign. The Four Million Homes programme is a government initiative which has been designed to be a catalyst for change in social housing providing free knowledge, guidance, and training to residents across the sector on their rights and on the duties of social housing landlords.
Whilst the number of Stage 2's have reduced from the previous period, there were also less Stage 1's so the escalation rate has increased slightly from 17% last year to 18% this year.