Customer relations, complaints and feedback
At Anchor we know that customer feedback is essential to helping us improve the services we provide.
We value all types of feedback and have a responsive customer feedback process to ensure we can respond to all compliments, complaints and suggestions quickly and effectively.
Anchor’s complaints policy and procedure
We’d like to think that we get things right most of the time, but we know that occasionally things may go wrong. We operate a 2 stage complaints process for these cases. As an organisation that is committed to listening to our customers and improving our service, we really do want to hear from you if you’ve had a problem.
We will always do our best to make sure you can contact us easily. Part of this will involve putting in place additional measures, where it’s considered necessary and reasonable to do so, which would assist our communication with you. This might include for example providing correspondence in large print or by facilitating access to a language line translation support service. Just let us know if there is any difficulty and we will do our best to help.
Often the quickest way to put things right is for you to speak with the local manager who works at your location. We do appreciate though that sometimes this isn’t possible, or you’ll want to contact us directly, so we’ve made this easy for you to do.
For detailed information about our complaints policy and procedure, including when you will receive responses, our use of mediation and details of outside agencies you can contact, download our Complaints, Compliments & Suggestions helpsheet.
Download our Complaints Policy (updated Oct 2021)
Download our Customer Helpsheet (updated Oct 2021)
Compliments
We are always delighted to hear from customers who recognise our staff for delivering an excellent service.
Compliments let us know where and how we are succeeding in providing good service and provide examples of good practice that we are committed to sharing with our customers and throughout the organisation.
At Anchor we like to give praise where it is due, so if you would like to thank a member of staff, or a volunteer for the service they have provided you or a loved one, please contact the Customer Relations team using the details below and we will be sure to pass on your appreciation.
Contact the Customer Relations team
You can contact the Customer Relations team with a complaint or compliment by completing one of our ‘We welcome your feedback’ forms available at our locations or by using one of the following contact options:
Independent Customer Complaint Panel
Once you have exhausted the internal complaints process you may ask the Independent Customer Complaints Panel to look at your complaint and provide an impartial view on how it has been handled by Anchor.
Find out more
Resident satisfaction surveys
We continuously scrutinise the services we provide and survey our residents to better understand your views about us, what we’re doing well and where we can improve.
Find out moreWe are keen to hear from you
Anchor’s Customer Relations Manager, Jonathan Earnshaw is always keen to hear from our customers;
"We pride ourselves on delivering a high standard of service, though realise that things can go wrong from time to time, and when that happens, our aim is to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible.
"We're just as keen as you are to get to the bottom of whatever the complaint might be, so please talk to us as soon as possible and we'll do the best we can to help find a solution. You might even be helping other customers in future by bringing it to our attention. We also really like to hear feedback on what we do well or Anchor colleagues who make a difference to you so we can share your feedback with them, so please do let us know."
We look forward to hearing about your experiences, and more importantly learning from your feedback.
The Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code and the Self-Assessment
In July 2020 the Housing Ombudsman launched its Complaint Handling Code. Compliance with this Code forms part of the membership obligations set out in the Housing Ombudsman Scheme and Landlords such as Anchor are expected to comply with the requirements of this Code.
In order to ensure compliance, the Housing Ombudsman has created a self-assessment which must be completed by Landlords and published on their websites. The original self-assessment was published in 31 December 2020.
In Autumn 2021 we carried out a desk-top review exercise looking at compliance against the Code, along with updating the figures within the assessment. This is shown below and dated December 2021.
Read a copy of our Self-Assessment for December 2020 here
Read a copy of our Self-Assessment for December 2021 here
Download a copy of the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code - here
For further details about the Housing Ombudsman see the Contact details listed below.
Further information and external bodies you can contact
Housing Ombudsman Service
PO Box 152, Liverpool, L33 7WQ
Tel: 0300 111 3000
E-mail: [email protected]
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
PO Box 4771, Coventry, CV4 0EH
Tel: 0300 061 0614
www.Igo.org.uk
Care Quality Commission Customer Service Centre
Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4PA
Tel: 0300 616161
www.cqc.org.uk