Issue - meetings

The Committee is asked to:

1.    Receive and respond to the annual report on Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing’s (MTVH) complaint handling performance and learning from complaints, in relation to complaints from residents of Harper House and White House,

2.    Approve the self-assessment of MTVH’s Complaints Policy against the Complaint Handling Code for submission to the Housing Ombudsman Service; and

3.    Appoint a member or committee to fulfil the role of Member Responsible for Complaints (MRC).

Committee resolved to:

1.    Receive and respond to the annual report on Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing’s complaint handling performance and learning from complaints, in relation to complaints from residents of Harper House and White House,

2.    Approve the self-assessment of Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing’s Complaints Policy against the Complaint Handling Code, for submission to the Housing Ombudsman Service; and

3.    Appoint the Community Wellbeing & Housing Committee to fulfil the role of Members Responsible for Complaints.

The Committee considered a report on housing complaints performance and self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code.

The Committee voted on whether to appoint an individual councillor to undertake the role of Member Responsible for Complaints or a committee.

For an Individual Member – 7

For a committee – 7

As there was an equality of votes, the Leader, as Chair of the Committee, used her statutory power to give a casting vote to agree that a committee be appointed Members Responsible for Complaints.

It was further agreed that the most appropriate committee to take on this responsibility was the Community Wellbeing and Housing Committee.

Committee resolved to:

1.    Receive and respond to the annual report on Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing’s complaint handling performance and learning from complaints, in relation to complaints from residents of Harper House and White House,

2.    Approve the self-assessment of Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing’s Complaints Policy against the Complaint Handling Code, for submission to the Housing Ombudsman Service; and

3.    Appoint the Community Wellbeing & Housing Committee to fulfil the role of Members Responsible for Complaints.

The Committee agreed that the following response to the Annual Report on Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing’s complaint handling performance would be issued:

“This is a positive report which shows that Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MVTH) has a sound complaint handling policy in place and is complying with the requirements set out by the Housing Ombudsman.

The performance report shows two complaints were received about Harper House during the period 2023/24. Both complaints were upheld by MTVH and improvements implemented by the Council as a result of the feedback. No complaints were received in relation to the White House. There were no findings of non-compliance with the code and no reports received from the Ombudsman regarding their handling of complaints on behalf of the Council.

The annual self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code confirms MTVH’s compliance with the recently updated Code”.