The Council's Housing Customer Feedback Policy sets out we will deal with customer feedback in the form of complaints, compliments, or comments.
You can give us your feedback by
· by letter, to Customer Services
· telephone via customer services on 01476 406080
· email Customer Services C.Service@southkesteven.gov.uk
· or in person.
You can also
· Contact your local Councillor about local issues.
· Contact the Council's Chief Executive or directors by emailing Customer Services C.Service@southkesteven.gov.uk
Compliments
It is appreciated when a customer takes the time to thank or praise the Council or staff for the service they have received.
A compliment is defined as "an indication that we have performed well, provided a good service or gone beyond expectations."
Comments and suggestions
Comments and suggestions are welcomed as valuable sources of information as to how the Council could improve the service it delivers. It may not always be possible to implement or make changes as a result of a customer's comment or suggestion, but they are still important as the feedback might influence decisions that the Council makes in the future.
A suggestion is defined as "an idea of how we could improve or change the current service offered."
Complaints
A complaint is defined as "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 resident or group of residents."
The word ‘complaint’ does not need to appear in customer feedback for it to be treated as a complaint. All feedback will be reviewed, and if identified as a complaint, it will be addressed in accordance with this policy.
A complaint may also arise when a person is dissatisfied with the way a service request has been handled.
Who can give customer feedback
The term ‘customer’ includes those living in any of our council housing properties, leaseholders, shared owners, applicants for housing and any person or organisation to who we provide a housing service or have a legal or contractual obligation.
Where a customer is unable to make the complaint themselves, we will accept complaints from a representative and address the complaint through them, providing we have the customer’s permission to do so and in line with the data protection requirements.
How we address complaints
Complaints may be made at any time within 12 months of the issue occurring or within 12 months of the complainant being made aware of the issue.
There are two stages to the handling of a complaint:
Stage 1
· The Council will send an acknowledgement of receipt of your complaint within 5 working days.
· A senior officer will conduct a thorough investigation of your complaint and provide a response directly to you within 10 working days.
· Where it is not possible to respond within these times, we will contact you and advise you of an estimated date of response, which will not exceed a further 10 working days without good reason.
Stage 2
· If you are not happy with your Stage 1 response, you can request it progresses to Stage 2.
· This request must be received by the Council within 20 working days of the Stage 1 response being sent.
· The Council will send an acknowledgement of receipt of your complaint within 5 working days.
· Your complaint will be thoroughly investigated by a senior manager who was not involved in Stage 1 of the complaint.
· They will write to you with the outcome of their investigation within 20 working days.
· Where it is not possible to respond within this time, we will contact you and advise you of an estimated date of response (will not exceed a further 10 working days without good reason).
If you feel South Kesteven District Council has not dealt with your complaint satisfactorily, you have the option of taking your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman who will look into your complaint.
Referral to Ombudsman
If you are not satisfied with our Stage 2 response, you can ask the Housing Ombudsman to review your complaint and our response. You can contact the Ombudsman directly or you can ask your local councillor to do this for you
The Housing Ombudsman will expect the complainant to have followed the Council's complaint process, in the first instance.
There are several ways you can contact the Housing Ombudsman Service:
Fill in an online complaint form: housing-ombudsman.org.uk/residents/make-a-complaint/
Phone: 0300 111 3000
Email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
Post: Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 1484, Unit D, Preston PR2 0ET
Live chat on the website: https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/
Further information on the Housing Ombudsman can be found at: https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk
Housing Ombudsman
The Housing Ombudsman service is set up by law to look at complaints about all social landlords. The service is free, independent and impartial. It helps resolves disputes involving the tenants and leaseholders of social landlords (including the Council).
Our Commitment to the Housing Ombudsman Code
We are committed to meeting the standards of the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code, which aims to ensure tenants have easy access to an effective complaints process.
As required by the Code, we complete regular self-assessments to monitor how we manage complaints and how we improve services based on resident feedback.
Our most recent self-assessment can be seen here:
SKDC Complaints Code Self-Assessment 2026
Housing Complaints Performance
In line with the Housing Ombudsman’s statutory requirements, we publish an annual complaints performance and service improvement report showing how we have handled housing complaints and what improvements we have made as a result.
These reports can be found here:
Housing Services Annual Complaint Performance and Service Improvement Report 2023-2024
Housing Services Annual Complaint Performance and Service Improvement Report 2024-2025
Housing Services Annual Complaint Performance and Service Improvement Report 2025-26
Housing Ombudsman Landlord Performance Reports
The Housing Ombudsman publishes an annual report on how we have addressed housing related complaints that were reviewed by the Housing Ombudsman.
These annual reports can be seen here:
Housing Ombudsman Landlord Performance Report 2023-2024
Housing Ombudsmen Landlord Performance Report 2024 - 2025
Housing Ombudsman Publicity Campaign
The Housing Ombudsman has also introduced a publicity campaign to ensure tenants are aware of how they can complain to their landlord and how the Housing Ombudsman can help them in getting their complaints addressed. This can be found at: