In 2020/21, Barnet Homes received 1,316 Stage 1 complaints. Of these, 137 were escalated to Stage 2 of our complaints process. We answered 93% of Stage 1 complaints and 86% of Stage 2 complaints within our target of 10 working days.
The most common cause of complaints across all of our services was poor communication, and we are working to make improvements to your experience. We know that repairs are very important to you, and delays that were usually caused by staff shortages or the impact of COVID-19 on our ability to complete them as quickly as you or we would like also left some
residents dissatisfied. Some of our improvement works from the previous year had a positive impact in 2021/22, and as a result of this Barnet Homes received fewer complaints about the gas service and about the work of Operational Inspectors.
You said… you were experiencing delays in repairs being completed.
We… stopped working with one contractor which was found to be too slow in addressing a build-up of works that was originally affected by COVID-19, leading to complaints about this. We also worked to recruit more staff to fill gaps in our service, and started having a monthly meeting to identify improvement actions for works in progress, which has been very successful in reducing the number of overdue jobs.
You said… we were not responding to Right to Buy queries fast enough.
We… recruited a new senior housing officer to focus on Right to Buy performance, and we started working more closely with the council’s
legal team which is also involved in the process, with the aim of improving how quickly we deal with these enquiries.
You said… you were experiencing difficulty getting through on the phone to or staying connected to our Customer Contact team.
We… worked with our IT provider to put in place an interim fix for the issues with our telephony system, and we are continuing to work with them
testing solutions that will make the system more stable and improve your experience.