The Ombudsman service is available for anyone to contact if they are dissatisfied with the service they receive in response to a complaint or if they think the complaint is not being dealt with correctly.
If you are unsure of which Ombudsman to contact view Which ombudsman for social housing complaints? for guidance.
Housing ombudsman
The Housing Ombudsman Service is set up by law to look at complaints about the housing organisations that are registered with them. Norwich City Council is a mandatory member of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme.
They resolve disputes involving the tenants and leaseholders of social landlords (housing associations and local authorities) and voluntary members. Residents and landlords can contact the Ombudsman at any time for support in helping to resolve a dispute. The service is free, independent, and impartial.
They can be contacted as follows:
- Telephone: 0300 111 3000 (9:15am-5:15pm: Monday to Friday)
- Address: Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 152, Liverpool, L33 7WQ
- Website: Housing Ombudsman service for residents
Local government and social care ombudsman
The Local government and social care Ombudsman look at individual complaints about councils, all adult social care providers (including care homes and home care agencies) and some other organisations providing local public services.
Once all stages of our complaints process are complete, but you are not happy with the response, you can register a complaint with the Local government and social care Ombudsman. If you have complained to the organisation but have not had a response within a reasonable time, you can also register a complaint. The service is free, independent, and impartial.
They can be contacted as follows:
Local Government and social care Ombudsman
Address: PO Box 4771, Coventry, CV4 0EH
Telephone: 0300 061 0614 (8:30am-5pm: Monday to Friday)
Website: Local government and social care ombudsman
Complaint handling code
The Housing Ombudsman Service introduced a Complaint handling code in July 2020 which sets out good practice that will allow landlords to respond to complaints effectively and fairly. The code is regularly reviewed and the latest updates to the code came into effect on 1 October 2022.
The purpose of the code is to enable landlords to resolve complaints raised by their residents quickly and to use the learning from complaints to drive service improvements. As a landlord Norwich City Council is required to conduct an annual self-assessment against the code to ensure that our complaint handling remains in line with the codes requirements.
Self-assessment
See full details of our complaint handling code annual self-assessment, completed September 2022.
