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Guidance: Operating a complaints system for building safety in a high-rise residential building

Health Safety Executive

December 20
00:00 2023

Purpose of a complaints system

The principal accountable person of a high-rise residential building must establish and operate a complaints system for residents, and other users of the building, who want to raise an issue about:

  • structural failure and spreadof fire in the building (building safety risks)
  • the performance of an accountable person

Your complaints system must enable residents, and others, to raise issues with those responsible for managing building safety risks.

Youll need to explain to residents what a relevant complaint is, so they know how to raise issues when they need to.

The complaints system should help you to treat all issues raised impartially and fairly. Residents and other building users should not be afraid of telling you about issues.

If you have an existing complaints system, you can adapt it to include these types of issues. You do not need to create a separate process for building safety risks or the performance of an accountable person.

The system should help those raising issues understand how to escalate them to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) if they are not satisfied with a response.

Complaints policy

You must publish a complaints policy which explains to residents what a relevant complaint is.It should set out your general approach to issues raised and how your complaints system will work. You should explain how you, as the principal accountable person, will manage issues raised. It should clearly say who does what, when and how.

Having a policy can help you to tell others about your complaints system. Youll need to share information about how the system works with residents, other users of the building, other accountable persons, and BSR, so youll need to record it.

What is a relevant complaint

You must provide a way for people to raise issues relating to:

  • structural failure and spreadof fire (building safety risks)
  • performance of an accountable person

It may be helpful to include examples of what is relevant for your complaints process. You might want to consider setting out the difference between arelevant complaintand a service or maintenance request.

What your complaints system must do

You should involve and consult with your residents when establishing your complaints process. Your resident engagement strategy can help you with this.

You must tell residents and others:

  • what a relevant complaint is
  • how to raise issues
  • how the issues will be dealt with
  • how long it will take to investigate issues
  • when they should expect responses at specific stages and what they will cover
  • how youll collect and store information in line with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Youll need to describe how and when issues can be taken to BSR, providing contact details to allow those raising issues to be escalated.

Those raising an issue must be able to challenge responses, and you should tell them how they can do this.When necessary, residents can appoint a representative to raise an issue for them.

You should consider consulting with residents on any changes to your system.

After you have prepared your policy

As the principal accountable person, you must:

  • establish and operate a complaint handling system (if a suitable process is not already in place)
  • act in accordance with the process
  • provide the latest version to each accountable person and all residents in the building
  • make sure other accountable persons understand and use the process
  • treat issues raised impartially and fairly
  • reply to the complainant letting them know if the issues raised are accepted or rejected

Youll need to provide a copy of your policy when requested by BSR.

The principal accountable person and accountable persons must work together so that issues are dealt with on time and to the satisfaction of those raising them.

How youll receive complaints

Be clear about how issues can be raised. Consider if issues can be raised via email, telephone, online and in person. You must make information about your system easily available and accessible to people. This information must be displayed clearly within the building, such as the lobby.

You should consider what to do if residents find it difficult to describe an issue, but could submit, for example, photo or video evidence that helps communicate their concerns. Your policy should set out what you can do if someone needs information in a different language or in alternative format. For example, large text, easy read, braille, or audio.Working with residents to find ways of accessing information that better suits them will help you comply with equality law.

How youll handle complaints

You should explain who will investigate. During an investigation, the principal accountable person or those appointed to respond to issues, must:

  • reply to the person raising an issue, letting them know if it has been accepted as a relevant complaint, or rejected
  • decide the best way to investigate
  • have a way to track the progress of the investigation

Youll need to prioritise issues based on the risks identified rather than on the order you received them in.

Be clear about how many stages your complaints process consists of and who is responsible at each stage.

Requests for further information

Principal accountable persons should have a way to provide any information that is asked for as soon as possible. When providing requested information, you must not breach data protection regulations or any restrictions on disclosure.

Timings and deadlines

Set out time frames for acknowledging that youve received a complaint and for responding in full for each stage of the process.You should consider having a system to track the progress of issues raised.

If an investigation or response might take longer than the times expected, you should tell the complainant the reasons for the delay or the extension.

Responding to a complaint

You should ensure that responses to issues raised use simple language and are in a format which the complainant can understand.

A response must:

  • address all of the issues that were raised
  • provide reasons for any decisions made
  • detail actions that have been carried out or are planned, with time frames when these will be completed

Rejecting a complaint

Set out the criteria that youll use when deciding whether to reject a complaint. You should consider:

  • the factors that make up the complaint
  • if it meets the definition of a relevant complaint
  • if the issues raised have already been investigated
  • if it is added information for a previously raised issue

Escalation and disputes

When a complainant choses to challenge your response or decision, you must:

  • review your original response
  • consider if there are further concerns that need addressing

The principal accountable person and the accountable person must work with complainants to reach an outcome where everyone is satisfied. Youll need to decide how and when the matter can be closed.

An issue relating to structural failure and spreadof fire (building safety risks) or the performance of an accountable person, can be referred to BSR with the complainants consent when:

  • an agreement cannot be reached between the principal accountable person and the accountable person
  • there is no satisfactory outcome after a final response is given
  • the complainant is not satisfied with the outcome
Published 20 December 2023

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