Health Safety Executive
Purpose of a complaints system
The principal accountable person (PAP) 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 the spreadof fire in the building (building safety risks)
- the performance of an accountable person (AP)
Your complaints system must enable residents, and others, to raise issues with those responsible for managing building safety risks.
You 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 AP.
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 PAP, will manage issues raised. It should clearly say who does what, when and how.
Having a policy can help you tell others about your complaints system. You need to share information about how the system works with:
- residents
- other users of the building
- other APs
- BSR
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)
- the performance of an AP
It may be helpful to include examples of what a relevant complaint is for your complaints process. You might want to consider setting out the difference between arelevant complaintand a service or maintenance request.
Keeping a record of relevant complaints
The PAP must keep a record of any relevant complaint for 7 years?showing:
- the information contained in the complaint
- steps taken by any AP for the higher-risk building in response to the complaint
- any involvement of the regulator in relation to or in response to the complaint
- the outcome of the complaint
Recurring relevant complaints
If more than one relevant complaint is made about the same issue within a 7-year timeframe, this is known as a recurring relevant complaint. For each recurring relevant complaint, the PAP must keep at least one of the following:
- the subject and nature of the recurring complaint
- the date that the recurring complaint was made
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 you will collect and store information in line with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
You 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 PAP, 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 AP and all residents in the building
- make sure other APs 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
You will need to provide a copy of your policy when requested by BSR.
The PAP and APs must work together so that issues are dealt with on time and to the satisfaction of those raising them.
How you 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 to handle complaints
You should explain who will investigate. During an investigation, the PAP 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
You 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
PAPs 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 you will 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 PAP and the AP must work with complainants to reach an outcome where everyone is satisfied. You need to decide how and when to close the matter.
An issue relating to structural failure