Complaints are an important part of how we improve service to residents and change the culture across NHG. Doing this is a demonstration of how we keep our word to our residents, treat them fairly and put things right where we have fallen short.
During 2025/26 residents told us that the issues affecting them most were problems with repairs and disrepair, communication, staff conduct, service charges and the management of communal areas and estates.
In 2025/26 we received 10,258 Stage 1 complaints and 3,418 Stage 2 complaints. While complaint volumes increased, we significantly improved response times, with 93.9 per cent of Stage 1 complaints responded to within Housing Ombudsman timescales, up from 65.3 per cent the previous year.
Read the full complaints performance and service improvement report 2025/26.
Complaints
Repairs and property condition
Property condition was the largest complaint category, making up 38 per cent of stage 1 complaints. Residents told us they were frustrated by delays in completing repairs, repeat visits for the same issue, damp and mould, and concerns about workmanship.
New repairs contracts have led to fluctuations in the delivery of repairs, but there are early signs of improvement with greater contractor engagement and new ways that NHG is monitoring and measuring performance
Staff conduct
There were complaints about how residents felt they had been treated. We found these concerns were often linked to unresolved repairs, repeated chasing or poor communication. We take all concerns about conduct seriously, and are confident that improving service ownership, timeliness and communication will reduce these complaints from the 12 per cent they were in this period. We are developing a new customer experience strategy and customer standard. This will be done by March 2027.
NHG has introduced new values, which set clearer expectations of how colleagues work with residents and each other.
Communications and updates
Residents said they were dissatisfied when emails went unanswered, updates were not provided, information was inconsistent between colleagues, or communication was unclear. The findings show that residents want clearer ownership of issues with consistent, timely, easier to understand and accurate updates. This has directly informed the Resident First Programme. This programme is designed to address the root cause of poor communication, the need for repeat contact and unclear ownership.
Block and estate management
Residents complained about communal cleaning, grounds maintenance, security and the upkeep of shared areas. These complaints relate to the experience of living in a place, so we know that we need to strengthen local ownership, improve visibility of estate standards, and communicate more clearly about planned and completed remedial work.
Service charges
Residents raised questions about the clarity of service charge statements, how charges were calculated and whether services represented value for money. NHG has established a centralised service charge team and developed a centralised income collection model. This will improve the work we do with residents about charges, payments and arrears.
The time it takes us to do things
63 per cent of complaints mentioned how long it takes us to take action, and how often issues are not resolved the first time. We need to focus on faster resolution, improved quality of work, stronger contractor performance management and more reliable follow-through after a complaint response is issued.
We also learned that more than half of complaints that escalated to Stage 2 were linked to actions agreed at Stage 1 not being completed. This has led to stronger tracking, ownership and monitoring of follow-on actions.
Resident satisfaction with complaint handling remains low at 26.0 per cent for renters and 11.7 per cent for homeowners. This shows that while complaint handling performance is improving, residents are not yet consistently experiencing the outcomes they expect.
Complaints to the Housing Ombudsman Service
No resident should need to complain, but when they do our response should be quick, effective and fair. During 2025/26 we improved the way complaints are handled, but residents continue to tell us that repairs, delays, communication and follow-through need to improve. Through the Resident First Programme, stronger contractor accountability and closer monitoring of actions, our focus for 2026/27 is not only to respond to complaints more quickly, but to reduce the need for complaints in the first place.
