Help us learn
Most of the time, our services work just how they’re supposed to – we know this because last year, your feedback ranked us in the top 25% of social housing associations in England. At other times, we fall short. When that happens, we want to work with you to put things right.
From the great to the less-than-good, listening to your feedback helps us to learn, and build better services for our residents, communities and staff.
We’d like you to know:
- the different types of feedback we receive
- what is and is not a complaint
- how to make a complaint
- how we make the complaints process fair, and how we can support you
- the stages of the complaints timeline
- and how to seek impartial advice from the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS).
Types of feedback
praise
If you feel our staff have ‘gone the extra mile’ and helped to sort out an issue or problem, please do tell us – it makes our day! We’ll pass on your thanks, publicly praise the staff member(s) involved, and use your feedback to improve how we do things. You can always email the person(s) directly, or housing@soha.co.uk, or call us on 0800 014 15 45 (Freephone).
service request
When you tell us something has gone wrong for the first time, we respond to this feedback as a ‘service request’. That means that there has been a problem with the service we’ve provided, and we try to resolve the issue as quickly as possible at your request. Please report service requests urgently through:
- online: 24 hours a day through the MySoha app or portal
- call: 01235 515 900 (or 0800 014 15 45 Freephone) during business hours
- email: housing@soha.co.uk
- visit: our office in Didcot during business hours
If you remain unsatisfied with our service after reporting your service request, that’s when your feedback becomes a complaint.
comments and ideas
We work hard to give a great service, but you can help us to make it even better. If you have ideas for a new service we could develop, or how we make some positive changes to what we’re already doing, please email housing@soha.co.uk or call us on 0800 014 15 45 (Freephone). All suggestions will be reviewed by a senior manager, as your feedback helps us to improve.
neighbourhood issue
If you get in touch about a neighbourhood issue, such as anti-social behaviour, this is handled by our Neighbourhood team in the first place. There are lots of ways to let us know:
- online: instantly through our Reporting neighbourhood issues site, which has helpful information and support
- online: 24 hours a day through the MySoha app or portal
- call: 01235 515 900 (or 0800 014 15 45 Freephone) or 0800 014 15 45 (Freephone) during business hours
- email: housing@soha.co.uk
- visit: our office in Didcot during business hours
However, if you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your neighbourhood issue, that’s when a complaint can be raised.
Types of complaint
complaints are …
Complaints are made when the services received, or the actions of Soha staff or contractors, were not good enough.
For example, if you were unhappy with our policies and procedures, and any decisions arising from them (including discrimination), this would be a complaint. Similarly, allegations of bullying and discrimination by our staff and contractors are complaints and are taken very seriously.
Complaints can be made by:
- a Soha resident
- a group of Soha residents
- a person(s) who are not Soha residents but have been affected.
complaints are not …
- first-time reporting service requests (see “service request” section above)
- neighbourhood issue reports, such as unwelcome or anti-social behaviour (see “neighbourhood issue” section above)
- requests to re-open a concluded complaint, or to have a complaint reconsidered after the stage 2 final decision has been made.
making a complaint
We will always try our best to resolve any issues when you first raise concerns, however, if you are unhappy with our response you can progress to our complaints process.
Firstly, read above to see what is and is not a complaint. Once you are ready, make your complaint in the way which suits you best:
- online: 24 hours a day through the MySoha app or portal
- email: complaints@soha.co.uk
- call: 01235 515 900 (or 0800 014 15 45 Freephone) or 0800 014 15 45 (Freephone) during business hours
- visit our office in Didcot during business hours
If we decide that your issue should be dealt with by a more appropriate team (for example, an anti-social behaviour report be should handled by the Neighbourhood team) the full reason for this will be clearly explained to you before your information is passed on.
Keeping it fair
The dedicated complaints team will ensure your complaint is treated in a timely, fair and unbiased way, in line with the Housing Ombudsman Service’s Complaint Handling Code.
You may contact the Housing Ombudsman at any time during the process for support, but they cannot help to resolve a dispute which is actively going through our formal process until a final decision has been made. Their contact details are at the bottom of this page.
Any complaint to any organisation can be a draining experience, so please tell us if there’s any additional support which you would find helpful throughout the process. It’s important to us that everyone has the same service.
You don’t have to make the complaint yourself
You can ask for someone to deal with the matter on your behalf, and we will be happy to work with them once you have given permission. We can also let you know where you might be able to find independent advice, for example from Citizens Advice (formerly CAB) or a housing advice centre.
Please ask us if you would like more information about this, or see our help in your local area page on the website: www.soha.co.uk/help-in-your-local-area.
Complaints timeline
Every housing association has a 2-stage process, which is handled internally.
stage 1
If we can resolve your complaint quickly, we will contact you within 5 working days after your initial complaint has been made. We will let you know what has happened, and what action we’ve taken.
If the complaint is more complex and requires further investigation, we will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and our Complaints team will use the next 10 working days to investigate and respond.
If exceptional circumstances mean we are unable to give you a response within these timelines, we can extend the timeline for our response by a further 10 working days – but we will always let you know if this is the case and tell you the reason.
At the end of stage 1, we will send you written confirmation of the outcome.
If you remain unhappy, please contact the Complaints team as soon as possible to tell us why, and we will continue working together. You can choose to progress to stage 2 of our complaints process if you remain unhappy.
stage 2
Stage 2 is a review of stage 1 rather than a new investigation, to ensure it was fair, reasonable and in line with our policies and procedures.
At this point, the Complaints team will ask:
- why you remain dissatisfied
- what resolution you are seeking.
Within 5 working days, we will acknowledge your request and invite you to give any new and relevant information not previously considered.
A panel made up of 1 member of the Senior Leadership team and 1 member of the Complaints team, not directly involved with the initial complaint, will then review the stage 1 response and evidence.
Within 20 working days of our acknowledgement, we will send you our final response.
Very occasionally we are unable to give you a response within these timelines. If this is the case, we can extend the timeline for our response by a further 20 working days – but we will always let you know the new timeline, and the reason why it has changed. Complex cases may take a maximum of 40 working days.
Stage 2 is the final part of our formal complaints process. If you are unhappy with the final decision, you can refer your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman Service for impartial review.
The Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS)
The Ombudsman aims to resolve disputes involving tenants and leaseholders of social landlords. This means the HOS is available only to residents. The service is free, independent, and impartial.
The HOS will only consider a complaint once it has gone through the Soha formal complaints process. However, you can ask for their guidance at any time.
You can contact the HOS through:
- online: through their website, using this form
- post: Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 1484, Unit D, Preston, PR2 0ET
- phone: 0300 111 3000 (lines are open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm)
- email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
Resident Experience group
For many years Soha has run a Complaints working group made up of residents, a Board member, staff and senior managers from across the organisation. It’s purpose was to use feedback, knowledge and intelligence from trends across complaints to improve our services and communication with residents, whilst ensuring our complaints process was fit for purpose.
In autumn of 2025, this group evolved to encompass not just complaints, but the entire resident experience, from customer service to social media, from feedback after a repair to what we hear in complaints. This group now considers what trends we are hearing from our residents across the whole organisation, then reflects on what we’ve learned, and makes changes where needed. The impact of these changes is then tracked, assessed and discussed at quarterly meetings.
The Resident Experience group ensure this learning is reported to the wider organisation, and they report back to the Board, Senior Leadership Team and Members’ Forum.
Formal complaints received in the previous year
Here’s a summary of all formal complaints (it opens in a new tab) received in the business year 2023-24. It shows what the complaints were about, how we resolved them, and what we learned from them. You can see figures from the previous year to make a comparison. (Click on one of the wide green buttons above to find the 2024-25 Complaints Performance Report.)