Complaints After Awaab: Strengthening C Grade Outcomes and Resident Trust in Social Housing | News

Complaints handling in social housing has changed significantly. It is no longer viewed as a transactional exchange between residents and contact centres. It has become a measure of transparency, regulatory compliance and resident trust. This shift has been driven by Awaab's Law and reinforced by the Consumer Standards framework, which places greater emphasis on how landlords demonstrate assurance and how residents experience services. 
 
Complaints departments are now seen as indicators of how well a landlord manages risk, communicates with residents and strengthens its C grade position. Boards and regulators increasingly want to know not only whether complaints are closed, but whether they are compliant, auditable and trusted by the people they affect. 
 
Complaints as a strategic concern

A decade ago, complaints were regarded as administrative workloads. Today they influence regulatory outcomes. Several elements that contribute to a landlord's C grade relate directly to complaints, including responsiveness, communication, satisfaction and perceptions of fairness. 
 
Awaab's Law has introduced clearer expectations for damp and mould reporting and resolution. Consumer Standards have strengthened the link between complaints handling, safety outcomes and resident experience. The result is that complaints have become both a resident-facing function and a governance concern. 
 
Completion rates alone are no longer a sufficient measure. A landlord may meet its SLAs and still receive low satisfaction scores if residents feel neglected or forced to chase. This matters because perception forms part of the C grade assessment. A technically compliant process may still be considered poor if it lacks clarity, visibility or dignity. 
 
As a result, leadership teams are increasingly asking for visibility and assurance. Instead of asking how many complaints were closed, they ask where high-risk complaints are in the journey, whether deadlines are being met and how residents feel about the process. 
 
The perception gap

Complaints in social housing often relate to issues that affect health, safety or wellbeing. These issues affect people's homes and wellbeing, so for those lodging a complaint the experience of the process becomes just as important as the outcome. When residents cannot see what is happening, they may assume that nothing is happening. This explains why organisations often receive secondary complaints about the complaint itself. 
 
Other industries now use technology to show customers where they are in the queue. Whether tracking a parcel or waiting for a taxi, visibility reduces frustration because uncertainty is removed. Social housing often lacks this visibility, which increases anxiety for residents and workload for staff. 
 
From a resident perspective, complaints can feel like: 
 

• a process that disappears into the organisation
• a series of silent handovers
• a queue with an unknown position
• a request for trust without supporting information 
   

These issues relate to perception rather than technical performance. A compliant process can still feel opaque if residents lack visibility or updates. 
 
Post-Awaab compliance pressure

Awaab's Law placed particular focus on damp and mould due to the health implications involved. Damp and mould complaints are now treated as safety issues, with emergency SLAs and greater scrutiny. This creates exposure for landlords whose workflows remain manual or fragmented. 
 
A single letter from a resident may contain multiple complaints touching repairs, finance and housing operations. Without structured digital routing, deadlines can be missed, accountability becomes unclear and evidence trails may be incomplete. 
 
Landlord executives increasingly want to understand how quickly high-risk issues are identified and escalated, whether cross-department workflows are coordinated and whether residents are informed throughout. The regulator's increasing emphasis on assurance means landlords must show that complaints are handled fairly, transparently and safely. Without visibility, complaints become a black box at precisely the time when boards are expected to understand and evidence their exposure. 
 
Towards transparency and assurance

The sector is now exploring digital approaches that support both regulatory compliance and resident trust. These approaches focus on visibility, evidence and coordination rather than purely on throughput. 
 
Digital transparency matters to residents because it reduces uncertainty and builds confidence. It matters to executives because it strengthens C grade performance, supports compliance with Awaab's Law and Consumer Standards and provides the evidence required for internal and external scrutiny. 
 
Platforms such as VerseOne enable landlords to monitor complaints throughout the lifecycle. This includes real-time status updates, risk categorisation, departmental assignment and audit trails. Digital routing also helps ensure that emergency cases are escalated correctly and tracked consistently. 
 
Complaints are no longer a closure metric. They are a reflection of how well a landlord listens, responds and fulfils its duty of care. Transparency strengthens trust and supports stronger governance. 
 
To learn more, join our Tenant Voice webinar where housing leaders discuss digital complaints tracking and its impact on C grade outcomes and resident trust. Registration is open all, including senior personnel responsible for complaints, resident engagement and regulatory assurance. Organisations can also request a free, no obligation demo to see how Tenant Voice supports digital visibility across the complaints journey.