Complaints

Who can complain?

If you are a client of Stonham HomeStay, and if you are not satisfied with any of the services provided, you have the right to complain. This includes anyone who has recently been, or applied to become a client.

Making a complaint

You can ask a friend, relative or anyone you choose, to help you. They can:

• advise you
• help you to put your complaint in writing, or
• come with you to meetings and speak for you if you want.

The complaints procedure has 3 stages:

Stage 1:

Make your complaint to the service manager in writing. The service manager will support you with this if you want, or you can ask someone else to help. If you feel you cannot make the complaint to the service manager, you can contact the area business manager for your area, whose address is:

Area Business Manager
Stonham HomeStay
5 Woolgate Court
Heath House
St Benedict’s Street
Norwich, NR2 4AP

Whichever staff member you make your complaint to, they will acknowledge it within 3 working days and respond to you in writing with the outcome of their investigation within a further 15 working days.

Stage 2:

If you are not satisfied with the response you have received you can take your complaint further, to the operations director. Their address is:

Operations Director - East Region
Stonham, Octavia House
50 Banner Street
London EC1Y 8ST

The operations director will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days, and will respond with the outcome of their investigation within a further 15 working days.

Stage 3:

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the operations director, you can appeal to Stonham’s Board. To do this write to:

The Executive Director - Care and Support
Stonham, Octavia House
50 Banner Street
London EC1Y 8ST

Your appeal will be acknowledged within 3 working days of being received at the address above. Two or more board members, supported by a director, will be appointed to a panel to hear the appeal. We will tell you who will be on the panel, when they meet, and your right to attend. We will tell you the outcome of the appeal within 15 working days of the panel hearing. The appeal panel’s job is to decide whether your complaint was dealt with properly at the earlier stages.

The Ombudsman

If you are still not satisfied, you can appeal to the Housing Ombudsman. The Ombudsman will not normally look at your complaint until you have been right through the 3 stages of Stonham’s complaints procedure.

The Housing Ombudsman Service
Norman House, 105-109 Strand
London WC2R 0AA
Telephone: 0207 836 3630 Lo-call: 0845 712 5973
Minicom: 0207 240 6776 Fax: 0207 836 3900
E-mail: ombudsman@hos.org.uk

Telephone calls are charged at the rate of a local call.